C4 GRAND PICASSO DIESEL ESTATE 2.0HDi 16V Exclusive 5dr EGS

Practical, Reliable, Economical to run but we've had some major mechanical problems

We bought this model as it had everything we wanted that no other large MPV had. Panoramic view, front and rear parking sensors, fold flat rear and middle seats, huge carrying capacity, lots of gadgets and an intriguing electronic clutch gearbox.
In 4 years of ownership, we've driven 63000 miles (now 94.4k on the clock) throughout the UK and France for summer holidays, sometimes with 6 on board, sometimes boot full to the brim and a roof box. It's quiet, economical (fuel and insurance), and a joy to drive in 4 years of ownership.
A joy to drive - apart from some major nasties - thank God we bought an extended 3 year warranty from Vertu Motors for £500 or £600
1/ Rear Suspension failures:
Feb 2011 - NSR Air Bag - Paid for by extended warranty £198
May 2011 - Compressor - extended warranty £561 - a wait of over a month before the part was available at the dealership
July 2012 - OSR Air Bag - extended warranty - £198
and NSR Air Bag - already covered once by extended warranty so paid for myself - £198
Oct 2012 - OSR Air bag - replaced by Citroen as only 3.5 months since previous replacement
Citroen UK weren't interested in talking about such regular failures. They did replace the rear mudflaps which had been all but ripped of when loading/unloading onto a breakdown trailer with the rear suspension collapsed.
2/ Turbo
After about 6 months of ownership, one day it suddenly developed a small whistling noise. The dealer said it was the turbo, but it was quite normal and nothing to worry about - come back if it gets worse. Of course, I shouldn't have left it at that but I did and forgot about it. We decided to sell the car recently and with the extended warranty due to run out, I decided I'd better get the turbo whistle looked at again. Although it had never got any worse, I thought that if I was a buyer, I wouldn't buy this with that noise, however quiet. I was surprised that the dealer and Vertu said they would replace the turbo, but with a turbo specified by Vertu, not a Citroen part. Three days later, it was ready but came back with an horrendous metallic whining noise, always audible, ten times worse than the original noise. It went back a week later to be refitted, but 3 days later, came back the same. By now, relations between the dealer and Vertu had broken down - an engineer from the turbo company came down to oversee a new one being fitted but after 4 days it came back with the same noise. Vertu had paid for the first fitting but the dealer had carried out two more fittings (16 hours labour) and now refused to do any more work. After another month, Vertu offered to have the car in for a couple of hours of analysis at a Bristol Street Motors dealer, part of the same group which I thought was very generous. Imagine my surprise when I set off to drive to the dealer and the noise had stopped! Four months later and it's never returned.

I may be mad, but we're going to get another one - but definitely with another extended warranty

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