When is enough enough

monkeysnapper

Bought a Citroen c4 1.4 2006 80k miles in October last year . car is like new and came with 2 years nct . cost 2000

All I wanted was a cheap run around to last 2 years but so far as loads will gladly point out don't buy a French car if reliability is a must .

Got it serviced in January and it needed tie rods, alternator belts , the usual filters and oil , bill came to a OK€375.

BUT

A small bit of oil in water led to a head gasket change in march at 600 euros with timing belts,water pump .

Last week it over heated and was told was small job , seal went in plastic thingy by thermostat . going to be about 70/80

This week its not starting at turn of key 1 in every say 4/5 seems like starter .

I wouldn't mind but I cycle to bloody work mody dayd and just use it at weekends and some evenings to go to gym .

Surely there can't be much more to go wrong . !!!

colm_mcm

If you had spent €15k on an Audi and all this stuff happened, you'd probably be more ok with it as repairs aren't coming close to what you paid for the car.

baldtooyoung

Never post in motor thread but I clicked in because I knew it was going to be about a citroen from time last decade
I had a 03 xSara.the car had osteoporosis, shingles and gout.
Get rid of it immediately.
A pal of mine had a Picasso, electrics went, fuel pump, you name it everything went wrong

Like my car it didn't do huge miles, just a bad bad car.

CiniO

Head gasket going is usually a fault of misuse. Probably previous owner didn't bother changing oil/drove it hard when cold, etc...
I haven't heard of head gaskets going on well maintained and well cared cars - even on fiats or citroens.

Thermostat is very common issue to occur on most makes.

Starting issue - who knows.

Generally, if you've done enough work on the car, and it runs fine now, just keep it and keep driving. Should be OK now on.

monkeysnapper

The funny thing (depends which side your looking at it from) last week when it overheated I had just cycled 170 km doing ring of Kerry charity cycle, was on way home driving , had to ditch car and cycle rest way home . maybe keep car but just bring bike with me everywhere . think of it as a fail safe or eco mode

dr.fuzzenstein

monkeysnapper wrote: »

The funny thing (depends which side your looking at it from) last week when it overheated I had just cycled 170 km doing ring of Kerry charity cycle, was on way home driving , had to ditch car and cycle rest way home . maybe keep car but just bring bike with me everywhere . think of it as a fail safe or eco mode

So they're eco cars in that they "encourage" cycling...

The_Honeybadger

To give a bit of balance to the argument I got rid of a xsara Picasso lately with nearly 170k miles on it. I owned it since 70k miles and it had nothing whatsoever expensive or out of the ordinary go wrong In that time. They're not all bad.

delly

Just as further balance, if you'd bought a same year focus at the same time last year, the price would be 4k. The badge and rep are linked to the price tag, but not all Citroëns are bad and not every focus is trouble free.

Giacomo McGubbin

delly wrote: »

Just as further balance, if you'd bought a same year focus at the same time last year, the price would be 4k. The badge and rep are linked to the price tag, but not all Citroëns are bad and not every focus is trouble free.

I've had more bother with Fords and VW's, BMW's and Audi's than I ever had with any of the French cars I've owned, but if I believed pub 'facts' this is impossible.

The original parent country of the manufacture is irrelevant these days as the thousands of bought in component parts and the final car assembly can be from anywhere and everywhere and all over the world, regardless of the manufacturer.

Manufacturer is not any guide to reliability, only model is, and it changes with each model release.

monkeysnapper

OK if you forget brands , country's ect , going back to my original post.

I spent a few months looking for a cheap car under no pressure to buy as I cycle to work .

I find this showroom condition 2006 car, cheap enough tax , had a service history , low enough miles .

Then one thing after another things go wrong, 2000 car goes to 2375, then 2975, this latest set back pushes car over half initial cost plus on top of that starter motor is adding again.
Its like gambling . is machine ready to pay out or am I going to pass it on and next person pulls handle and jackpot !!!!!

My personal opinion is I'm not paying any monthly payments on it , i m not reliant on it for work .

