raveydavey

Good stuff - but how do I lock the tailgate? I can't see any obvious manual override like there are on the doors? 2003/03 C3 1.4HDi Desire - it's done the "refuse to lock" a few times and it seems linked to the steering lock not engaging when I remove the key, but every so often engaging the steering lock has no effect. I've just spent 30 minutes messing about, trying the spare etc, before giving up and using the above tip to lock the doors but can't find anyway to lock the tailgate. The car is parked on the street so I was on the verge of calling the AA, when I tried the remote and it worked - I've left it locked now and will check it in the morning - I might be off to the garage on my way to work...

No problem. I hope I didn't put too much of a downer on things, but Citroen Customer Service are shockingly bad. I too am generally very pleased with my C3, but Customer Services and the way I've been treated by them and some of their dealers are the reason that I will never buy another Citroen. Sadly the posts on here suggect that I'm far from alone in this. For a company that claims to want to take on the big German marques with the C5 and C6 they have an awful lot to learn.

Does your car have a full Citroen service history? If so, try Citroen Customer Services for a goodwill claim. There is no way it is acceptable for a gearbox to fail at that age / mileage and for the dealer to be unable to provide a specific diagnosis of the fault. Be warned though that Citroen Customer service are notoriously reluctant to pay for anything and are generally useless. They may well take all your details and promise to phone you back, but then won't. This may happen repeatedly before they eventually give you incorrect information and refuse to pay for it. But then again you may buck the trend of most on here and get them to pay for it. It has to happen eventually. If you get nowhere there the other option is Trading Standard / Consumer Direct - or one of the consumer columns in the press, or the Consumers Association, if you're a member (although I guess you're not as you probably wouldn't be posting on here if you were...)

Several people have reported problems since changing the audio unit in their car, so unless you're sure what you're doing, or have the funds to pay for the dealer to sort it out, you might want to think again. The easiest way to play MP3's (assuming you have an MP3 player), is to buy one of the little transmitter kits that connect to your MP3 player and transmit a signal on an unused FM frequency that you can just tune your car stereo into. They cost between £10 and £20 and I know a couple of people who use them nearly all the time, without any problems.

Does anyone else have the same problem as me with the black lower front bumper spoiler on their C3 (the "rubbery" bit below the front bumper). It seems set too low and is forever catching the ramp / floor in multi-storey car parks, or scraping over kerbs if I park the car nose in to a space. Now it sounds terrible inside the car when it does it, but it seems to be taking this punishment with little signs of any damage. I'm also well aware of it now so try to avoid impacting it, or at least keep my speed as low as possible coming down car park ramps and the like. PS - just in case anyone was wondering, the ride height is normal and not adjusted in any way, the car is running on standard wheels / tyres and I've had both front springs replaced already.

£61? That seems expensive, my last new Michelin cost me £44 about 3 months ago. Still, it depends what others are quoting locally. Have you tried ATS?

Always good to get local recommendation. I've found that no-one though can beat Costco, if you have one near you. They have a Michelin tyre centre attached to their warehouses and I've not been able to beat their prices. The mileage I do makes it worth keeping to Michelin, plus they were OE fitment on my C3 anyway. You probably could get cheaper tyres, made from recycled goodness knows what, but the saying "buy cheap buy twice" applies.

My C3 has just had it's 75k service and one of the advisory notes was that the exhasut is corroded, although still currently intact and serviceable. As you'll see from my sig, the car is a 2003(03) HDi 8v. Now, having thought it might be an idea to plan ahead for once in my life, I priced up a new OE exhaust, just to get an idea of cost. I nearly fell off my chair when I found out that the exhaust is nearly £300+vat for both sections, with another £300+vat on top of that if it needs a new cat! £600+vat (and fitting!) seems a bit bloody steep if you'll pardon my French. That sort of money sees you into the realms of getting a custom stainless steel system made up, doesn't it? Anyone have any suggestions or recommendations where to get a good quality cheaper replacement? Anyone else had to replace an exhaust yet? Cheers

You are right, there are now 50 groups although confusingly some insurers are still using the old 20 group ratings at the moment. It seems that almost everything has been moved "up", which no doubt means insurers will be able to charge more...I've heard a rumour that turbo diesels are also being moved up due to the "surge of mid range torque" - not entirely sure what that means but there you go.

