pork_pie

Verbal assurances mean zip. In Nov 2004 my car had its 25k service. This was 9 months after getting it as a used buy when it did 13k. Anyway when picking it up they said they replaced the rear discs and they said it should be covered under warranty but they need confirmation from Citroen UK. I said that they wont cough up as rear discs are a wear and tear item but the dealer said otherwise as its strange for these items to wear over such a short period. Anyway weeks later Citroen UK said its not covered, blaming my driving style (wnakers) and I would not be reimbursed. Furthermore the deler never phoned me up to say "Porkpie your rear discs need changing". THey just went ahead and did it. THat service cost me over £400. I rudely said "Yes maybe for a Merc but not for a f***ing French car"

When you press AUTO you are right the A/C system kicks in. Fiddle with the temperature selector and the climate control adusts air flow and fan spoeed accordingly for to eusure that the selected temperature is maintained. The following observations were made when I had my C3 which had digital climate contol. Select 16c makes the system select a high fan speed directed to the face level vents. Select 22c for example and the fan speed is moderate and directed to face and footwell vents Select 32c and all the air is directed to the front window and A/C may come on. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Switch A/C off and the Auto display will dissapear but the auto adjustment of the airflow/fan speed will still be assured (unless you yourself override one of them 2 parameters). Eco just means the A/C has been switched off. A/C does not use too much fuel - only about 3-5 mpg which is much better than driving with the windows down!

I cannot answer your question about other dealers in your area but the price you have quoted is the going rate. Prepare yourself for a shock when your car wil need its 37.5k service as you are likely to pay around £350. If I were you I'd stick to the franchised dealer during the whole duration of the warranty period. Tell your nearest dealer that a nearby dealership is undercutting by a shade under £50. Take it from me spending a bit extra will save you a lot of hassle especially if the car goes wrong after a fix at the independent garage. Citroen UK will use every excuse in the book to avoid honouring a future warranty claim.

The only real benefit of this model is the price. It's miles cheaper than its competitors Yes another good thing is that Citroen build good engines and the 1.6 Hdis 90 and 110 bhp versions are fantastic, economic and clean. Motoring reports suggest that the engine is noisy suggesting the need for high gearing to propel a bulky vehicle. You mention ventilation. THe cabin is large and glassy as you can imagine and the air con/climate control units and switch gear are all inherited from other SMALLER models in the Citroen and Peugeot range and you can imagine the systems may stuggle to keep the cabin regulated. There are no face level vents in the rear and I doubt theres even footwell ones either. Climate control versions (in top of the range Exclusive models) may help but may become overworked if you press the AUTO button. Some crazy people buy the LX version which does not have air con. As with all Citroens, problems of poor build, constant teething problems (electrics, suspension, brakes), resale value, the dealers inability fo get things first time are always there. Also the service costs are not cheap either. What the company lose in sellign their cars, they pass onto the prices for servicing. Labour costs for Citroen approach £85-90 an hour. I regularly paid £150-£180 for minor services to £200- 400 for major ones which if you ask me is nothing short of a disgrace. These diesel engines are costly to maintain as my experiences with 1.4 Hdi and 2.0 Hdi (90/110) suggest. For a German manufacturer I can understand but not for a French company. All the money I saved in buying a Citroen was suddenly being siphoned off to pay for these maintenances. If you think the savings in purchase price warrant it go ahead but for gods sake don't buy new! There are plenty of second hand examples way below the purchase price and perhaps the previous owner has had to cope with the initial problems which have been sorted by the dealer. Remember the picasso is being replaced next year with 5/7 seater versions. My advice? Go for a Corolla Verso. You get 7 seats, ultra reliability and low running costs. Do you really need an MPV? The ride on all of them are enough to make you sick. How about an Estate?

My eyes fool me. Are they chevrons ont he back of them headrests? Cheesey or what. Quite an installation that engine in such a vehicle. Hope the rest of the car holds up. As much as I would like one...........

Had something similar. Nothing happened whenever the keyfob was pressed After 5 minutes of panic, the car responded. I was told that the cars electrics needed rebooting. Re booting seems to be a buzz word. ANyway I reported this to Citroen who said they could not find anything but replaced the COM 2000 anyway. Pish posh

Externally and in the cabin there is absolutely nothing to indicate what diesel engine the car has. There should be a little white sticker on the drivers side door sill indicating which Hdi version the car has. Even if you lift the bonnet there is very little to tell - both power plants look identical until you lift the cover look closely and the somewhere in there, the 110 has an intercooler. The difference in insurance between both powerplants (providing theyre the same trim ie LX) is very little if anything at all - I am with Direct Line too. Having owned 2 Xsaras with both engines, the more powerful one is cleaner (less CO2) the driveability is better. The 90 bhp one ain't a duffer though...... Let us know how you get on.

