New Citroens are rubbish. Discuss...

Post by **martyhopkirk** » 10 Nov 2004, 23:49

Hear Hear DJ - having been looking fo a small engined diesel to replace my ZX one of teh cars i have considered was a Rover 100 / Metro as it uses the 1.5PSA engine - compare the rusty N reg i saw today which will require major floor welding to ever hope to pass another MOT to my dilapedated K reg ZX with a tiny tiny bit of stone chip rust on the bonet leading edge.
My conclusion is that its really got to be another Cit to replace my existing one - sure things will go pop mechanically - but oily bits are soon mended, rusty bits take a lot longer!

bxbodger · Post by **bxbodger** » 11 Nov 2004, 01:02

I must say that my 15 yr old 215000 mile BX is the most rustfree car I have ever owned- the only welding I have done on it is the exhaust hanger.
There is , however, a question mark about current quality- car mechanics ran a pic of a 3 year old Saxo with a lot of corrosion around the suspension mounts.
It had ben scrapped due to an accident but the corrosion was there before, and significant enough for it to have failed an MOT.

Post by **cheesesliceking** » 11 Nov 2004, 02:24

sounds about right, i went to see a Saxo VTS that a friend want ed to buy T plate & had more rust under the boot floor than the 14 year old AX GT we went to see it in..[B)]

TomH · Post by **TomH** » 11 Nov 2004, 03:30

They may have French build quality... but be thankful, they're better than Renaults!!

rossnunn · Post by **rossnunn** » 11 Nov 2004, 05:29

I've got what I thought was three 'egg' dents on the rear quater of my ZX, you know the really annoying sort. I had dent devils take a look, three? he counted at least seven! and cant do a thing with any of them. The best he suggested was to run a pin stripe down it.
French don't use metal, they use tissue paper!

jono · Post by **jono** » 11 Nov 2004, 05:58

But you have to admit Citroens do seem to have more than there fair share of problems and not always the complex parts. 1999 Oct registered Xantia estate 10.30 in the evening going to pick up my daughter, rear foglight indicator on the dash is on. Checked the switch, still in the off position. Stopped checked the rear of the car all the lights on the tailgate were out. Opened the tailgate the side and number plate lights come on. Close the gate they all go out. Know what that is. 11.30 at night trying to solder 2 main feed wires in the body to tailgate rubber gaiter is not my idea of reliable components. But really in a 5 year old car wiring where the plastisizer has dried out of the plastic covering the wire that really is cheap. What part of the wiring will break next and will it cause the engine to stop and where might that occur, at 130kph in France. The plastic covering at the top of the steering wheel is starting to degrade. That really does indicate inferior components. So there are times when the Citroen jibe regarding reliability is justified. I have spent more on Citroen repairs in the 14 months of ownership than I do in a similar period on my 1971 Range rover and that works hard off road. It will be a long time before I buy another Citroen, which is sad to say as I think the suspension, when working as it should, is something truly awesome.
Jono

beezer · Post by **beezer** » 11 Nov 2004, 13:44

Strange about soldering wires in the rubber boot of your tailgate. I had to do exactly the same with the tailgate of my 205 at about the same time of night. At least my (whisper) Renault was more considerate when the flasher unit started ticking about five minutes into a four hour journey. Turned out to be grease and scrapings of copper combined to bridge the contacts on the stalk (too high a resistance to work the lights but enough to trigger the flasher unit). I could repair it in the comfort of the driver's seat. All cars have their quirks. I am about to dispose of my diesel Fiesta which is not the car I have grown most fond of but it does have separate belts for cam and pump so a pump belt breakage would not kill the valve gear. My only truly reliable vehicles are the Reynolds framed bicycles that hang in the garage. Now they are reliable!

TomH · Post by **TomH** » 11 Nov 2004, 13:48

Top Gear survey 2004 ten least reliable cars:
142 - Renault Espace
141 - Renault Laguna
140 - Peugeot 307
139 - Mercedes M-Class
138 - Renault Megane (new)
137 - Fiat Stilo
136 - Citroen C5
135 - Citroen Xsara
134 - VW Polo (new)
133 - Citroen C3

beezer · Post by **beezer** » 11 Nov 2004, 13:58

Just as well I have a Kangoo!

tomsheppard · Post by **tomsheppard** » 11 Nov 2004, 14:14

Assuming that this is the JD Power survey and not some rant from TG, this shows that French cars are in general unreliable. There may be two reasons for this. Either French car buyers are fussier or it is due to the fact that in the big country that is France, every city, town, village and settlement of more than two houses and a chicken coop has a franchised garage. If they didn't go wrong, all the mechaniciens would starve.
BX: loves driving (me mad), hates garagistes.