All Things V6...

[DHallworth]

Well, it’s been a fairly easy few months on the car front. The only car we’ve had any problems with has been the C4. The car had a new AdBlue tank fitted to it just before we bought it. In February it needed a new NoX sensor which was done under warranty. Then during lockdown it started flagging a Urea Fault again. I did some looking into the fault codes and it was for a Low Pressure Fault on the AdBlue system.

It turns out the AdBlue pump is built into the tank and means that the whole tank needs to be swapped out, again. Thankfully, it was still under warranty as a new tank inc fitting would have been around a thousand pounds! A grand for a pump and a p**s tank!!

Anyway, since it was done, it’s been running great. My wife uses it daily, it’s almost 12 months since she got it and I doubt I’ve done 100 miles in it. I took it to get some Diesel for her the other night as she made dinner and realise just now nice a car it is. The suspension is really nicely damped providing a nice smooth ride, the seats are comfy and the road noise in the car isn’t bad either. It’s actually a really nice little car to spend time in.

The tyres are all down to around 3mm and one has a nail in it. Cheryl has just started working in a village called Kilmalcolm which is all back roads from us. In the winter, these roads can be untreated as well so today I’ve ordered a set of Michelin Cross Climate + tyres for it. Including delivery they were £240 which isn’t bad at all.

This weekend I’ve spent hours giving everything a clean. All of my Citroen C cars are spotless for a change. Kinda wish I hadn’t sold the C5 as I’ve have had a sequential run. My old C5 is on eBay just now but Cheryl says that it’s not a good enough reason to buy it back.

The C3 we’ve owned since new in 2009. It was my Gran’s car until she passed away. My Mum has been using it since as she loves how small it is to park when shopping As I moved it to wash it earlier, it ticked over 15k miles. Unfortunately it got bumped in a carpark a few months ago. Thankfully, most of it polished out other then the scuff on the rub strip and it’s left a slight crease in the door.

The C4 has been Cheryl’s daily for 2 weeks shy of 12 months. I still love the colour on it when it’s clean.

Then there’s the C6. Since I fetched it back from France and had the gearbox rebuilt, it’s been superb. Despite lockdown, we’ve covered 3500 miles in it since December. There’s a nice run up here that takes a couple of hours and covers around 70 miles. It’s a nice mixture of A roads, B roads and some dual carriageway on the way home. It gets the cars warmed up properly when we take them on the route.

I managed to get a couple of my non Citroens washed as well. If I can get 2 more cars done next weekend, everything will be nice and shiny.

David.

[RichardW]

All looking tidy, David!

The AdBlue pump seems to be a problem on early Blue Hdi cars - PaulR is just in the process of doing his on his 308 - God only knows what they were on when they thought making the pump and the tank all one piece was a good idea!!

[Mandrake]

I'll be interested to see what you think of the CrossClimate+'s David.

You might have seen in my blog I put some 215/50/17 CrossClimate+'s on my Leaf recently and I Kinda regret it. The ride is really harsh compared to the summer tyres they replaced, I think due to the XL load rating which makes the sidewalls extremely stiff and non-giving, certainly in 215/50/17 form factor. Every tiny surface imperfection passes right through into the body.

When I press hard on the sidewall with a thumb they hardly deflect at all - when I press hard on the sidewall of the Xantia tyres (205/60/15 Michelin Energy Saver) they have a lot of deflection even at the same pressure.

I've dropped the pressure a bit to make them a bit more palatable but I'm either going to sell them on after the winter or perhaps get a second set of (smaller) wheels to put some more comfortable and quieter summer tyres on during the middle 8 months of the year and keep the CrossClimate+'s as a dedicated winter tyre... probably the latter.

[mickthemaverick]

Simon, taking into account your intention to get summer wheels and tyres might it not be an idea to go and see a nearly new tyre dealer and swap your Crossclimates now, while they really are nearly new, for a set of decent nearly new winter tyres to give you comfort now instead of waiting until spring?

[DHallworth]

Simon - I was reading your blog about the Cross Climates and am really surprised. I’ve had them on my 407 Coupe for a while now and have recently put them on my Range Rover as well and can’t say I’ve noticed any difference. They’re on the C3 in my pictures too. A friend of mine has them on his Kia Soul EV and is now on his 2nd set of them as he rates them very highly. I’d fit them to anything these days I reckon.

[DHallworth]

The new Cross Climate tyres are on the C4 now. It feels nice to drive, the road noise has reduced from the Hankook tyres that were on it previously. I can’t say I’m noticing any difference to the ride either.

All in all, it’s nice to have the car on some new tyres. Despite us only have had the car for 11 months, the 2 good tyres were dated 2016 and the 2 older tyres were dated 2015.

David.

[Mandrake]

CrossClimate or CrossClimate+ ? What size are they and are they XL rated ? (I think some of the smaller sizes are available in non-XL, but not the size I need)

[DHallworth]

They’re Cross Climate+, they’re 205/55/16 V and are the XL rated ones.

Did you see my post on your thread? I’d be tempted to try the PS4S’s if I was you.

David.

[DHallworth]

Well, due to lockdown massively reducing my mileage and with me having too many cars, I waved cheerio to my 407 Coupe for the last time on Wednesday morning.

After 4.5 years and 50k she's gone to a new home with a fellow enthusiast in London. Other then her wobble with the gearbox oil cooler last October, in those 4.5 years she has been one of, if not, the best car I've ever owned. Despite the gearbox being filled with coolant and the cooling system with ATF, the car did another 7000 miles in my ownership and never put a foot wrong. The new keeper saw all my efforts to flush it and to make sure he was protected, even bought the spare gearbox that I bought for the car back in February.

Anyway, I now have an empty parking space and looking out of the window and not seeing the Coupe parked outside is quite sad after all the time she was here. It really is quite amazing how you get attached to a car.

I'd like to try and get down to 4 cars now as I've been hovering around double figures for too long but I think I'm going to have to settle on 5 as 4 won't leave me with what I want. First world problems, eh!

Anyway, here she was driving away for the last time...

[CitroJim]

Good to know she's found a good home David

First world problems indeed. I tried to reduce my fleet to two but I seem to struggle to get below three

At least I only appear to have two now with my most precious living in a lovely warm, dry garage!

Five sounds about right for you

[myglaren]

Now you need a trio of Electric AMI's to fill the space.

[white exec]

...And they'd all fit in just one parking space

[DHallworth]

If the AMI does come to the UK, I am going to buy one

David.

[NewcastleFalcon]

If the AMI does come to the UK, I am going to buy one

David.

Pleased to hear it David.

Regards Neil

[myglaren]

If the AMI does come to the UK, I am going to buy one

David.

And put a V6 in it