My guess - about £200-250. Citroen - very dear. Labour costs work out at £85 an hour.

You got your first XM? I recommend you sell it for scrap. Electrics and suspensions are the biggest problems with this car. Shocking reliability - rare sight nowadays. Looks like the rear suspension spheres have gone. Expensive job - at least £600. You never want to work with this type of suspension - its frighteningly complex.

Yeah two bob electrics and a suspension system thats as reliable as a toaster in a shower. Terrible build quality too. Good thing is that its big but what is the point when you have a shed load lf luggage and the engine does not fire up?!

If that 206cc roof dont give you trouble........... A cit plueurosy for a CC? A lemon for a lemon. Sorry but you are gonna suffer more motoring suicide.

Back to the Automatics The Picasso like most autos has a conventional torque convertor.An auto box is heavier than the equivalent manual (as much as 50kgs). This along with the power losses associated with a fluid transmission unit (rather than a clutch) makes the car thirstier and belches more CO2. To this day there is not one torque convertor auto that does better than 50mpg - even the diesels. Although the old Xsara hatch Hdi 110 did 49mpg on paper, most owners never got anywhere near this! A crappy Pacific Rim 3 speed 1.0 Auto don't do better than 35mpg which is crepe. Torque convertors really only suffice in large executive cars ============================================ However these modern CVT/MMT/Sensodrive/DSG systems use pulleys or several clutches. The units are as light as the manual versions they are based on and there are no such transmission losses which explains why these models have identical performance/C02 outputs and MPG. They are much more effecient. In some cases, e.g Sensodrive units, the performances are even better. ============================================== With all types of auto transmission though, they are a bu99er to repair if they go wrong. The french cannot manufacture a decent auto box to save their lives. Leave it to the Japanese who know a thing or two about autos - most if not all of their cars in that nation are autos. No diesels. Booooooooo!

The 1.6 Hdi is a great addition to the Picasso family. Is it true that its too high geared in the motorway and its crying out for another gear? Doubt Citroen will include the 136bhp 2.0 Hdi in the line up. They want to maximise sales of all available engines. I strayed away from MPV's. Plumbed for that estate because I found the rides of all MPV's sickening. ================================ The other engine in the Pic line up: Great though the 2.0Hdi is - a diesel without an intercooler is an old format now. The engine is 5 years old now but there is still life in the old dog - superchip the beast to get 110 horses and as much torque as its younger smaller brother.

The doors and frames have sharp bits. Nearly knocked myself out when getting out from the rear compartment. Ooer. The dash I agree is complicated with tiny displays for the speed you set the limiter and what not. A magnifying glass would be handy. Gutless engine? Coauldn;t have been the 110 but the 92bhp version. You have the 1.4 16v Hdi? That was a nice engine but gutless low down..... Why have they discontinued this engine? To maximise sales for 1.6Hdi 92s? I would not say C4's bulid quality is amazing - its vastly improved and approaches that of Japanese and German makes.

From what I heard its a pretty thirsty sluggish affair and pretty rare. Combo of an underpowered 2.0 litre engine with a slushbox does not make good reading. 4 speed tipronic auto which provides a poor return of about 30mpg but fair play to Citroen for providing the market with one. A bit of a niche an auto MPV with the added feature of cruise and tractioncontrol. Suprised they never manufactured a diesel duto version. And no I have not test driven one.

LOL - not really Not really mate. The past decade or so have seen quite a lot of changes from being a soap/tax dodger to getting a job then being a family person so I have had to buy a car to accommodate the change.. In that time I have test driven about 6-8 Citroens and out of that lot have bought 5. I drove a Picasso and vomited after the test due to its ride. I have moved from small hatchbacks (AX, Saxo and C3) to the hatchback and estate versions of the Xsara. You can imagine I have researched other possibilities before finally choosing them cars. Yes I always picked Citroens!!!!! They may be badly put together and they are not reliable but they are cheap to buy (but not nasty apart from my C3 of course) and the styling of some of their products have been different. Since errrrr April I have been in the hunt for a medium hatchback to replace the estate and the C4 was a contender. The passing away of my second child last year meant an estate was redundant. Back to the C4 Lovely engine (1.6HDi 110) and the best assembled Citroen I have driven but compared to other manufacturers that is not saying much! The cockpit was somethign else and the equipment you get was unbelivable for the money. I was offered a new one (VTR+) with met paint, leather pack, multichanger, alarm and parking sensors for 16k. The little teething problems sometimes made car ownership a real pain in the a55 I will always have a soft spot for Citroen but I am tired of the niggles, poor workmanship and unexplained bills and problems that don't get fixed and I am not referring to my current Citroen either. Electrical glitches is another. I wil never forget when my lad opened the rear doors of the C3 when driving at 70mph. The childproof locking button frequently forgot its settings. I guess it could be worse which the Ren ault and Pug drivers are willing to testify to. I decided not to go with that cut price new C4 and decided to plum for a demonstrator BMW 1 series diesel for not much more with a free service inclusive package for 5 years. I will continue to post on here.

