red bug

Hi my wife is now on her third C1 (or forth if you count the one that when it arrived was a 3 door and not a 5 door) and she has had no problems with any of the door seals unlike some members have. The front tyres last around 20000 miles so the ones on the car may only be good for another 5000 miles, bonnet can suffer with stone chips. Rear silencer box seems to rust badly after around 3 years. Front seats on the 3 door cars don’t return to set point after tipping for a rear passenger 2 of our friend’s wish they had got the 5 door version for this very reason. No central locking on vibe but easy to fit (see other posts). Her new c1 now almost a year old is the only one to have a couple of rattles, one in boot and one in passenger seat belt mechanism which should be put right next week when the car goes in for its first service. The wife still loves the car and they have all been reliable.

I fitted a central locking system to my wifes first C1 also a 5 door(now on her 3rd), points I found on fitting:- From start to finish it took 6 hours to fit. Problems encountered in fitting the kit were few. A few tips from fitting the kit below. 1. Removal of window winder handle. Removal of the clip that holds it on is one of those !*!! moments and I found to be the worst part of the whole job. 2. Finding 12v power. I gave up trying to find a suitable place to take the 12volt supply from inside the car and ran a wire direct to battery with fuse at battery end. In the engine bay I used black plastic pipe that matched in with the other electrical wires. 3. Wiring in door. Make sure the wires that run in front doors to the solenoid go behind window channel as not to catch window when it is wound down. 4. Removal of plastic trim. The foot well plastic trim is very easy to damage be very careful. Removal of plastic trim below upper seat belt fixing point (for running wires to rear doors on 5 door model) undo screws and pull off door rubbers in the area of the trim as the trim is clipped behind the rubber. 5. Receiver position. I fitted the receiver behind the small flat area of grey plastic under the steering column. 6. Plastic door cards. After removing screws (and on the front doors the window winder which is a real pain to remove) I found they needed quite a sharp jolt to the bottom of the door card to start the removal process. Once the door card started to come away I used screw driver to help the removal of the clips in the centre of the card. 7. Mounting of solenoids. I found it easer to drill small mounting holes in the inner door skin rather than try and use the mounting strips provided. These are not seen once the door cards are replaced. I found one extra hole was required for front doors as I could use an existing hole and drilled two holes for the rear doors. 8. Door card modification. On the door cards fitted to the front doors I needed to cut away some of the internal plastic of the door card as it fouled the new solenoids. I also noticed that there seems to be a mounting point for door speakers. 9. Wiring. Wiring through doors and through door pillars very easy as car already has rubber grommets in place which can be popped out and holes cut through them, I protected the wires in a plastic sheath in this area. In all quite an easy job (except the window winder handle) that was still working well when we replaced the car after 3 years with a new c1.

Well what can I say the blue bug was just under a year old when it got hit :unsure: from behind and has now gone. Blue bug went into main dealer for repair but to cut a long story short they ended up buying it from us after a poor repair so we have now got a new green bug VTR+. I have now learnt a great deal about the construction of the C1 and what hard to spot problems can happen to the body from a rear end collision. All I can say is if your bug is rear ended hard enough to crease the boot floor make sure the car is inspected very carefully. Well you may ask is the VTR+ any different from the old VTR well in short no the only difference is yet another slight change to the wheel trims, leather seats and some internal trim in now black. I also think the car is becoming expensive MRRP is now just over 10K for this model (5 door metallic VTR+) this is meant to be a cheap city car but is starting to encroach into Fiesta territory. Does the wife still like her bugs well this is her third enough said.

We have just traded my wife’s 5 door C1 vibe in for a 5 door C1 VTR. In 2006 we paid 6.2k we were offered a 5 door Rhythm in red for 6.9k or with metallic paint at 7.3k. The VTR cost us 7.9k OTR with metallic paint so the price increase like for like was £600 in 3 years. I must also mention that px value was almost 4k for our Vibe, if we had purchased the ford KA we had looked at the px value would have been closer to 2.5k, overall I think the C1 has been very good value. The above figures were from a main dealer I expect if you sell privately you will get an even better deal through one of the many internet traders.

