2005 Citroen C4 Coupe from UK and Ireland - Comments

I purchased a C4, after continuing problems with a Xsara Forte.

Within a very short time there was an error message displaying "Speed Control Failure".

Once the deaker was notified, all they could say is there is an update, which we will do, and it will be corrected. Since that the error has occured countless times, to which the dealer has no idea where the fault lies, They have spoken to Citroen (allegedly) and apparently the car is not recording faults. The new Citroen C4 Alive with Technology, but dead on the road.

Had 3 near misses where the engine stalled once at 70mph driving on motorway nearly missing a truck, once nearly hitting an Audi A4.

Then at 70mph the car stalled. I was escorted to safety by the RAC and the Highways Agency.

The car collapsed at 50mph, nearly hitting the following car, OOPS.

After that, the dealer has no idea on what it is. After 70 miles testing they gave the keys back saying no idea. Grrrrrrrr, I drove car 5 miles and same fault. I'm either driving a lemon that no one can diagnose, or I'm losing my mind. The only thing is that all the faults have been recorded on camera.

Moral of the story is never buy a Citroen

Has anyone else had a similar problem?

Please help.

Car is a lemon, and Citroen are useless.

As far as not to buy a citroen again it sounds a bit extreme. It's one of these things that no matter what the manufacturer of car, there will always be the odd 'pig in a poke'. Unfortunately it sounds as if you've possibly bought one which is no laughing matter as it's at a cost to yourself. I've got nothing but good things to say about my C4. Hope you get things sorted out.

I had same problem with my C4 with speed control, I took it to the dealer and was told there is nothing wrong, after the car been faulty for so long I instructed a solicitor to take action and got a refund before it got to court. They don't like bad publicity and I don't like citroen. Now bought a VW Passat and got no probs at all. Good Luck.

Sounds a bit far fetched to me. You don't get rid of your car because of a repairable fault. Possibly you didn't like the car from the start. Also, a passat is a completely different class from a C4. You've gone up from a ten-fifteen thousand pound car to a passat which starts at sixteen thousand.

We've got a C4 which also must be at the back of the class when it comes to being alive with technology. The speed control fault is old hat...speed control faulty... into Bristol Street... no fault found...several days later same message...no fault found...on and on and on, Citroen have no answers (apparently) until now we thought it was just us. As regards other faults which make for an almost monthly visit to the dealer... Rear suspension fault.. front wheel bearing after 3 visits to the dealer after we told them on visit one it was a wheel bearing. The radio CD has just been away for 2 weeks being " repaired" and we now have a shiny new rev counter LCD after ours decided to rebrand itself CITR and show a small snowflake icon which doesn't even appear in the handbook. The coin tray stuck and necesitated removing the entire dash board we now have some lovely fingerprint art from the mechanics grubby mits. The boot decided to be difficult by opening itself when you had just got in and shut the drivers door... most frustrating having to have someone shut the boot after you have got in!. and to cap it all the air con packed up in the summer just when it was at its warmest. Have we got a friday afternoon car... is it because it's a new design..or..is it really a crap car???either way the dealer doesn't want to know...Citroen UK don't want to know...We reckon Which WILL want to know... Its still a great looking car and we love it, but we would never buy or recommend Citroen again.

C4 - Mmm I bought a new car last year expecting safe hassle free motoring. Nope!! My C4 has had a recurring fault on the depollution system meaning the turbo not working properly and on the 4th time of it being fixed the part was put on wrong and I nearly had a head on with a car when overtaking because my power went. Now yet again the light came on the other day. I have sent a letter to my delaer saying under the sales of goods act I want a refund due to the numerous attempts at repair. I am awaiting a reply. Might try a solicitors if don't hear anything soon.

I have also had the depollution light come on a couple of times and this was due to my partner basically idiling the car in traffic and the car not getting enough oomph!! (and I don't mean it was needing to be raced). The light disappeared once the car was running normal again and had cleared its system. It took a couple of days for the light to disappear. Have a read in the handbook and it explains it better. I haven't had any loss of power.

