2001 Citroen Picasso SX from UK and Ireland - Comments

Took delivery of my 1.8SX on Wednesday only 10 days after walking into the local dealer to test drive - not bad! Delighted with car - what I've seen of it - my wife's car continually being left in drive for me!

For those of you who are very protective of your Picasso - DON'T READ AUTO EXPRESS PREVIEW of the Picasso HDI (on line).

CD.

This is an interesting discussion page! I am going to purchase a 1.8 SX tomorrow, having looked at every other mini MPV option. The Picasso wins it, just about over the Scenic.

Interesting thoughts on the auto air con, may well go for that now. The full glass roof looks great as well.

Good price at the moment, I am looking at £10,995 for the 1.8 SX, which ain't bad at all!! Will let you know how I get on, can't wait to get it now!!

Dave.

I have only just found this excellent discussion page perhaps a few hours late! I ordered a Picasso HDi SX this morning and am part-exchanging a Scenic. I have had the 1998 Scenic for only three months, but the lure of the Picasso outweighed any loss incurred, I normally keep a car for at least three years.

I am pleased to see that my gut feeling is reflected in many of the comments here. One minus point for me is that I will not be able to play the cassette tapes that I have accumulated over many years!

Hi.

I have a Picasso 2.0HDi SX with automatic aircon. I am very pleased with the car, despite it's "only average economy". Its average mileage is only 42mpg and I don't drive fast.

You can see my car at www.landberg.dk

It is a danish webpage, but click "galleriet" and "Landbergs Picasso" and you can see my car. At the moment it is fitted with 17" AEZ Icon 5 alloys with Falken tires, chipped to 129hp and 280nm, Clarion headunit, JBL GTi's in dashboard and a big Syrincs sub in the trunk. Its topspeed has risen from 170km/h to approximately 200km/h, and the economy is a bit better with the chip.

I am considering mounting an intercooler. Anyone with a link, so I can see pictures of the engine of a 110hp Xsara?

Thomas Landberg

Denmark.

Best deals on new Picasso's at CitroenPicasso.org.uk

I am just about to take delivery of my Picasso and have enjoyed reading the comments on this site as helpful in my choice.

In the end I got my 1.8SX from CityGate Direct for £10,700.

The only comment which seems to come out from the reviews is that of poor security and they suggest additional security.

To upgrade the Thatcham Category 1 fitted immobiliser to Cat 2 alarm+immobiliser costs c£300.

Has anyone upgraded their security or experienced any problems?

Martyn Wood.

I agree with the previous comments regarding security. It is a great disappointment that Citroen do not fit deadlocks to the Picasso.

Regarding the Thatcham immobiliser; I didn't realise that the one fitted was a 'Type 1' - thanks. Does anyone know what the actual difference is between the Type 1 and Type 2?

I take delivery of my 1.8 SX today and am now wondering about upgrading the immobiliser.

Paul@jazzmusician.co.uk.

My new Picasso would fit in my garage if it were not for the ariel! Does anyone know if it is possible to change the ariel for a shorter stubby one? If so, where from?

CD.

Regarding the immobiliser - sorry it was a typo.

It is a Cat 2 immobiliser which can be upgraded to cat 1 which is basically an alarm plus immobiliser (approved by Thatcham).

Yes it is a shame that the basic Xsara has deadlocks but the Picasso hasn't. I was looking at an alarm with ultrasonic detectors - not bothering with the official Thatcham upgrade as it didn't appear to save me on my insurance!

After waiting more than two months, I finally took delivery of my 1.8 SX. A few comments that others may be interested in:-

1. The car drives extremely well and is very quiet. No problems there!

2. The Satellite Nav. System (factory fitted) is superb. BUT... the remote control is poor. The dual purpose rocker switch for scrolling and validating entry often misinterprets the key press. Very frustrating, I've asked my dealer to get me a new remote control as I expect better than this for £1000.00!!

3. The digital display IS difficult to read in bright sunlight - especially if you wear glasses (as I do). The brightness control for the display only works in the night (dim) mode - it does not allow you to adjust the brightness with the lights turned off.

4. The ticket clip on the windscreen rattles like mad.

5. The headlight leveling facility only works in dipped beam mode. Not much use if your full beam is pointing in the sky if you are carrying a heavy load. Also the leveling control is not illuminated. Crazy when this control is only operated at night time!