Giacomo McGubbin

Welcome to the real world of older car ownership.
No one here is mystic meg.
Do what everyone else does when they sometimes end up with a problem motor like this,
from an Audi to a Volvo . . . get rid of it asap or take your chances.

shietpilot

I guess you're just unlucky with the car. No matter what brand of car you choose it's always possible to get a lemon that was never serviced and will keep falling apart unless you get rid of it.

corks finest

monkeysnapper wrote: »

Bought a Citroen c4 1.4 2006 80k miles in October last year . car is like new and came with 2 years nct . cost 2000

All I wanted was a cheap run around to last 2 years but so far as loads will gladly point out don't buy a French car if reliability is a must .

Got it serviced in January and it needed tie rods, alternator belts , the usual filters and oil , bill came to a OK€375.

BUT

A small bit of oil in water led to a head gasket change in march at 600 euros with timing belts,water pump .

Last week it over heated and was told was small job , seal went in plastic thingy by thermostat . going to be about 70/80

This week its not starting at turn of key 1 in every say 4/5 seems like starter .

I wouldn't mind but I cycle to bloody work mody dayd and just use it at weekends and some evenings to go to gym .

Surely there can't be much more to go wrong . !!!

Hard lines Buddy ,had a few cars like that,in the past ,tnk God,f eel for u,no bob's at the time,had a few Renault's,9/11s,2 Peugeots,and a dealer Citroen,but would open whenever it felt like it,between clutch cables,over heating,****e electrics,ive learned my lesson,no more French ,I've a nice reliable,eco Honda now,so far,so good

Cheensbo

We've had an 06 citroen c4 1.4 for 9 years now - got it ex rental in 07,

Has been a tremendously reliable car to be fair, the only thing I can think of that went wrong was that had water ingress which got to the ecu and fcuked it a couple years ago but that was due to a damaged seal that went unnoticed.

Aside from that it's been a super car, not even a well spec'd model and is still quite nice to drive with a funky steering wheel to boot.

They're not all bad op, feel for you though, sometimes there's just a bad one out there

Cee-Jay-Cee

I don't care if it's a myth or not, I will ever ever buy a French car. They're utter rubbish from the amount of stories I've heard from work colleagues and family, there probably are a few decent ones but I've not come across anyone that ever owned a 'good' one. They're simply not worth it for their ugly looks (there are no good looking French cars any more) and piss poor electrics and engine reliability.

dr.fuzzenstein

Had nothing but Fords (all with the 1.8 diesel) from 04 on. The current one, the famous Cmax, is going very strong at 380k km.
It did stop once and had mechanics scratching their heads, but Ford diagnosed a fuel line that was drawing air.
So I can give a larger sample size to support the assertion that Fords are pretty damn good. After 00 anyway. And pre 1980. I loved my MKIII Cortina.
The sample size has just increased with an 04 Connect that cost me less than 700 quid, but it needs a release bearing and the sills need some TLC. After that I will see how it goes.
If it is OK, it will do the journey from Ireland to the south of Germany in September, I will keep ye all posted.

monkeysnapper

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

Had nothing but Fords (all with the 1.8 diesel) from 04 on. The current one, the famous Cmax, is going very strong at 380k km.
It did stop once and had mechanics scratching their heads, but Ford diagnosed a fuel line that was drawing air.
So I can give a larger sample size to support the assertion that Fords are pretty damn good. After 00 anyway. And pre 1980. I loved my MKIII Cortina.
The sample size has just increased with an 04 Connect that cost me less than 700 quid, but it needs a release bearing and the sills need some TLC. After that I will see how it goes.
If it is OK, it will do the journey from Ireland to the south of Germany in September, I will keep ye all posted.

Let's think of it as a top gear challenge, i m driving from Kerry to UK in couple of weeks .

Just put on 3 new tyres and c4 is going in for a once over next week . lots of motorway driving......

Am I nuts!!!!!

noelf

sure keep off motorways and you can still use the bike ..

Another way of looking at it is i'm paying €328 every month on a Pcp ..

visual

All the French cars are rubbish yes someone will say they owned one never gave an ounce of problems but that wouldn't be the case for most.

There are a couple of exceptions in the French lineup the old 406 was reliable but it's replacement the 407 is rubbish.

The laguna pre 2000 where good but post 2001 it was rubbish. Lots say the laguna improved in 2005 because it had face lift but it didn't then they said 2008 as it had Nissan influence but it was still rubbish.

C4 head gasket must be common as I only know 3 people who owned one and all 3 had head gasket problem.

Fundthementals

visual wrote: »

All the French cars are rubbish yes someone will say they owned one never gave an ounce of problems but that wouldn't be the case for most.

