As hinted at in the "tell me about the Citigo" thread, I've concluded negotiations (not hard) and come home with a metallic silver 2015 SE.

2 hours on the train to Manchester to see the car was relaxing, 6 hours - most of it spent on the M6 - driving home less so.

The necessary parts of the buying process (test drive, haggle, formal paperwork) were excellent. The slow run through of all the optional insurances (cover against paint damage, Luddites and witchcraft) significantly less so. Seriously, it nearly lost them the sale.

Driving the car is a delight. It's remarkably like driving our much loved but departed mk1 1.2 12V Fabia. Engine sounds the same and it really light and easy around town and whizzes along on the motorway. When it's not stationary.

It's basic in some ways, but it's competent and quiet with astonishing ride quality, and it feels like a much bigger car. I'm sure there's more space in the back than in my old mk 1 Octy estate.

Ok, it doesn't have the yeehaw! of my Yeti but what do you expect? It was a quarter of the money. And it's a bloody good car!

And the lad loves the stripe on the roof :-)

All I want to do now is a PID, mudflaps, variable boot, possibly DAB and that the lad will let me play with it occasionally.

Well chosen and happy driving!

I have PID for sale on eBay which I will happily discount slightly to a fellow Briskodian!

I have PID for sale on eBay which I will happily discount slightly to a fellow Briskodian!

 

Darn it! just bought one :-(

 

Thanks for the offer though.

Lookers by any chance?  The up selling is a pain in the bum and you've simply got to say no.  I can believe they nearly lost the sale through it all.

Lookers by any chance?  The up selling is a pain in the bum and you've simply got to say no.  I can believe they nearly lost the sale through it all.

 

It was indeed Lookers.

 

I made it clear up front that I was not going to buy any of the extras, but I was content to buy the car at the sticker price; it had already been significantly reduced and was one of the cheapest I'd seen. As it was an 11 month old SE with 4,000 miles on the clock for 1/2 list price I was willing to put up with it. Any less of a deal and I would have walked.

 

Seems like they get a rollocking if they don't run through all the up selling stuff and the system monitors that they go through it at the right speed (i.e. don't just click through).

 

I wasn't impressed, and really felt for the sales team; it wasn't their fault and will give feedback accordingly.

Edited 6 May, 201610 yr by Gyp

I have PID for sale on eBay which I will happily discount slightly to a fellow Briskodian!

Is this a Navigon or Garmin?

Is this a Navigon or Garmin?

 

It's a Navigon. I understand the Garmin is somehow "better". I never used it other than to display trip/mpg data and it always worked just fine.

good luck with the car, great buy!

The lookers upselling is a joke. When I bought mine there was a young lad in who bought a top of the range and fully loaded Octavia VRS and paid cash and they were trying to sell him all sorts. He just kept saying I can afford to fix the dents, I can afford to buy new tyres, I can afford......

 

That said, they are usually competitive on price, even if their service is a bit crap!

I'd not noticed this, but will follow your adventures of new ownership. They do the up-selling of extras to death, I think in many cases they aren't really selling the car at all, but all the finance, insurance and shiny polish that goes with it. I almost feel sorry for them, being a used car salesman seems much more of a grind than it once was. They always appear to have a hint of desperation about them.

 

Anyway I'm still looking for a CitiGo/Mii myself so interested in you opinion on the little car especially after usually driving something larger.

 

Generally I have always bought my cars locally within 15-20miles, my thinking being if they do go wrong it's not too far to travel to get em sorted. Only problem at the moment is any and all the cars that have caught my eye are closer to 80-100 miles away. Just seems like a long way to go to possibly only view a car. 

If you are buying a car that's in warranty it doesn't matter where you buy it. Just taken it to your local dealer for servicing and repairs.

I bought mine from Manchester despite living near to Newcastle. I've used my local dealer for a couple of warranty things and for all service issues. No problem at all.

I'd not noticed this, but will follow your adventures of new ownership. They do the up-selling of extras to death, I think in many cases they aren't really selling the car at all, but all the finance, insurance and shiny polish that goes with it. I almost feel sorry for them, being a used car salesman seems much more of a grind than it once was. They always appear to have a hint of desperation about them.

 

Anyway I'm still looking for a CitiGo/Mii myself so interested in you opinion on the little car especially after usually driving something larger.

 

Generally I have always bought my cars locally within 15-20miles, my thinking being if they do go wrong it's not too far to travel to get em sorted. Only problem at the moment is any and all the cars that have caught my eye are closer to 80-100 miles away. Just seems like a long way to go to possibly only view a car. 

 

The key thing with this one was SE 10 months old, 4k miles, £5500 from a main dealers so, as Markyg points out, it has the Skoda seal of approval and I can take it the local dealer to fix

 

The local dealer has similar age/mileage/colour/wheels Monte Carlo up for £9000, and few others at about 2k miles on for between £8000-£8500.

 

For £2000+ saving, I'll happily pay £35 for a train ticket and sit through an hour of saying "no"

 

So far it's great :-)

Anyway I'm still looking for a CitiGo/Mii myself so interested in you opinion on the little car especially after usually driving something larger.

Now I've got a few minutes to reply to this bit...

First off, I love to drive small cars quickly and I love to drive big cars slowly.

Big cars are relaxing to drive, but if you go silly in them you're likely to get banned and the implications of getting it wrong are horrendous.

With little cars, you can hone your driving skills, get your lines, braking and acceleration just right to squeeze the last drop of performance out of the little thing and still be within the speed limit.

The Citigo falls oddly between the two. It's sophisticated enough and has enough bottom end torque that it's nice to waft about in a relaxed manner. It's light, nice handling and low powered enough that you can play if you want to.

But it's not quiet and powerful enough that you can drive it like a Bentley, nor does it encourage high rev fun so you can't hold it all day at the red line in the way you might a 1.0 Citroen Saxo.

I don't think this is a bad thing. It's comfortable, ridiculously easy to drive around town, pretty well appointed and whilst it can be fun to drive, it doesn't thrive on being thrashed. A pretty good compromise.

That's after a few hundred miles. We'll see what we think after a few thousand. As it's the most economical car in the household, those few thousand miles might not take long.

I loce driving my citigo despite having owned some much plusher and faster cars.

Sadly, i think mine will be going soon to make way for a new house purchase and the fact that they are losing too much value.

If I don't buy myself a 3 litre beemer to smoke around in next though I might just get myself another citigo!