2004 Citroen C8 SX HDI from UK and Ireland - Comments

Rust on engine components.

Rust on rear door hinges.

Rear electric doors open and close on their own!!

Lots of creaks and rattles.

Front passenger seat vibrates at 70mph so much that the tray behind it can't be used without all the objects placed onto it falling off!!

X3 noisy window motors replaced.

X2 Climate control noisy fans replaced.

X2 rear door sensors replaced.

X2 rear door rails replaced due to flakey paint - Known issue with no fix except keep replacing rails until your warranty expires!!

Oil level sensor replaced - still faulty.

Rear door pinch sensors faulty.

Random strange noises when unlocking the car.

Poor fuel economy - Citroen state that 20 - 30 mpg average is acceptable!! brochure states average of 40mpg.

This car is very poorly put together, the fuel economy is terrible, I've had better economy on a Bmw V8!! - I've just got rid of it after my 4yr old sons foot got caught by the rear electric door (pinch sensor didn't work) - luckily he had strong shoes on - dealer keeps saying there is nothing wrong with the doors, but when I asked him to put his arm in to test he wouldn't!! - In the 11 months I owned this car it has spent 6 weeks in the garage!!

I've had the same issues - the doors started to close on my wife as she was taking the baby out of the car - she got away with just bruising to her arm - sold the car back to the garage after they said they couldn't find anything wrong.

I've had the same issues too - The top gear survey shows the C8's sister model the 807 as the worst car on sale in Britain - my advice don't buy the C8, the 807 or the fiat version - I bought because of the ncap tests, but those doors should knock off a couple of stars on safety grounds!!

Purchased the c8 october 2003 brand new,within the first week doors and windows opening on there own, turned out to be corroded contacts, never out of the garage faulty oil level warning, lights kept blowing, handle on hatch, paint flaking off, excessive tyre wear due to warped rear axle, hatch dropped catching onto rear bumpers and lights, air bag warning fault constantly coming on. battled for two years against the company and citreon do not want to know. was told by trading standards I was entitled to a replacement of similar quality or better (consumers rights in this country are a absolute joke) finally got offered a replacement after two years 2 months newer than my 03 plate. had a month now when been back to garage 3 times already twice for a week at a time, whining noise from engine, told that they agree there is a problem, but don't know what it is,just have to stick with it till it shows its face propally. (i kid you not) boot hatch stuck won't open faulty catch, shock absorbers gone on the rear, air bag fault, squeaking noise from passengers front wheel. this car is a joke and I am not surprised it did so poor in the surveys. i would advise anybody not to touch this car and citreon with a barge pole. a total disgrace.

Just a quick update to my last letter in jan 06, finally lost patience with this heap, got rid and purchased a toyota corolla verso. (difference in the build quality is amazing) my advise to anybody is do not touch this vehicle and more inportant don't touch citreon they just don't want to know.

I have had and still have most of the above faults, plus the following extras:

Braking fault display over 90 times

Audible alarm going off around 40 times

Illumination of instruments so poor you wouldn't know they were on even at night

Instruments unreadable when the sun is from the side and forward

Hazard lights come on on starting the engine

Mirrors don't always come out or only one might

Airbag faults

Antipollution displays

The cure from Citroen is a download which guaranteed the loss of the many other functions, but no actual cure!

We had an 03 C8 for a year and a half. It went back to the garage so many times that even the dealer agreed we had a problem. We had to of course pay more, but were given a higher mileage, but 04 registered C8.

Within 2 weeks the exhaust just randomly sheared. It took a week to get the part from France and then fit it. Then, apart from a brake recall and a £480 service, we thought we were doing OK until the power steering failed. The noise and juddering was terrifying. Apparently only a minor fault - we couldn't bear to carry on and will never touch a Citroen again.

We are now £5K down (over the 2ish years of our ordeal), but we feel that we have cut our losses and got out not a minute too soon.

We are in the middle of a very expensive problem with our 52 c8. just before the 3 year warranty expired, we had a problem with the diesel filter, the garages response-drive 10 miles up and down the motorway in third gear till it is OK. It went in because it had a noise in the engine and we were told the fly wheel and clutch needed replacing. Also the tension arm and alternator belt needed replacing. Less than 6 months later, the pulley of the alternator belt breaks whilst driving and goes into the timing belt, we now face a bill of £2000. The garage technicians say this should not happen as the car has done under 31,000 miles. Citroen doesn't want to know. If we afford to we would scrap the car, total waste of money. Don't be fooled by the gadgets, they need to get the car working reliably. Other problems mentioned above have occurred as well-the doors, leaking sunroof to name, but a few.