There are a couple of exceptions in the French lineup the old 406 was reliable but it's replacement the 407 is rubbish.

The laguna pre 2000 where good but post 2001 it was rubbish. Lots say the laguna improved in 2005 because it had face lift but it didn't then they said 2008 as it had Nissan influence but it was still rubbish.

C4 head gasket must be common as I only know 3 people who owned one and all 3 had head gasket problem.

Those PSA 1.4 engines are notorious for headgasket failure - usually presents as oil leak from corner of head and block behind the alternator (Oil gallery very near edge of block )Some garages are reluctant to take on job as high probability that they'll just leak again as I found out..😩

dr.fuzzenstein

monkeysnapper wrote: »

Let's think of it as a top gear challenge, i m driving from Kerry to UK in couple of weeks .

Just put on 3 new tyres and c4 is going in for a once over next week . lots of motorway driving......

Am I nuts!!!!!

Is it a 3 wheeler? :P Why not go all out and put 4 new tires on it? I never understood this Irish thing of replacing only 1 tire at a time and ending up with 4 odd tires on a car.

monkeysnapper

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

Is it a 3 wheeler? :P Why not go all out and put 4 new tires on it? I never understood this Irish thing of replacing only 1 tire at a time and ending up with 4 odd tires on a car.

I haven't had it long , one tyre on it is like brand new , the other 3 were on the line or just above it .

galwaytt

Cee-Jay-Cee wrote: »

I don't care if it's a myth or not, I will ever ever buy a French car. They're utter rubbish from the amount of stories I've heard from work colleagues and family, there probably are a few decent ones but I've not come across anyone that ever owned a 'good' one. They're simply not worth it for their ugly looks (there are no good looking French cars any more) and piss poor electrics and engine reliability.

Nonsense
Had 3 new Renaults with no issues. Then tried MAZDA, Ford, Saab, Audi.
ALL if them had some sort of problems.

Just went back and bought a Renault again. Even if it gives trouble, it's half the price of the other brands....

Guy:Incognito

visual wrote: »

All the French cars are rubbish yes someone will say they owned one never gave an ounce of problems but that wouldn't be the case for most.

Most? Really? Even at its worst, the laguna II had something like 38 faults per 100 (less than the same age transit btw).

Not sure when 38% became " most"

visual

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

visual wrote: »

All the French cars are rubbish yes someone will say they owned one never gave an ounce of problems but that wouldn't be the case for most.

Most? Really? Even at its worst, the laguna II had something like 38 faults per 100 (less than the same age transit btw).

Not sure when 38% became " most"

Laguna was a very popular car and every single one suffered electric issues not a small %

I use to own a diesel laguna II and just couldn't believe how often something went amiss that I joint a Renault forum only to discover that the issues where so wide spread that every laguna suffered a long list of faults here is a brief list of common faults
Turbos most laguna suffered this
5 speed gearbox fault was common
Coil springs snapping
Windows regulator nearly every car suffered one or more failures

The list goes on and on including electrical switches going faulty burning their contacts and sometimes the dash too.

But I will sum it up. This was Renaults mondeo Vectra and cars of that cladd beater. It won in getting into the scrap yard quicker.

But if your still not convenience just look at the card key and it's reliability sums it up.

corks finest

visual wrote: »

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

visual wrote: »

All the French cars are rubbish yes someone will say they owned one never gave an ounce of problems but that wouldn't be the case for most.

Most? Really? Even at its worst, the laguna II had something like 38 faults per 100 (less than the same age transit btw).

Not sure when 38% became " most"

Laguna was a very popular car and every single one suffered electric issues not a small %

I use to own a diesel laguna II and just couldn't believe how often something went amiss that I joint a Renault forum only to discover that the issues where so wide spread that every laguna suffered a long list of faults here is a brief list of common faults
Turbos most laguna suffered this
5 speed gearbox fault was common
Coil springs snapping
Windows regulator nearly every car suffered one or more failures

The list goes on and on including electrical switches going faulty burning their contacts and sometimes the dash too.

But I will sum it up. This was Renaults mondeo Vectra and cars of that cladd beater. It won in getting into the scrap yard quicker.

But if your still not convenience just look at the card key and it's reliability sums it up.

Concur,had a Laguna,few Citroen's,peugeots,ren 9s,11,s,19,nice cheap,comfy,but god awful electrical problem s