Two significantly similar cars, no doubt about that. Still, each one has something different to offer. Having both cars powered by petrol engines and utilizing the 5-door hatchback body style within the same 'Small family car' segment, the only major difference here really is their wheel drive configuration (4 x 4 for the Ford and front in the case of the Citroen). The first one has a Ford-engineered powertrain under the hood, a 4-cylinder, 16-valves 350hp unit, while the other one gets its power and torque from a 3-cylinder, 12-valves 131hp engine designed by Peugeot.

A starting point here would be to take a look at the results from European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP) tests which were performed on both of the cars, with the same number of safety stars gained in the process. That aside, let's consider some other aspects which affect safety. Both vehicles belong to the small family car segment, which is generally classifying them somewhere in the middle safety-wise, still it doesn't help us solve our dilemma, does it? Furthermore, taking kerb weight as an important factor into account, the American car offers a considerable difference of 29% more metal.

Reliability is not the best thing to consider on the make level, but it is worth mentioning that Ford does have a slight advantage, all the models observed together. These are the official statistics, while our visitors describe reliability of Ford with an average rating of 4.4, and models under the Citroen badge with 4.1 out of 5. Some independent research have also placed Focus as average reliability-wise, and C4 is more or less at the same level.We should definitely mention that owners of cars with the same powertrain as the American car rank it on average as 3.0, while the one under the competitor's bonnet gets 4.0 out of 5.

Ford is way more agile, reaching 100km/h in 6.1 seconds less than its competitor. In addition to that it accelerates all the way to 266 kilometers per hour, 67km/h more than the other car. When it comes to fuel economy an obvious choice would be the French car, averaging around 4.7 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers (60 mpg), in combined cycle. That's 64% difference compared to the American car!

Ford appears just a bit more reliable, although the difference is truly marginal. The most important thing when deciding between any two vehicles should always be safety, both passive and active. In my opinion, everything taken into account, the American car offers significantly better overall protection, taking the lead here. It all continues in the same direction, with Ford outracing its opponent in any situation possible, making it better choice for boy racers. It does come at a cost though, and that's the fuel consumption... At the end, as much as I'd like to give you a winner here, it's simply a pure tie if you ask me. In any case that's my personal view, built upon all the data available to me. What should decide here though is the way you feel about the two vehicles, and I hope you'll find my guidelines useful in the process. In case you have two minutes to spare I invite you to define your needs, desires and budget and see which car would be chosen by the virtual adviser™, among more than 12.000 different ones in our database.