Best way to get your car sorted.. do not tell them whats wrong actually take a tech out and show them the problem.

Coin drawer getting stuck simple easy low tech fix... pull it hard and if you can't get something in between it you can wedge it out with. It won't break all it will be is a coin getting stuck under it and causing the metal spring to not compress properly. Resulting in it getting stuck. A sharp tug will sort it happened to me a few times.

Speed control / cruise failure. Get them to check the clutch switch another common problem they should have known about there is also a software update to fix something similar with the system.

And problems have to be expected with new cars happens to even the prestige marks. I mean look at the early Audi TT had to be recalled because they liked to crash due to down force issues, Maserati's the steering racks like to fail mid corner resulting in you ploughing into the first tree. Mercedes A class at first like to flip over.

There teething issues with the cars that can only be found when a lot of people have them.

If you have problems and want some good advice form people who have had these cars for 2 years plus and know of the most common issues. Try coming to the C4 owners club.

http://c4owners.co.uk/

Few of us on there willing to help out best we can to other owners from what we have learnt ourselves owning the cars.

I bought myself a new car a couple of months ago after considering several different makes. C4 was one of these, but I decided not to go for the new C4 for the following reasons:

1. Citroen dealers are totally, utterly hopeless. I don't know what's wrong with them. We've had 3 different Citroens lately (C5, Xsara, Berlingo 'Roofless'). They are OK cars that are good to drive and I do like how Citroens drive. But you better hope you don't encounter any problems because the Citroen dealer won't help you. And Citroens means problems.

2. Citroens are becoming more expensive at least here in this country. It's apparent that there's a new pricing strategy. The C4 is actually more money than the Focus/Astra and about the same as the Golf and the new Auris (Corolla). Especially the 'fully loaded' versions with automatic/ACC/xenon etc are incredibly expensive. More than a Golf with the same equipment.

3. Deprecation is murder on these cars. After 5 years they are worth absolutely nothing.

So, do I want to pay a lot of money for a troublesome car even if it's fun to drive? No. I let my wallet do the talking. They aren't THAT good.

It's easy for me to understand why Citroen is struggling for the moment and why their market share is down.

It's not fair to label every dealer as "utterly hopeless" when your experience will have been limited to just one or two from a total of almost 300.

My local family-run Citroen garage is far more accommodating than any equivalent BMW or Mercedes shop, my experience being that only Lexus look after you better.

As is the case with buying any make and model, you need to sniff out the nearest franchise... THEN choose the car!

I am struggling to work out how these cars are more expensive than the Focus.

I got my VTS brand new with xenon's, Dual zone climate and all the toys and it was £15,800 after some haggling. Tell me where I can get a similar spec car for less. With a 180hp 2.0 engine as well.

In 3 years it will be worth around £9000 So £6,500 depreciation in 3 years is not that bad.

I live in Greece and I have a C4 VTRS, which is something like VTS (available in the UK) concerning the equipment you get, but you can choose a weaker engine, i.e. you're not limited to the 2.0 L one. The car is simply excellent. The one I own has all the equipment you can imagine: 17" alloy rims, automatic AC, mp3 music, leather steering wheel, sensors for rain, sensors for light, automatic fading of the mirror, sports seats, board computer, dimmed glass with thermal and acoustic isolation, cruise control and speed limiter, etc, etc. In other words, this car is equipped like the cars of a much higher class and price, e.g. starting from 35,000 Euros.

Everything works flawlessly on this car. If you are planning to buy it new and drive it up to 4 years, then I recommend it as one of the best in its class, and I find it better than Opel Astra, Ford Focus, VW Golf, etc in the same price range, meaning that Golf RS32 or Focus ST are out of class. The only better car in the class is Honda Civic. I can't say how reliable it will be after 10 years, but I'll sell it after 3-4 years, and buy a new car. I'm certain C4 can live that much with no issues.

