Discussion
The Wife’s MINI died a terminal death this afternoon. We needed a replacement vehicle quickly for her to go to work tomorrow.
Plan-A
Initial thoughts of renting for a couple of weeks were soon put to bed when I saw the prices.
Plan-B
Buy something quickly that’s cheap.
Behold the shed-tastic 2009 Citroen C5.
No idea which model. I think it’s a 2.0hdi? Pulls like a train though.
Manual box, a smattering of toys, most of which work. Comfy seats a large boot and nearly 12 months MOT.
Not a squeak, knock or rattle from the suspension. Overall it feels pretty solid.
All of this Francophile goodness for under £1000.
Now the bad bits…..and there’s a few.
It needs a full service, all fluids, filters, cam belt, water pump, etc.
It needs four new tyres.
The alloys needs refurbishing.
The NSF electric window doesn’t work. You can hear the motor / solenoid trying to work, but the window is on strike. Regulator I suspect.
The drivers front window is temperamental, so that needs investigating as well.
It also would benefit from a pair of front wings, as they’re both tatty.
This now brings the tally of vehicles on my driveway to 9 (I think?), and I’ll be buying a bigger van for work pretty soon.
I really must get some of the jalopies fixed and sold.
Plan-A
Initial thoughts of renting for a couple of weeks were soon put to bed when I saw the prices.
Plan-B
Buy something quickly that’s cheap.
Behold the shed-tastic 2009 Citroen C5.
No idea which model. I think it’s a 2.0hdi? Pulls like a train though.
Manual box, a smattering of toys, most of which work. Comfy seats a large boot and nearly 12 months MOT.
Not a squeak, knock or rattle from the suspension. Overall it feels pretty solid.
All of this Francophile goodness for under £1000.
Now the bad bits…..and there’s a few.
It needs a full service, all fluids, filters, cam belt, water pump, etc.
It needs four new tyres.
The alloys needs refurbishing.
The NSF electric window doesn’t work. You can hear the motor / solenoid trying to work, but the window is on strike. Regulator I suspect.
The drivers front window is temperamental, so that needs investigating as well.
It also would benefit from a pair of front wings, as they’re both tatty.
This now brings the tally of vehicles on my driveway to 9 (I think?), and I’ll be buying a bigger van for work pretty soon.
I really must get some of the jalopies fixed and sold.
confused_buyer said:
Window will be broken cables in the regulator. Not expensive but fiddly. Common problem.
Only other really common thing is leaking power steering rack.
Very underrated cars which take their miles better than people assume.
Yes, I forgot to mention that it leaks PAS fluid. Not yet sure how much and how quickly. Will monitor consumption investigate when I have the time.Only other really common thing is leaking power steering rack.
Very underrated cars which take their miles better than people assume.
I was nearly home when it flashed an “Anti Pollution Fault” on the dash. I quick Google shows this to be a generic code for 101 different things.
I’ll order a Citroen specific personality key for my Snap On code reader and see what fault codes are coming up.
I’m loathe to tempt fate, but for under a grand, I’m mildly impressed.
Funny you should mention how they cope with high mileage….. This one is close to doing 200’000 miles
sgtbash said:
I loved my C5 despite its many faults, they are good cars if taken care of… Hope this serves you well!
The Wife has already mentioned that for a stop-gap car, it might end up being a keeper for her.Her cheap snotter car was supposed to be this:
A 46’000 mile, rust free, diesel Renault Clio that hadn’t left it’s garage in six years. It only cost me £10, but I haven’t had the time to sort it yet.
Edited by 105.4 on Sunday 14th August 22:53
105.4 said:
sgtbash said:
I loved my C5 despite its many faults, they are good cars if taken care of… Hope this serves you well!
The Wife has already mentioned that for a stop-gap car, it might end up being a keeper for her.Her cheap snotter car was supposed to be this:
A 46’000 mile, rust free, diesel Renault Clio that hadn’t left it’s garage in six years. It only cost me £10, but I haven’t had the time to sort it yet.
Edited by 105.4 on Sunday 14th August 22:53
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