1986 Oltcit Club from Romania - Comments

Everything went wrong. This is just a very short list:

Oil radiator changed at 20000km.

Engine rebuilt four times so far.

Suspension changed every 10000km.

The door locks are a nightmare; I replaced them countless times...

All ignition components need replacing every 5-10000km.

Unbelievably bad paint; after 10 years I had to replace more than half of the body with new parts because of rust.

And much more...

The car is easy to drive, when it runs.

The engine is noisy but pretty strong. The suspension is very rigid and offer a good ride at high speed.

The biggest problem is RELIABILITY.

It breaks down all the time and you can't trust the car for a long journey. This car is a shame for the manufacturer.

A very good car.

Very reliable.

After 100000 km, except petrol pump, nothing went wrong, no problem at all.

It still goes 150 km/h.

Ignition parts changed at 15000 km.

If you respect the manufacturer's advice you have no trouble at all.

Tell me what the history of Oltcit is, is it Citroen built in Romania?

E-mail me (nick@njones41.fsnet.co.uk)

I have an Oltcit since 1992. I like it very much, because it is a nice car, fast and comfortable. It is very cheap to buy and I don't have any problem with it.

I made the Hungarian Oltcit Club:

http://www.extra.hu/oltcit

In Hungary there are very much Oltcit-fan. We like our Oltcits!

Bye!

Csongor Bojte

bcsongi@freemail.hu

Hungarian Oltcit Club.

Dear of OLTCIT-fans!!!

It is very pleasant to join your club. My name is Igor.

I live in Russia in city Sochi on a coast of the Black sea. My age 36.

I have OLTCIT CLUB 11R (1989 of the release) since 1997. The engine of 1129 cc.

It has got to me from Czechia.

The good reliable automobile. A climate for us is very warm and relief mountain. The drive is not superheated even in heat.

It is surprising.

To use it is necessary always of petrol 95, petrol 98 for us is a deficit.

Thus the engine works three years without the remarks.

I use German mineral oil.

Unique problem - inappreciable spare parts.

One more difficulty - equilibration of the wheel disk.

The car-care center has not such equipment under unique wheel disks of the French production without a major central hole.

Feeble there were folded seats - it was necessary them to repair in a part of rotating joints.

To all I wish good luck.

Yours faithfully Igor

(igor-sochi@mail.ru)

Hi!

I/m glad I bumped in this site.

I must tell you that I HATE the fact I can't get my Oltcit Club 12TRS here in the USA.This car is unbelievable : good on gas, light, easy to park,balanced, strong,fast, reliable.

Even though the chairs and doors are the weak points, remember the brakes, and the steering.The suspension is a little stiff,but UNBELIEVABLE at high speeds.I drove in Romania 7 (seven!!!) of them and I LOVED all.I used to compete (and beat them) with GTI's without problems.

In winter is awesome : the heat system gives you heat in no time,and the suspension in very responsive in snow.

The spare wheel posted under the hood, is a lifesaver in case of impact, and the front impact strength is unbeliveble. What a pity, the post communist regime,decided to SCRAP the factory, and start producing DAEWOO CIELO- and 20 yo GM model with an corean face-lift.

If you take care of this car, it will NEVER let you down.I drove over 1 milion km, and I had only minor problems; The engine LOVES synthetic oil.

Hope to hear from you. Keep it up!

CEO@expertauctions.com.

Dear friend.

I am talking to the person who stated that he drove his Oltcit for one million kilometers. This is probably the best joke I have ever heard in my life. How and where can you drive a car for one million kilometers in Romania (about the size of Oregon). Please reconsider your information.

He didn't drive one million km with ONE Oltcit. He had SEVEN of them, which means he drove about 145000 km with every car.

I'm still wondering why the person who doesn't like the "Oltcit" and who has only problems with It, did he keep the this car for 10 years?

Usually, when we have only problems, we try to change that car!

This is a response to the previous comment. I am the guy who wrote the original posting. That comment holds in USA or in Western Europe - there if you don't like a car you just buy another one. In Romania it doesn't work that way... I simply couldn't afford to buy another (better) car for 14 years so I kept it and repaired it countless times. Oltcit resale value is very low so forget about getting anything significant on it. I sold the car for about $40 in a couple of weeks ago. The car was not running and needed some carburetor work (again). I bought a brand new Hyundai Accent in march 2002 and already have some 30000 km on it. The car is perfect, I had absolutely no problem with it. By the same number of kms the Oltcit had already the engine changed once and the suspension changed twice. Maybe I was unlucky and I had a lemon, but for 15 years the Oltcit has been a horrible, horrible, HORRIBLE car. I was happier when I sold the Oltcit than when I bought the new Hyundai. Farewell my old Oltcit, you have taught me car mechanics better than any teacher would have ever dreamed... and rot in hell forever!