I thought I was alone with all problems on my C8. It has just been in garage again this time the "brain" of the car malfunctioned, this cost £130 to fix as they had to reboot system as they couldn't find any other way. I locked car as my wife opened boot and this seems to have caused fault. Would be interested to know if anyone has experienced headlights going up and down in brightness whilst driving tried to sort this out and fitted new alternator, but it made no difference. Also had some of the faults of other owners.

Drivers seat was replaced in first few months as foam was crumbling and leaving dust under seat. Anti pollution fault indicator came on several times before first 1000 mile check and still does occasionally. All these problems and more on a car not quite 4 years old and only done 21,000 miles. Two front tyres after 12,000 miles and now coming up for some more. I was considering changing car for the new Picasso, but I don't think I would buy another Citroen.

I accidentally stumbled upon these comments the other day and cannot believe how similar the faults that people are having are the same as that of my wife's car. Too date the car has now been in well over 100 times from new. My wife now knows all the engineers and service people very well and they usually expect the car in 2-3 times per month. It is ridiculous and I am now seeking redress in the courts.

By the way the fuel consumption is stated as 40mpg for the diesel 2.0 but in reality in town we are averaging 22.4mpg...not very good for a diesel engine.

I won't bore you will all the other faults as they are basically the same as others have listed before.

Well done citroen... we will spread the news of your dreadful C8 vehicle and customer care.

I might have to come back here later and comment in more detail when I have checked through the pile of 'repair orders' for my wife's '05 C8 2.2 HDi Exclusive, and the letters we have sent since purchase to Citroen UK, who I agree, are a complete waste of time. However, its no big surprise to read the comments from other owners. I'll see if I can list our problems.

Whilst our C8 could be said not to have had any major problems, in as much as it hasn't left my wife stranded...yet, it has been back to the garage more times than I care to remember for stupid things, which are none the less annoying and inconvenient. Its currently waiting to go in for a leaking sunroof. It has the triple sunroof option, which to be honest if we had realised they only opened half way, we would never have specified. This problem has occured and supposedly been rectified once already, but on Saturday my wife again had to drive with her umbrella up! Despite the weather forecast (rain, rain, more rain) the usual dealer was unable to book it for ten days, despite the fact that the water exits through the overhead console containing courtesy and map lights, but also controls for the electric doors, alarm componants etc, and there is obviously a danger of extensive electrical damage, and potentially fire when water and electricity mix! Fortunately, an alternative dealer was able to get it in tomorrow, I wonder if they will do any better?

Last time they said it was probably a blocked drain, but actually replaced the seal, which had looked okay. To be honest, I can't see any signs of a drain anyway. The whole design seems slightly strange, with the roof lining extending beyond the sunroof aperature, such that if it were left open in the rain, instead of just getting the seats/occupants wet, water would fall/roll into and accumulate in the roof lining, where it naturally runs down and exits via the console previously mentioned. Perhaps this is the 'drain' they mentioned?!!!

I have tried to repeat the leak using a hose pipe, but cannot, so it does seem rather random. We are even beginning to wonder if the deluges are not even caused by a leak at all, but simply by condensation, which naturally builds up on the inside of the glass at this time of the year, then drips down into the sunroof surrounds, and in the absence of any drains then into the overhanging roof lining. I'll be interested to see what conclusions Citroen come to. If condensation is the cause they will probably tell us not to get in with wet clothes, or breathe!!!

That advice would be no more bizarre than that they gave regards another minor problem/query concerning the sunroofs. We were under the impression that the C8 had 'global closing', ie if the lock button on the remote were held down, the car would lock, alarm set, and any windows and sunroofs left open would shut. Well, we were almost right, the windows do shut, the sunroofs do slide back, but remain on tilt. Well, even our previous ten year old Galaxy had global closing, and the sunroof on that would firmly shut, none of this tilt business!