First impressions of new style C1. First let me say we had a few tears from the wife the day ‘Red Bug’ went in for PX but once the electric blue VTR was spotted outside the dealership her feelings changed in an instant (love is so fickle). I have to say that I like the new Audi’ish front end (for any one buying the VT version the chrome strip is a cheep optional extra) and the metallic blue colour suits this small car well. The wife has now clocked up almost 2000 miles in 6 weeks so a good time to say a few words. The engine in these new versions has been tweaked to give slightly lower co emissions and slightly more MPG at present it returns around 410 miles per tank but this should improved as engine beds in. I shall let you know once that car has few more miles under its belt if in the ‘real world’ we are experiencing better MPG compared with the last C1. This bug seems to have lost the sporty sounding exhaust note that the last one had plus the engine when driving sounds lot quieter (not sure if this is down to the thick Citroen mats which were fitted for free). Over the years there has been a lot of discussion on door seals (though our last C1 had none problems mentioned in previous posts) and the doors on this new version have a different sound when they are shut so does that mean Citroen is now using a different door seal?. Wife still has no idea what the rev counter is for even though I have tried to explain a few times and I have now given up! I also noticed that the rear foot well seat belt fixing now is fitted with a soft washer to stop the seat belt rattling (I had used a thin foam washer from my sons foam disk gun in the last C1 to stop the rattle). I will once again have this C1 serviced at our local garage as it made no difference to car value at PX time with the last bug (dealer not interested in whom had serviced car as long as a garage stamp and the receipt were in service book), like the last bug we shall have the garage use Citroen parts and follow service schedule in case of any warranty issues. I am very surprised no sporty version has yet been produced of the C1 still that’s a whole new thread.

Last instalment of the wife’s little red bug as we are now awaiting a new C1 to replace her present C1. Mileage is now 43k, the red bug still has no rattles, squeaks or knocks and drives like the day the wife picked it up, the car has never leaked water or had any mechanical problems. It does need yet another set of front tyres and the inside could do with a really good clean but we were offered a really good deal on a VTR in electric blue (the wife had fallen in love with the colour). I was interested in the ’splash’ special addition but the delivery date was around mid July the base colour was white but extra for the blue and with no real discount so it was a non starter. The VTR was offered with free metallic paint some discount and with a 4k px for our 5 door red vibe (we paid just over 6k OTR 3 years ago) the deal was done. I have to agree with the wife that the rev counter looks a bit silly and a bit of an after thought but the seats look a lot nicer than the ones in her vibe. I will end by saying that the C1 has been a great little car and as yet has no real competition for the price or (in our experience) reliability; I hope the next (blue) city bug performs as well as the little red bug. Next instalment will be on first impressions of the new style VTR

To keep up the Citroen warranty our local garage used Citroen parts and has followed the C1 service schedule. The cost of the service went from £170 down to £80, the most expensive service was when on the last service it required new discs and pads again genuine parts were used total cost for the service/discs/pads £200. One area I was expecting to show signs of wear were the seats, but they still looks as good as the day the wife picked up the car. The only other part that has been replaced was the front wiper blade. Our plan was to p/x the car at 3 years old (next May with around 40k on clock) for a new one but with the reliability this car has shown may be we should keep it for another year or 2.

Update on wife’s little city bug with the mileage now at 34k. Since being stung on first service for £170 for just oil change and fluids check (total time for service lees than 25mins) car has been services at our local garage. Front tyres were replaced ant 20k along with one rear due to a nail in side wall other rear tyre was swapped with spare. Front disks and pads changed at 30k service. Car has gained a battle scar or two and seems to collect stone chips some of the cheaper looking plastics have become quite scratched ie trim around internal door handle. Engine still very sweet and still returning in high 50’s low 60’s /gallon. Overall a car I would recommend.

I fitted a central locking system to my wifes C1, I used the Hawke system cost £24 inc postage. Read the end of my post 'C1 Ownership' for a few tips, it was very easy apart from the window winder removal and trying to find a voltage supply.

