hertsnminds

Found a new C3 trick yesterday. Having filled up with fuel and 6 lights on the guage I drove about 80 miles, at about 60 the first light went out, as usual. Then I parked the can on a hill sideways (it was in a car park) so the passenger side of the car was lower than the drivers side. When I started up the fuel guage was back to 6 lights and stayed there for another 60 miles. This meant the MAX indicator thought there was a further 410 miles in the tank (it's usual full reading) even after travelling 80 miles. Now I would be very pleased to get 500 miles from one tank but with the average MPG reading its usual 44 this is not going to happen. So now I am going to have to guess when I am low on fuel (or work it out from the trip milage). Just hope things reset at the next fill up. Ian Orange 03 Senso

I use the handbrake much more with sensodrive. One thing to be careful of when using the gears to brake, do NOT put your foot on the brake pedal too heavily. I was going down a steep hill yesterday and was in 1st car was in gear and slowing itself on the gears until I was near the bottom when I put my foot on the brake....instant declutch and increase in speed! And yes slow speed manouvers like parking and turning in the road are much more dangerous as you don't know when the clutch is going to kick in and out. Interesting that newer automatics have NO handbrake at all, they expect the auto system to hold the car on hills. Ian Orange 03 Senso

Yes clutch judder does seems to be fairly common on sensodrives and can be made more pronounced by certain driving styles. The gearbox is also supposed to adapt to your driving style. Not sure how long it takes to adapt, but if you change the type of journies you are doing or if different people are driving the car then it will be constantly changing how it works. The more you drive it the less it seems to judder, or maybe the more you drive it the more you get used to adjusting your driving style to the sensodrive. Whichever it is, practise makes perfect. Ian Orange 03 Senso

Thankfully I did not buy my Pluriel new, so I only paid just over 9k for it with 5000 miles on the clock. The fact that Citroen knocked 2k off the price after 6 months has not helped residual values. You can pick up brand new 1.6 Pluriel for about £11.5k from the car supermarkets Citroen website has the offical price as £13,795 but the cashback deal makes them £12,295 If you choose the elect 3 payment calculator and select a Pluriel they give a ZERO final payment i.e. Citroen believe the Pluriel has ZERO value after 2 years :blink: Monthly payments are over £500 so you have paid the lot in the 2 years Choose any other model C3, Berlingo etc etc and you get final payment figures: 5 Door C3 1.6 Senso, up 12k miles a year over 2 years, initial price £12,745, final payment (future value) £5,697 Well the Vauxhall dealer was able to offer £500 off the Tigra list so even on a brand new car they had some room to manouvre. (They had a free air con deal worth £500 and now they are doing free insurance) Ian Orange 03 Senso

Well there probably is an offical Citroen workshop manual for all Citroen dealers but they will never sell that to the public. It takes Haynes at least 5 years of a car being introduced before they consider a manual for it and even then the car has to sell in certain volumes for them to write a manual. Seeing as there are no Pluriel owners (or very few) who have managed 20,000 miles (with all the time they spend in dealers having recalls done) it is not likely anyone has actually had to perform a service on a Pluriel. However, what Fiat barchetta owners did in response to lack of Haynes or any other helpful guide was to set up a website of technical information where owners contribute write ups of jobs they have performed on the car. You can see the pages here http://www.fiatbarchetta.com/btech/ If people want to send me technical projects they have undertaken on their Pluriel I can add a technical section to the Pluriel owners website I have set up at http://www.c3pluriel.org.uk/ And we can share each others knowledge and experience. Ian Orange 03 Senso

Went to have a look at the new Vauxhall Tigra today (just out of interest) and got the following values for my Pluriel July 2003, 1.6 Senso, in Orange with 14,000 miles (no extras) Book value £7,300 Trade-in against a new Tigra (cost about £15k) £6,000 Private sale £8,000 Ian Orange 03 Senso

It is possible that it is an existing recall that your car has missed out on rather than a new one. you can have a look on this website http://www.c3pluriel.org.uk/ In the questions section there is a recall codes link and a how to check what recalls have been done to your car. When you get the upgrade done it would be helpful if you could ask your dealer for the code (not all of them put the stickers on) and let me know then I can add it to the list on the website. Thanks. Ian Orange 03 Senso

The mpg or l/100km indicator is pretty much just an instant economy meter. It shows how much load the engine is under. 30 mph uphill in 3rd gear will give a different reading to 30 mph downhill in the same gear. If you are breaking and going downhill the engine is under zero load hence a reading of 0.0 l/100km or in the UK 999.9 mpg. As for the Average readings these are not mentioned at all in the owners handbook and they average from the time they were last reset. To find out how to reset the averages see this website http://www.c3pluriel.org.uk/ and look in the TIPS section All of the indications (fuel gauge, mpg or l/100km and the averages) seem to be very inacurate. The one thing that seems to be very acurate is the speed reading usually about 1 or 2 mph out compared to my GPS reading Ian Orange 03 Senso

