Auto Or Senso?

[shallishanti?]

My wife has set her heart on a C3 in Tuscan Blue. She will only drive an auto.

 

Are there many issues with the auto box on the 1.4 SX?

 

How does it compare to the Sensodrive for reliability?

 

There is an 02 plate auto with 40k miles on it in a dealer near where I work. Approved Used Citroen car with 12 month warranty. The right colour. £5k. Any opinions?

[iannez]

some ppl love senso drive and some ppl hate them. it is a standard manual box with a motor that changes gear and a actuator that works the clutch so can still suffer from worn clutches pressure plates and can be a pain to reverse park as it hard to judge biting point and if throttle is pressed to hard will leap forward or backwards. it has the bonus of being 5 speed. the auto box is a lot smother and virtually maintanence free apart from the odd oil change but only has 4 gears. if i bought one for me i would buy senso drive. if it was for better half it would be fully auto. she realy needs to drive a senso to be sure and dont forget to get her to try and reverse park it (on a hill if she's feeling brave) to be sure.

[Guest CE05LDB]

My Brother had nothing but trouble with his C3 1.4i SX Auto. It had to have a new Gear Box at 2 years old. It was going into snow mode all the time on its own which it shouldn't do.

 

The Fuel Consumption is better on a Sensodrive aswell.

 

Well I did a journey of 140 miles to West Wales and back in my 05 C3 1.6i 16v Exclusive Sensodrive and it only used a quater of a tank where as my Brothers last C3 SX Auto would be on the red by the time he would get home.

 

With Snsodrive aswell it has the paddles by the wheel where you can change the gears. Its great. I don't think id could go back to a fully Automatic car now.

 

I was talking to a a guy up the Citroen Garage back last year who had a 05 C3 1.4i SX Auto and had done nearly 13,000 miles but was only averaging 25mpg. Now mine on short runs average between 35 - 40mpg. On long runs it averages between 45 - 55mpg. Its show the difference between fuel conumption in a Sensodrive and fully Automatic dosen't it.

[iannez]

yes m8. the senso drive is a lot better on fuel due to the 5 speed box if driven in manual mode but they have there fair share of probs. theres a lot more sensos on the road so a lot more come through the garage with gearbox probs than autos. the senso drive is a load of fun on twisty backroads (not having to take hands of wheel to change gear) and sounds great when changing down and it blips the throttle but not for every day use for his wife. think the auto would be better for pottering around town and doing the shopping.

[Guest CE05LDB]

Every bodys to their own choice I suppose but my Brother said himelf that my car seemed better well built than his last C3. When over taking The Sensodrive will repond so well where as the 1.4i Auto would take a time to kick down. When over taking my brother or If I drove it would put it in sport mode to get that extra power.

 

To be honest ok its not a bad car for town driving but if your on a tight budget id get the Sensodrive for better fuel and plus the Sensodrive is cheaper on tax than the Automatic. My bothers tax used to be £125 a year where as mine is £105 a year. With The Exclusive aswell get sme nice goodies.

 

My Citroen Dealer also told me a Automatic Gear box for the C3 nealy costs £2000 if anything goes wrong.

 

If I was you I would have a long think.

[hertsnminds]

Best way to choose is a test drive.

 

A senso will roll backwards on a hill an auto will hold itself.

A senso will do nothing until you press the throttle an auto will crawl forward

A senso will pause for 5 seconds and choose snow mode if it is too cold and slippery an auto will just spin the wheels and move off. (This is fun at roundabouts and junctions).

 

 

Ian

Black 55 VTR+

[shallishanti?]

Thanks for all the input. It's very helpful.

 

Overtaking will not be an issue, but simplicity and familiarity will be. The car will only go beyond town driving if I use it for work - her current Micra has covered a whopping 5k miles in 3 years!

 

She's already panicking about a Senso.......what do I do if etc.....so an auto I think it will be.

 

iannez.. do you get many problems on auto C3s coming through your workshop?

[iannez]

can remember one came through over a year ago with the same fault as CE05LDB brother had but this only needed a ecu software update to sort out. apart from that one can not remember any others with probs.

[shallishanti?]

thanks - appreciate your help

[Guest CE05LDB]

The best Citroen Automatic I have driven and this is my car included aswell it has to be the Saxo 1.4i SX Automatic. now my brother will say to this day his Saxo 1.6i SX Automatic was the best car he has ever owned. I wasn't old enough to drive when he had that but I remember it never having a fault.

 

He used to call that Saxo a tank and to be honest it was it was solid well built car. But these last 3 Citroens he have had something have always gone wrong.

 

Now his C3 1.4i SX Auto nearly killed me when I was driving it.

 

I have posted what happend to me on here. It happen in Summer 2003 and I still have nightmares about it now. Thats one of the reasons why I went for the Sensodrive.

 

When it went and run perfect it was a nice car to drive. I just felt a I maintained it for my brother the car didn't like all this town driving It wasn't so bad on the flat but the hills it used to struggle.

 

If you buy it make sure it has had the Front Suspension Caps upgrade as it was an important recall.

 

I like the C3 1.4i SX Auto but I don't think id own one not after what happen to me in it. I wouldn't mind having a go of the New Style C3 1.6i 16v SX Auto though.

 

No offence I hate Nissan Micras we had one as courtesy Car once the Automatic version my sister drove it and hated it the Saxo and the C3 put it to shame.

[danielsydney]

The standard Auto in the C3 is the 4 speed AL4 that is the PSA gearbox. A few early C2 in Australia had weird issues with the sensodrive doing weird things. I have heard it is very dear to repair also. If its treated well it works well in the full auto mode the C3.