As it's a 2006 car, it should still be covered under the 3 year warranty? If so, get it booked into the dealer and (politely) don't take no for an answer until it's sorted.

22,000 miles seems low, but it does depend on your driving style and the journeys you make. My 5-year old C3 has just had it's 3rd set of front pads at 76k, with the disks (I'm on the second set) reportedly still having plenty of wear in them, but I do a lot of my mileage on the motorway, so use the brakes a lot less than someone who is round town all the time.

One thing you might want to check (if the heated rear window switch is lighting up, but the window isn't clearing) is that the connector on the nearside of the glass is still in plcae. Mine mysteriously broke off all by itself when the car was with a dealer for some rectification work*, and the only cure is a new rear screen. * the dealer, of course, knew nothing about this, much like they didn't know who'd broken the lugs off the engine cover, attempted to glue it back together, and finally held it in place with a cable tie.

As someone who occasionally has this problem, here is the way I've found to resolve it. When you park up, listen for the "click" as the little cover over the ignition barrel aperture slides back into place when you remove the ignition key. You'll find that you won't be able to engage the steering lock, no matter how much you twirl the wheel. I've discovered on my C3 that if this doesn't happen the car will not lock. If the central locking won't work, put the ignition key back in, start the engine and rev it 2-3000rpm in neutral for a minute or so. (If a HDi like mine then let the revs settle for 30 seconds or so). Switch off and remove the key. This time you should here the click. The locking should then work. I've heard that if the click doesn't happen then the steering lock doesn't engage, which confuses the BSI which then won't let you lock the car. This may not be the technically recommended way to do things, but seems to work for me and saves messing about under the bonnet. It has only happened a handful of times, but it's usually at the most inopportune time.

Sadly your experience of the dealer and customer services is far from unique and much as I love my C3 is one of the main reasons I won't be buying another.

One of the things to consider with air-conditioning, is that the oil that lubricates the system is suspended within the refridgerant gas. Therefore if you don't use the air-con, the system doesn't get lubricated and consequently can fail when it is switched on, as the moving parts have seized up. I'm fairly sure that there is something in the handbook about ensuring that you run the air-con for a minimum of 10-15 minutes at leats once a month, year round. I've had problems with the a/c on my C3 (also now 5 years old, but at 76k) but this was due to the pipework failing and allowing the gas to escape on two seperate occassions. Citroen have now modified that "dodgy" part and things have been OK since, touch wood. Sorry thats not much help to you in this instance, but you might want to try an independant Peagueot / Citroen specialist or an independant automotive a/c specialist and try sourcing the parts from somewhere like GSF (German Swedish and French) who seem to be in most major towns now. They can often supply genuine parts at less than the dealer, or obtain suitable non-OE parts at a fraction of the cost.

It depends on what you're looking for. How long is a piece of string? The car your friend has for sale seems to have all the bells and whistles, but will you use them? If not, they're of no benefit to you. Is an armrest a deal breaker? The XTR has the chunky "faux-by-four" looks but is otherwise no different to any other C3 - and is also a discontinued model. You say it has a nicer engine, but you don't say which engine either car has. You need to buy the one that is right for your needs.

I agree 100% with that - if it's a "minor problem" why has the seller not had it fixed? Walk away and don't look back. There are plenty of C3's for sale out there, don't buy a (potential) lemon.

Is it? Mine doesn't. I've got a 2003(03) 1.4 HDi Desire with the factory fit Clarion (I think) CD player and it just carries on from wherever it was up to when I switched off....I don't actually switch the CD player off mind, I just turn the ignition key off and everything goes off, turn the key again to start things. (If that makes sense).

Please don't take offence but are you sure you didn't put the wrong fuel in? It is scarily easy to do (I've had the wrong nozzle ready to go and only just noticed in time before today!). Check your receipt if you got one, it should say what fuel you pumped (or you could work it out from the price per litre). On a 54 plate you'll be out of warranty, so it could well be cheaper for you to take your car to an independant specialist, rather than a Citroen dealer. Word of mouth is almost always the best recommendation. If it is fuel contamination, you MIGHT be covered on your car insurance, although it will count as a claim and you will have to pay whatever your policy "accident" excess is. Speak to your insurance company for advice. It will hopefully be as simple as draining the tank, flushing the system through and renewing fuel filters etc. This could be as cheap as £100 or so. Plus recovery to the garage if needed. A dealer may well try to claim that the fuel lines or injectors or even catalyst needs replacing and start talking silly money. As always, do the basics and then see where you are before committing to massive expense. Don't be afraid to ask for a second opinion, or for something to be explained if things aren't clear. If you think the filling station are at fault, keep the receipt and get a sample of the drained fuel kept in case you need to get it analysed (although this won't be cheap). It might be worth getting in touch with the local media if you suspect contaminated fuel as if this is the case it's unlikely that there will only be you suffering a breakdown and it will strengthen your case if you can combine with others.