How can you afford to buy a brand new Hyundai when you couldn't afford to replace your Oltcit?

Surely if you hated it so much you would sell it and buy a used car - in Romania there are lots of cheap imported Western European cars for sale which are all of much higher quality than the Oltcit.

Oltcit is a very good car, the only problem is getting parts for it in Ukraine. My dad have got this car a year ago, he repaired it (he is a mechanical engineer) and now he is more than just satisfied with his little OLTCIT. Everybody in my family loves this fast, comfortable and nice car. It's a shame producing of OLTCIT was stopped. Even here in the UK people from the Citroen Car Club know about OLTCIT and they say it is a very good car. Of course, some people have problems with their OLTCIT, but who will dare to say that they wouldn't have problems with other cars (Ferrari, Honda, Rover, Ford, etc.) Nothing is perfect in this world. Just take care of your car, and it will serve you for a long time. That is the secret.

I had an Oltcit Club when I was 25. I sold it one year after purchase. In the meantime I had several unwanted stops because of raining (the insulation of the sparks is not too great, the flat, almost boxer engine gets easily water), I had to change the fuel pump, had to change the fuel hoses because of small parts coming of and caused fuel stop, many small plastic parts just broke down. Be aware! :)

I have Oltcit. I love my Oltcit and hate my woman. Oltcit is a very good car. I will make some pictures with it in about a week. I wish too meet more Oltcit Fans because my dream is to produce this car again. The car just worth the effort. So I MAKE THIS CHALLENGE for all OLTCIT fans! Contact me at cuculicim@yahoo.com.

Well, well...It's very interesting for finding this site and reading interesting things about oltcits. Well I have my own small story. I live in Macedonia which is an ex yugoslavian republic. In 1992 (I think) my parents bought an Oltcit, a brand new one, Club 12 TRS. Till now the Oltcit has past 72000 km. It has served very good. It never had a problem with the engine. It had problems only with the ignition system. Some months ago I took over the car. My parents bought some 4 other cars. I have no driving license yet, but I do drive the car. What did I do? I got the Oltcit which needed to get the front axe parts changed (after so much driven). I changed everything that I needed to change. Then I changed the ignition parts. I passed 6000 km without having any problem with the ignition, it is really great. It only had a problem at the beginning, but a mechanist solved it (only sm cable that made a problem to the circuit and was shutting down the engine). Then I painted the car with a new colour. I changed sm other stuff that needed to be changed after more than 10 years of use, but I never touched the engine. I just need to say that my Oltcit doesn't have an original carburetor now, it has one from a Yugo model (if you have heard about the car). I changed it in the beginning because the fuel consumtion was huge. The carburetor works great. Now the car is at the highest point till now I think. The fuel consumption is 10 littres city driving. It is very fast. I love this especially. I can push to 100 km/h with the third gear no problemm. The acceleration is great for such a car.

What I see from the comment is: some Oltcits are bad and some are really good! It's very interesting. I also noticed that somebody said that cheap spare parts are used by people for the oltcits. I think that if you use good spare parts (I use original ones, some french and some romanian) the oltcit can show a good performance. It is also important the oil as one said, the synthetic one. My oltcit always used a very good oil, shell or some other one. Generally speaking, a new Oltcit, in that time costed let's say 5000 Euros, which was a cheap car, serving as it did to me (us) is not so bad I think and when I think of the speed it has it's great.

Anyway I think some things are not so good at the oltcit:

- huge fuel consumption;

- ignition problems;

- it's original carburetor, it can be a problem;

- back suspension; you need to put grease in it not to be crunchy noisy ;

- general low quality of it's parts;

- and it seems that you cannot pass more than 100 000 km without an engine problems, as far as I see what people say (and let's say a mercedes takes 300 000 km minimum for a change of the engine parts) ;

But, I think that the engine is great! As well as the suspension!

As they say, that's the most money can buy. I can say that for 6000 km, nothing broke down, only some parts that passed 70000 km. I can say I am satisfied. It never has a problem in the rain or snow.

I just don't know how to TUNE it, make it more powerful! If someone knows please tell me.

Romir

romirj@sonet.com.mk.