R9UKE's French Car Blog...

[CitroJim]

Nah, perfect winter car is a Xantia HDi with an auxiliary heater One without is a summer car only

Do you have a like/dislike* for diesels Luke?

* delete as appropriate

[robert_e_smart]

Good thinking Franklin!

Luke does like his petrols... Not so sure he likes a CX that much though!

[R9UKE]

Jim I've got a passionate hatred for diesels! Don't like them at all, not worth the money saved in fuel bills. Mine'll keep drinking from the green pump! Nothing better than starting a petrol V6 up on a cold morning and it surrounding itself in its own steam and pollution - few things in life top it, especially not a HDi.

Robert I like CXs, just not £700 worth of CX.. Far too expensive, comfortable and respectful to abuse over winter!

[CitroJim]

I asked and you told me Luke

I'm very much bi in my engine tastes; I love diesels and petrols pretty much equally and appreciate them for their different qualities.

I know what you mean about firing up a V6 on a cold morning. That and the deep rumble and burble

Diesels are frugal though. I never seem to need to fill the HDi and honestly can't remember when I last did. Some time in early November I believe but the V6 more than makes up for it. In a trip to Birmingham and back and a trip to Somerset and back I had to fill up the V6 twice and it's not far short of needing more

Yep, the Croisette is far too good to use as a winter car... Shame on you for ever suggesting so Franklin! There'll be nothing left of it come spring

[Citroenmad]

Jim I've got a passionate hatred for diesels! Don't like them at all, not worth the money saved in fuel bills. Mine'll keep drinking from the green pump! Nothing better than starting a petrol V6 up on a cold morning and it surrounding itself in its own steam and pollution - few things in life top it, especially not a HDi.

Im very much a diesel person, petrols are for light, small and lively cars. I doubt I will ever get the understanding of a V6 either.

Even if diesels and petrols did the same MPG and cost the same at the pumps, Id still always pick the diesel! I much prefer the drive. The only reason I get along well with my Activa is because it has the torque of a diesel, even at low revs.

Jim, Ive never had a problem with HDi C5s warming up times, they seem fast to warm and are soon producing heat from the vets. Id like to know if any C5s are fitted with a kind of pre-heater. On both my last C5 and this one something continues to run for a few seconds after turning the car off, but only in very cold weather. I didn't think C5s had pre-heaters, but maybe they they do, maybe something smaller and more effieient.

[robert_e_smart]

Diesel, diesel, diesel!! Especially when they have mechanical fuel pumps. I love the simplicity of them.

I like my petrols as well. But not an option on a daily basis.

[R9UKE]

I'm sorry but diesel is just miserable motoring! There's nothing special at all about a HDi or dCi or whatever, whereas when you fire up a V6 you know you've made the right decision to be different! Like an Espace V6 for example. Some person has thought "right, buying a mundane people carrier but I'm not going to completely sign my sanity away by plumping for diesel, I'll go all out, throw two fingers up to the environment and pinching the pennies and buy the 3 litre petrol!"

Jim you had to mention the noise! THAT noise! Gets me far too excited in far too many ways. I sometimes leave the Avantime idling in the drive while I'm working on another car, just to listen to it. It's comparable to the beginning of some kind of natural disaster.

Starting the petrol diesel debate was a mistake, I feel very strongly for the good smelling stuff!

[CitroJim]

Jim, Ive never had a problem with HDi C5s warming up times, they seem fast to warm and are soon producing heat from the vets. Id like to know if any C5s are fitted with a kind of pre-heater. On both my last C5 and this one something continues to run for a few seconds after turning the car off, but only in very cold weather. I didn't think C5s had pre-heaters, but maybe they they do, maybe something smaller and more effieient.

I don't know if the C5 had any form of auxiliary heater Chris, or perhaps Citroen did some mods to make them unnecessary perhaps.

It sounds like you may have something but you'd know if you had an Erberspacher as you'd hear it roaring when it was working. I can just hear it inside the car when travelling through town. It cuts out automatically when the coolant is up to 80 degrees but that can take some time when really cold weather is about. What you may be hearing is the heater purging itself when it is shutting down. The fan continues to run for a minute or so to blow fresh air through it.

If you have an Erberspacher you should be able to see the exhaust under the wing or see the coolant hoses going to it.

