Xsara Picasso Really Big Question.

[barrie013]

I am looking to buy a Picasso in the future, but I'm not in any rush. I am going to wait for the right one, that is to say with a full service history and as few owners as possible. I don't care how old the car is or even what spec it is, but I have a few concerns about which engine to get. It seems to boil down to a 1.6 or 1,8 petrol, and a 1.6 or 2.0 diesel, both called 'HDi'.

Assuming that I still have a few brain cells left, I believe that the HDi engines will be the common rail type, and I've never had any dealings with this type of engine and this is where the advice is needed. What are these engines like for reliability, economy and costs of replacement parts, and can you work on them yourself, does it need a garage, or do they have to go to main dealers ?

Some idea of trim levels would be helpful too. Not a great fan of gadgets (electric driver's door mirror, set it once and leave it forever) so what do you think is important, and what do you wish you had ?

I owned a 1.6i for a while and really liked the way it drove and the comfort as well as the idiosyncratic dashboard, but I really didn't like the ridiculous reflections in the windscreen on a sunny day, rare as such a thing is in South Wales.

All advice and comments will be welcomed, 

Many thanks for reading this far...

[coastline taxis]

AVOID THE 1.6 HDI LIKE THE PLAGUE.  they are prone to turbo failure and expensive to do the replacement job correctly.  Go for the 2 litre hdi very reliable and dosnt have big running costs. the earlier 8 valve engines dosnt suffer from the sticking injector problem that the later 16 valve engine does. but both of the 2 litre engine,s will give you good economy and relability and performance. weve got a couple with 25ok on them and never missed a beat.   No matter what you get if you want to try any kind of repair youl need a diagnostic machine and the prices vary for these a quick check on ebay under citroen diagnostic will give you better info. 

[paul.h]

We had a 2005 2.0 hdi Picasso and it was reliable, gave about 45 mpg but was not too good at towing a caravan (you need a C5 for that). Check for water ingress into the rear footwell under floor cupboards and also under the driver's seat. You may also need to look for corrosion since the other day I saw one with a big welded patch on the passenger side sill. Check the underneath spare wheel has not disappeared since they can be stolen if the locking bolt is not fitted. Check all the electrics work and the dash display works.

 

From memory, since we changed the car in 2008, I found the driver's seat base knee roll was a bit big and after an hour could suffer from pins and needles in the legs, plus the central console was a bit wide so you could not sit with your left leg straight forward and possibly the steering wheel may have been off centre compared to the seat. I also vaguely remember problems of dash reflections. Being a tall car it could roll on bends.

 

Also have a look on the Picasso forum, there is a link to it on the home page.