2000 Citroen Saxo VTS from UK and Ireland - Comments

Complained when I first picked up the car from the dealer - "large crease" on the back driver's quarter panel, was told it was a feature! Got much worse about a month later, the car had to be fixed and re-sprayed.

Paint flaking from my back bumper.

Cylinder head gasket was blown after 7,000 miles.

New brake discs and pads had to be fitted, the pedal was vibrating.

New front headlamp, steaming up.

Constantly cutting out when idle, especially at traffic lights.

Was promised a 3 year warranty for my trouble, but have now been told I will not receive this because I am still unhappy that my car is still cutting out, as they cannot find the fault.

And now last week (21/10/2001) my car lost its power steering, lights and heaters, nearly wrote it off over a roundabout and was told it had a faulty ignition switch, and had to pay £70.50 for the car to be uplifted to the garage.

I think this is now a case for my lawyer.

Can anyone please tell me if they know why the car keeps cutting out, so I can get it fixed by someone who knows what the are doing?

linda.mcrobie@compaq.com

Dealers need to take a crash course in customer care and satisfaction. They treat you like a dummy.

I have just complained to Citroen Belgium (I live in Belgium) with a copy sent to Head Office in France, about repeated lack of proper servicing, and lack of client-friendliness (I was furious when my car failed to start DURING its annual vehicle test due to - as I found out later - improper servicing by the main dealer).

The reply from the Belgian importer was very unsatisfactory. He more or less blames me, the client, and then writes a lot of rubbish about how Citroen is still better than others. But what else could I expect? This attitude starts at the top and penetrates the whole organisation).

Pity that such pleasant cars are sold and serviced by people who do not care at all.

It is time Citroen management in Paris started to realise what is wrong, and rectify firmly.

My 1998 VTR cuts out on occasion at traffic lights, the dealer told me they couldn't find anything wrong. Used to do it once a day at least, now seems to have calmed down to about once every week.

My car also keeps cutting out. I was going around a nasty bend at the time and I quickly had to restart my car before I hit the wall just so I could steer the damn thing.

It's going in for a service soon though so hopefully they can sort it out.

Also, does anyone else have a problem with the airbag light constanly coming on??

I bought a Citroen Saxo VTR on 01.06.01 and have experienced no end of problems. Immediately I started the car the rev counter was idling inconsistently. This was followed by the usual experiences of engine cut outs, handbrake being too slack, engine management warning coming on, juddering engine, engine spasms occuring between 200 and 1200 rpm and performance problems. Has anybody experienced the sensation in Citroen Saxo VTR's/VTS's where you feel the engine pulling up - similar to going down a steep hill but actually driving along in 5th gear on the flat. What makes matters worse is that I'm unsure of any legal redress and nobody at Citroen seems to know what the hell is going on. If the computer says it's OK! its OK! duh!!!What a load of crap? Does anybody know of any legal remedy? There's enough evidence of serious manufacturing problems on this site surely??? This vehicle has been a pile of crap and I'm sick of it all I can tell you.

I have a Furio and it was constantly misfiring and idling high. But it is all now fixed by changing the coil. To all those in the UK the dealer in Rugby was really helpful on the phone.

I am from Ireland and I bought a brand new Citroen Saxo in April 2000. From the time I bought the car I had nothing but trouble with it. I had the car about 3 months and had to get new brake pads, then the air-bag light started to flash at about 4 months and when I brought it to Citroen they just told me not to worry that it was a common problem in the new Saxo's and it would just go away, but it never did. In March 2001 I was driving the car and all the electrics just went so I drove straight to the nearest Citroen garage and they had to put new fuses in the heap of junk, so about 3 weeks later in April 2001 when the car was only 1 year old I parked it in my front garden and a while later it just went on fire and nearly burned my house as-well. When I reported this to Citroen they just didn't want to know, still to this day I am fighting against them for my rights and I have found out about loads of Saxo's going on fire and 3 are from the same garage as I bought mine, one of them even went on fire 2 day's before mine and it was bought from the same garage as I bought mine and it was also bought in April 2000.

I have the same problem as you on my Saxo 1.1 Stateside. It stalls while idling and also hesitates while driving (as if someone else is driving my car!).

I have taken it to a Citroen specialist who performed a diagnostic - nothing has shown up - they basically looked at me like I was mad. I have taken it to a local mechanic who has confirmed that there is a serious fault with the electronics. He has recommended I see a another Citroen dealer.

I have contacted the garage today and they have said this is not an unusual fault in the Saxo and have said it's a fault with the Idling Modulator. I have it booked in for replacement of this part, and hope it fixes the problem as I just can't cope any longer with the stalling and hesitations - I feel like a nervous wreck!

Hopefully this will help you with sorting your stalling problems.

I recently collected the keys to my brand spanking new Saxo VTR - oh dear! All down hill from here I'm afraid. When I arrived at the Citroen garage the car was off the transporter and parked - quite oddly - with the passenger side tight up against the garage wall... the salesman shouted to me "Chuck the keys over mate", which I did. He then proceeded to open the drivers door for me (thought he was just being helpful), and muttered the witty comment "go and give it some!". Unfortunately, he must have thought I was stupid and would jump into the cockpit and tear off the forecourt in a haze of singed rubber... oh no! I'm sorry, but if you have just payed the best part of 10K for a car, you would be unwise not to at least give it a cursory check! The fun now starts... i was soon to discover the reason behind the positioning of the car (next to the garage wall), a large scratch running from the front headlamp, along the wing, over the door, rear panel and rear light on the passenger side! I could not believe that this salesman was actively attempting to coax me into the car knowing full well the damage to the passenger side of the car. That was it - I didn't want to play with mr Citroen anymore - the car had already been delayed for nearly a month and this was just insult to injury. I left the car where it was... forcing the salesman to keep the keys. I returned an hour later with my brother (a solicitor) and a camera. I left 30 minutes after this with a cheque for £8450 - which was spent on a Fiat Punto Active 1.2 and with the change booked a 2 week holiday to Canada with spending money aswell. The moral of the story is: You can't afford to buy cheap... Citroens are cheap... and it shows!