You do not need to zero the trip computer when you zero the averages. I think the averages are zeroed against where the odometer is. But it is obviously easier for you to know how many miles things are averaging over if you do. Why not ask the dealers service manager if he would like you to train his mechanics in how to use the trip computer/average functions of the whole C3 and C2 range (they all work the same way). I would charge them twice the hourly rate that they charge for labour as you will be the skilled technician! I would consider using a different dealer to fix your next problem (and for any servicing work). Any Citroen delaer can be used for a warranty repair, it is only if one dealer has started to fix something that another will not take it on. Ian Orange 03 Senso

A car will fail the MOT with the ABS warning light on, it will also fail if the light or the ABS system has been disabled as this is specified safety equipment in the manufacturers homologation papers (all the the legal stuff which let's them sell that spec of vehicle in the UK). If you modify the vehicle from the manufacturers spec you will have to get it re-certified and tell your insurance company of the mods you have made. If you do not do either of these things you will be driving an unroadworthy vehicle with NO insurance. I had a BX where the ABS warning light came on, having fixed the sensor I was told it was the ABS control unit. so both parts of the system had to be replaced. I was covered by a 3rd party warranty but they claimed that the 2nd fix (for the control unit) was a 2nd repair, even though the 1st repair had not fixed the problem. If you do have to pay for a new control unit your best bet is to search the scrap dealers as new units are expensive. Ian Orange 03 Senso (Pluriel)

How about this for curing the rattle... Record the sound on to tape or CD then play it over and over on a very loud ghetto blaster in the dealers showroom until they tell you it is NOT annoying or they fix it! Ian Orange 03 Senso

I suspect it is BS too that is why letting all the major motoring organisations know what BS is being punted out as sound advice will show up the dealership as the plonkers they are. Maybe we need a BS quote of the week thread... "They all do that sir" "We are waiting for the parts" "This is the first time we have seen that" "You need to push down on the door for it to shut correctly" "I can't hear any noise Madam" etc etc etc Ian Orange 03 Senso

Given that Citroen claim to have made around 10,000 Pluriel in 2003 and have the capacity to make up to 25,000 a year you are seeing a small proportion of owners comments on this forum. It is possible to find bad examples of any type of car, you just have to search the internet with a car name and the word FAULT or PROBLEM. As has been mentioned it is not so much that things can go wrong but how you are treated by your dealer when they do. As more are sold and start to be serviced (remember not many have reached 20,000 miles yet) then the dealers should become better. There is NO other 4 seater soft top that can carry a garden shed and you will never mistake a Pluriel for any other car on the road. So if you are looking for a versatile car with loads of character you have made the right choice. Ian Orange 03 Senso

You can reset the Average MPG and MPH anytime you want to, that way you know what they are averaging over. If you NEVER reset them they average over the total miles the car has done. For a step by step guide see this web site http://www.c3pluriel.org.uk/ and look in the TIPS section. I have a GPS that tells me my average MPH over a journey and when it is compared to the cars figures the GPS give me between 5 and 10 mph higher averages. Even after a reset just before a motorway trip the average MPH never seems to go above 60 mph. It is a shame that Citroen decided not to include any information about the average functions in the owners handbook. Ian Orange 03 Senso

If this is the case then this sounds like a SERIOUS safety problem and would warrant a Citroen recall of all vehicles fitted with that engine and oil filler cap. It would be interesting to know what the AA or RAC have to say about how safe a car with hot oil being sprayed over the engine and an empty sump is. I would write a letter to the Motor Manufacturers Association cc The AA, The RAC, Citroen, Watchdog, Top Gear and the Service Manager of the dealership that informed you of this KNOWN ISSUE and then see what response you get. Ian Orange 03 Senso (Pluriel)

Hi Jenny As you will have seen from other postings on this forum the level of service you get from dealers varies a great deal. The best advice I have seen from the various postings is: 1. Keep a detailed diary of all the faults, time taken to fix them etc etc 2. Inform the people you purchased the car from (the elect2 plan finance company) that your consumer rights allow a Citroen garage 3 attempts to fix any 1 fault and after that you can reject the vehicle as unfit i.e not fixable and expect a full refund of any money you have paid (or in most cases a brand new replacement car, that does not have to be a Pluriel) 3. Never give up keep hounding them, go the your loacal CItizens Advice Bureau and find the name of a reputuable solicitor if you have to and start getting them to send letters. I take pictures of all the faults with my car so that when I take it in to the dealer I can show them what has happened, even if the car does not display the fault on the day it is in for repair. Hope you get things sorted Ian Orange 03 Senso

