New Lad Signing In

[grin factor]

Good evening.

Just joined as I'm probably about to buy a C4. Took a test drive in one yesterday, 16 month old 12k mils on, was an Avis rental but being sold by a Citroen dealer who say it is fine.

Car drove ok, a bit noisey on hard acceleration, and box a bit clunky.

I am a tad bothered about it being a rental car as it will have been driven by all and sundry, but it looks ok. Should I have concerns, or am I worrying too much. I will be using it to tow a caravan also

Thanks.

[paul.h]

Welcome to the forum.

 

You will probably find most used cars around a year old for sale are ex rental and ones privately owned are likely to be kept for a few years. Main thing is to check the car over, note anything you are not happy about and get it in writing on the sales paperwork so it is sorted as part of the deal. Your warranty is likely to be the remainder of the original 3 year Citroen warranty.

 

Which model/engine does the car have ? It might not have been serviced yet since the 1.6 hdi interval is 12500 miles and used to be 2 years if sooner but may now be 1 year. Petrol engines may be 20000 miles or 2 years. So I would insist the car has a service if not recently done.

 

We have a 2011 1.6 hdi 110 bhp C4 and that drives well, I do not notice any unusual noises but it did have a vibration/rattle which turned out to be the engine air intake pipe and is a common problem which needs a tie wrap to stop it. Gear changes seem smooth also but it may depend on your existing car for a comparison.

 

The handbook gives the kerb weights and towing weights and you can read/print/save a copy of it on the service.citroen site - select your language, then handbook pack and then the car http://service.citroen.com/pages/index.jsp

[grin factor]

Thanks for that Paul, much appreciated. The one we looked at us 115 hdi.

It seems strange to have a 110 & 115 bith having the same torque figure, unless I'm missing something.

Again, thanks for the welcome & info,

[paul.h]

The 110 was replaced by the 115, so Citroen must have tweaked it a bit to get more power. The C4 is one of the better cars we have had and makes a good motorway car being comfy and economical, giving around 60 mpg on long motorway runs or a bit more depending on the wind direction.

 

We have not used it to pull a caravan but it is not that heavy. From the handbooks for cars to 31/8/2014 for the 110 bhp 1.6 hdi (115 not listed) it gives about 1350 kg kerb weight inc 75 kg for the driver (mass in service), so you would be limited to a caravan about 1100 kg although its towing limit is 1300 kg or a bit more if the car is not fully loaded - but this depends on the gearbox.

[grin factor]

Cheers Paul.

We found another C4 with the sunroof today and managed to do a deal on it.  Pick it up 1st December.

On the test drive it was so much smoother than the ex-rental so I think it must have had a hard first year.  We are well pleased with the deal & the book shows it as 115 bhp with a kerb weight of 1440, so its perfect for us.

Thanks again

[paul.h]

I have just checked the car weights in the handbooks and the sales brochures and there is a difference. The handbooks, including the one with our C4, all have the mass in service as about 1350 kg and the sales brochures as 1440 kg, even old ones from 2010 with the 110 bhp engine. Our car registration document V5C has the mass in service as 1440 kg. So they can not all be right. If the weight of your caravan is borderline for towing, it may pay to check the car on a weighbridge.

[grin factor]

Thats interesting Paul. One of the reasons for chosing the C4 was the weight, the car I have now weight 1350, and the vans unladen weight is 1165. We don't put much in the van other than sleeping bags, cups & the battery, so probably at 1220 or there abouts. 

Looks like I'll be looking for a weighbridge.

Thanks for the info.