I am considering buying a Citreon C3 as my next car, probably new given the neglibible difference between the second hand values and the new discounted cost. I'm thinking of 1.4HDi Desire or SX.
However, I have spotted 2 Pluriel's (the open top thingy) for sale locally for £7.5-8k. These are 54 reg, one of them with 548 miles on the clock. I've heard of open top cars being cheap in winter, but this sounds too good to be true!
Is there a problem with Pluriels that makes them this cheap? They are both Sensodrives, does that make a difference?
Or are these ex-demo cars being sold at the worng time of the year?
My plan is to buy a Pluriel, drive it through the summer, sell in August and buy a 55 reg C3 diesel. All sounds about right, but what ovious snag am i missing?
Thanks
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If you like having wet feet get the Pluriel.
If not, then get the tin top.
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Friend has one. The feetwet problem has been fixed on later ones. Its an OK car if you are a girly. Non cred at all for a bloke.
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The only obvious one is that it is a dreadfuly compromised car. Chopping the roof off adds nothing to rigidity. In addition you have the choice of either the big sunroof option, leaving the roof bars in place which really doesn't make it a drop-top or you take the roof bars off and have a full convertible but you have to stow the huge roof bars somewhere.
Going from the A pillar to the C pillar (well, technically they are the A and C pillars!) they are too big to fit in the car and so if you are going on a nice long trip out for a day with the roof fully down you will need to leave these bars at home and pray the british weather doesn't do it's normal thing and rain later in the day and you better not go away for more than one day without them.
Sensodrives limit some appeal for some people.
Mind you, the price is low and the major depreciation has already passed so for a fun summer car why not. Just make sure it is really what you can live with in the meantime.
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Thanks guys. The street cred doesn't bother me so much, it just struck me as a it of a laugh through the summer, especially if i could offload it in August for c.£7.5k (1 year old, minimal miles etc.)
Noted that Pluriels have issues with the wet getting in, hopefully this would sorted out by now? Or is the reputation the reason you don't see many?
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Had a chance for a good scout on auto trader.
The car that caught my attention is 54 reg, 1.6 Sensodrive, 548 miles and £7,499. It is at a Citroen Dealer
There are two 53 regs with 16,000 or 18,000 miles, towards the £8,000 mark. There are also some 04 regs 1.4 for £8,500 or £8995. These are at Citroen Dealer too.
I guess the specific question is:
I want (subject to P/X etc) to buy the £7,500 54 reg car, run it through the summer and sell it in August. Bearing in mind the prices of the other cars above, do i stand a chance of getting most of my money back?
Thanks
FWIW, i like the look of the standard hatch too.
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To my mind, the Pluriel looks silly, but in a wacky fun sort of way. It an unusually non-pompous open-top car, a bit like a convertible VW Beetle.
On the other hand, the ordinary C3 is a mishmash of confused lines and desperately rehashed syling cues squeezed onto a frame too small to accommodate them all. It's a sort of designers scribble-pad on wheels, and may have been intended as a parody of the new BMW styling.
So you can choose between wet feet and an aesthetic disaster.
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If you like the Pluriel, and the price feels right - buy it! You'll only regret it. I see it is now available with the HDi engine, so I look forward to being able to afford one in a few years. The well documented water problem was solved pretty soon after it appeared, by fitting better seals on the roof. It seems the the general public falls into one of 3 camps when it comes to Citroen:
1. Those who have owned one (usually several) find them good value, generally reliable (with a few foibles), different, and (hydraulic cars anyway) ride like nothing else.
2. Those who have had 1 Cit that was troublesome, and becuase of 3 below, would 'never touch the French heaps of junk again'.
3. Those whose mother's-uncle's-second cousin's-mate down the pub's-ex-wife's-step-father had one once, and it was a disaster, and would 'never touch one of those French heaps of junk with somebody else's money'.
There might be a camp 4 who have no interest / get a company motor etc.
Camp 3 outweighs camp 1 about 40000:1, who outweigh camp 2 about 400:1.
Me? I'm happily in Camp 1, as I enjoy the fact that they're cheap, that bit different, and yes, reliable (and we do about 30,000 miles a year in 'older' cars). I can't see myself buying anything else (better the devil you know and all that).
PS I've been riding in / driving Citroens so long I AM blinkered.
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RichardW
Is it illogical? It must be Citroen....
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On the other hand, the ordinary C3 is a mishmash of confused lines and desperately rehashed syling cues squeezed onto a frame too small to accommodate them all. It's a sort of designers scribble-pad on wheels, and may have been intended as a parody of the new BMW styling.
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Of course that's only your opinion, No Wheels.
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Of course that's only your opinion, No Wheels.
Indeed, and it true that there's plenty of folks who seem to like it.
But while I usually like Citroens, the C3 doesn't do it for me. YMMV!
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