I can say with my hand on my heart the C1 Airscape Flair, is a real breath of fresh air.
It enjoys a neatly designed folding cloth roof which opens with the press of a switch for open-air driving and, when the sun shines, adds fun as well as the feelgood factor to your journey.

The foldback roof instantly took me back 30 years, when I spent a week driving a Citroen 2CV during a holiday in Greece - and good memories they were. But, the folding roof is where the similarity between the two ends, although the C1 still has an air of fun.

It has dashing good looks with a sporty trim, 15-inch Planet alloy wheels and, in my test car, a bright red fabric roof with matching shiny flashes on the wing mirrors.

And, while the cobalt black of my car, sparkled and glistened in the sunlight, the interior gleamed with a full gloss finish to compliment the retro-style clocks and dashboard.
I would have thought the target market would be newly-qualified young drivers, but it could easily fall into the “nice little runaround” or spare car category.

The basic model ticks many boxes with remote central locking, electric windows and a two-speaker MP3 stereo.
Upgrade to the Feel model and the extra kit includes air-conditioning, a four-speaker stereo and a height-adjustable driver’s seat, leather steering wheel and matching gear knob.
This model also has a seven-inch touchscreen, with a hands-free calling system which replicates the display of your smartphone.
You can even read and send text messages but, for a car which includes safety devices like cornering stability control, airbags throughout and seatbelt warnings for all passengers, I find this the strangest feature you could have in any car. Personally I would have found a decent sat nav much more useful.

While it looks pretty on the driveway, this little car is not solely about aesthetics. The Flair is economical to drive giving a combined consumption of 65.7mpg from its 1.2-litre, three-cylinder engine. Really nippy in town, it accelerates at the lower end particularly well and is quick enough to get you in and around busy city centre streets with no problems.

It also performs well on the motorway and is comfortable enough for a decent-distance slog.
It can be a tad on the noisy side but the stereo is more than adequate to push the engine noise happily into the background.

All in all, a nice little car with more than enough room and a decent amount of oomph for a car in its class.

Citroen C1 Airscape Flair PureTech 82

Price: £12,930

Engine: 1199c

Transmission: 5-speed manual

Fuel: Petrol

Top speed: 106mph

Acceleration: 0-62mph in 11 seconds

Economy: Urban, 52.3mpg; Extra urban, 76.3mpg; Combined, 65.7mpg

CO2 emissions: 99g/km