I simply cannot believe what the guy said in the original post! It seems to me like a little inflated and distorted story, and it's all controversial. The guy hates Citroens, and yet he drives only Citroens, since the previous car was Xsara. The car collapsed/stalled at 50-70 mph!? Can someone explain how it happens? The description of the incidents doesn't sound logical, because the guy says he almost hit other vehicles on the road for a few times. Does the steering wheel detach? Brakes failed too? Strange... Sounds to me more like a bad driver, than like a bad car.

I've had a number of issues with my Citroen C4 Coupe - mainly the depollution sign illuminating whenever I actually need the car for something very specific i.e. driving home for Christmas/holidays etc. The fault has now occurred three times in two months. I picked up the car this morning after another visit to the garage - although I've used a different one now hoping that they may be able to fix the fault. Fingers crossed it'll work and I won't be plagued by the light again, although I hold very little hope.

It is true though that this problem can cause the car to pack-up even when you're on the motorway. It happened to me. Literally the depollution sign came on and about 50 miles later the electrics and engine cut. The steering becomes very heavy and it's really hard to get yourself out of danger. I simply won't drive the car now when the light comes on - other than to the garage. It's very dangerous and I'm surprised that Citroen hasn't recalled it.

If the light comes on again, I'm getting rid of it. It's simply not worth the hassle and certain not worth my life.

I have a Citroen C4 (1.6HDI VTR+) and can say that I have had nothing but trouble with it since.

I have a persistent problem with the Depollution System Fault light coming on and off as and when it feels like. I do a lot of motorway driving and often do my entire journeys at 70mph. I could understand it coming on if I was just driving round town.

After numerous investigations and part changing by the dealer, it is still coming on and they have no idea of what is causing it. I've had a new particulate filter, new turbo, new cat and all sorts, none of which was under warranty and has cost me thousands.

I will not be buying a french car again, and urge all C4 owners if they have this fault, DO NOT go to the dealers, they haven't a clue!

Now when it comes on I take my car for an italian tune up down the motorway for 10 to 15 minutes and that sorts it out, or if I can't be bothered go to nationwide autocentres and ask them to cancel the warning light (this is free whereas the dealer will charge around £45.00 for the same).

Don't bother with any fuel additives - they are white elephants or placebo's, they do not work!!

Think I am going to be a Japanese or German car next.

I have a C4 and I have grown to hate it. The warranty currently ran out in January and the same week we had a loss of power, stopped in the middle of a roundabout. The engine system is faulty or the depollution or both, the engine mis-fires every 3-4 days. I have to stop the car (where that may be) and turn it off and restart it. It's an automatic car and it is getting to be too dangerous to drive.

We also have had the speed system fault, but the dealers could not find anything wrong. The windscreen does not clear in cold weather and water started to come in the passenger side and pool. The rear seat belt would bleep when no-one was sitting in the back.

We bought the car for over £16,000, and at 3 years old it was worth £3,400 (and that was pushing it). It will cost £170 just to find out what is wrong. I would never ever recommend this car. I hope to be rid of the thing in the next few weeks. A pity as it is a really good looking car.

I have a 3 year old C4. Almost since I first got it, it has been difficult to start in temperatures below 4 celsius, it takes 5 or more minutes of turning the engine over to start properly. Over the last 2 years the Citroen dealer replaced a sensor, the computer, and the battery, they then said it was something to do with the valves, but nothing has worked, the problem is exactly the same. Every time they say "the computer says..." but the computer has always been wrong. Now they say they have no idea what the cause is.

For the last 6 months the car has been getting noisier, the dealer told me it was probably a baffle, and not to worry about it. It kept getting worse, so I took it back again, and today they told me that the wheel bearings were breaking down, so I have had those replaced, plus new brake pads and discs. It's made a huge difference, wish they had done it 6 months ago though. This was my first Citroen, and it will be my last. I've been looking for a lemon bumper sticker! I am very glad it is a lease car, if I had been paying all those garage bills I would be broke by now.