Citroen Xsara or Toyota Corolla

conradmum

DH and I can't decide between the above two cars for our new (second hand) car. Same age and mileage. Which would you buy?
And I'm not telling you who wants which so you can't take sides!

pennies2pounds_3

Having owned a corolla I would say one of those . Have had mine for a year now with no trouble whatsoever . If you go to any website which deals with car reviews ie autotrader - which? and so on I think you will find that the corolla comes out pretty much on top of the xsara everytime in terms of reliability, depreciation , ownership , and general runnig costs including servicing HTH.

chrisw

I've just received the Which? Car 2005/6.

Xsara - 'Does't win any popularity contests and there isn't much to commend it. Less than £2000 will get you an early model but even at that price give it a wide berth.'

Corolla (Jun 97-Dec01) - BEST USED BUY. 'Thoroughly dependable. However, driving position and instrument layout could be better and it isn't the most spacious or comfortable of cars.'

Corolla (from Dec 01) - BEST BUY. 'Popular with owners and cracking reliability. Great drive and apart from the limited boot space, it's hard to fault.'

I guess the Corolla wins.

Tharweb

Toyota every time!

Just changed from a Toyota Avensis (I loved that car ) for a Citroen Xsara Picasso. :doh:

blue_haddock

For the same amount of money you will get a newer Xsara than a corolla but the corolla will work out cheaper in the long run.

conradmum

Thanks for your responses guys. Looks like hubby's right (again!).
Shame it's red though.

Ronn1e_2

I have a Toyota Corolla diesel and just love it. It is reliable, comfortable and returning 61.1 mpg.

I would have no hesitation in recommending it and I believe all in the trade would do likewise.

jjames_3

The thing about the Xsara is that it is such cracking value for money. They're not the best cars in the world, but they are fundamentally fairly sound and oh, so cheap.

You're comparing apples with oranges really. The Xsara is a sensible cheap car. The Corolla is just a sensible car period.

I see the Xsara (and other Citroens come to that) as competing with the Korean cars rather than Japanese ones to be fair. They're cheap, not especially sought-after, but very very competitive second hand. I personally would favour the Hyundai et al over a Citroen due to the Japanese-based engineering, but I can see the appeal of the Citroen marque, more so than the other French cars if I'm being honest.

carly

Corolla wins hands down. Had seven in the last 29 years with just one problem with the engine management system in a 10 year old model.

Wouldnt touch citroen, my sister has one and has had loads of niggles with it.

shellsuit

Citroen's have notoriously bad build quality problems with all their cars. Been a long time since i heard anything good about it to be honest. The diesel engines are really very good though.

Toyota's are as reliable as rain on a bank holiday. Bullet proof and better built that the french mobile.

Remember though that both are foreign cars and if anything does need doing to them then it will cost a lot more than say a ford focus or vauxhall astra. Out of the 2 the toyota should be more reliable but will cost more than the citroen for any repairs so it should even itself out between the 2 over a longish period


HTH

jjames_3

The Toyota Corolla is no more a foreign car than a Focus or Astra. It's built in the UK, and the Focus these days isn't, and Ford/Vauxhall are foreign companies (both US firms, the Vauxhall is nothing more than a rebadged Opel which is a traditionally German marque and Ford's design team are based on the continent these days as well, and the Zetec engine is Japanese (Yamaha)).

It could therefore be argued that the Focus at least is the foreign car and not the Corolla. It's the only one with hardly any British input.