Citroen Grand C4 Picasso advice...

[catso]

First post in the 'French bred' section, My Wife has a Ford Galaxy that is now getting on a bit and she's after a new car. Need a 7 seater but more for 5 seat use with occasional 7 seats than previously needed so we're looking for something a little smaller and more economical to run than the Galaxy.

Anyway after looking at all the usual suspects, she likes the Citroen Grand C4 Picasso so we went to the dealers, had a test drive etc and it seems OK (for an MPV) apart from it's long-winded name.

Now I'm a long time German car driver myself and although my Wife did have a couple of Renaults in the past I have little experience with French cars and none at all with Citroen, so I'm looking for opinions/experiences of 'Grand C4 Picasso' ownership.

Good, bad or ugly?

[qdos]

I have a Xsara Picasso diesel. VERY VERY economic to run (averages 51mpg and can easily get 60+ mpg on long motorway trips) and had no problems at all so far. Yeah it's like a van to drive and boring as hell so I entertain myself with the fuel consumption instead and I'm sooooo glad I bought it it's an excellent 'van' and amazingly economic. Good grief I AM getting old singing the praises of a Picasso

[catso]

Well I am looking forward to (the Wife) being in the 50mpg club as we've got to make economies somewhere (Galaxy does maybe 30mpg and my car does 23mpg) so that I can continue to enjoy my driving.

Not really bothered about the boredom as on the few occasions I'll be driving it we'll no doubt have fighting kids in the rear to liven things up.

[megamaniac]

Avoid the 1.6 hdi engine ,go for the 2.0 litre .It would appear there can be an issue with the 1.6(Ford use this engine as well) when they get some mileage on them that results in a new engine being required.

[catso]

Actually it is the 1.6 we're looking at but would only keep the car for 3yrs whilst it's under warranty etc and not doing high mileage so unless it's a major problem that occurs early on? any further info appreciated.

[megamaniac]

At highish mileages some turbo's fail ,when you put the replacement on they only last a few weeks,i have heard of them only lasting a few days.The only way to "cure" the problem is to replace the engine as well as the turbo.