I bought the C3 Picasso to replace my old shape Berlingo, a wonderful car in so many ways, and reading many excellent reviews of it, I expected much. Furthermore, I am or rather was, a lifelong Citroen devotee, having owned many in the past, both new and second hand, and currently own a 1930s Traction, a DS and a 2CV. My wife drives an old shape C3.

I would agree with your gushing review that the C3 Picasso is a refined car in terms of fit, finish and equipment. Equipment levels are bordering on luxurious, with multifunction audio and cruise cotrols on the column; a quality feel to the controls and mine had the lovely airy Panoramic Roof. The packaging is also clever, although we can fit almost as much luggage into our old C3 hatch. Engine noise from the lively 1.6 diesel is unobtrusive, and wind noise with windows closed is minimal for such a high-sided vehicle. Wind noise is absolutely appalling with the front windows lowered at anything over 30 mph however. At 40mph, the buffeting is so dreadful that ear protection is advisable. Air-conditioning is standard, and no wonder!

The ride is nether supple (as your review claims) nor composed, and exhibits the kind of atrocious rear-end wiggling behaviour of any small torsion-beam equipped small car. It is not at all Citroen-like. However can anybody say that the ride is soft? Of course, my car could have been a rogue, but more on that later... Independent Rear suspension used to be a given thing in a Citroen, but no more it seems. Compared to the Xsara Picasso and old Berlingo Multispace, (owners of these vehicles are most likely to be tempted by the C3 Picasso as a replacement) the suspension set-up is painfully stiff and taut. Potholes are best avoided and speed-bumps are impossible to negotiate above a slow crawl. It is more Audi A2-like than any Cit I've ever owned (and I've owned around 35 at last count) and that's not really a compliment. The suspension is anything but soft, and you'd have to be driving like Jenson Button the induce body roll. Rattles and creaks from the bodywork are mercifully absent though.

The seating is unsupportive and uncomfortable, offering little lumbar support and the side bolsters are inadequate. It is difficult to find a comfortable driving position, so any potential buyer should take one on an extended test drive. In retrospect, I wish I'd test-driven mine off a large cliff.

In 29,000 miles, the car has returned an unremarkable 45.5 mpg. After six months of this kind of return, I consulted the dealer and asked them to run a test on why the fuel consumption was so lousy. The report came back that all was performing correctly, and it must be my driving style. No answer as to why my (theoretically thirstier) old Berlingo was actually marginally more economical, in spite of having been driven in the same manner there then.

After nine months of uncomfortable love-hate driving, it developed a fault: The car would lose all power, all dash warning lights would illuminate, and the notification "FAULT: ANTIPOLLUTION" would appear on the trip computer. I would then be left to coast to a halt; remove the ignition key; reboot, and off it would go again as if nothing had ever happened. This happened at least three times before I left it with a Citroen agent who could find no fault with it, although "unknown error codes" has been noted in the diagnostic test.

Finally, the fault occurred and the car failed to restart. Of course the car was on this occasion full of wife and children returning from holiday. Very convenient. The excellent technician from the AA immediately found the error codes indicating that fuel pressure was too high, and this caused the engine to cut off (presumably) as a safety measure. He changed one fuse in the main fusebox and away we went. Armed with this info, I marched in to my Citroen service depot and the instruction from Citroen HQ was to change the fusebox. In the short time I kept the car after this, the fuel consumption figure leapt to 52.5mpg.

The subsequent Watchdog report outlining the fact that the passenger can inadvertently operate the service brake was too much for my wife who was very keen when I suggested we got shot of it pronto. Citroen's residual values (or lack of them) are legendary, and this kind of poor publicity would obviously not help.

All in all, a terrible ownership experience, and one that I am reluctant to repeat. I have totally lost heart. I didn't even bother calling their customer relations department to complain. Life is too short.

Citroen have lost a loyal customer.