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Contains the Activa Register, Buyers Guide and Activa "finds" on eBay and elsewhere. Post Activa-specific items that do not fall naturally into the Citroen Forum.
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jwalshe
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Unread post by jwalshe »

Shame Citroen never developed a V8.... that would have suited the C6 I think.

Had a Rover 75 V8 for a little while. Ridiculous car - beautifully made, well engineered and that engine was fabulous. But the ride was rubbish and people used to point and laugh.

What was I thinking?!?!

But anyway... C6/XM/CX. Hoping the CXM will help me decide :)
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Citroening
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Unread post by Citroening »

...after going to a Hot Rod show last weekend in our Rod, we've been thinking about rodding up Rosalie. I know the purists would hate it, but there were some similar looking cars to Rosie there and they were lovely, and the main thing too...much more user friendly. :)

Don't sound too bad either... :twisted: :lol:

Citroen should have made a V8...
Franklin
Citroenmad
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Unread post by Citroenmad »

Toby_HDi wrote:
DickieG wrote:
Citroenmad wrote:Are you still tempted by a C6? 8-)
They are getting cheaper by the day, at present on Autotrader there's a 3.0 petrol not far from me for under £8k.
I'm also starting to wonder if they will get that low. They seem to be acknowledged as a cracking car to those who are not blinded by sheer ignorance and think that it is useless unless it has a German badge on it. Thing is, surely there won't be enough to go round?
I agree, a lot of people are thinking "ill have one when they are about £2000-£4000", trouble is there are not many and demand seems quite high for them at low prices ...
Chris
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DickieG
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Unread post by DickieG »

Citroenmad wrote:I agree, a lot of people are thinking "ill have one when they are about £2000-£4000", trouble is there are not many and demand seems quite high for them at low prices ...
True but is that because the prices being asked are too high? Having periodically looked at C6's on eBay and Autotrader most of them that are priced over £10k have been for sale for many months, the only ones selling are those below that threshold.

With most C6's subject to RFL @ £445 per year plus nearly all spares will have to be bought from Citroen due to such low volumes making it in uneconomic for alternative parts suppliers to manufacture spares, the running costs are likely to be astronomical, how much for a section of exhaust from Citroen, we know tyres last five minutes and cost the earth with C6's.

Every month in the CCC magazine there are many tales of woe with C6's and a lot of those are with relatively new cars run by enthusiasts who treat them well, it'll be a very brave or more likely financially ruinous decision to buy a C6 when they are 5+ years old. I doubt I'll be buying one for these reasons.
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Citroenmad
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Unread post by Citroenmad »

DickieG wrote:
Citroenmad wrote:I agree, a lot of people are thinking "ill have one when they are about £2000-£4000", trouble is there are not many and demand seems quite high for them at low prices ...
Every month in the CCC magazine there are many tales of woe with C6's and a lot of those are with relatively new cars run by enthusiasts who treat them well, it'll be a very brave or more likely financially ruinous decision to buy a C6 when they are 5+ years old. I doubt I'll be buying one for these reasons.
I have said somehting similar before, when they get older I imagine we will just stand looking at their shape, unable to use it as it needs £1000 worth of tyres, £440 road tax, Servicing and non of the electrics work! That lot could write off the car when its older .... costing far more than the car is worth.

Taking that into account, thinking its going to be a car to buy when its worth £2000 wont be as easy, as it will cost that a year in running costs alone. Only real enthuisiasts will own them maybe, people who will put up with high costs on a cheap car. Again a limited market.
Chris
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DickieG
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Unread post by DickieG »

Citroenmad wrote:I have said something similar before, when they get older I imagine we will just stand looking at their shape, unable to use it as it needs £1000 worth of tyres, £440 road tax, Servicing and non of the electrics work! That lot could write off the car when its older .... costing far more than the car is worth.

Taking that into account, thinking its going to be a car to buy when its worth £2000 wont be as easy, as it will cost that a year in running costs alone. Only real enthusiasts will own them maybe, people who will put up with high costs on a cheap car. Again a limited market.
I couldn't agree more, Activa's are a prime example of that. I'd reckon that there are no more than a dozen Activa's left in the UK which are still running as they were designed and that's just talking about the suspension system.
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Unread post by Citroenmad »

DickieG wrote: I couldn't agree more, Activa's are a prime example of that. I'd reckon that there are no more than a dozen Activa's left in the UK which are still running as they were designed and that's just talking about the suspension system.
Your right, an Activa is very much an enthusiast car, you need to really appreciate and understand the car in order to keep it running as it should.

An interesting thought that, your probably very correct. I would hope mine is among the good Activas which work as they should, as a lot of time has been spent restoring the suspension on it, both by me and previous owners. I need to perfect the rear ram (thanks to Jim I have the bits) but its working as it should and without rattles too.

Activas seem to get passed around a lot, perhaps as people realise they are not a simple A to B car, they are a demanding car, both financially and personal time. When they work they are a joy and I would not swap it for the world, but they need deep pockets and knowledge to keep them going.
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addo
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Unread post by addo »

I think if you drove a Dee much as an Activa, it would be similarly draining on the funds.

The C6's greatest asset is its likely position as the swansong; the last of a great tradition (the idiosyncratic, yet breathtaking, flagship).

Puggerisers seem different to Activa/TCT drivers in that their pursuit is of a self indulgent, barely legal personal go-kart. By comparison, the Citroën enthusiast wants to get everyone in the car for a ride and swap drivers, sharing the fun.