I queried this with Citroen UK suggesting that there was surely a fault. 'Oh no' they replied, 'its been designed like that to leave ventilation for your dog, if you need to leave it in the car'. Interesting, but we don't have a dog, further if we did we wouldn't leave it in the car, but if we had to, it would set the alarm off within two minutes anyway, as to disarm the volumetric bit is nigh on impossible, but at best is a two person job! I pointed this out to Citroen, and also that leaving sunroofs on tilt in the UK is hardly practical given the high possibility of ingression by rain, or car thieves, and asked if they couldn't reprogram it to shut fully as would logically be expected, but they said no its supposed to be like that, so live with it!

Another minor fault, was the tyre valve that sheared off, leaving the tyre flat and unable to be reinflated. When I said it hadn't left the wife stranded I forgot that when it did that it left me stranded, until I found the spare wheel, jack etc. Bloke at the petrol station said he had never seen that happen before, as did the bloke at the tyre place (who couldn't fix it, because it was a Sunday, and Citroen were shut, and they would have to supply the replacement valve!) Citroen replaced the valve under warranty, just as well at the cost of it, but the C8's brain couldn't recognise the new one and kept telling us a wheel had fallen off. it took several visits to the Citroen garage before the C8 would finally accept that it had all four wheels and none of the tyres were flat.

However, one bizarre benefit of the tyre pressure sensor pantomine was the fuel consumption. Up until this point it has been abysmal, never getting above about 31mpg, no matter what we did, despite the brochure claiming a potential maximum of around 47mpg. Whilst sorting the tyre pressure sensor problem, we asked them to check the fuel consumption. They checked the settings, insisted that they were okay, and that they had not changed anything, yet when we got the car back, it was suddenly doing 10 mpg more than it had done previously. Good, but strange!

Most of the problems seem to be electrical or software related. One feature, which we never had the benefit of were the 'memory mirrors', which should have worked in conjunction with the memory position seats. The dealer replaced some £500 of electrical circuitry in their attempts to get this function to work, before admitting that it would not do so until Citroen provided a software upgrade. Asked when this would be, Citroen said that this function had been discontinued, even though the dealer said it hadn't, and it still appeared in the brochures for a further 12 months. I asked them to supply an engine/chassis number from when this was discontinued, no response. From comments by other owners, I believe this function actually disappeared when Citroen upgraded the software to eliminate the 'pollution' warning problem, and that in some cases the heating/folding functions of the mirror was also lost. Great though, can't fix a fault with it, so just say the feature is discontinued!

Citroen UK were equally as vague about the service intervals. Our C8 was sold as having 20,000/2 year intervals, yet the service department at the dealer insisted it should be 12 months/12500 miles. When I and the dealers spoke to Citroen UK to clarify we each received different answers from them, until they finally insisted that it was indeed 20,000/2 years, and that all service departments had been notified. Strange then that when I phoned service departments at ten different dealers around the country several months later, not one gave me the correct answer, most still insisting it was 12500/12 months, whatever the age of the vehicle. Given that if they believed that, and we stuck with what we were told, it might as far as the dealers were concerned have invalidated the warranty, or even cause damage to the vehicle, I did finally get Citroen UK to supply the engine number from when the service interval was extended, but only after writing to them numerous times.

Then there are the electric doors, which sometimes and mysteriously refuse to shut, whilst on others threaten to crush you alive. The Citroen technician checked it over and said there was nothing wrong with them, but was still not confident enough in their own diagnosis to stick his own arm in and see if it got broken or not. And the great thing about all the technology and safety features of the car is that it is still possible to drive away with the sliding doors wide open!!!

It hasn't been in yet for the cruise control, which randomly stops working. just like any good computer, this has so far been cured by shutting down, and restarting. However, as the fault usually only becomes apparent when you want to actually use this feature, i.e. on the motorway, it is hardly convenient, safe or sensible to pull over onto the hard shoulder, turn off the ignition, lock the doors and sit there for five minutes whilst its brain resets!

Catch on the fuse flap to right of steering wheel broke, and even that necessitated two trips to the dealer to get fixed.

There are several other faults it hasn't been in for yet either. As experienced by others, the pipe to the rear wash wipe blows off, potentially causing a great deal of water damage to the electrics in that area. Taped that up myself with waterproof sticky tape. The duct which carries hot/cold air to the rear passenger compartment fell off, stuck that back together myself with double sided tape. And even after repairs to the latter, the 'trizone' climate control is pretty useless really, providing a weak draught of air that is neither hot in the winter or cold in the summer by the time it reaches the rear vents.

I'm keeping an eye on the tyres, and they don't look as if they are doing as bad as some reports suggest, but not as good as I would have hoped.

