MOTORS: Citroen Ami is great fun and extremely practical as city runabout
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It strikes me there could be a revival of the scooter.
With congested streets, low emission zones and council anti-car policies, it offers a motorised chance to zip through the hold-ups for a quick trip to the shops.
But here in Scotland, the weather could be a deterrent where even when you’re covered head-to-toe in waterproofs you’ll get soaked or frozen for six months of the year.
What’s more appealing is the latest piece of quirky transportation from the French company Citroen. Following on from their iconic and much-loved 2CV, they’ve come up with the Ami.
It’s not a car, it’s a quadricycle, powered by a tiny 8 horsepower electric motor and with a top speed of 28mph, if you’re lucky.
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And it’s basic, with everything designed to save weight and cost so there’s no interior mirror and the doors are closed and opened by pulling on a strap. The indicators don’t cancel automatically and the seats are little more than firm slabs. There’s no remote locking. You get two keys – one to open the door and the other to start the motor.
But the most distinctive thing about this machine is its looks because the front and back panels and both doors are the same, the passenger one opening normally, while the driver’s door is rear-hinged to create a sort of mobile pod.
It’s just under two-and-a-half metres long and less than a metre-and-a-half wide and with an amazing 7.2 metre turning circle it can easily negotiate the tightest city streets.
The plastic body sits on a box-section chassis with the frame exposed on the inside and like the old 2CV, the door windows flip up for ventilation. The heating is either on or off to demist the windscreen and the only extra is a built-in hook in front of the passenger to carry home your takeaway curry bag.
It’s left-hand-drive but takes two large adults comfortably and feels remarkably roomy and airy with a glass roof and large windows all round. There’s no boot, but loads of cubby holes and storage in the cabin.
Citroen have been doing a nationwide tour with special liveried examples in the seven featured cities and I got behind the wheel for an afternoon on their visit to Edinburgh, the only Scottish destination. They also had a bling version clad in gold wrap for that extra fashion statement.
It is dead easy to drive with three buttons at the side of the driver’s seat for Drive, Neutral and Reverse and you just go. The ride is jarring and there’s a constant whine from the tiny electric motor.
But it’s great fun and extremely practical as a city runabout and although the top speed is difficult to achieve that doesn’t matter as much if the traffic is at a crawl anyway or limited to 20mph and you wouldn’t dream of taking it beyond the built-up area.
Citroen say it will appeal to buyers as a third, fourth or even fifth vehicle in the driveway for short in-town trips instead of a bike. As long as you’ve got a moped licence you can drive it here from the age of 16 and as with all electric vehicles, for the moment, at least, there’s no excise duty, or road tax, payable.
There are three trims – the basic Ami, the Op and the Tonic which come with extra styling touches.
There’s also a cargo version where the passenger seat is taken out for additional carrying space and that should appeal to short-hop food or parcel delivery operations.
At under £8000, it’s by far the cheapest vehicle on the market and the PCP deal of £99-a-month with a £1300 deposit appeals to many. Charging is simple, even from a domestic socket in around three hours.
Citroen Ami
PRICE: £7695 (PCP £1337.30 deposit and £99 per month over 24 months and 5000 miles a year)
ENGINE: electric motor with 5.5 kWh battery pack
POWER: 8 bhp
TOP SPEED: 28mph
RANGE: 46 miles
CHARGING TIME: 3 Hours 0-100%
