Introduction

Citroen has earned an enviable reputation for its People Carriers and the SpaceTourer sits at the top of that family tree. Though based on the brand’s medium-sized Dispatch van, it also shares its EMP2 platform with the French maker’s C4 Picasso MPV and that, along with sophisticated suspension, means a supple standard of ride. This model’s running cost efficiency also set a fresh class standard from launch and there’s a wider variety of seating permutations than many rivals can offer: some SpaceTourers can take as many as nine people. It’s all been very thoroughly thought through.

The History

Citroen has quite a history of producing People Carriers, but it’s interesting that looking back over the years, there’s been a notable lack of many really big ones, MPVs suitable for business use or really large families. In 2016 though, the marque launched a contender that put that right, this SpaceTourer.

Prior to the arrival of this model, the most sizeable MPV your Citroen dealer could offer you was the Grand C4 Picasso, a model spacious enough in its segment but a car not really designed around the needs of seven adults. Even large segment People Carriers of the day like Ford’s Galaxy and Volkswagen’s Sharan struggled in that regard if the people in question came with luggage. As indeed did the models that Citroen once offered to compete against these cars – the Synergie that sold between 1995 and 2003 and the C8 that replaced it and was produced until 2010. Ultimately, if you need something properly spacious in this segment, then passenger car-based underpinnings won’t really cut it. Instead, you’ll need something LCV-based with the boxy proportions of a van. Something like this.

Sure enough, the SpaceTourer was indeed based on a commercial vehicle, the brand’s third generation Dispatch van. By 2016, we’d seen Dispatch-based passenger-carrying Citroens before, but they’d been utilitarian minibus models aimed at business users. This one was developed as a much more car-like contender and shared its design with two direct rivals, Peugeot’s Traveller and Toyota’s Proace Verso, a pair joined shortly afterwards by the also virtually identical Vauxhall Vivaro Life. All four of these MPVs were primarily aimed at the two other van-based People Carriers that back at the end of the 21st century’s second decade dominated the super-large segment of the market, Volkswagen’s Caravelle and the Mercedes V-Class, both models that in theory, ought to have been fairly easy targets for new entrants in this sector. Though the VW and the Merc were of a size that would take the nine-seat configuration that many potential buyers wanted, the Caravelle was limited to seven seats and the V-Class to eight. Plus in both cases, there was a pretty high asking price to pay for ownership.

This Citroen offered appealing prices and, crucially, in its most versatile form could seat up to nine people. It all sounded quite promising, but the SpaceTourer, like its clones, never really sold in any great numbers and combustion diesel versions were phased out in 2022. The full-electric e-SpaceTourer model though (introduced in 2020) continued on. Here, we look at the diesel-engined SpaceTourer as a used buy.

What You Get

Citroen put so much work in here to create the smart - and in some ways actually quite attractive - silhouette of this SpaceTourer model. From launch, one of the body style options with this model was a relatively compact 4.6m-long ‘XS’ body shape that actually measures in at around 250mm shorter than car-derived MPVs like Ford’s Galaxy or Volkswagen’s Sharan. Most SpaceTourer buyers though, will want the extra interior room of the 4.95m-long ‘M’ version, plus there’s also a 5.3m-long ‘XL’ option if you really want to super-size things. The range was rationalised down to ‘M’ and ‘XL’ versions shortly after launch.

Most SpaceTourers sold here were ‘Business’-trimmed variants, which didn’t get the option of a dual front passenger bench so that three people could be accommodated up-front. That’s a rare feature to find in a SpaceTourer. Across the range, the fascia’s focal point is found with a centrally-situated 7-inch colour touchscreen. In the second row, where you get ample knee, shoulder and head room, there’s a three-person rear bench that’ll have a 60:40 split in it. On most models, the seats are mounted on rails so can slide backwards and forwards - though not individually: the middle seat will be joined to one of the outer ones.

What To Look For

Look particularly closely for dents and scratches around the bodywork given that the car will have been driven to places where it will be easy to pick these up. And inspect the interior for child and luggage damage and make sure that the upholstery and the carpets aren’t stained. Make sure that all the screens and media connectivity systems work as they should. And of course insist on a fully stamped up service history.

On The Road

The SpaceTourer is an MPV based on a van that’s built on Citroen’s ‘EMP2’ family car platform. As a result, this large People Carrier rides over poor road surfaces with a calm and composure that most of its commercial vehicle-derived rivals can’t match. Under the bonnet of the combustion models, there’s a choice of four BlueHDi diesel engines, with optional clutch-less gearboxes available both at the bottom and the top of the range. Customers are given the choice of either a 1.6-litre unit with either 95 or 115bhp (shortly after launch replaced by a near-identical 1.5-litre diesel). Or a 2.0-litre powerplant, available in either 150 or 180bhp guises. Go for the 150bhp unit and you can expect 53.3mpg on the combined cycle and 139g/km of CO2.

Overall

The Citroen SpaceTourer turned out to be a welcome addition to the largest segment of the MPV market at the end of the 21st century’s second decade. Its good looks and smart interior give it family appeal, while the versatility of choosing from five, six, seven, eight or nine-seat configurations across three different body lengths give this French model more options than most rivals can offer. Value though, continues to be a brand strongpoint. Just like MPV design in fact. Some things never change.