The Preamble

 

For those of you that are interested, as requested and promised, this is a comparison of my 2017 (a 2017MY) Skoda Fabia SE Hatchback 1.2TSI 110ps DSG automatic, vs the 2018 (2019MY) Citroen C3 Flair Hatchback 1.2 PureTech 110ps EAT6 automatic. These are my views based upon ownership and experience with both cars. Others may have differing views, and of course that’s ok. It’s always a bit of a subjective thing when working out what you like and dislike about a car and we are all different in what we like.

 

As many of you know, due to issues with both of my brand new Fabia DSG’s over the last 17 months, I decided to cut my losses and go for another brand of car. This meant NOT looking at any other VAG range of cars as they all use the same engines and gearboxes, my main source of problems! So this time it was the Citroen brand, a never before visited car area (for me). I should say however that Citroen has been in my family in one way or another for the last decade or more and they have served family members well. It is what I learned about them as a brand that encouraged me to try the brand new C3, investigate them from every angle, and eventually to buy one.

 

So for starters, I’m not bashing the Skoda brand. My bad experience with two brand new cars is unquestionably a rare event. However, it did colour my view of Skoda and in particular VAG cars in general, due to various things that happened along the way when sorting out the problems. But I’m not going to go into all that here. It’s just a comparison that I’m making here so that anyone that is interested can see how your Fabia stacks up against some of the competition. That’s competition that I hadn’t looked at for over 12 years. Blinkered or what! Note that I’m not going to make a direct comparison to the 1.0TSI engined cars. But they are similar to the 1.2TSI. I haven’t owned a 1.0TSI but have driven several of the estate cars over the last year on lengthy runs and I actually believe the 1.0TSI is probably a better engine unit than the 1.2TSI. It isn’t as quick or punchy, but it’s not far off. The 1.2TSI easily beats it on fuel economy though in real life driving.

 

THE FABIA Mk3

 

The Skoda Fabia hatch is a great car, it’s near the top of it’s game in Mk3 format. The DSG gearbox is a wonder and is the icing on the cake for me. Leaving aside the engine and transmission issues that I had, it’s truly a wondrous thing to drive. IMPORTANT NOTE: Most folks don’t get any issues with their engines or DSG gearboxes or clutches, so if you have one, I wouldn’t worry. In spite of what one or two others on here say, it’s very limited in the number affected. Those that are affected will have their cars fixed, eventually!

 

What I loved about my Fabia/s

 

1. It’s power. It went so well, I dyno’ed it at 113.2ps @5400rpm (best of 2 runs). Torque was 176nm at 1450rpm. Mileage for these runs was just at 5,000 miles and tested in ambient temps of 22c. This is fairly typical of VAG engines to be slightly over the factory quoted figures once they have a few miles on the clock. Great! Note: it’s a good idea to follow the factory recommendations on running in if you want to achieve a good performing powerful engine that will last a long time. Most sales people will tell you it doesn’t need running in. Actually, they all do. Follow the book on this. It doesn’t mean you have to drive slowly, just follow some simple rules. It pays dividends.

 

2. I loved the fuel economy. The car regularly returned 60+mpg on a run with no real concessions being made to economy. 200 miles on mostly motorways, dual carriageways, and ‘A’ roads produced 63mpg, with considerable traffic ‘fencing’ with me at 70mph for much of the time on the motorways. Yes, I kid you not, it was that economical. It just sipped the fuel instead of guzzling it. This was I’m sure in no small way down to the DSG box. It’s way smarter than most of us at selecting the right gear and is the reason why it gives better fuel economy figures over the manual versions both on paper and in real driving.

 

3. I generally liked the way the car handled at speed on country roads, it’s overall quietness, and the ability to cruise tirelessly on motorways at any speed you want.

 

4. I sort of liked it looks to start with finding them pleasing to the eye. Although I did grow to dislike the looks after all the problems I was having. 

 

5. It was fairly comfortable and roomy.

 

6. Loved the storage space around the cabin.

 

7. Found the infotainment centre with touch screen to be superb, especially with my phone plugged in to use sat nav. Sound from the speakers was pretty good too!

 

These things made it a good car.

