There's no doubt new car buyers are getting more demanding. Even as they downsize to smaller models, few expect to lose the benefits of more expensive and larger alternatives. While this means that cars such as the new Citroen C4 have to be well made and well equipped, it also means that quirky features which have appeared in the past are less likely to continue. The French maker's latest family hatchback seems altogether more grown up, with idiosyncrasies such as the fixed-hub steering wheel and large, centralised digital speedometer conspicuously absent.As these features would not have pleased everyone, this is arguably a good thing, but it does mean the Citroen loses a little of what made it different from the Focus/Astra/Golf crowd. That said, the interior is now a very nice place to spend time, replete as it is with soft touch plastics and attention assisting devices such as a lane departure warning and a blind spot indicator. It also gets a clever, but slightly fiddly, cruise control system that can store several speeds in its memory. But like the external looks the inside of the C4 is much like the outside - functional and inoffensive without being inspiring. The exterior manages to look like most other cars on the market, but without aping any of them exactly - not unattractive perhaps, just wilfully anonymous. As Citroen expects the average C4 buyer to be in their late fifties, trendsetting is probably not what the company was going for, and this more mature driver certainly appears to have been in the company's mind when setting up the ride as well. While the seats are comfortable, the suspension has been given the kind of wallowing setup that Citroen are famous for. The steering is not as precise as some rivals and, unsurprisingly, there's a fair amount of body roll evident in the corners. The gear-change in the manual version is slightly vague as well, missing the sharp feel of the smaller DS3.However, despite the manual gearbox's vagueness, it is still preferable to the six-speed clutchless manual, which is designed to save fuel. It is slow and jerky, as gearboxes of its type tend to be, with smoothness only achievable by using the steering-column mounted paddles and by lifting off the accelerator while changing gear.While the CO2 benefits are laudable, the Citroen still lags behind the best in class in terms of emissions, with the current low at 109g/km amongst three petrol and four diesel engines. Most of the car's major rivals will have made it to 99g/km long before the manufacturer's sub-100g/km model arrives on the market in 2012, a fact which to all intents and purposes sums the C4 up - a distinct improvement on its predecessor, but decidedly average when held up next to the competition.