6. The new glass electric sun roof works fine - but I am disappointed to find that it slides external to the fixed part of the roof. Unlike other glass sliding sun roofs that slide under the metal surface of the roof. When the roof is closed therefore, there is a noticeable external gap between to sliding part and the fixed part. Enough to get a lever in between if a thief tried to gain entry through the roof.

7. With the Sat Nav. fitted, the two buttons on the right of the display (for menu selection etc) are missing! Does this mean that these menu functions are not available when the Sat Nav is fitted? This can't be true.

In all other respects, the car is great.

paul@jazzmusician.co.uk

Thatcham approval is as follows :-

Category 1 Alarm and Immobiliser Systems.

Category 2 Immobiliser Systems.

Category 2:1 Existing Cat 2 Immobilisers upgraded to Cat 1 Systems.

The Picasso has only an immobiliser and therefore will be Cat 2. An upgrade to Cat 1 requires the addition of an integrated and approved alarm.

Regards.

Tom.

Choosing.

We bought a Silver 2.0 Hdi SX with digital a/c about 4 weeks ago We had had a test drive and were fairly convinced that the Picasso would suit us but just before ordering found this site. Some of the comments were very helpful in confirming that we had made the right choice (we considered the Scenic & Zafira)

We also have a Synergie and traded in a 7 year old Xantia against the Picasso - got a very good price from our local dealer. As luck would have it, when we called in to place our order for the car, one six months old exactly to our spec. - the owner had accepted a job overseas and had asked the dealer if they would buy it back - was coming in later that week. Slightly reluctantly we tried it out and were happy - it had just about run in at 5,600 miles and was still as new - so we went ahead £1,400 lower than the new price.

Some early impressions - especially as compared to its big brother the Synergie.

Fairly quiet and handles well. Lighter to drive than the Synergie, but not as much zip as my old 1.9 Tdi SX Xantia - but much less smoke on hard acceleration. I agree with all of the good things said so far by other contributors.

The big fault is the reflections from the beige dash board. They really cause me problems, especially when driving in dappled shade under trees. I have overcome this by spraying an old Synergie grey front carpet with black paint, cut down slightly and placed between the screen and the dash front lip. The cut out for the console nicely reveals the electronic dash and the Citroen logo on the carpet almost makes it look the part (only spoiled by the hole worn through by my right foot from use in the Synergie!). However I will probably paint the dash black before too long.

Wheelchair in boot.

Our son uses a wheel chair. (The Synergie is an ideal car for our needs). We found that the folded chair fits upright and alongside the wheel arch in the Picasso boot so there is a reasonable amount of space left. However the shelf needs a slot cut into it because the tubes for the chair handles are a couple of centimetres too high to fit underneath it.

Regards

Steve S.

P.S. I stepped through the audio settings on the radio /cd player and found that auto volume increase is On. It works very well too!

Just bought a Picasso 1.8 SX for £9500, met paint, auto air con and the seats have all been treated with scotch guard. It's only just done 3000 miles and is immaculate.

Now that I've got over my excitement sharing that with you all I'll come to my question. Has anyone had problems with alarms being fitted?. I spoke with several independent fitters, none were very keen to fit an alarm to the Picasso, two turned me down. One Citroen dealer said they fitted them but didn't recommend them as most electrical problems were returned by customers who seemed to have the alarm fitted. Another dealer said his engineer had fitted over 200 cars without any problems. Seeing as the Picasso has no deadlocks and a few reviews have noted 15 seconds to get into a Picasso, I thought an alarm would be essential, but any comments you give would be a great help.

Also, has anyone a price for the rear parking/sensor gadget?

Cheers,

Peter.

Hi

I have been reading, with great interest, comments and questions about a possible upgrade of the stereo in the Picasso. Go take a look at kenwood's home page for car stereo. Look at the FAQ there. You will find that you can use a kenwood headunit (maybe others?) if you use an adapter called CK-R70EU AND a wire harness called CAW-74c. This would make the controls on the steering wheel usable.

Best regards

Kristian Denmark.

Does anyone know how to change the headlamp to right hand drive?

I am going to France soon and have used beam benders in the past, but there are no markings on the headlamps to position the plastic beam bender.