C5

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Quackers
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C5

Post by Quackers »

Partner has decided they want a C5 now, while i have £5000-£6000 to look for one with, they have a much tighter budget of no more than £1600. Decided they want a 1.8i SX/VTR (LX is to basic, and Exclusive is on the bigger engines which bumbs the insurance up to high).

A few to look at, but obviously do not want to visit each one. So with buying used being a bit of a lottery, if the car had no service history which route would you go down?

Higher mileage newer? or Lower mileage older?

Seen a 54 plate with 138,000 miles on clock, and one or two 51/02 plates with 70,000 - 80,000 , cannot decide which is the better gamble if they both seem fine.

or are these C5's for sale at the bottom of the market a money pit?

Just after peoples thoughts.......
Last edited by Quackers on 24 Apr 2011, 12:50, edited 1 time in total.
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Clogzz
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Post by Clogzz »

An old C5 will be a liability, irrespective of mileage.
It’s certain to have intermittent, impossible faults lurking in it.
A loss of £1600 looks small if you’re thinking of over £5000, but they may not be able to afford that loss.
2002 C5 2.0i AL4 230,000 km 76372389
Mdon
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Post by Mdon »

I would go for one with 70-80k as 138,000 on a 1.8 petrol is high mileage no matter how old the car is. Why not go for a diesel?
Current vehicle
2010 peugeot 3008 1.6 HDi exclusive
2007 Citroen C5 20.HDi estate exclusive

Past French cars
2000 Xantia HDi 90 Forte
2002 C5 HDi 110 LX
2002 Renault laguna 1.8 16v
2008 Renault laguna estate 1.5dci
411514
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Post by 411514 »

Whilst id be looking for slightly more than you are planning on paying in the very very near future i will be looking to sell my c5.
Its a 2003 2.0 HDI vtr (hurricane grey i believe),
72k miles just passed mot with no advisories so 12 month mot,
12 month tax, heated electric leather interior absolutely mint inside and out, il be selling it fully serviced, iv got some new brake pads i will be fitting to it and il be doing the oil+filter and fuel filter before selling it,
its a genuine reason for sale id love to keep it but student life is starting to bite and the lack of use just makes it non economical for me to run a car,
il be back on the pushbike, sorry for the thread hijack but i thought i would put my 2 eggs in, if you are set on a petrol then i think from what people on here have said to stay clear of the 2.0hpi and stick to the 1.8
Quackers
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2000 Citroen Xantia Activa
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Post by Quackers »

As much as my partner would love a diesel C5, he is currently paying £2600 a year insurance for a 2000 reg 1.0 corsa. A 1.8i C5 ups the insurance to just under £3000 which is only a few hundred more, soon as you go to the 2.0 litre diesel or petrol it goes over £3000 which is just too much. He wants a bigger car, and more toys , his corsa does not even have powersteering!
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Post by myglaren »

That seems a stupendous amount for insurance, especially on a diesel.
A HDi Xantia might be a better bet and possibly a better car at a lower price.

It is ten times the amount my 26 year old daughter pays for a high spec 2.3 litre SAAB petrol.
411514
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Post by 411514 »

For what its worth try using elephant insurance,
im guessing the reason your partners insurance is so high is because hes quite young,
im only 20 and my insurance with elephant is fully comp allbeit with a huge excess so basically third party but on the c5 im only paying £1100,
i say only mind but that is still an absolutely ludicrous price to pay for a piece of paper which chances are you will never use,
also something else that may be worth bearing in mind is that on the diesel as compared to the 1.8 petrol you can quite easily get 15mpg extra and road tax is also cheaper.
Also you mention that you are looking at possibly the vtr spec, from personal experience i would avoid this spec and instead plump for either lx or sx,
due to the vtr saxo being the sporty one a lot of insurers i spoke to would not even quote on me as soon as they heard vtr despite the fact that a diesel c5 is quite possibly as far from sporty as you can get.
Something else i noticed recently when looking for insurance is that due
to the computer programs used to calculate risk when quoting
online, by adding not just one but 3 additional drivers
of low risk for instance parents/older friends i could drop the
insurance by over £500 sometimes
Last edited by 411514 on 24 Apr 2011, 15:01, edited 1 time in total.
Quackers
Posts: 399
Joined: 11 Nov 2005, 12:58
Location: Staffordshire, Newcastle Under Lyme
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2007 Citroen C5 2.2 (173) Exclusive + Navi
2000 Citroen Xantia Activa
x 17

