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Citroen C1


liner33
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This is my sons first car

 

I will start that I am not a fan of French cars , that said the C1 isnt really French , its made in the Czech Republic at a factory that also makes the Toyota Aygo and Peugeot 107 , they share many parts and most of the important stuff is Toyota ie engine . box etc

 

Truth is that whilst the Aygo was my first choice by having the Toyota name on the back they are a lot more expensive than their French cousins and as a first car just seemed that bit too much to pay

 

So we picked up this 2008 C1 "Rhythm"  (Gets a CD player and rev counter over the base model) for £1800 late last year , road tax is a measly £20 pa and its managing a steady 55mpg+ on average. Its done 66k and has a full Citroen history , long mot and recent clutch and brake overhaul

 

Insurance was a pleasant surprise after hearing horror stories of £2k plus premiums for 17 year old boys we got a policy with the Halifax for a little over £1k with no black box, curfews etc

 

So back to the car , it needed very little , I bought a set of mats for it as there were none fitted and we quickly lost a wheel trim so i bought a new set,  but didnt want to invest too much time until he passed his test though. We went out in the car together while he was learning and after initially having issues with stalling I adjusted and lubricated the throttle and clutch assemblies and he had no problems after that . I drove it myself a few times to check it all out and whilst its 3 cylinder 998cc engine only has 68hp it goes along pretty well and is capable of the usual motorway speeds , its so light and chuck able it handles the poor country roads around here with ease. 

 

So after he passed his test I thought I would give it a good detail

 

The paintwork wasnt bad but some really clumsy touching up had been done resulting in big slodges of paint over the chips , so I flatted them back with 2000grit wet and dry and then 3000grit before machining the sanding marks away . Whole car needed to be clayed, some really stubborn contamination that i think was tree sap but really took some getting off , before machine polishing with Dodo lime prime 

 

Followed up with Pete's 53 wax and finally Supernatural Hybrid spray to increase the gloss

 

Not bad for a 9 year old car even if I say so myself , I thought being so small it would be easy but the exterior alone was a full days work

 

Day 2 saw a complete interior clean and treatment and attended to a few little jobs like resealing the rear lights (Common place for water ingress) , fitting a dashcam and pulling all the spare wheel and jack etc out for a proper check over and refurb

 

I have ordered all the stuff to give it a full service inc brake fluid which I'll be doing this week , still waiting on oil from Opie but have done the plugs and air filter so far , service parts are pennies for these also

 

Needless to say I have a happy boy , he is enjoying the freedom that passing your test brings

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  • 10 months later...

Havent updated this in a while

 

Over Christmas we replaced the exhaust system, the whole lot from the manifold/cat back, cost us around £75 inc the fitting kit (all new rubbers and clamps etc) and delivery and put a couple of new front tyres on (Continental Eco-Contacts to maintain the matched set) 

 

Last weekend got a frantic call from my son to say he had broken down with a flat battery , got to use my little jump pack in anger and got him home and found the battery was dated 08/05/2008 so decided just to replace it , a new Varta from Tayna was £54 delivered. 

 

So its still going well. 

 

When the weather gets better I will attend to a minor oil leak , small job but exhaust manifold needs to come off so might end up stripping something  

 

 

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Almost problem free then.... Where's the oil comming from?...Pressure switch is favorite for that.

There is a panel on the front of the engine where the crankcase vents from I think , its fitted using sealant and the sealant dries out over time and allows it to weep , there is no pressure behind it so its a minor leak , truth be told I could just clean it up prior to mot and it would be fine but I will sort it properly 

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Reads like both issues were cosmetic although i agree about changing the brake pipe advisory or not.

Didnt change it , repaired it , discussed with mot guy and its minor so I cleaned with a dremel and had a good look, treated the rust and then painted it with smoothrite, its a section about 2" long and an obvious water trap , should be fine now  

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  • 2 years later...

Thought I'd update this and close it off . The little car is up for sale so I thought I would total up almost 4 years of motoring 

This has been a fantastic car , as a first car its great but as a cheap runaround its superb . They are £20 to tax, do at least 55mpg on average , easy to get 65mpg on a run , will sit at motorway speeds comfortably in fact seems to sit happiest at an indicated 75mph

Parts are really cheap a full service kit was around £40 ie oil filter, oil , plugs (3) and air filter , no excuse not to do that each year, a full exhaust was £75 if you replace the lot, tyres are less than £50 each for premium ones. Insurance was not too bad for a new driver , first year about £1100, then £800 then £550 and think last year was £300 ish , always fully comp

In the almost 4 years we have owned it I replaced the battery, full exhaust, two tyres and the indicator stalk (£20) and serviced it every year so about £400 all in ! These cars are incredibly easy to work on also with plenty of How-To videos done online

After a lot of prompting I also fitted a decent headunit and some better speakers (Only tiny speakers in the dash as standard) , a pair of Kenwood 6x9 in a custom shelf I made, and fitted a dashcam 

These cars also come with driver and passenger airbags plus side impact airbags in the seats which is pretty good for cars this age

So if you are currently shopping around for a first car or just a cheap runabout for a while then you should really look at these, the Aygo tends to demand a premium but they all have the same engine and box and are made in the same factory, there are tons around if you look so shop around.

Washing it to get it ready to sale and a large section of the lacquer peeled off requiring a full respray of the rear bumper, but couple of cans of halfords paint and lacquer and youd never know , nice to see I can still do bodywork 

 

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On 29/09/2020 at 15:29, liner33 said:

Looks like its sold , I got £1595 for it , paid £1850 back in 2016 so I think this car has cost less than £1k to own for 4 years. I don't see electric vehicles as cheap for many of them you could run a V8 for less 

Cheaper than running my Accord! :lol:

Yeah fully electric cars aren't exactly cheap in comparison to something like this.

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On 02/10/2020 at 09:46, Tony said:

So what's he driving now?

Nothing. To be honest my plan was to sell my Octavia and buy a Fiesta ST MK7 with the money with a view to him having it after University finishes next year unfortunately, his behaviour hasn't been good since he went to Uni and I don't feel at all inclined to do anything for him so thought I'd buy a new Fiesta for me and he can sort his own car out as and when he chooses  

 

Kids eh ?   

 

He got his refund for the road fund licence today , £3.30 ! :)

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