Citroen C4 - Good choice for my first car?

gilbert_and_sullivan

stamina9008 wrote: »

Thanks for replying guys, but, Honda Jazz..?

Lol really?

I want reliability, yes, but they look like mobility cars..

You're in for a lifetime of motoring grief if you buy on looks as the priority, people often make that mistake when they choose partners, and there's another lifetime of grief to be enjoyed.

sinbad182

More sage life advice from the joyless, dead inside members of MSE.

'Stick to cars and partners you find ugly - it's safer that way'

gilbert_and_sullivan

And some fell on stony, covered in make up, ground.

bigjl

Many people have no problem whatsoever with Citreons and indeed Renaults.

My parents had many Peugeots and Renaults over the years. All were troublefree.

All cars have problems.

Even Hondas and Toyotas.

Biggest risk with French cars are tightwad owners who break something and bodge it and sell the car on.

The new owners then head to the internet and moan about it.

But if you have a look at a few owners forums you will see that reliability issues are just part of life.

The French tend to stick to french cars and you are not treated to a sea of broken down cars across the channel.

It is always a good idea to keep the number of electrical gizmos to a minimum as they tend to be the cause of most issues on cars.

Stevefromdonny

If I can spring to the defence of the 1.6HDi engine on this old thread . . . I just got rid of a 1.6HDi C4 (the 90bhp one, not the remapped 110). I have to say it never skipped a beat and was extremely reliable. Only reason I got rid was because the clutch was on its last legs (on 96,000 miles) and the timing belt would need doing soon as well. I just bought a DS4 with the 110bhp 1.6HDi engine and hope it will live as long as the C4 did! The only electrical problem I had with the C4 was the cruise control had an intermittent fault, but it didn't bother me - when do we get chance to use CC on British roads??? Started first time, every time, even at 15 degrees below and 8 inch of snow on the road.

RumRat

Stevefromdonny wrote: »

If I can spring to the defence of the 1.6HDi engine on this old thread . . . I just got rid of a 1.6HDi C4 (the 90bhp one, not the remapped 110). I have to say it never skipped a beat and was extremely reliable. Only reason I got rid was because the clutch was on its last legs (on 96,000 miles) and the timing belt would need doing soon as well. I just bought a DS4 with the 110bhp 1.6HDi engine and hope it will live as long as the C4 did! The only electrical problem I had with the C4 was the cruise control had an intermittent fault, but it didn't bother me - when do we get chance to use CC on British roads??? Started first time, every time, even at 15 degrees below and 8 inch of snow on the road.

CC is one of the last things I'd get rid of on my car. Love it on longer journeys and in those long roadworks on the motorways to stay at 50mph for the ASC's...

IamNotAllowedToUseMyName

RumRat wrote: »

CC is one of the last things I'd get rid of on my car. Love it on longer journeys and in those long roadworks on the motorways to stay at 50mph for the ASC's...

Have to second the vote for a good cruise control, though there are some poor ones. They are a great way to resist motorway speed creep, where over a journey you find that you speed up to pass a car running at a similar speed and then you don't quite slow down, and then you come on another car going just a little slower so you speed up... etc.

The Mercedes speedtronic system is perfect because it has a speed limiter system too so it helps in towns and heavy traffic to stop you drifting over the speed limit. Let's you concentrate on the road rather than the speedo. On an auto, the Merc system will use the gearbox to hold the car back.

UncleZen

The cc problem mentioned above is well known on the C4

tvstudent

At one point we had 4 citroens in our family - mother went through a large puddle, had to replace the engine. Brother managed to fry the electrics on his, but not before he'd completed a very nice 360 on the Brighton to London road due to the suspension failing. Mine decided it didnt want to start when it rained. Father's car.. numerous little problems. Oh yeah and the C1, that was ok. But its technically not a Citroen so it doesnt count. I currently have a peugeot, and there are more warning lights on than off. It screams stop at me every five minutes when I drive it, the electrics to the starter pump are !!!!!!ed, the passenger seat doesnt fold or slide back. And sometimes the door won't open.

TlDr, french cars are pretty, but !!!!

Ironically though, I'm looking at an Alfa for my next car. I figure it can't be any worse...