 

What I didn’t like about my Fabia/s

 

1. The terribly noisy engines at start up, especially in cold weather. As an engineer I can’t see why it’s like that. It’s easy to avoid noise like this at the design stage. It applied to both my new Mk3’s and affected it whether the engine was hot or cold. Modern lightweight pistons will rattle at cold start up but should stop very quickly. Mine didn’t. My first Mk 3 knocked considerably on start up in hot weather or cold which was a main reason I rejected the car. It was the most horrendous knocking noise and lasted for several seconds (up to 5 or 6 seconds on occasions). It spent weeks in the dealers trying to be fixed. People in the street would turn and look when it made this noise and passengers would ask what the noise was! It turned out to be oil drain back causing the issue and it couldn’t be fixed apparently in spite of my dealer fitting new parts! My second car was much much better but still way too noisy on cold starts, but that’s just normal for the 1.2TSI.

 

2. I didn’t like the noisy mechatronics unit that controlled the clutches and changed the gears. No other dual clutch cars that I’ve driven made so much noise so why do the Fabia’s? It should be state of the art by now. I’ve driven a shed load of 1.2TSI DSG’s and they were nearly all the same. My neighbours new i30 with DCT (dsg) auto box does not make any noise at all. Mine was getting noisier and noisier as the miles went on the car. I didn’t like the way the clutches had to be replaced at very low miles due to slipping on one of the cars.

 

3. Although I generally like the handling of the car, I grew to disliked the way the car crashed through and over bumps. The ride over level crossings of which I have many in my area was bone jarringly bad in my opinion. My Mk2 estates didn’t do this and were way more comfortable in that respect.

 

4. Many things on the car were difficult to get to for maintenance and unnecessarily so. Just bad design. And I’m used to tech’ing, had a lifetime of it.

 

5. Didn’t like the way the headlights filled up with water every time it rained hard on a long run, and when I washed the car. Absolutely ridiculous and that’s normal apparently says the dealer. It is, I checked and it’s absurd as the silvering on my reflectors on one car were already going bad due to water ingress after just 6 months. It’s again poor design and cost saving.

 

6. I didn’t like the cars susceptibility to misting up inside on the windscreen and side windows. Worst car I’ve ever had for that.

 

7. I didn’t like the constant creaks and rattles from the car interior. These just became worse and worse as the miles went on the car and I got fed up of fixing them. Fix one and another develops.

 

Thus ends my main dislikes...there are others, but much more trivial and not worth mentioning here.

 

THE CITROEN C3

 

Ok, so I’ve had the car for two months now. It’s a slightly different sort of car to the Fabia. It’s the sort of car you buy if you want a very modern, very stylish car with all the tech, but want that very comfy ride. It’s a softer ride than a Fabia or Fiesta and it represents Citroen's trademark ride for which they are famous. It takes the bumps, potholes and level crossings in a way I’ve never experienced before in any car. You hardly notice them. Yet, body roll is still minimal but more than the Fabia. It’s easy to get used to though and you can still hustle the car around twisty country lanes and road with no issues. I like! The ride is helped by 16” alloys shod with 205/55 Michelin tyres.

 

Only done 1500 miles so far but already my wife and I have bonded with it. It’s a brilliant all rounder car. When we went to collect the car from the dealer my wife was presented with a nice bunch of flowers, and we both received new Citroen umbrellas! One for each of us! This made me think maybe it would leak rain into the cabin! Actually, it doesn’t. But the dealer was great, getting the car in record time for us and doing a great deal.

 

The car is noticeably bigger than the Fabia. It has a striking presence on the road with it’s high wide front end. In fact, it’s 100mm wider, 20mm taller, 6mm longer, and has a wheelbase that is around 80mm longer than the Fabia. It’s about the biggest 5 door ‘B’ segment car you can buy. Not all of that extra size translates to more interior space though. The front cabin is wondrously spacious with more than enough room for very big folks who are 6.6” tall or more (yes really). Loads of adjustment for steering and seat both rake, height and every other way. But in the back, although there is plenty of room for 3 average size adults to sit side by side, the legroom is just a tad less than the Fabia in my opinion. Still more than adequate for most though. Boot space is good at 300litres with seats up, but that’s slightly less than the Fabia. Seats down and it’s almost as good as the Fabia. Internal cabin storage for trinkets is not quite as good as the Fabia. 

