Alas, this is the norm these days. Ford subjected my Ka to ritualised vandalism and then rang to ask why I hadn't bought a new one yet! Then they patiently explained to this dimwit that the warranty was now three years and not one and I explained to them that that was the reason I wasn't buying another. They just didn't get it, poor dears. But don't ask Mum what she thinks of the service on her E class Merc. Three years to find the autobox fault which then cured the traction control that was previously "perfect" and £1200 for a service, the day before the battery packed up through not being topped up. It isn't in the service schedule. A brief call to your local trading standards office, (get them to read you your rights) and a polite letter to Citroen, letting them know that a copy has already been sent to the SMMT would be in order.
Citroen will want to keep taking your money so don't say that you'll never buy one again. Ring their head office and ask to speak to the "commitment team". These are the guys who are the company's line of last resort in keeping the customer and all car companies have them. You can't be told that these departments exist because, officially they don't but you might like to enquire of a rival dealer; he might just have a telephone number if you were, say interested in trading up to a better specced model;-). Good luck.
makes you wonder why we do it...
Moderator: RichardW
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ghostrider
- Posts: 360
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I've run cits since July 11th 1980 and one thing is clear from all this, Citroen themselves or more accuratley the dealers are certainly partly to blame. The period when my cits are at their most unreliable is just after I've bought it with a FSH, most of mine have been over 6 years old when I bought them, as a result you have 6 years of neglect by a main agent to put right first after that they are generally pretty good.
There is one reassuring thing about hydraulic cits, the problems are always the same, dissimilar metals corrosion resulting in the hydraulic connectors being welded to their alloy components, the rear arm bearings in a state of collapse, the bottom ball joints worn out, the electrics iffy etc. So when I buy a different model the only things I really worry about are the things that were Not on the previous model:-))) Have you noticed all the stuff about the new Hydraulic pumps as fitted to the xantia, now I've had the odd one of the old type pack up over the years but hardly a real worry, So why if they are going to change the design after nearly 50 years have they picked on one of the more reliable bits:-))
The classic cit design balls up for me was the GS, early ones suffered from the door bottoms rusting out, which was in part due to the doors overlapping the cill so that all the muck from the road attacked the bottom of the door. So they fixed it by welding a rail along the cill to protect the bottom of the door. Great the doors lasted marginally longer but now the cill rusted out all the way along the seam where the rail was welded on, absolute genius.
But the ride is still better, and if it had not been for the suspension's ability to cope with flat tyres I doubt whether I would have survived a 100mph blowout on the motorway, the first of which I knew was when bits of tyre started flying off, no drama I just put the indicator on moved over to the hard shoulder, changed the tyre and continued, never gave it a second thought until a friend had a real big one when his car had a blowout at 50mph on a desrted dual carriageway and wound up going end over end into a field....
the guy I work with had a cavalier when i first teamed up with him and I was impressed with it, It never seemed to need anything doing to it until at 130K a con rod exited the side of the block... He now has a Mondeo and again it has been pretty impressive except that it leaks like a sieve despite being back to the main dealer loads of times, and the windscreen washer pipe blowing off the reservoir which means dismantling half the front of the car to replace it, oh yes he's just done ?155 to have the air con fixed.
So not too bad but, the Mondeo is only just over 3 years old.
This board does cater for people with much older cars, after all the BX has been out of production for 10 years this year hasnt it? How many Sierras do see about which would have been its contemporary. So I think it would be interesting to look at the reliability of other makes after 10 years not just 2 or 3
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Mercedes-benz o309 history
There is one reassuring thing about hydraulic cits, the problems are always the same, dissimilar metals corrosion resulting in the hydraulic connectors being welded to their alloy components, the rear arm bearings in a state of collapse, the bottom ball joints worn out, the electrics iffy etc. So when I buy a different model the only things I really worry about are the things that were Not on the previous model:-))) Have you noticed all the stuff about the new Hydraulic pumps as fitted to the xantia, now I've had the odd one of the old type pack up over the years but hardly a real worry, So why if they are going to change the design after nearly 50 years have they picked on one of the more reliable bits:-))
The classic cit design balls up for me was the GS, early ones suffered from the door bottoms rusting out, which was in part due to the doors overlapping the cill so that all the muck from the road attacked the bottom of the door. So they fixed it by welding a rail along the cill to protect the bottom of the door. Great the doors lasted marginally longer but now the cill rusted out all the way along the seam where the rail was welded on, absolute genius.