Where am I going with this commentary? Well, it's my postulation that the selfish are winning! Hence the Activas are dying away...
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Citroening
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Unread post by Citroening »

This has proved to become an interesting discussion! :idea:

Personally, I don't think that C6s will hit such a low price of £2000 and I agree with addo as it is the "last of the great tradition". However, if you look at it the other way and compare it to, what it followed on from, the CX (I know, technically the XM but IMO the CX is the C6's successor), then the C6 could hit that price. The CX sold well but prices did drop when it was in a 'lull' and it was neither classed as a 'classic' or classed as a 'car to use', if you see what I mean. I think that the CX really made it's comeback in about 2004-2005 time when there was a demand for them, and the prices rose. The one car I remember was a 1988 CX GTi Turbo 2 that was Black with Black Leather, reg number E616 HOY. Roger and dad bought it from London and that chap went back into his house and cried for about half and hour before returning with the docs etc! This car returned £3,995 and I think that the demand for CXs as a classic car then started. The rest is history and prices have increased further to the £7000 and £8000 marks for top cars.

Reason for me rambling on about this is that this is IMO sort of related to the C6. I think that the C6 is already sort of loosely classed as a 'classic' and really is welcomed with open arms to any CCC Events and the CCC in general. There's no doubt that the C6 will become a classic - it just depends when people want to accept it as such. There's so few out there (admittedly quite a few on the How Many Left website but they certainly are rare to see on the roads! On holiday to devon, I saw more Visas and CXs on the roads than C6s! I.E - no C6s!).

As for prices at the moment, they certainly have seem to have dropped in the last year or so. Dad paid about 11K for his last May/June but it was the perfect spec for him - Black with Black Leather, 2.7 HDi V6, NO loungepack (so much better as the seats can fold down!) and 48,000 miles (now 56,000 miles). Admittedly we've had our fair share or things that need doing - the first thing was the stereo unit needed recoding but that was simple for our friends at Citroen Borocars, Peterborough. Of course, there is the gearbox trouble that still persists but at the moment it is unique to this car and I haven't read any other C6 with it. Dad is managing with it though - any town/build up areas when warm, just flick it to manual. Let the revs build up a bit higher than the autobox would change and it's fine. Don't 100% quote me on this, but IIRC dad said there was a 'box' on the gearbox that will cost £900 to replace and if not then it's the gearbox itself which is £2000! Motorway cruising, blasting along fens roads etc is a joy though and it really is great. Dad says he'd never sell it, which for him is quite something! :lol:

Sure, it likes it's tyres, is dear to tax but at the end of the day it is what it is - a C6. 8-) It's good to be different and IMO it's the natural follow on from the CX, so what better car for us to have?!!

As for Activas, I wouldn't be surprised if in years to come the total number of cars would fall into the 20s and 30s, possibly even lower.

What about the V6s then? According to the How Many Left website there's only 141 of them left which is much lower than our calculated total of 215 for the Activa. :shock:

Looking back at that, I appear to have typed quite a lot. :oops: :roll:
Franklin
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DickieG
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Unread post by DickieG »

The big difference between cars of the modern era such as C6's is electronics, CX's and car's up to a late as Xantia's will be just about restoreable in years to come even if their leccy bits go awol as they are generally relatively simple for an electronic engineer to sort out, having said that and as reported on this forum there have been a number of Xantia's that binned as the electrics couldn't be sorted. Bodywork can always be fabricated and mechanical bits re-made if there is the budget available or the demand as with DS's where there are so many of them its financially worthwhile aftermarket manufacturers fabricating parts.

Now think of a C6 with its multiplexed wiring system, as is well documented many of them are already having problems that appear unsolvable yet the oldest car's can be no more than 6 six years old. Then factor in that there are so few of them that the chance of leaning on the experience of others in fault finding will be very small as even the dealer network is struggling to resolve issues. I must say that I don't hold out a lot of hope for a 12 year old C6, valuing them @ £2,000 may well be ambitious once the first lot have been broken for spares, following that, weigh-in value,,,,,

Don't get me wrong in that I'd like to have a C6 and have thought very carefully about buying one but as long as my head rules I can't see it ever happening as I remember all too well when I owned my E30 BMW M3 on which almost every mechanical and body part was unique to that model and having to go to a dealer to buy disc's and pad's etc etc, not good.
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Citroenmad
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Unread post by Citroenmad »

C6 prices will drop to £2000 and below, I see little reason for that. They might even become hard to shift ... a bit like Activas again, high running costs with a fairly small enthusiast fan ... well that or a fairly small number of people who will buy them.

Again that is similar to the Activa, a lot of people would really like one but are scared off by problems and costs (not always justified). I was like that for a while, well years, before getting mine. I can imagine it will be the same with the C6, many will like the idea of having one, but how many will buy them.

The Xm was once in the C6s shoes, they have been through the virtually worthless part of their life and are now appreciating, the CX did the same and so did the DS (maybe to less of a degree but it happened). They were seen as old cars, many were neglected and scrapped, its usually the better ones which remain now. Possibly the sign of a car with a good appeal is if they come out of the other side with rising values.

Franklin, do you know how many UK C6s there is?
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Citroening
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Unread post by Citroening »

Well I always remembered the figure of just over 700, but the How Many Left website says there's about 900 of them. Either way, that is a low figure for a modern car.

Somehow, I can't see C6s being on forecourts for £1,995...

You never know though! :)
Franklin