2.0 HDi 16v VTR+ Nav Estate

Don't own it longer than three years!

Make no mistake, this is a very handsome car, and has more toys than Christmas, but my experience in owning one for the past two and a bit years has been, well, disappointing.
I principally went for the C5 because the price of a one year old second hand model with low milage was very attractive. I meant to buy the car to last, but the longer I owned it, the more has gone wrong.
It's a decent, smooth ride as you'd expect from a company proud of their suspension design, and the engine has been reliable, but the electrics have been a pain in the whatsit.
First up, the windscreen wiper on the passenger side kept clattering against the upright. Two trips to the main dealer under warranty couldn't fix it until I received a call back card to say there was an acknowledged fault which was duly fixed.
The air conditioning came next. I'm not a big user of air con, but when I did, the air just blew warm. I had the gas recharged at £75, and all was marvellous. For about three days. It turned out there was a problem somewhere within the deep mechanics of the system that required a whole refurbishment. This was done under warranty, but was told I couldn't have a refund on the gas recharge on account of the fact owners are advised to have this done annually anyway.
Then, when driving I'd accellerate only to find a noticable dip in revs as if I'd depressed the clutch. The mechanics couldn't find a fault, but the problem was very much there. Things came to a head when a Christmas tree of lights flashed up on the dashboard whilst cruising at 70mph, resulting in an immediate loss in power. A trip to the dealer discovered two critical pieces of software had failed, one covered by warranty, the other costing me £250. Not happy! At the same time as this, the analogue and digital speedometers lost synch, one reading a couple of miles faster than the other. This was "fixed" by the dealer, but I am still not convinced the speedo rings true.
The next thing to go wrong was out of warranty by about five months when the passenger side electric window went for a burton. A sucking of teeth by the mechanic and £360 later, I was told this was a common complaint to look out for.
Whilst all of this has gone on, when driving with the window down, there is a clear and distinct jingling noise coming from beneath the car. It's one of those noises that once you hear it, it bugs the living daylights out of you. You cannot avoid hearing it and feel obliged to ask anyone who sits in the car if they too can hear it just to prove you're not going mad. Everyone can hear it except for the mechanics. Three times they've hoisted the car, three times they've told me they've fixed it. No they haven't.
At 44mpg, the fuel economy is not unreasonable, and space within the car is very generous. Service costs aren't too unhealthy either, but I now use a Citroen specialist as opposed to a main dealer.
Be warned, the car eats tyres. I have had three sets in 55,000 miles, and not cheap tyres, either.
I was recently given some sage advice, albeit too late to count in this instance, and that is to never own a French car out of warranty.
I am actively looking to purchase a new car at present, but shall be looking over the border into Germany as opposed to buy another French car.

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