Well I have had 1 reply (thank you Jenny) so there is now a LEMONS section on the Pluriel website http://www.c3pluriel.org.uk/ It lists the cars registration and spec, the date the car was returned and all of the faults the car had. If you know anyone contemplating a Pluriel as their next car it may be an idea to check out the list of lemons. (Assuming I get more than 1 reply and generate a list that is) Ian Orange 03 Senso

Just a thought Would those people who have had full refunds on their Pluriel mind sending me an email with the registration number of the returned car and a list of its faults so I can start a list on the Pluriel website warning potential purchasers about lemons. I am sure dealers will not return the cars to Citroen but just try to sell them on to some unsuspecting new owner. If there is a list people can refer to of the date a car had a full refund given on it with all of it's faults it might prolong the dealers agony by them not being able to sell them on to the public. Ian Orange 03 Senso

I know someone who bought one of the early examples of 206 cc and they were not happy with it, rattles, leaks etc and when the exhuast had to be replaced it was very expensive as it is not a straightforward job. Really depends on your main criteria for the car... Soft/hard top, number of seats, insurance group, engine power, MPG, boot space etc etc etc Assuming a full refund gives you close to 14k you have lots of choices especially if you go for used cars, all of the convertibles below I found for under £14,000 on the autotrader web site: 2000 W reg Audi Cabriolet, convertible or (with only 2 seats) TT 1999 T reg BMW 3 series convertible 1995 M reg Mercedes SL500 convertible 2000 W reg Saab 9-3 convertible 2003 03 reg Vauxhall Astra convertible If you only need 2 seats: 2004 brand new Fiat barchetta 2004 brand new Vauxhall Tigra 2004 brand new Mazda MX-5 2004 04 Ford StreetKa 2000 V reg Honda S2000 1997 R reg Mercedes SLK 2002 02 reg Toyota MR2 Ian Orange 03 Senso

Car went in today to get the passenger door glass catching against the seal fixed and a creaking rear window when it is closed (sounds like the glass is about to crack). The dealer informs me they need some parts, when I asked what parts, they told me window winding motors. So when the parts arrive the car will be going back again to have them fitted. It seems once you start with one thing going wrong you just chain on to the next. Tune in soon for the next installment of...Can you fix my Pluriel? Ian Orange 03 Senso

If you do a search on "why do my brakes squeal" on Yahoo you get sites like those below http://faq.f650.com/FAQs/Brake_Pad_FAQ.htm...%20Squeal%20FAQ http://www.mtbr.com/techtalks/brakes/brakesfaq.shtml http://www.answerbag.com/q_view.php?id=157 With various reasons for brake squeal And if you are looking for kevlar based pads try the EBC web site... http://www.ebcbrakes.com/QandA.html http://www.ebcbrakes.com/Automotive.html The Greenstuff pads provide the best balance between stopping power and pad life for normal road conditions I suspect the only type of Citroen with kevlar based pads as standard would be a rally car so blagging some might be a bit tough. Ian Orange 03 Senso

More likey to be the brake pad material and the fact that the rear pads/discs hardly ever get used. Make a point of braking really hard every so often, when it is safe to do so. Also brake hard when reversing as this helps to clean the discs. If you want to cure the squeal forever you will have to change the pads to a kevlar based material. Something along the lines of the following brands Greenstuff, Tarox or Red Dot. This also reduces the amount of brake dust you get on your wheels. If you do change the pads you will have to adjust to the fact that kevlar pads work better the hotter they get. Ian Orange 03 Senso

Just a couple of things... If you are not happy with the service from a particular Citroen dealer go to another one, you can get any problem fixed by any Citroen dealer. If the dealer cannot fix any problem after 3 attempts your consumer rights allow you to reject the vehicle as faulty (not repairable) and you can request a refund or brand new replacement vehicle. (This hint from the Pluriel section of the forum, where vehicle rejection is more common than most). Ian Orange 03 Senso (Pluriel)

or to coin a phrase... Ian Orange 03 Senso

Found this concept on the Citroen website http://www.citroen.fr/technologie/index.ph...a6e5575065e37d6 http://www.citroen.fr/technologie/technologie//CC1.jpg http://www.citroen.fr/technologie/technologie//CC2.jpg Ian Orange 03 Senso (Pluriel)