Ooops!!!!

[Vic Evans]

Mme has just been in an accident & is sure her 2014 C4 is a right-off.
Fortunately she's OK but will need to buy another asap.
She wanted to keep this car for a long time so I've not taken too much notice as to which of the Citroens have the dodgy cam belts etc.
She'll be looking for a car around 2020 or newer of similar size to the C4 so any advice appreciated.

[RichardW]

That's not good, hopefully no long lasting effects!

By 2020 the engines were pretty much a disaster...

1.2 Puretech petrol - the wetbelt, and even if that is OK, potential for ring trouble / oil burning / engine destruction
1.5 diesel - the 7mm cam chain issue and they like to destroy DPFs early
1.6 petrol maybe? Not sure about this engine - a development of the earlier THP which didn't exactly cover itself in glory.
2.0 diesel if still around may be OK

A late 17 / 18 with the 1.6 diesel is probably the best bet, these seem to be pretty good if reasonably looked after. Adblue can give trouble, but that is pretty much true of any manufacturer.

[mickthemaverick]

In the current climate Vic I'd be wary of any Stellantis or VAG vehicle. Consider the Toyota Corolla or similar from the other Japanese makers. Naturally I'd be looking at Subaru but that is personal bias based on ownership of my Legacy.

[Sloppysod]

Step daughter has one of those Toyota Yaris hybrids but it's very tinny. The Corolla may be better, (or Auris) they won't take much looking after and nice easy to drive.
Batteries seem a problem, especially if left unused for a week or so.

[Lenny]

The Corolla may be better,

They really are dull but reliable.
A friend of mine runs a Corolla hybrid estate as a taxi that he bought new.
It's done over 200,000 miles now and it's had a pair of driveshafts under warranty at nearly 100k, and a steering rack at 160k (bought used for £200 and fitted it himself).
Tough as old boots.

[Vic Evans]

Well, I've seen a photo of the car & it's deffo a write-off so it's a searching for a replacement we will go.
On a different tack; it's the first accident in the 23 years we've lived here so the systems are/were totally new to us.
One phone call to AXA, her fully comp. insurers, took us to a claims adviser & by the evening Mme had her wreck collected to local garage, a taxi organised to take her 30km to a pre-arranged hospital appointment this morning & a rdv 20 mins walk from the hospital to pick up a rather nice Pug 208 hire car which is hers to use for 15 days. All organised & paid by her insurance who went the extra mile to organise her taxi to, & hire car depot close, to the hospital. Even the taxi man declined any payment Mme was told would be required but later reimbursed, as he had an a/c with AXA & would invoice them direct.
Paperwork done & agreed with other party so now it's a wait until assessor does his thing.
No idea what she'll get as a payout so it's wait & see at the moment.
Coincidentally, my old third party AXA assured Pug 806 was collected today by an AXA paid transporter to take to the garage who'd worked on her, to get the water leak fixed.
Dunno what other insurance companies are like but suddenly it feels worth the money we've paid AXA over the last few years.

[Richard_C]

Sounds like a good experience with the insurer so far, nice to hear a good story. Hopefully their cash offer will be reasonable. I wonder if its based on what it would cost to buy one like it (it should be) or bottom book trade in value.

20+ years ago, someone hit the Picasso (Xsara Picasso, shows how long ago it was) as they came out of side road. Easily fixed, kept my NCD as clearly their fault. The irritation was the bundled 'legal aid' with the policy: they rang me 3 times sort of prompting/encouraging me to make a personal injury claim. But no injury, no claim and I had no intention of making things up.

By 2020 the engines were pretty much a disaster...

1.2 Puretech petrol - the wetbelt, and even if that is OK, potential for ring trouble / oil burning / engine destruction

The Puretech is a nice engine in use and may not be a disaster - well maintained, regular oil changes with the right oil and cambelt change at 6 years as (now) recommended should be OK, we're on year 9 of our 110 bhp C3 and no issues at all. BUT, if you are buying older pre-owned then you can't assume anything about how its been looked after and it is a risk.

I wonder if one of those Citroens called "Renault" might be a decent compromise between being interesting and actually working. Neighbour has a 10 year old C4ish sized one (Megan?) and it seems to work and be a nice car to be in when he gives me the occasional lift to the station.

[Rp0thejester]

All I can say is thank goodness nobody was hurt, we all joke about getting ridding of the Mrs but if that would happen you'd have a quiet life..... Actually, I shouldn't of said anything.....