 

The 1.2 110ps/205nm's of torque 3 cylinder Engine & Auto EAT6 Gearbox

 

It’s state of the art, both engine and gearbox. Frankly, it's way ahead of the Fabia. It’s an award winning engine and the gearbox is the latest generation 6 spd torque converter box. The engine and box was designed for use right across the Citroen and Peugeot range of cars and SUVs. It’s a long stroke engine revving to only 5,500rpm (that’s where the redline is) and is available in 82, 110, 118, 130 and 160ps versions. It has a brilliant ‘Offset Crankshaft’ design offering better power and less engine wear on the power stroke. This means also, better fuel economy. The cylinders and piston rings are coated with a mineral coating to reduce friction and wear. It’s a great engine and very strong. It’s been out now for 5 years and has earned an enviable reputation. The engine is very quiet when you start it up from cold or hot. It doesn’t knock, rattle or chatter. You just get a nice swooshing rustling sound like engines used to make. During hard acceleration (0.62 in 9.8secs) the engine makes this lovely noise but overall you get little sensation of speed. At 90mph it feels the same as my Fabia did at 70mph. Not saying I go up to 90mph on purpose, it just did on one occasion because I was careless watching my speed. It’s rather quick, quiet and smooth, and so very comfortable you just don't notice how fast you are going! That engine, it’s engineering heaven for me.

 

The automatic gearbox doesn’t whine like most Fabia’s do when they are hot whilst driving at 30-40 mph. It’s totally silent. How do I know this? Not only is mine very quiet but I’ve driven C3 automatics with 14k and 20K on the clock respectively and they were totally silent. The gearbox is responsive changing up and down and when needed. It has never been confused about what gear to be in and in sport mode just takes off like a rocket. It has manual mode too which again has a nice feel to it. In fact the gearbox was designed by Citroen with Aisin of Japan jointly to compete with DSG but without the issues that some DSG/DCT boxes are suffering. There are no clutches for example, it being torque converter type. They’ve done a good job and overall it’s very smooth, but not as smooth as a DSG when going from 1^st to 2^nd gear. If you want smooth you must actually hit the gas hard or go very gently during acceleration after move off. It's ok in every other gear though. You can however just get in a plant your big foot on the gas pedal and it takes off like a scalded cat should you need to do so without any jerkiness often associated with DSG when used in that way.

 

The engine in my C3 produces 110ps and 205nm of torque at 1500rpm, in part helped by the offset crank design. It’s this torque that makes the car so nice to drive. I’ll dyno it when it’s done more miles, it will probably be way up on 110ps I suspect. The engine has no exhaust manifold bolted on, it’s all built into the cylinder head for fast warm up. It also causes the engine to make a very nice noise under hard acceleration.

 

What I like about my C3

 

 

1. The engine. It’s brilliant and very lively, silent, and punchy, economical. Easily does 60mpg and it’s not yet fully conformed. Tireless ability to cruise at any speed you want in any conditions.

 

2. The gearbox. Smooth & silent gearchanges, very responsive, fully featured latest generation computer controlled torque converter type with 6 spds. Aisin who builds this box also designed and built the excellent VAG torque converter 6 spd tiptronic unit in the Fabia Mk2’s, Golfs etc etc.

 

3. The handling and ride comfort, very low noise levels, and less than the Fabia in the cabin from engine and road. No rattles or creaking from the car interior. At two months old my first Mk3 Fabia was rattling and creaking all the time.

 

4. I like the way the headlights do not fill up with water when it rains.

 

5. The build quality of the car. Frankly, other manufacturers could learn a thing or two about how to design and build a car. The finish on the car is totally amazing with everything finished off to a very high standard inside and out, including underneath the car. That also includes stuff under the bonnet. The whole car is designed for easy maintenance. All bulbs including headlights, foglights, running lights, rear lights etc can be accessed easily from inside the engine bay or boot without having to jack up the car, take off wheels etc like on some Fabias and other brands of car.

