What's the news?
Citroen will sell a new variant of its superb compact crossover this year, with the newcomer given the lengthy title of C4 Cactus Rip Curl Special Edition. Essentially a styling exercise brought about by a tie-up with the Aussie surfing company, the big news for the Rip Curl is that it gets Grip Control for improved traction.
Exterior
The Rip Curl (if you'll permit us to call it that from now on, rather than its full name) is marked out by white detailing. It's on the door mirrors and roof bars for starters, although the vertical strips on the wings and the horizontal decals on the rear quarter-lights are more pertinent, as their swirly pattern incorporates Rip Curl's logo.
Although the Airbumps come in black as standard, the C4 Cactus Rip Curl can be had with its signature design feature finished in Dune, Chocolate or Grey. That allows for contrast with the five launch colours of Tapenade Grey, Obsidian Black, Sport Red, Arctic Steel and Pearl White, with a sixth, exclusive-to-the-Rip-Curl shade due in before the end of the year. Finishing the look of the car off is a set of aluminium-effect skid plates front and rear.
Interior
Orange is the signifier in here, where it clashes brightly with the Mica Grey fabric seats (standard) or optional black part-leather upholstery. Orange features on the seat belts, the stitching of the floor mats and around the loudspeakers of the Rip Curl's sound system. There's also a logo for the surfing company on the floor mats, with all this garishness set against a Stone Grey ambience.
The C4 Cactus Rip Curl is based on a fairly high specification model, so it comes with rear parking sensors and a reversing camera, automatic climate control, automatic headlamps and front wipers, satnav, a six-speaker MP3 audio system, cruise control/speed limiter and tinted windows, as well as a panoramic glass roof complete with thermal insulation.
Mechanicals
Citroen hasn't changed the motive power but it has chucked in Grip Control and Goodyear Vector 4Seasons mud and snow tyres for the 17-inch wheels to help the car keep moving whatever the conditions it's facing. That means the engines for the Rip Curl are the more powerful petrol and diesel variants with manual transmissions, namely the PureTech 110 S&S and the BlueHDi 100.
Grip Control, which equips a selector in the centre of the dashboard, offers five driving modes to make the Cactus as capable as it can be on all surfaces. Standard is used for road-driving and Grip Control adapts automatically to conditions in this setting; Sand allows the car to traverse loose surfaces and the best beaches for surfing (sigh...); Off-Road is for mud, wet grass and dirt tracks, and mimics the effect of a limited-slip diff by apportioning torque to the front wheel with the most grip; Snow does what is says on the tin, changing the ESP to work its best on icy roads; and ESP Off deactivates the whole lot for those who erroneously think they know better than the Citroen.
All of the last four modes only work up to varying, pre-set speed limits; if the driver exceeds the given speed for the mode they're in, then the car reverts to 'Standard' without human intervention.
Anything else?
So why Rip Curl, in particular? Go on, have a guess. Not got it...? OK, Citroen - presumably looking for a nice, trendy lifestyle company with which it could brand the C4 Cactus up - settled on the Australian surfing outfit because it was founded in 1969 in Torquay... which is only a few hours' drive from 'the mythical Cactus Bay surfing hotspot'. Get the link now? Good.
The Citroen C4 Cactus Rip Curl Special Edition will make its bow at Geneva, prior to going on sale during the first half of 2016. Which means within the next four months, really.