Hello Peeps

[cannaman]

Hi there,

 

I have just paid a ridiculously high price to join the C5 fraternity by buying a 2002 C5 1.8 LX with only 15K genuine miles - always garaged and in totally imaculate condition! Now you might be wondering why anyone would be stupid enough to do this so I will add a brief explanation:-

 

I live in the south of France and return occasionally to the UK to house sit for my sisters dog and cats, this is a very convenient reciprocal arrangement as she does the same for me when I regularly pop off to tick the various boxes on my lifes bucket list. Just over a year ago I bought a 2001 Rover 75 V6 connoiseur with very low mileage to drive at home in France ( love it, great car) so when I decided to find a car to keep at my sisters instead of hiring a car every time I visit, I was looking for another low mileage, well kept big car that would satisfy my touring needs for perhaps 4-6 weeks a year. As a keen Biker ( I ride a Beautiful Goldwing all over Europe and keep a very loud Yamaha Wildstar to pose at the various coffee shops locally when the sun is out (most of the time), so I did consider keeping a bike in the UK - look out of your window to see why I decided against doing that and bought a car instead.

 

I wish I could say that I had carefully considered which manufacturer and model I would buy, I did not, I simply bought on a whim the oldest, lowest mileage car that was up for auction on the day the whim took me - my wife had owned a C3 for 8 years and she had been very happy with it, so I suppose it was not a completely virgin choice. I must admit that I have been rather disappointed to find that the car seems to have a very poor press regarding its reliability and this sort of explains why I have decided to join the club - in anticipation of perhaps some future issues that I will have to deal with on the rare occasions that the C5 is trotted out onto the British roads. I enjoy tinkering about with cars and bikes (retired, what else is there to do) although I am no great expert when it comes to electrical issues ( which is probably a bit unfortunate as most of the issues on the C5 seem to involve electrics) but like everyone else I just hate the Gallic shrugs and sharp intake of breath that seems to follow whenever you take your 4 or 2 wheeled steed to the local garage. I guess I may be slightly better off than some as I live in the C5's homeland and getting parts and spares could be a bit less expensive especially if the come from a scrap yard. Also, the 1.8 lx seems to have a lot less buttons and whistles to go wrong in the first place, so I live in hope that it will confound the pundits and be as reliable as my old rover is.

 

Sorry for the lengthy introduction, however, it may help you experts to understand my simplistic and dim questions should they arise over the coming months and hopefully years :o)

[Johndouglas]

I must admit that I have been rather disappointed to find that the car seems to have a very poor press regarding its reliability

Hello & welcome to the forum. Yes - for some reason Citroen cars are perceived by the UK general public to be unreliable and not in the least desirable. Recently I posted on another forum about the difficulty I had in folding my electric mirrors when I had towing mirrors attached. One reply was "to leave it unlocked. After all, it's only a Citroen." To my mind they are no worse than any other car on the market. That must be true - I've been running Citroens now for 24 years.

[paul.h]

We changed to Citroens 10 years ago and they have been the most reliable cars we have owned, as well as low cost maintenance. They also do not seem to rust unlike some other more popular cars. On the C5 Technical section there is a pinned topic on Common Problems which is worth looking at. If you do your own maintenance the Haynes manual is worth having. Probably only unusual maintenance needed will be the rear brake calipers corrode where they contact the suspension arms so they need removing/cleaning up and greasing on a frequent basis. There is a pinned topic on this also.

 

If the C5 is not regularly used, you will find the battery goes flat in about 4 weeks and need charging up. It is not a sign of a problem, just the car alarm/electrics/suspension pump seem to use a lot of power. So if your car will not be used, it may pay to disconnect the battery or use a charger that can be left connected. Probably also it may pay to leave the handbrake off - it works on the front brakes, but like any car, the pads could rust on to the discs and stick if not regularly used, especially if they get wet.

[cannaman]

Hi Guys,

 

Thank you for the excellent advice regarding the regular maintainance of the C5, I will certainly be obtaining a copy of the Haynes manual and am proposing to connect a solar powered battery charger/maintainer during the periods that the car is not in use - fortunately my sister will start and run it regularly to ensure that the engine gets warmed through and the oil gets circulated.

 

The car will not be used during the winter and will therefore not suffer from the attack of salt that damages the undercarriage so much, I am hoping that this combined with the very low mileage that I expect to add will mean that the brakes will not be subject to too much corrosion. I will leave the handbrake off as advised.

 

My wifes C3 was an excellent car and proved to be extremely reliable over the years that she owned it, although it did benefit from being kept for the majority of its life in the south of France and was not forced to endure the rigors of a British winter. I expect I will bring the citroen home to France after a couple of years in the UK as hopefully we will have toured the various UK sites on our bucket list by then - it can have a gentle retirement in the sunshine and enjoy an occasional holiday in Spain and Portugal.

 

I have been browsing round the site and would like to complement you all on its format and the quality of the advice given, There probably is a good French web site for Citroen cars as the French certainly do seem to favour their own cars and the vast majority of the cars I see around my home region are local brands. There is a small and very enthusiastic group of UK  car and motorcycle owners groups who hold regular meetings throughout France, so the traffic is definitely two way.

[grin factor]

Greetings & welcome to the forum.

A friend of mine has a brother who lives in Germany and for many years has ran Citroens. He tells many stories of unreliable German cars, BM's & VW's and has never had a problem with any of his Citroens. It makes me wonder why they do get a bad press.