 

I’ve already sat in on a full service on a C3 carried out by a Citroen master tech. It couldn’t be easier. Parts are cheap too. They have some cars with this engine in that have covered over 190,000 miles without any issues. I’m promised a viewing of the first strip down they do. Can’t wait.

 

6. The tech inside the car. It has a built in Dash Cam that talks to your mobile phone. It produces it’s own wifi signal hotspot with gps. Mine is the Flair model which is top of the range. It has way too much tech in to mention here but has some very useful features such as speed limit recognition, of course cruise and speed limiter, lane departure warning and all round one touch electric windows. The external mirrors are heated, electrically adjustable and of course power folding. As I say, there is way more stuff and it again trounces the Fabia SEL model in most areas. 

 

7. The infotainment centre. Muched liked and which is second only to the best in class Bose system in the new Micra with the C3’s system a close second. It sounds amazing.

 

In conclusion, it’s a nice car to drive and own.

 

 

 

 

If I was changing I would choose that exact model. Citroen have always be innovative although in earlier years build quality has been an issue but thankfully now rectified. One model, could be yours, has Citroen pneumatic suspension, a must for our roads. I like the built-in dashcam.

Edited 3 October, 20187 yr by edbostan

Shocked to read this to be honest.

 

Had a New C3 for a week or so at the start of the year. and apart from the obvious spaciousness, really didn't like it at all.

 

reported on it here: 

 

Edited 3 October, 20187 yr by camelspyyder

 Thanks for an interesting and fairly balanced review.

 

I've been a VAG man since I cant remember when. And skoda from 2004 with several cars most of which are still in my care (free servicing, maintenance and repair from Dad). Even though I recently bought a new Superb to add to the fleet, I'm conscious I really need to broaden my horizons.

 

I've not been too impressed with the new Fabia or Octavia when Ive had them for a day or on hire. The cabins definitely feel smaller and cheaper than the mk2 with all hard plastics.

 

I've often noticed strolling though car parks, Citroen brakes looking pretty good whereas as Skoda brakes always seem to be in a state of advanced corrosion and wheels covered in black dust. Something I hate having to clean up and service regularly.

 

But my main moan is the way the new VAG engines are much less DIY service friendly. Oil and filter changes on mk2 fabias and octavias are a piece of cake. Mk3, I struggled to find where the oil filter was at first, putting it at the bottom of the engine, ugh....

 

So question about your petrol C3. Do you think standard oil/filter changes would be an easy DIY job? Obviously I would need to research service indicator resets.

 

A lot of bad press about certain PSA engines, diesels of doom. Is the petrol engine a PSA engine and is it 3 or 4 cylinder?  Heard anything bad about them?

 

Do keep us updated about the Citroen experience. Help us poor folk stuck in the Skoda mindset to perhaps think further afield.

Thanks xman. Yes the oil and other filter changes are easy. It's a diy'ers dream. The whole car seems very easy to work on and everything easy to get at. There are no known problems with the PureTech 1.2 motors. It's a PSA engine with a turbo charged 3 cylinder long stroke engine revving very low but it's hugely powerful compared to the 1.2TSI engine in the Fabia. At any given revs it has much more torque available so gets up and goes really quickly but effortlessly. The 40mph to 80mph dash is much much quicker than the Fabia 110ps 1.2TSI. The cam belt has a 12 year or 128,000 mile life span. But I'll change it before then. It's very stable on the roads in high winds at speed too. And it's sooo smooth. Edbostan, the C4 has the special pneumatic suspension, but the C3 has a highly tuned conventional setup. On that point about the brakes xman...yes the finish on the hubs, the discs and calipers is very good and so far no rust on the discs after overnight rain or a wet drive. They may have a higher degree of stainless steel in them than the Fabias. I expect they will develop overnight rust in the winter though with the inevitable salt on the roads.

 

I still think Skoda are great cars but just not the ones I had...  And I have noticed a change in the way Skoda are building them now. Basically, economies forced on them by VW has affected many things and it's showing. 

 

How's the Superb xman? Nice cars from what i know. 

1 hour ago, camelspyyder said:

Shocked to read this to be honest.

 

Had a New C3 for a week or so at the start of the year. and apart from the obvious spaciousness, really didn't like it at all.