My wifes C1 is now 2 years old and has never leaked we also have 3 friends 1 has a c1 the other 2 have 107's and they also have never experienced water leaks it does sound like a door alignment problem on a few cars. I hope you can get it sorted soon

My first post on my wifes C1 ownership since May 06 till present Car was purchased new for the wife from main dealer in May 2006, it is the 5 door Vibe we paid an on the road cash price of £6200. Why did we (wife) choose to buy the C1 We looked at the C1, Ford Ka, Kia Picanto and Chevrolet Matiz. Matiz was looked at as it would be a direct replacement for what the wife was already driving, turned down on price (too expensive) and she didn’t like sales person. Picanto was quite good to drive, cheap but controls in wrong places and plastics were very very cheap. Ka was good to drive, very cheap for new car (just over 5k OTR price from main dealer) but only 2 door and seat height very low (wife quite short). On to the C1 wife loved the look, it had the best running costs for a city car (at the time) and its was fun to drive. We got a good deal from the sales person but had to wait for a red 5 door model a total of 5 weeks. After almost 2 years and 25k miles what has it been like to live with. First I must say that it must be remembered that the C1 is a small budget city car which some people on this forum sometimes seem to forget so I shall not be comparing it to my own car (BMW530i). First the wife still loves her little bug and I also have to say that when we go into town that I always take the bug as it is jut great around town and so easy to park. Plus points. Easy to drive all controls light and very easy to park. Cheep to run £35 per year road tax and soon to be exempt from London congestion charge, insurance costs also very low. Good on fuel see below. Five doors, this is a must if you regularly use the back seats. Performance, very nippy feels faster than it really is exhaust note makes it sound quite racy. Keeps up with the traffic on motorways and will quite happily cruise at motorway speeds all day. Enough power to overtake safely unlike the Matiz the wife had before. Seems to be ok in cross winds and when passing HGV’s. Reliable, see below for parts replaced. Negative points. Servicing costs at main dealer, £170 for oil change new filter and top up the fluids time taken for complete service less than 30 minutes my feeling on experience rip off. For the second service car taken to local garage that I use, cost £85 and included using all Citroen parts. Road noise, a lot at motorway speeds. Tyre wear, front tyres replaced at 20k. Radio, poor sound made worse by road noise. After reading other posts may change speakers. First gear quite tall needs to have a few more revs than similar cars to pull away smoothly especially on pulling away on a gradient. As you can see some of the bad points are just niggles along with some of the plus points that may be seen to some as a bad points. A few posts mention fuel consumption, since ownership wife’s C1 in mixed daily driving achieves between 390-420 miles between fuel stops, the car is filled up when the fuel gauge starts to flash, around 31 litres is required to top up the tank which equates to 56-60 MPG. Reliability to date only one headlight bulb has blown which is a far better record than my BMW. The one grumble the wife had compared to her Matiz was that the car did not have central locking, so I fitted a Hawke radio controlled central locking system to her car which cost £24 inc postage. From start to finish it took 6 hours to fit. Problems encountered in fitting the kit were few. A few tips from fitting the kit below. 1. Removal of window winder handle. Removal of the clip that holds it on is one of those !*!! moments and I found to be the worst part of the whole job. 2. Finding 12v power. I gave up trying to find a suitable place to take the 12volt supply from inside the car and ran a wire direct to battery with fuse at battery end. In the engine bay I used black plastic pipe that matched in with the other electrical wires. 3. Wiring in door. Make sure the wires that run in front doors to the solenoid go behind window channel as not to catch window when it is wound down. 4. Removal of plastic trim. The foot well plastic trim is very easy to damage be very careful. Removal of plastic trim below upper seat belt fixing point (for running wires to rear doors on 5 door model) undo screws and pull off door rubbers in the area of the trim as the trim is clipped behind the rubber. 5. Receiver position. I fitted the receiver behind the small flat area of grey plastic under the steering column. 6. Plastic door cards. After removing screws (and on the front doors the window winder) I found they needed quite a sharp jolt to the bottom of the door card to start the removal process. Once the door card started to come away I used screw driver to help the removal of the clips in the centre of the card. 7. Mounting of solenoids. I found it easer to drill small mounting holes in the inner door skin rather than try and use the mounting strips provided. These are not seen once the door cards are replaced. I found one extra hole was required for front doors as I could use an existing and two holes for the rear doors. 8. Door card modification. On the door cards fitted to the front doors I needed to cut away some of the internal plastic of the door card as it fouled the new solenoids. I also noticed that there seems to be a mounting point for door speakers. 9. Wiring. Wiring through doors and through door pillars very easy as car already has rubber grommets in place which can be popped out and holes cut through them, I protected the wires in a plastic sheath in this area. We intend to run the car until it is three years old when we shall trade it in or sell it on to one of our family. Would we buy another C1 the answer at the moment would be yes unless a better option comes along. Would I pay extra on top of base vibe model for any extras if available, again the answer is yes and those being central locking and a better sound system but only if the price were right or it will be out with the drill again.