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In my continued search for a small economical car to supplement my mega van I am considering a Citroen C3 but I am unsure whether 2 bikes will fit in boot with seats down. Anyone got one or have experience of one for bike lugging for 2?
Ta
2 bikes - assuming you mean wheels off & stacked with sheets/cardboard in between them should be no bother in a C3.
I have only driven one as a courtesy car, but it was a similar size to my Ibiza and 2 bikes in there was perfectly do-able in the manner described above.
But - the Citroen C3 was a pretty bad car, in my (somewhat potentially biased) opinion. Felt very flimsy inside, nothing inspiring about it at all with a gear change akin to sticking a wooden spoon in a bowl of spaghetti & wiggling it around.
When I say potentially biased, we've got a C3 Picasso as our family wagon & it feels much better inside than the C3 that I had, although the gear change is equally as bad. My main bugbear with it has been the poor reliability - stupid issues that I have never seen in any other car coupled with an inept dealer who banged on about customer service but didn't really know what it meant....
What are your criteria for a small, economical car? Are we talking cheap to buy, cheap to run? Both? How many miles/annum? Looking at petrol or diesel? What is your budget?
For regularly sticking 2 bikes in, I'd be looking at something a little larger to make it all a bit easier. The old Toyota Corolla (replaced with the Auris) is a much better size for lugging bikes (a mate had one) and they aren't very popular so can be had for not much money.
Something like this:
I am considering a Citroen C3
Have you given up on life!? 😥
Thanks for the lucid and candid replies!
I am looking for something cheap to run around in, rather than a Ducato Maxi campervan.
Budget under £1500, or better still a grand. Good on fuel and tax and running costs.
Also pondering a Fiesta, ibiza, Polo, Fabia, 206 SW.
May also go up a tax bracket to £110 and make life getting bikes in easier with a Focus Astra Golf etc
Well I had an 03 Ibiza - the 1.9TDI sport with 130bhp.
Fuel economy 55mpg without trying, £130 to tax, decent amount of oomph and pretty sure you could get a decent one for a grand.
Mine had 274k miles on it and had been very reliable - it was still on original clutch, turbo, exhaust, flywheel, injectors, fuel pump.....
I sold it for £400 via eBay and last I heard it had passed the MOT despite the new owner putting a remap on it and upping the power to 180bhp! Admittedly, that did bork the clutch but it did already have 247k miles on it so I think that was probably expected...!
You'd get two bikes in the back. I'd have another one...
When you say old you mean the floorbase same as c2 or ds3? If it's the later then yep no problem, I had one and loved it, great car very French and very comfy on the road, why did I get rid? No power! Nothing, it was terrible on the hill climbs.
If it's the older c2 based one, inside terrible, rattles like a baby's rattle, but yep will take 2 bikes wheels off.
This Shitroen
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We had a 53 reg one for about a year last year.
Paid £900 for it with about 75K on.
1.3 petrol, nippy round town, very light steering. Utterly terrifying on country roads and motorway! 😯
I did a couple of motorway trips York to Birmingham and back, not dawdling and suprised to get 54mpg out it. No idea what it achieved in everyday use.
It's very light feeling, flimsy and rattly but surprisingly spacious inside, managed to get 3 car seats across the back which is vary rare in a normal car.
But, to answer your original question, I never acutually tried to put any bikes in the back, so no idea if they'd fit 😕
Misses used to have one. Seats down and wheels off no problem with 2 bikes.
Great around town but would never want to do an hours plus drive in one.