 

reported on it here: 

 

 

Thanks for the comments. I think I read your piece on your hire car. Did you do a YouTube video on it too? Shame your experience wasn't good with it. But we can't all like everything. The bottom of the range car is a bit lacking and doesn't look so nice inside. You definitely don't want the 68bhp engine either. It's a heavier car than the Fabia so not surprised it struggled a bit on motorways. 

Edited 3 October, 20187 yr by Estate Man

Oh I know the 68 would be horrendous. As it turned out it was the 82 we had but show it a hill and it gave up. I thought our own 85 bhp Ibiza was a slug, but the Citroen was tugging a lot more weight about and really struggled. I would definitely want a more powerful model if driving it again. I like the exterior styling and the space. It will probably be an absolute bargain used buy in 2 years since the valuelike our SEATs, is unlikely to hold up. 

Oh, that's interesting that it was the 82ps version you had. They normally go reasonably well. They don't of course as you prolly know have a turbo. The 82 is more of a town car. You know, it's so difficult getting a decent discount off the C3 that used prices are so far standing up really well. A one year old used C3 with 14,000+ miles on the clock at my local Citroen dealer was going for £16,750 with the auto tranny. Yet paying cash for my new one I got a total saving of £4700 off a new car costing £18,200. Thats the only way to get any decent discount. Many folks don't buy with cash though. That discount that I obtained included an extra £1000 given to me over and above the value of my Fabia. But the used C3 would have cost £17,850 a year earlier, not lost much value in 12 months. That's helped by the fact that they can sell every C3 they make very quickly. It will not overall I suspect hold it value quite as well as the Fabia. The C3 has only been out over here for two years son we'll have to wait and see.

Here's some under bonnet shots of the C3 1.2 Turbo 110ps 3 cyl engine. Note the Turbocharger is totally the opposite way round (at the front rather than the rear of the engine) to the 1.2TSI engine unit. Everything is easy to get to and everything is neat and nicely finished off under there. The car has a very solid feel to everything and is very well constructed. 

 

On 04/10/2018 at 07:59, Estate Man said:

Oh, that's interesting that it was the 82ps version you had. They normally go reasonably well. They don't of course as you prolly know have a turbo. The 82 is more of a town car. You know, it's so difficult getting a decent discount off the C3 that used prices are so far standing up really well. A one year old used C3 with 14,000+ miles on the clock at my local Citroen dealer was going for £16,750 with the auto tranny. Yet paying cash for my new one I got a total saving of £4700 off a new car costing £18,200. Thats the only way to get any decent discount. Many folks don't buy with cash though. That discount that I obtained included an extra £1000 given to me over and above the value of my Fabia. But the used C3 would have cost £17,850 a year earlier, not lost much value in 12 months. That's helped by the fact that they can sell every C3 they make very quickly. It will not overall I suspect hold it value quite as well as the Fabia. The C3 has only been out over here for two years son we'll have to wait and see.

 

The Dealer with the used one was indeed having a laugh.

2017 Flair 82 with under 4000 miles is currently on autotrader at £8600 ono.

2017 Flair 110 start at £10100

camel, just to be clear, my C3 is the 110ps Flair automatic and I was talking in my post above about a used highly specced 2017 C3 Flair with the 110ps EAT6 auto gearbox which is a totally different cup of tea to a manual gearbox 82ps Flair. Not the same class of car at all. You cannot get all the bells and whistles on lower powered Flairs either. On autotrader, 2017 110ps auto cars sell for various prices depending on miles and you can see them being advertised at £15k plus with 8-10k or more on the clock. That recently included the very car my dealer had up for sale at £16,750, along with several others at similar prices. Of course you can buy 2016's at lower prices or very high milers cheaper too.  But it's only the lower powered models selling at the prices you mention. Currently there are some new euro 6.1 pre reg cars going cheaper at £15.5k. My dealers car which had 14k on the clock had every extra ever made including the pana roof which made it pretty valuable. I did drive that car and it was lovely to drive, just like mine with loads of power and very smooth. Beat my Fabia DSG in pretty much every way. Incidentally, the book on my Fabia SE 1.2 TSI 110ps DSG was worth £8750 trade against my £18,200 Fair. Disappointingly low, so after doing a deal I got substantially more. My Skoda with 8k on the clock sold for £11,750. Very poor I thought for a car that was just a year old.  

