Hi everybody! I´m in Spain visiting my sister. She has this car, which is apparently the "mini-van" choice for families here! Everybody has one. I was driving it today, and is not bad. The perfect thing for the kids, because they get a little table with a cup holder for each side. There is plenty of space in the back, but the line is too round for my taste. It could be like an egg on wheels. As a matter of fact, my first impression driving, was a little weird, because I felt the glass was making me dizzy, is too big and goes too low. The only things that I actually envy her with her car, is that she works 10 miles away from home and takes the kids to school and run errands with it. The car is diesel, and she fills up with 44 Euros... ONCE A MONTH!!!! That is like the ideal situation, to fill up gas just once a month! So far that is the most positive thing about the car... I´m still in love with my RAV4.

Fraulein,

What kind of mini-van. Who makes it ? The model ?

And most importantly, does your sister feel the same way as you did with 4Runners ? I.E., are her breasts level with the seat when she gets in ?

Ich kann deutsches wenig sprechen. Meine Eltern wanderten nach Kanada 1964 aus und ich wuchs oben, erlernend die Sprache

Hallo Pongo! Ich kann Deutsche sprechen aber... I am an american and my German is very basic! The minivan I was refering to was on the title, the Citroen Xara Picasso. The maker is Citroen, I believe they are french. And of the models XARA, she has the Picasso. This one is a very comfortable car to get in and out compared to the 4Runner! I appreciate that you were actually reading my post! (and now feel a little embarrased (IMG:style_emoticons/default/s10.gif)
We went out yesterday with the car again, and this time got in the Highway. Of course not the AUtobahn, but some highway in Barcelona, Spain, and it got to 120Kph pretty fast and was fairly stable and silent. I must admit, I have to drive it a little more to find out the real capabilities of the car.

This is an update on my driving experience with the Citroen Xara Picasso: Went out last night and it started raining pretty bad. I don´t know if it is because my sister has the "all year ´round" tyres or what, but I felt the handling of the car on wet streets at a relatively higher speed, was not as good as I thought. Here in Europe people are accustomed to have 2 set of tires, the winter and summer tires, and I´ve noticed with other cars that the winter tires are much better on wet and snow and even ice... so maybe if this car had winter tires would´ve handled better.

Here in Canada we use Winter tires a lot. I myself change to Studded-Winter tires every November.

The traction at sub-zero temperatures is far superior than All-Seasons.

However, in your situation in the rain, I am not convinced it's the tires. I say that because traction on winters are temperature dependant. If it was raining I would think it's well above Zero (Celcius of course to clarify for our US friends).

I am doubtful that your negative experience would be ameliorated with winter tires.

Thank you Pongo! I didn´t know that the tires were more temeprature dependant! Yes, it was raining and it was around 10 Celcius, so it was not that cold either.
Yesterday went out with the kids for Christmas meal and coming back we had a lot of presents they got. We had to remove the cover from the back, because they got bicycles and could not fit in the trunk as it was... I was really amazed that 2 small bikes fit! And it was very easy to remove the cover. The Citroen Xara Picasso is pretty amazing for its size, but is not the best in performing. Then again, when going out with kids, it is not exactly the best thing to speed up!

Continuing update on the Citroen Xara Picasso and my experience with it: I found that when parking parallel, at the moment of opening the doors, the doors open very wide, and most likely will touch the car next to you if you are not careful!!! Good for kids and having to put their seatbelts over the children´s seats, plenty of space, but if you are parked next to one, then your car most likely will get a "souvenir" from the Xara Picasso on your doors! So, this one is a positive and a negative point....

Another update on the Citroen Xara Picasso: I was checking out the owner´s manual and it is saying that the oil exchange in the motor should be done only every 18 thousand kilometers, and not every 5 thousand kilometers like with older models. They also have a specific kind of oil they highly recomend. My brother in law has been abiding by the manual as if it was the Bible, and actually they´ve never had any problems. I was wondering if it is the oil or just improvements with the engine that allows the oil exchange to be a lot less frequent. In any case, this little car is pretty good... if only the shape was different, I think I would like it better.

This is my last day driving the Citroen Xara Picasso for now... I´m going home tomorrow. I must say, we´ve been going around a lot, drove everywhere, went once to get the car filled up, my sister was not on vacation, so she was also using it to work, and last night, the car had used since we went to put gas 15 days ago, only one quarter and a little bit more of a tank. As a matter of fact, when I put the mode to show how much I had left of gas, it said that I could keep drving for another 600 Kms... I am really amazed about how little gas consumes this car! That to me is great! I still don´t really like the design, but just on saving gas alone is incredible.

Just wanted to share with you all, that my sister called me few minutes ago, and we talked. Among the things she was going to do, was to fill up the tank, since she hasn't been there since we went together on the 21st of December!!!!! I am still in shock that her car lasts such a long time with just one tank. I mean, given the fact that it is diesel, and that the capacity is 50 liters, but still... it is a long time! Secretly I envy that! Oh well!