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Thinking about a 2017 1.6 diesel.
Very tempting with all the gadgets. How is it as a bike carrier? Will a bike fit in vertically with a dropper and front wheel out?
Any other issues with them?
The only time I've used an electric handbrake was on a rental Qashqai which was a total nightmare. With a manual brake there's zero roll back on a hill. The leech one would go baca little bit. A nightmare trying to do a u turn in a spanish village in the mountains. How is the citroen one?
Had a C4 Grand Picasso as a holiday rental of about that vintage. Guess you may be looking at the normal not Grand but some of this may apply. Manual 1.6 diesel.
The good
- Comfortable
- Spacious
- Easy to drive
- Quiet
The not so good things / things to think about
- Front end is not that easy to judge - front parking sensors would be a definite bonus
- It's a bit light on grunt for in gear driving. On a hilly and twisty road I was up and down through the gearbox like the Assyrian empire.
- It's not as well screwed together and doesn't drive as well as an SMax
Electric handbrake was fine iirc. At the time my main car was an auto Passat (with an electric handbrake) and I managed to figure it out in fairly short order. I've had no roll back issues with the auto Passat I had or manual Golf rental I had with one either.
If there was a 7 speed auto option and the box was any good I reckon that would work well. Not sure what the auto options were though.
No view on longevity or reliability as ours had clearly had one careful hirer and about 78 reckless ones with a deathwish and a blindfold before we had it.
You need a diesel? That lumps not as good as a 2.0hdi
It has that self parking option and front sensors so parking should be a breeze.
Coming from a 1.6 petrol grand cmax so not exactly anything sporty.
2.0 might be a bit too much as Mrs Zip commutes 4 miles each way during the week.
Will a bike fit in vertically with a dropper and front wheel out?
Yep. And a large 29er will fit in flat without taking anything off if you put the seats down.
Got ours in 2017 and it’s been faultless so far.
We had a C4 Grand picasso for 4 years until we had to get rid because of ULEZ, it was a 2015 diesel and we live not far from your shop so right on the boarder. Assuming you are talking about the normal C4 Picasso then it's largely the same car, just a bit shorter than the C4GP.
I could get a 58cm road bike in vertically with front wheel out and saddle down. With the seats folded down it was huge and would swallow a bike with ease. It's a hugely practical car.
Ours had the self parking, I used it quite a bit but my wife hated it. Front and rear sensors are useful and the reversing camera is essential in my view. However the quality of the camera is pretty poor and at night next to useless.
No problems with the electric parking brake but we were used to one having had one before.
We did however have problems with the passenger mirror decided it no longer wanting to adjust by holding the button, you had to tap it and it would move a little bit at a time. Similar with one of the electric windows. We also got the airbag warning light a lot as adjusting the seat can apparently mess up to connection.
Our also had the glass roof and one day the plastic clip attaching the blind to the runners snapped and the blind retracted into the roof. You can buy the clips cheaply but to fit them you have to remove the roof lining, we just didn't bother.
We were wanted off the auto in the small diesel engine as it's not a proper auto and can be slow to change.
It also feels like it's made of Papier mache, it feels very light and not that well made but the plus side is it was fairly economical. We lots a few bits of trim, thing like metal kick plates on both sides at the rear but that's maybe more to do with my two kids than the car! However the Skoda Kodiaq it was replaced with is a much nicer feeling car, quieter but less practical.
Overall it served us well and was great for hauling stuff around (my wife runs baby and toddler classes and was also carting props back and forth) but when we needed to replace it I vetoed getting a newer version as there were just too many niggles that appeared.
@tomhoward I can’t get a bike in the back of our grand Cmax without taking a wheel out, so that’s impressive.
What engine do you have, real world mpg?
No help at all, but my dad has a C3 Picasso and it is a hateful car. I regularly drive it to take him for his eye treatment. Easily the least enjoyable car I have ever driven (and I have driven a lot). I also do all the servicing and repairs for him and will say that it is far and away the worst car I have ever had the misfortune to work on. It is like Citroens engineers had a bet with each other who could design the least user friendly service part, and each one was able to out-do the previous. Just a small example... in order to unscrew the oil drain you have to remove the splash tray from under the engine. Nowt strange there, but after removing 5 M6 bolts you find there are also 2 metal twistlock fasteners you have to remove as well. No problem, pull them out. Still fixed. Yep there is then another 2 plastic fir-tree fasteners with pull out centres to remove as well. WHY? Could easily have just had all M6 bolts, or all twistlocks. But 3 different fasteners to hold a bit of light plastic on is crazy. And pray you never have to change the fuel filter!
God I hate that car with a passion.
Dad likes it though as it is easy to get in and out of, but he is 86!