I have owned a Citroen Saxo for two years now and have had problem after problem happening.

First: The carpet wasn't fitted properly upon collection of the car (The salesman happily got a young technician to PUSH IT UNDER THE DOOR SILL)

Second: I Took the car to a separate garage for its first service after 1000 miles only for them to drive it over 100 miles, leaving the tank dry and forgetting to sign my log book (co-incidentally 27k on the clock and my car has not had one service signed without me complaining)

Third: On one of my services my brakes needed replacing through excessive wear so they happily fitted them without my permission (an extra cost to my service) but no sooner did I get home than the brake disk shattered and fell onto the road, my neighbor, also a mechanic said that the brake disk looks as though it had been dropped or was second hand.

Fourth: My car was a victim of crime, the lock was broken on it so off it went to the dealer for a new lock, but the lock holder had been dented so I needed to take it to THEIR panel beaters to have it put back into shape. On arrival and inspection they said I needed to go back to the dealer to get the lock so they would know how to shape the holder. On arrival back at the dealer, they refused to get the lock until the door was beaten, can you guess what happened for 6 months? Eventually I decided to get my friend to do it… BAD IDEA, Citroen decided that as a repair of this natured had been carried out without their consent, my warranty and guarantee were declared null and void.

They are just a few examples of the problems I have had (immobilizer not De-activating is another story) and I have now sold my car and purchased an MG and the customer service and build quality are excellent, if I am not happy with anything they will happily sort it out for me.

I bought a Saxo VTS from new in April 2000 - and have only ever had 2 problems with it in the 3 years of ownership.

The first was the fuel gauge kept getting stuck, but this was replaced with a whole new pod on a saturday morning while the car was in for a service - free of charge.

The alarm started playing up after 2 years, but disabling the internal detectors cured the problem. A quick call to the garage got it booked in and the faulty sensor was replaced, again free of charge.

Other than that I've covered 28K miles of hassle free motoring in the car and only just bought a new set of tyres for it, although they were very low!

A new set of brake pads at 25K miles is the only other thing.

Have I been lucky? Remember that the Saxo is Britain's most popular supermini and thousands of them have been sold, so there is bound to be a duff one or two in there.

You must complain, complain and complain more - get Citroen head office on the phone if you have to or go to a different Citroen dealer until you find one that wants to fix your problem.

Would I buy another - yes, certainly from the dealer we used as they have always been very helpful and I've had cars that have been a lot worse!

I do feel very sorry for the guys above who have experienced a lot of problems. I think there is definitely an issue with Citroen customer services. With the large increase in sales a lot of the dealers seem unable to cope with this.

That said, anyone reading these reviews to see whether to buy a Saxo or not please don't stop the above reviews from stopping you from buying a Saxo. They are great little cars, my current one, an 03 reg VTR is fantastic and has run faultlessly. My family are Citroen nuts and have had between us 5 VTR's and a VTS with only one VTR proving troublesome (a 98 MK1, all the rest are MK2's and have been fantastic). I wish the same could be said for the Xsara's we have had, but that's another story...

Anyone out there who wants some cheap, yet still fun motoring I would wholeheartedly recommend the Saxo, though hurry up, the C2 is out soon!

I have had a 1.5 saxo from new P reg. Had problrms fixed under warranty. At the moment I have a flashing Air bag light, have been to local dealer and paid a lot of money to have it fixed. Claimed fault found and got car back. Next day it started again. took it back and car taken to another citroen dealer as their computor was not working. Got it back and fault started again, told it was in its memory!fixed, two days later it started again What can I do they just do not seem to know how to fix it. as the fault is spasmodic want the car for a few days, I cannot trust them help. should I go to Trading standards or who can I complain to.

This has been very enlightening. I have been researching a fault for my neighbor's daughter. she unwarily bought a 97 saxo 1.1. And has found surprise surprise the heater doesnot work. all sites I have been to all list the following common faults

Heater fan not functioning at all

Ignition switch fails

Power steering fails

rear heated window fails

Cigarette lighter fails if used with mobile phone charger

Head gaskets fail

Heater blower motor fails after a couple of years.

After all this she paid top dollar for this Heap of junk.

I now think my advice to her will be sell it fast and get some money back before it gets even more expensive. By all accounts to fix the Heater fan is a £300 charge alone.

Again you all have helped me on my quest. Thank You.

Had problems with the engine cutting out and stalling when cold. It was also over reving on tick-over. The problem was something in the throttle control that report back to the engine management system.

The part was replaced and all seems okay now!

This car is a heap of crap, had nothing, but trouble with it from the start. Bought a saxo 1.1 x 99 and right at the start the alarm was going off when the wind was blowing too much! the fog lights didn't work and the airbag light came on constantly. Now the damn heater fan doesn't work, the rear window heat bars don't work and the car revs on its own when idle!!! This is when I can get the damn thing to start in the first place! DO NOT BUY THIS CAR! It's a LEMON! BUY A NON FRENCH CAR IF YOU CAN HELP IT!