Try www.yesinsurance.co.uk I've been with them for a couple of years now and no-one has been able to touch them for price. Under £300 (with protected no claims and legal protection) despite doing 12k+ miles a year, parking on the street in a less than brilliant area and having Class 1 business cover with two drivers on cover. They were better than half the price of some quotes.

100% right. Citroen customer services are a complete waste of time. The dealers are generally similarly poor (in my experience). I've been lied to, fobbed off and am still waiting for a call back from November 2006 regarding warranty work the dealer claimed they done (the spring recall) and hadn't. If I didn't have contacts in the trade I'd have had to stump up £400 for air-con repairs that I was repeatedly told were not covered by warranty. The dealer even told me "the air con isn't working cos you have it on a lot and it will have used all the gas up"! I now use an independent specialist who was recommended to me and have had no problems at all since. In many respects the car is fantastic, but I doubt I'll buy another Citroen (no matter how tempting a new C4 HDi EGS is...)

Happy to help! I checked the revs on my C3 today and in third at about 35mph it was showing about 2300rpm. Sorry I can't help more about the "P" problem, but I'm sure someone else will answer that question for you.

The CV gaiter is a very common item to need replacement - if that is all a 4 year old car needed to pass an MOT, I wouldn't worry about it at all. I've never driven a sensodrive, but to be honest it doesn't sound a major concern either. Are they 4 or 5 speed boxes? To be honest, in a manual (small) engined car you'd probably be in 3rd until 30-35mph anyway to avoid labouring the engine, so essentially the box isn't doing too much differently. If the revs are between 1500 and 2500 (ish) then it's probably fine. Others may know better, but it sounds like maybe the suspension failure has shaken your confidence in the car and you are now looking for things to go wrong?

I've got a 2003(03) C3 1.4HDi 8v Desire. On the logbook it lists the CO2 emissions as 110g/km. However the current model C3 1.4HDi 8v is listed as having emissions of 115g/km. Now, aside from a few relatively minor cosmetic changes, there is no real difference between my car and the later model, so what have Citroen done to make the emissions worse and more importantly, why? At the moment it makes no great difference as both examples fall into Band B for road tax at £35 a year, but from next year it is proposed that band B will change from 100-120g/km to 100-110g/km. This will mean my car gets cheaper tax at £20 a year, but the owner of a later model will then fall into Band C and have to pay more at £30 a year. Full details of tax bands here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/629/629/7293011.stm Now that alone isn't a massive difference, but Band B cars will also be exempt from the London congestion charge (subject to a rip off registration fee * ), whereas Band C cars won't. * - Transport for London have stated that "exempt" cars will have to register annually with them for exempt status, or they will still be charged (including penalties if the congestion charge is not paid). Not a massive problem if you don't go to London, but as congestion charges expand (Manchester is next, apparently) will you have to register there as well? This really gets my goat as I can look up free of charge ANY UK registered car on the DVLA website ( http://www.vehiclelicence.gov.uk/EvlPortalApp/ - click on vehicle enquiry) where it also lists the vehicles CO2 emissions - if that information is freely available from the registration mark, why are TFL charging people to obtain exempt status? On a side note, how many people have forked out for a car with emissions towards the upper end of the current Band B (new C3 HDi, C4 1.6 HDi EGS, Focus Eco-netic, etc - there are loads of them) in good faith in preparation for this change but will suddenly find from next year that their car isn't exempt after all as it will have moved up into Band C?

What sort of satnav is it? Not wishing to be rude, but why does the satnav need a speed input? I can't recall seeing a satnav that does. Surely it will position itself by triangulating with at least three satellites and therefore be able to work out what speed it is travelling at? Normally more accurately than the speedo in the car.