SKODA CITIGO (2012 - 2017)

By Jonathan Crouch

Models Covered

3dr/5dr citycar (1.2 60PS, 75PS)

Introduction

Skoda's first stab at citycar motoring turned out to be impressive one, this Citigo borrowing Volkswagen technology and blending it with the value we expect from this growing Czech brand. Those in search of a beautifully conceived, affordable and impressively space and fuel-efficient urban runabout on the used market will need to consider it.

The History

It seems strange that a company like Skoda, which has forged a reputation for bringing us small, keenly priced cars, had no track record in the citycar sector prior to 2012. The Czechs have long had a history of bringing us superminis and family hatches but until that year, they’d never tried to sell us a properly compact urban runabout. With this car, the Citigo, all of that changed. It may have marked Skoda’s entry into the class but this wasn’t a car content to merely dip its toe into the water. This, we were told at launch, was an instant contender for class honours.

That was a credible claim, given his model’s provenance as a re-badged version of the segment-leading citycar design also sold as a Volkswagen up! and a SEAT Mii. This Citigo though, claimed to be able to trump its two stablemates with small but significant advantages when it came to the all-important value proposition. The result was an urban runabout impossible for canny buyers in this sector to ignore. The car was significantly facelifted in the Spring of 2017, but here we look at the earlier version.

What To Look For

In our ownership survey, we struggled to find anyone who didn’t like their Citigo – one with a manual gearbox anyway. There was quite a bit of grumbling from those who’d opted for a variant fitted with the optional ASG automatic gearbox. One owner complained that his Citigo ASG refused o move out of 2nd gear going up hills. Another found instances where the gearbox refused to engage its ratios at all. We’d avoid the ASG option unless you really are urban-bound and have thoroughly tested the car in question. Amongst manual model Citigos, it’s just necessary to look out for the usual citycar issues – kerbed alloys and evidence of damage from unruly children on the interior plastics. We came across a few complaints about Bluetooth ‘phone streaming as well, so you might want to check that out too.

On The Road

So. What’s it like, this small Skoda? Get behind the wheel and you’ve a solid, well appointed cabin that promises a solid, well appointed driving experience. Already, you sense, there’s a depth of design here missing from this car’s French, Korean and Japanese rivals. Most of these feature three cylinder 1.0-litre engines that are busily revvy at best and downright noisy at worst. A configuration shared here, but delivered with a bit more finesse. Fire the engine and a more refined thrum filters out from beneath the bonnet ahead. Not refined enough, it must be said, to quite let you forget the cylindrical imbalance under the bonnet. But then the characteristic offbeat rasp isn’t unpleasant and rather suits this design’s rather offbeat charisma.

You’ll certainly be hearing plenty of it if rapid progress is needed, for without a turbocharger to boost torque, this one needs to be revved quite a bit, peak power not arriving until 6,000rpm, only 600rpm shy of the red line. And if you’re wondering quite how much power we’re talking about, the answer is not a great deal in the mainstream 1.0-litre variants we’re focusing on here, cars offering a choice of either 60 or 75PS outputs, with an identical 95Nm of torque either way. Most will be content with the base version, capable as it is of sixty in 14.4s on the way to 99mph, quite enough to keep up with the traffic. The performance gains offered by the 75PS variant seem relatively slight (0-60mph in 13.2s on the way to 107mph) but the unit is a little more refined.

Ride quality isn’t quite as good as that of the rival Volkswagen up! but it’s still significantly better than that of most rival citycar designs, with the emphasis on ride quality rather than go-kart handling. The electric power steering’s light and effort-free in a car as nippy and manoeuvrable as you’d want any city tiddler to be with just under three turns lock-to-lock and a 9.8m turning circle so tight that if you’re driving along and spot a space on the opposite side of the road, you’re likely to be able to respond taxi-style and turn right into it. If this is your usual environment, you’ll probably also want to consider the slightly jerky robotised semi-automatic 5-speeder that constitutes Skoda’s ‘ASG’ clutch-less gearbox option. Personally, we’d stick with the ordinary 5-speed manual if we possibly could.

Around town, the thick A-pillars can limit visibility at junctions and roundabouts but there’s the peace of mind – if you’ve a car so specified – of the City-Safe Drive braking system. This is automatically active at speeds of below 19mph and uses a laser sensor in the upper part of the windscreen to scan the road ahead for potential collision hazards. If one is detected and the driver doesn’t react, the brakes are primed. Should the driver then brake, stopping power is maximised. If he or she doesn’t – or can’t – then the car can automatically brake to a halt by itself. The system can even autonomously apply the brakes if you’re about to be rear-ended. Very clever.

And on the twisty stuff? Well, as with the Volkswagen and SEAT versions of this design, you’d have to say that there are better drivers’ choices in this class, cars that roll less with more feelsome steering. That said, you can still confidently have fun in this one thanks to predictable handling and plenty of grip.

Overall

Some citycars sell on cute and cuddly virtues. This isn’t one of them. Here instead, the urban runabout has grown up, become mature, got itself properly sorted. If that puts off the twentysomethings who’d prefer something more fashionable, then so be it. There are plenty of others in search of an urban runabout with big car virtues and small car pricing, spacious, efficient and beautifully built.

This, according to Skoda, is ‘engineering excellence with a human touch’ – a design someone’s clearly thought very carefully about. True, there are feistier citycars you could consider: maybe more charismatic ones too. But none that better deliver on the promise of two words that sum this Citigo up. Simply clever.