[Citroenmad]

I'm sorry but diesel is just miserable motoring! There's nothing special at all about a HDi or dCi or whatever, whereas when you fire up a V6 you know you've made the right decision to be different! Like an Espace V6 for example. Some person has thought "right, buying a mundane people carrier but I'm not going to completely sign my sanity away by plumping for diesel, I'll go all out, throw two fingers up to the environment and pinching the pennies and buy the 3 litre petrol!"

As someone on an Envrionmental Management degree, I disagree

Almost every V6 version of a car is worth less than the smaller petrols or diesels, as they are not desirable to many people. The diesels are always worth the most ... says something

[Citroenmad]

Jim, Ive never had a problem with HDi C5s warming up times, they seem fast to warm and are soon producing heat from the vets. Id like to know if any C5s are fitted with a kind of pre-heater. On both my last C5 and this one something continues to run for a few seconds after turning the car off, but only in very cold weather. I didn't think C5s had pre-heaters, but maybe they they do, maybe something smaller and more effieient.

I don't know if the C5 had any form of auxiliary heater Chris, or perhaps Citroën did some mods to make them unnecessary perhaps.

It sounds like you may have something but you'd know if you had an Erberspacher as you'd hear it roaring when it was working. I can just hear it inside the car when travelling through town. It cuts out automatically when the coolant is up to 80 degrees but that can take some time when really cold weather is about. What you may be hearing is the heater purging itself when it is shutting down. The fan continues to run for a minute or so to blow fresh air through it.

If you have an Erberspacher you should be able to see the exhaust under the wing or see the coolant hoses going to it.

No, it doesn't have the Erberspacher heater or similar. Our Caravelle had a similar thing and I know the noise well

They do warm nice and quickly though, unlike my old Seat TDi which took 11 miles one morning to reach running temp

[R9UKE]

Almost every V6 version of a car is worth less than the smaller petrols or diesels, as they are not desirable to many people. The diesels are always worth the most ... says something

Yup... That I gotta pay a lot more for a lot less fun! It all balances out at the end, the saving from not buying a diesel is bound to be A LOT of fuel. A no brainer.

[robert_e_smart]

Theres no convincing you. V6 diesel? A compromise?

[Chris570]

My HDi cost me £1000 to buy 2 years ago, ive done 45k in it with an avergae of 50mpg resulting in 900litres of fuel used. @ todays pump prices £1260
A V6 would be about £600 with 45k done in that at lets say 30mpg (motorway only) would burn 1500 litres of fuel @ today''s pump prices £2010
the V6 would have cost me 600 litres of fuel more in that time and £750 more. That is assuming that the V6 would be doing 30mpg over the 45k (mine would average more like 27) and the HDi often exceeds 50mpg and is more often than not at 54mpg. Plus, i hate standing out in the cold filling up, the HDi makes more financial sense but if you do low mileage then i can see why a petrol would be less painful. Plus the torque of the diesel is excellent

[/my 2p]

[R9UKE]

Theres no convincing you. V6 diesel? A compromise?

Yes, ok. I do like these! The Vel Satis dV6 is superb.

I can see why people choose diesels, but I'm not one for counting up sums and plumping for the most economical choice every time. I do about 14k a year so I guess I should be driving a diesel. It's also my love for Renaults that makes buying a diesel even less appealing. Had I have bought the 1.9 dCi Mégane I'd be looking at servicing it three times as often to prevent the turbo blowing, so again, not worth it for me.

Speaking of which, got the Mégane back this morning! Ready for MOT with it's freshly aligned headlights, new ball joints, steering arms and oil pressure valve which was making a racket when cold. The ride is MUCH better, very pleased.

This was waiting for some work and parked a few spaces away from my Avantime.

[R9UKE]

If injection, the problem may well be the coolant temperature sensor. A very common problem on early Clios it seems...

You were bang on the money Jim. Thank you very much!

Collected the new part from GSF this morning (£12). Haynes comic was an absolute joke as usual, no help whatsoever. I did find it however, it seems to be in a different location to all others on the 1.4 Auto. Access isn't great, I took a few photos so if anybody reading this has the same issue, let me know!

Started beautifully from cold, never has before, and is idling just below 1000 rpm. Hopefully fuel consumption will improve with it.

Also - Meg got her full ticket this afternoon after £200 worth of work!