Giant TCR C3

Advantages: Price, Components, Performance
Disadvantages: Lack of "street-cred"

...When I was little, I got a TCR racing set for Christmas. In those heady days, TCR stood for "Total Control Racing". Something like a Scalectrix, but without the slots, so the cars could change lanes. In July of this year, I bought a new bike, a road-racing bike from the Chinese manufacturer "Giant". It too is called TCR, but this time round I've no idea what it stands for. What I do know is that, for the money, it's a fine piece of machinery and over the next virtual page or two, I'll tell you exactly why. Spurred back on to my bike, after more than 10 years of neglect, by a declining level of fitness and an expanding waist-line, I started riding again at the beginning of this year. For the first 6 months I rode my mountain bike on the roads of Essex in an attempt to get fit. My fitness did improve, but every weekend I would be... Read review

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Advantages: Spacious, economical fuel consumption, looks good
Disadvantages: High repair and maintenance bills, unreliable, doesn't look so good on the back of a tow truck!

...After owning my little Citroen C3 for just over 6 years, the time has come to accept that this relationship has run its course and move on to better things. So I have finally part-exchanged my C3 and, hopefully, bid farewell to endless visits to the garage and constant repair bills! Like most relationships, this started so well. It was love at first sight when I set eyes on the C3, which was a relatively new model when I bought mine back in November 2002. The design of the car is quite funky for a small, relatively cheap hatchback or what is known as a 'super-mini'. It has an attractive curved exterior and looks very modern and stylish. The interior is even more eye-catching with its digital mileometer display, smart curved dashboard and adjustable steering column. It certainly looks like a more expensive little car than the price... Read review

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Advantages: Long distance ride comfort
Disadvantages: Not so hot on corners, flimsy interior build

.... Judging by the amount of luggage some golfing people were expecting to stuff in, maybe that should be a Paxo ? stuff in, geddit?. Therefore I was mildly surprised and pleased to find that I?d been given a two-month-old Citroën C3, and obviously one of fairly high specification. C3?s don?t flaunt GTi or SLX badges at the rear, so initially it was giving nothing away, although the colour-coded metallic silver (i.e. buggers to get scratched, and therefore just what every hire company needs!) bumpers tended to hint at something above base model. BASIC DETAILS The C3 is a five-door hatchback in the ?Supermini? bracket. It comes with a variety of engine sizes including a 1.1litre petrol version (ours) and a 1.4 litre oil burner. The petrol engine pushes out a modest 60 brake horse power, and this was to prove significant later, as... Read review

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