My final gripe is I suppose our own fault for not test driving the car thoroughly before purchase. Whilst it is extremely nice to drive, and comfortable for the driver and front seat passenger, the middle and third row occupants seem very cramped compared to our previous Galaxy. Despite what the brochure suggests, there is also a severe lack of storage spaces compared to the Galaxy.

Well, I think that is about it, like I said, nothing major, just lots of niggles that are extremely annoying and very time consuming and inconvenient to get sorted. Each one usually involves several visits to the dealer, and loss of use of the car for 2-3 days each time. If we get through a month without it having to go in we celebrate!!! This is not what you expect from a 'top of the range' car costing well in excess of £20k. Our main concern now is that whilst many of these faults are on the face of it quite minor, they would be extremely expensive to rectify once out of warranty, and in any case, how long before something major goes?

It may have a lot less features, and isn't a lot cheaper really, but it appears to have much more room inside, and be built to last, so on Saturday we are going to go and test drive a Kia Sedona 2.9Crd TS, say no more!!!

Having checked repair reports/correspondence to Citroen, forgot to say in my previous entry.

Already mentioned the alarm once, ie almost impossible to turn off the volumetric sensor if did leave anything/body in car when locked. However, do not leave the child mirror down, as if you do, it will almost certainly set the alarm off as it obscures the sensors. Lost track of how many times we woke the neighbours until we realised that this was the cause.

The reverse light switch broke, knocking out the reverse lights and parking sensors. Good job my wife realised before she reversed into something, as I wouldn't have fancied our chances of getting Citroen to repair the subsequent crash damage.

Has anyone any experience of the new Sedona, compared to the C8?

I've just bought a 2006 C8 Exclusive CC, an ex demonstrator with 3800 miles. I love the car, but am having problems with water coming through the map lights next to the sunroof. I can hear water moving around somewhere inside the roof lining. Has anyone else had this problem?

The dealer has checked the sunroof and says there's nothing obvious, but I'm worried that the water will damage the large array of electrics.

Hi I have a 2004 c8 and I have to say it's a very nice car I have had some problems with it the latest being the fap level too low the depolution system faulty and apart from that I think there a very good car its the dealership that's the problem there ready to rip everyone off

i have had over 20,000 miles from the front tyres and no problems with the electric doors the air con works very well as does the sat nav perhaps its the owners who don't understand the cars or they believe any rubbish the service manger gives them.

Reference comments 15th January, hearing water moving around in roof lining, and having it exit through courtesy light/electric door console. As mentioned in own previous comments, we have had similar problems on my wife's C8 Exclusive with triple sunroof option.

Before the water first actually came through, whenever it was damp, she could hear the sound of water rolling around. She always assumed it was running across the top of the roof... until it first came through. There is a channel within the frame of each sunroof, which can become quite full of water, and I think this is where the sound comes from...however, quite how the water gets there, no idea.

The first time our C8 went in for this they replaced the seal on the front sunroof... and it seemed okay for a while. However, three months later it leaked again... or when I say leaked... we had water coming through the light console. I water tested the sunroofs, and so did the garage, and neither of us could recreate the problem. We are now wondering if its caused by excessive condensation, which has no escape due to the poor design of the sunroofs, and the fact that there appears to be no drains, as would apparantly be normal.

Our reasons for suspecting this is that after the last time it appeared to leak, it rained torrentially for about a week, and no more water came through. Prior to the apparent leak, the car had been full with seven occupants all of whom had wet hair and coats... creating lots of comdensation.

Citroen insist that there are drains, and condensation shouldn't cause the problem, but they would need it for yet another week to investigate more thoroughly...they're having a laugh!!! Anyone else had similar problems and established the cause????

We have an 04 C8 2.2 diesel which has now done 70k miles.

The only problems we've had were:

* faulty tailgate lock (fixed by the supplying dealer)

* flickering headlights/random warnings on display (fixed by replacing the battery - under warranty)

* disintegrated aux drive pulley, taking out the air con and power steering - fixed under warranty, although the car was one month older than the warranty period.

The lowest fuel consumption was 29mpg - that was fully loaded, with roof box on a German motorway trip averaging 90+mph. Typical fuel consumption is 35mpg.

I think the dealer makes a big difference to the owner's experience. Our dealer is in Cambridgeshire, very close to the M11 and they've been superb. We'd have no hesitation in recommending the C8 based on our experience.