IN the world of the small car the ability to turn heads has always been an asset and the second generation Citroen C4 is no exception to the rule.

Ever since its early days the French car maker's hatchback has always been an eyecatcher and it was designed to meet the requirements of the most demanding of mid-size five door hatchback buyers.

Pretty spacious for its overall size, the most recent compact Citroen C4 comes with a high quality finish while offering up the availability of all new features such as a Denon Hi-Fi system and front seats which have been created to electrically administer remedial massage for back and shoulders suffering from the rigours of long distance travel - good move this.

The dash has a soft touch finish with clearly designed and easy to read instrumentation plus there is some very attractive blue back lighting which can alter its shade from pale to dark blue through to white, thus creating a colourful aura inside the car.

Plenty of bells and whistles are also to hand and the Exclusive model driven here includes a decent satellite navigation system with screen set high in the centre console, plus dual zone climate control, Bluetooth telephone connectivity, speed limiter and cruise control.

Citroen has chosen a sound system well known to music lovers and with the Denon set up delivering some of the finest sounds around, for a little over a grand, you can wallow in some quality sounds of music while on the move.

Very much a user friendly car this latest C4 comes with a host of options to make life easier for driver and passengers including the likes of front and rear parking sensors to help you manoeuvre into awkward spaces.

Another option is a WiFi system which uses a SIM card to create a wireless network on board delivering an Internet connection to keep young gamesters in the rear seats entertained over the long haul.

The latest C4 range has also joined the ever burgeoning electric parking brake set with a very useful Hill Start Assist system.

The car has plenty of room for four and while leg and head room may perhaps prove a little tight for some rear passengers and the rear seats don't fold flat, the C4's 408 litres of luggage space does surpass the likes of the VW Golf (350 litres), Ford Focus (315 litres) and Vauxhall Astra (370 litres).

It delivers a very good road experience thanks to the 2.0-litre 150bhp diesel engine paired with a slick shifting manual gear change.

Minimal road noise contributed to the car's refined performance and the C4 also handled well.