But the ride is still better, and if it had not been for the suspension's ability to cope with flat tyres I doubt whether I would have survived a 100mph blowout on the motorway, the first of which I knew was when bits of tyre started flying off, no drama I just put the indicator on moved over to the hard shoulder, changed the tyre and continued, never gave it a second thought until a friend had a real big one when his car had a blowout at 50mph on a desrted dual carriageway and wound up going end over end into a field....
the guy I work with had a cavalier when i first teamed up with him and I was impressed with it, It never seemed to need anything doing to it until at 130K a con rod exited the side of the block... He now has a Mondeo and again it has been pretty impressive except that it leaks like a sieve despite being back to the main dealer loads of times, and the windscreen washer pipe blowing off the reservoir which means dismantling half the front of the car to replace it, oh yes he's just done ?155 to have the air con fixed.
So not too bad but, the Mondeo is only just over 3 years old.
This board does cater for people with much older cars, after all the BX has been out of production for 10 years this year hasnt it? How many Sierras do see about which would have been its contemporary. So I think it would be interesting to look at the reliability of other makes after 10 years not just 2 or 3
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Mercedes-benz o309 history
Last edited by ghostrider on 22 Feb 2011, 05:40, edited 1 time in total.
I'm inclined to rewrite the original strapline in the BX ads:
"Loves driving, hates garages, but grows old gracefully with proper maintenance"
The Citroen engineers designed the car for long life (c/o proven engineering principles and the DS/CX heritage) - and that's exactly why we bother - but sales and marketing (as always) had their eyes on the short term...
"Loves driving, hates garages, but grows old gracefully with proper maintenance"
The Citroen engineers designed the car for long life (c/o proven engineering principles and the DS/CX heritage) - and that's exactly why we bother - but sales and marketing (as always) had their eyes on the short term...
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tomsheppard
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Yes, Dave. I don't mean to cause alarm but Factory support for spare parts is due to end in 2004 for the BX range. Says so in my service book. It can only be hoped that the spares are not just melted down, which has happened before. Fortunately, the number of survivors in France may mean that Citroen will be obliged to reconsider this. My local dealer actually had a couple of them in for service work last week. THe parts man said that they seemed to be lasting well.
I am on my first citroen and have never spent as much on a car in my 30 years of motoring.
The laugh is that on the west coast of Scotland RUST is usualy the main problem and the Cit.shows no sign of the stuff.
Also getting older I feel less inclined to crawl underneath in the rain to try and fix something for the next day when you can call an independant Cit. garage and get it sorted.
I would go for another one as the price with depreciation makes it affordable(this xantia is the first car i have owned that at the time was still in production when I bought it)but I would avoid the hyd.suspension types because I think it is less complicated to change shockers than some spheres
The laugh is that on the west coast of Scotland RUST is usualy the main problem and the Cit.shows no sign of the stuff.
Also getting older I feel less inclined to crawl underneath in the rain to try and fix something for the next day when you can call an independant Cit. garage and get it sorted.
I would go for another one as the price with depreciation makes it affordable(this xantia is the first car i have owned that at the time was still in production when I bought it)but I would avoid the hyd.suspension types because I think it is less complicated to change shockers than some spheres
Stewart -
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">but I would avoid the hyd.suspension types because I think it is less complicated to change shockers than some spheres <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
I think you'd be surprised/scared having to replace shockers on "conventional" cars [:D][:D]
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">but I would avoid the hyd.suspension types because I think it is less complicated to change shockers than some spheres <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
I think you'd be surprised/scared having to replace shockers on "conventional" cars [:D][:D]
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Jon
First of all, Laura, where abouts are you and who is your local dealer?
Certainly sounds like a crap service to me.Let us know how you get on. And to think I was seriously considering a C3 1.4 HDi!! I've changed my mind! Make a post on other sites such as www.honestjohn.co.uk where their members will talk you though the details of either legal redress or rejecting your car.
No-one wants to spend big money on a new car and that car being "unfit for the purpose that it is intended for". Citroen or not.
I am one of the few people that have sued a Citroen Dealer and got my money back. Let me know how you get on.
Certainly sounds like a crap service to me.Let us know how you get on. And to think I was seriously considering a C3 1.4 HDi!! I've changed my mind! Make a post on other sites such as www.honestjohn.co.uk where their members will talk you though the details of either legal redress or rejecting your car.
No-one wants to spend big money on a new car and that car being "unfit for the purpose that it is intended for". Citroen or not.
I am one of the few people that have sued a Citroen Dealer and got my money back. Let me know how you get on.