@tomhoward, is yours the C4GP or the non-grand version? I am surprised if you could get a full bike in the normal one based on my experience of the GP
2017 1.6 Diesel, not sure of mpg as it’s MrsTH’s car, will ask in the morning
Normal non GP one. If the seats are folded down, not a problem getting my large highlander in it.
@zippykona our 1.6 diesel would get low 40s around town (Worcester Park, Epsom, Chessington areas) and 50ish on a motorway run
We get 45 on the motorway in our petrol Cmax and 40 around town so not as amazing as the testers say.
We've had a 2016 C4 grand picasso since 2016 (2nd hand) and it's been a fantastic car. It's a 1.6 HDi "executive" version and does about 55mpg even when fully loaded with bikes and luggage. It's been on multiple biking trips to Scotland, and just got back from a 2k mile round trip to the South of France. It's like a cavern inside with the seats down, but can also convert to 7 seater. The only fault we've had really is the reverse light switch failing mid-way down France so we had to take the bulbs out until I could replace it when we got home (about £10 off ebay). I fitted a tow bar for a bike rack a few years back and can honestly say it's been fantastic. We can get 2 bikes on the roof, roofbox and two on the back and fit 4 blokes with all biking gear in for a trip to scotland and still average about 55mpg. Oh, and it's £20 tax and you don't need to pay congestion charges.
We've got a 2017 C4GP 1.6 diesel auto.
It's very nice to drive. Much nicer than the Galaxy it replaced.
The engine isn't the most powerful but om aroundtown and cruising on the motorways just don't try drag racing with it.
We have the proper auto (EAT) not the semi automatic (EGT) one. I think 2017 was the changeover year so they did both variants for a while. The EAT auto box is smooth and reliable. The EGT one we test drove was lumpy and felt like there was a pause before pulling away and every gear change.
Reliability wise it's been good with only the normal wear items needing replacing. Fuel consumption is about 50ish for mixed driving and can be 60+mpg on a motorway run.
Bike fitting wise I have no idea as they go in the Tourneo Custom but it is big in the back so I can't see it being an issue if you take a wheel off.
in order to unscrew the oil drain you have to remove the splash tray from under the engine.
Drill a hole in the splash tray like the later models have.
A 4 mile commute has my DPF gland twitching
Every other weekend it will have 140 miles of motorway so should be ok.
We have the grand C4 Picasso, a 2014 one.
Pros.
It's absolutely massive, I've moved fridge freezers around in it no problem. Bikes fit easily with front wheel out.
Self parking feature is great for tight spaces
Fairly economical (1.6 D managed about 55mpg up to Aviemore and back, about 350 miles in all)
Cons. The auto gearbox in ours is awful, it's the semi auto one but takes an age to decide what it's doing and every so often you'll roll up to a junction, floor it to make a gap and it just decides to have a fit with the gears as you're sat in the middle of the lane. It does have a manual feature though you can choose.
Electrics are rubbish, we have the blotchy screen problem which when they were within warranty they were replacing apparently but ours was out of warranty so they don't care. Really should be a recall as it can affect the Speedo reading if the blotch develops over that.
The "infotainment" screen is slow and unresponsive, you find yourself prodding the screen repeatedly to get it to do anything.
Luckily ours in now paid off so I don't quite care as much about how mince it is.
I have had a 2016 1.6 blue hdi exclusive for just over 6 years now. Just hit 73k. I am planning to change it soon for something younger. It’s done it’s job of ferrying 2 young kids and 2 dogs around.
Overall it’s been good. Couldn’t really complain about it. Regularly 55-60mpg day to day.
The only real issue we’ve had was related to the ad blue tank. there is/was a common problem with the caps on the tanks that ought to have been a recall but wasnt since it wasn’t a safety issue. Not sure which years are affected.
I was told I needed a new tank. Total cost about £1300. Forum posts I found suggesting contacting Citroen so I Found a number online for Citroen uk to open a complaint. The car went to a dealer and Citroen agreed to pay 67% of the cost.
so if the car you’re looking at is 2016/2017 with >60k on it it may be worth checking.
also had the battery changed and now when I lock it the alarm goes off. Not sure if there was a procedure the garage ought to have followed when they changed it but it’s not ideal. As I say, hoping to sell it soon but yeah - it hasn’t been a bad car.
electric handbrake is fine. It has hill assist so it doesn’t roll soon as it’s released .
The only real issue we’ve had was related to the ad blue tank. there is/was a common problem with the caps on the tanks that ought to have been a recall but wasnt since it wasn’t a safety issue. Not sure which years are affected.
This is interesting , I didn't know that so I think a trip to Citroen is needed!
Thanks for the information. It seems like a good car with a lot of things that could go wrong.
Think I’ll get another Grand Cmax.