Post by Quackers »

odd i know but the xantia costs more. parkers have the c5 as lower insurance group than the xantia. he is only 20.

i pay £400 a year for my xantia activa, if i add him as a named driver cheapest quote was over £7000 a year. nuts.yet i can add him for 30 days for £18!
411514
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Post by 411514 »

The AA phoned me recently to offer me an excellent deal on my car insurance renewal £8000, do they really think that anyone would take them up on that excellent offer, it really is a waste of a phonecall, Could you not just repeatedly add him for 30 days as that would work out as barely over £200 a year.
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myglaren
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Post by myglaren »

Try putting a friend on his insurance, someone at a different address and not a relative who has no claims or convictions and is over 25.

It can bring the insurance down considerably.
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Post by imperial21 »

As for insurance as far as xantia is concerned they can be more expensive due to age as any accidents and the car will be a total loss and written off ! I have found that older non classic cars are getting more expensive to insure and was told they are trying to do discourage older cars on the roads. I was told that by an insurance company when ringing round for insurance quotes on my wifes 1997 fiesta ! The c5 is deffinetly cheaper to insure.
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Post by Citroenmad »

I would not consider a petrol C5 unless you really don't have a choice. A 1.8 C5 will be neither quick or frugal, with an insurance grouping no lower than the diesel version.

You can get a diesel C5 2.0HDi (either 90bhp or 110bhp) for your £1600 budget. Very easily.

Higher miles are not a problem with C5 HDis and they are actually very reliable cars. There are cars with niggling faults so you need to know what your looking for, but get a good one and it will prove a very reliable car.

In Feb 2009 I bought a 2002 '52' C5 HDi 110 SX with 108K miles for less than your budget (so it was an absolute bargain!). Its now done 130,500 miles and its a dream, very reliable, very hardy and a real workhorse. Aside from the routine servicing, a set of tyres, etc its been very cheap to own and still worth the same as I paid for it! This particular C5 is going to be with us for an awful long time yet, its such a good car. Infact ive just done 600 miles with it this week around Scotland, 47MPG despite it carrying luggage and having 3 bikes in tow. Excellent.

Petrol C5s never seem to sell very well, so you might well be stuck with it even if you wanted to part with it! Not to mention 30MPG and higher tax. Id never recommend a petrol C5 (unless of course its a V6!) but I would strongly recommend a diesel C5, even now I cant find anything which does as much as the C5s do. They are easy to find, highly specced, cheap to own and run, reliable and such huge value for money. Not to mention very comfortable, very refined and very spacious. Im confident I could not find a better car (no matter what the make or model) than our 52reg C5, not for the same money.

One thing to think about with the spec levels, LX and SX have 195.65.15 tyres, these are very cheap and even for a pair of Michelins you will have change out of £140. For the VTR spec with larger 16" 215.55.16 tyres your looking at double the costs for tyres, £140 per Michelin. Obviously there are cheaper tyres but all are more expensive. C5 dont take well to cheap brands imo.

Don't tell anyone, but I prefer C5s to Xantias :lol:
I can now say that for sure, though the actual handling is hard to compare for obvious reasons ... Activa. In other areas, I like the C5!

Buy a diesel, forget the petrols!

Now, for your £5000 - £6000 budget, I hope your going diesel? Have you decide what spec/engine yet?
Chris
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