Edited 8 October, 20187 yr by Estate Man

Sorry mate. 

I just don't believe a main dealers sticker price is a true reflection  of a used car's market value. Especially the cheaper brands like Seat, Skoda, Renault, and yes Citroen.  If your Skoda dropped that much in the first year it's unlikely another non-premium brand will do much better.

My attitude to salesmen's lies has hardened lately after dealing with foreign estate agents for the last 5 weeks mind you.

Asking Prices have only ever been that, 

someone in business either gets what they are asking or they do not, and often many do as it only takes someone willing to pay that and they are quids in.

 

Dealerships are not going to just ask just enough for a profit and pay taxes on the profit if they can get more, 

and they do not want buyers of new cars think they are depreciation disasters by the used ones sitting for sale dirt cheap.

 

The car trade has never changed and neither has buying and selling other than something on Amazon / Ebay can arrive from China for 86 pence with Free Delivery when they are 

£1.99 in the UK plus £1 postage.

Edited 8 October, 20187 yr by Offski

Nice Review

 

edited and removed the rest of my post as i did not read your review properly 

 

Edited 8 October, 20187 yr by Wet Kipper

Having spent 33 years in the motor trade, I can tell you the sticker price is nearly always (95% of the time) the confirmed asking price from the little book that everyone goes by, and subject to the condition of the car. I checked at the time and the dealer price was spot on for the car that it was. A dealer won't 'over charge' on the sticker price unless he wants the car to stay on the forecourt so he can look at it and lose money. The car in question sold after being on the forecourt for just 3 days, at the sticker price. I did consider buying it myself ever so briefly until I realised I could buy a new one for cash and save thousands. So it's not required that you believe it.  Citroen don't give much away on new car discounts unless you pay cash. They rarely run big factory discount campaigns like VAG. And in case you haven't noticed, newer Citroen cars are holding their value considerably better than Citroens of old. Lots of reasons for that including the fact they build them better these days. But thanks for the comments...

Edited 8 October, 20187 yr by Estate Man

6 hours ago, Wet Kipper said:

Nice Review

 

edited and removed the rest of my post as i did not read your review properly 

 

 

Thanks for the comments Wet Kipper. Of course, I'm bound to be a bit biased after the experience I've had with two new 1.2TSI DSG cars that proved to be less than perfect (that's an understatement of course so as not to hurt anyone's feelings on here).

 

I did another 690 miles at the weekend in the C3. She managed an overall 62.3mpg for the trip. Not bad for a 'young' engine with less than 1800 miles on the clock. I had no other passengers and was only carrying a very light load. Kept to mostly 65-70mph and 3/4's of the trip was on dual carriageways and motorways, the rest on 'A' and 'B' roads. Almost no town work. 

Estate Man you must not look at Arnold Clark dealership Asking Prices often on used cars or on New Car offers.

All about the finance, the monthly and keep the money going around, new cars out, back and sold used and new cars out,

just as it always has been. Pile them high, have thousands in stock and keep the money going around.

http://bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-45618613

http://arnoldclark.com/citroen

http://arnoldclark.com

 

 

Edited 9 October, 20187 yr by Offski

Thanks Offski, no...we don't get Arnold around this part of the country.

Ok guys, be seeing you...thanks for everything!...byeeee....

Very interesting.....

Ok, so little update.

 

Had the new C3 Flair for 10 months now and put a huge mileage on the clock. Not had a single issue with it. Slight rattle from offside rear passenger door though,  Sounds like a cable in the door has come adrift and occasionally rattles against the inner door metal somewhere. I'll do that sometime but it's not a prevalent noise, and doesn't bother anyone.

 

Although I'm retired, I've been covering up to 4000 miles per month in it. It's been absolutely great, very comfortable and a very quiet car. It gives totally effortless cruising all day at any speed you dial in. Totally reliable.