Good idea organist but me oils topped up regularly. Poor little engine........ Bet the 1.6 HDi 110 has no such problems. Test drove that engine in a C4. Smooth as silk........ Pity about whats around it!

Hmm you mention going up hills Twice going up a hill in my old C3, the engine management light came on and the engine was short on power. Pulled over restarted the car no problem. Driving in the Peak District last Sunday int he Xsara and nrearly florred it up an incline as the engines realy flat as a pancake and the same light came on. Maybe HDi engines dont like hills.......

Good luck in finding it mate. Hopefully you will not have to resort to having to take it to the garage where they would charge you about 20 pounds for 15 minutes work. Citroen makes things so difficult that you have to take it tot he garage. How else do they make their money?!

A car with no radio, roof or doors? Wow what is this car you are getting? Getting rid of my Citroen but will really miss it. I wont miss the rattles and teething problems that tecdhnicians are incapable to fixing. Also fed up of having to arrange an appointment on a monthly basis. Saxo - had to take it in first week of having it. Same for C3 - DOZEN VISITS IN FIRST 8 MONTHS! First Xsara - had to to bring it back 18 hours of taking delivery of it. Current Xsara - too many little niggles but most "reliable" one Changing it for a BMW. Citroen gotta look long and hard about customer relations, workmanship and build quality. Low prices is of no use if the product is shabby.

Finally parting with my Citroen Xsara after 18 months. Was going to keep it for another 5 years but the cost of running it plus the final value of it meant I would lose a lot of money. I also feel that even though its driven gently, somethings gonna cave in and would land me with a 4 figure bill. Citroens are great value but we know they recoup the money by what they charge for servicing. Done 30000 miles in 18 months and the 25+37.5k service set me back about £500 and £350 respectively. Bought the car as a second hand buy in Feb 2004 for £8000. Now it is worth half that. I will forever be tempted by a C4 but I will never trust a Citroen again. The electrics are cack and the service and workmanship lags behind a lot except Fiat, Pug, Renault (Rubbish), Merc and Alfa..... This Xsara has been the best Cit I have driven by a country mile and I hope the next owner appreciates it as much as I did.

The Pluriel is a very badly put together car with problems of water leakage rife thanks to its poorly fitted roof which incidentally the dealers are incapable of fixing and start taking the pi55 out of you by claiming the doors were left open. If the boot explains the aquarium in the boot then what explains the stain on the seat? That roof!!!! Imagine their attitude if it was your fault? Some pluriels are fine.........but they are few and far between. Look if I were you I would withdraw the deposit because the niggles associated with running a Pluriel is just not worth it. SOme have had to go through hell getting their money back or even a response from Citroen UK. Ask for the deposit back and run as fast as you can Buy something Japanese or if you must, a Citroen with a metal roof.

Crikey a response 2 years on......... Errrr no I am not a Xantia driver but a Xsara owner so that should, in theory, qualify me for slightly higher status? Maybe not. The XM looked nice but everything in it ie engine, electrics and suspension were unreliable.

The Saxo 1.5d compared with latest small engines is prehistoric. The 1527 cc had: 1: Indirect injection compared to high pressure common rail fuel injection units. 2: No turbo, no intercooler. 3: Been coupled to a very short petrol engine type gearbox (top gear equalled 22mph per 1000rpm when most are 25-33mph per 1000 rpm) 4: Required services every 6000 miles rather than 12.500 or most recently every 20,000 miles 5: Reasonably fuel efficient at 53 mpg - the same as an old Xsara Hdi 110. The 1,4 Hdi in a C2 musters 69 mpg. The engine generated only 58bhp and kicked as much carbon dioxide as a Citroen 2.0 Hdi 90. Even unit would fail Euro III let alone Euro IV! However it was the "best" small engine available in the them days. Other manufacturers did have similar specced engines at the time but despite bigger engine capacities they were no quicker than Citroens. Says a lot!!!!! Bl00dy awful! Now we have 1.4 diesel engines kicking out 90 bhp.12 years ago to have a 1.9 kicking out the same amount would have been big news! Which engine is faster, cleaner and more fuel efficient? I rest my case. With all these factors gobbled up

Mav I hear that the reason why the CD players play up is because they are not earthed? Is this just confined to dashboard fitted players? I had a problem with my old C3's player when selecting the radio after playing CD's, the unit did not retain the station setting but always set itself on "98.00" I was tempted to replace it with the tape player that was standard on lesser trims and have the dashboard mounted CD multichanger. However at a cost of £600 for the whole set, it was a lot of money for a toy shop interior and furthermore I'd never get my money back. The gripe was very frustrating and typically the garage was clueless in figuring the problem out.