 

I've been very dependant on the car, as most of us are, and I've found the technology in the car really useful. Especially the infotainment system, speed limit recognition system, hi-tech heating and ventilating system, the cruise control, the built in dashcam etc etc. It's funny, but I've never really wanted too much tech in a car but now I've got it, it's really good and so useful.

 

The paintwork on the car is really good and has stayed good. The engine bay remains clean in-spite of the car being used in some terrible weather. The suspension, axles, and underbody including the exhaust show no signs of any rusting. Now that is something I could not say about my new Mk3 Fabia's. Both had rust to the suspension arms and axle at the rear and was getting substantially worse as time was going by. The exhausts were very rusty on the surface too.

 

The C3 engine uses no measurable amount of oil. I've never topped it up ever and it remains at the full mark. That's quite surprising as both my Fabia's needed topping up, just small amounts (125 & 200 ml in the first 3000 miles). This is even more surprising as my C3 spends a lot of it's time on the motorways and dual carriageways at 70 mph, and occassionally I'm not averse to using the power, of which there is much! It does it's fair share of town work too but as a percentage of total miles it's not much.

 

The EAT6 automatic gearbox. This has been a real joy to use whether cruising or in heavy London traffic. It's about as good as a torque converter box gets in many ways. Very smooth. It can be slightly slow to drop out of 2nd gear into 1st gear sometimes if slowing down fast from speed say coming up to a roundabout and letting speed drop to 3-4mph. It will often stay in 2nd gear, but this is of no detriment. The engine is so powerful it just takes of like a scalded cat whether in 1st gear or second.

 

Would I buy it again, absolutely!  I like the car. I like the service from the dealer, his prices, his service techs...and the fact the car has had no issues. I'm going to keep it for a few years so I'm not interested in it's resale value, but values on the used car market for my model are holding up well. Oh, and the engine just last year again won the International Engine of the Year Award. Not bad for an engine that's been in production for 5-6 years or more.

 

 

Pleased to hear you're enjoying your new car @GeneralPurpose; your updates are appreciated. 

 

There are posts in the Yeti section from owners who are considering Berlingo/Rifter/Combo MPVs to replace their Yetis - especially if the expected petrol auto models become available.   But there are also posts from owners (myself included) who have been burnt by quality & reliability issues of Citroens of the past.  I have never forgiven Citroen for the pile of poo it sold me twenty years ago in the shape of a Berlingo Multispace.  It was easily the worst car I have owned in fifty years of motoring!

 

But this morning, I parked next to a Rifter (shame about the name) and I liked what I saw.  Not as "loud" as the Berlingo, nor as basic as the Combo - but a definite contender when the time comes to replace my Yeti.  Perhaps by then, your welcome posts will have convinced me that PSA group cars have become worthy of consideration.  Cheers 

Hello Robjon, thanks for the comments.

 

Yes, I understand your anxiety regarding buying another Citroen. There's nothing like being burned by a brand to put you off buying another. That's how it is with me and Skoda at the moment which very much disappointed me. And frankly, previously I'd never given Citroen a serious look even though my sister has had them for years without issues. But it was the build quality that mostly put me off them. As I mention in my first post, it wasn't until I felt compelled to look away from the VAG group that I gave Citroen some serious consideration. It was a pleasant surprise to see how far forward they have come and to see how the design and build quality has improved.

 

On the point about the Berlingo/Rifter etc. I recently drove the Berlingo as a loaner. Got to say it was amazing. In spite of it being the diesel you could barely tell it wasn't a petrol even when the engine was cold. Couldn't believe it. It was a lovely car.

Thanks @GeneralPurposeand I hope you're still enjoying your car.

 

I'm still considering the Berlingo as an eventual replacement for my Yeti but my pattern of use would kill a diesel.  I need the petrol auto that exists in Citroen's brochure but not in the configurator!

 

Yesterday, I looked at Citroen's configurator again and noticed the petrol manual is no longer available.  So I'm guessing the petrol auto will probably never materialise.  Seems I will be holding on to my Yeti for a few years yet.

It may be a good idea to contact Citroen UK to find out what is happening re the petrol version of the Berlingo. I suspect a new petrol version is not far away and with an auto box. They have to intro one soon as diesels become a rarer breed.