2004 Citroen C2 VTR from UK and Ireland - Comments

Nothing.

I have only had this car for a few months. Fundamentally the engine, body, interior, handling an look of the vehicle are well designed and technically advanced.

It has, however, a sequential gear semi automatic system that is so bad it defies belief. It has a full auto position, a semi auto stick shift option and cool steering wheel paddles as well. Great, but they just do not work. It squirts away in first like an Onion Seller on steroids, then as it tries to change up, the onion sellers bike slows, stops, a slow Gaulloise ciggie emerges, perhaps then a lingering Cafe au Lait, then it might, just might hit second. Meanwhile nice old ladies on the way to their WRI meetings have sauntered past in their 1985 Fiesta 1.1s wondering what all the alloys, badges and spoilers are for.

Frankly the car is unsafe as the gearbox is so dithery and useless that you will easily find yourself overtaking with absolutely no power or momentum and one of ERF's finest heading towards you in the outside lane at 62mph and nowhere to go. The C2's brakes are good...but not that good.

Now I know you will say that I am comparing it unfairly against a BMW 7. Yes and no. It should be what the 7 is not - really fast, sharp, boy racer fun. I hate to say it, but my BMW 728i is more boy racer than this - and it is about as boy racer as Andrew Marr is Boy George.

Citroen - do a product recall. All of these. Then make them into those cool metamorphosis C3 type monsters and stick one on every roundabout in the UK. If you sell many more of these our roundabouts will be decorated with sombre little floral shrines instead - in memory of young inexperienced drivers who bought this Gallic deathtrap.

Be warned.

All of these negative comments and what not, most of them are caused by the auto/semi-auto gear shifter. I have C2 VTR with 5 Manual Gearbox, No problems at all!

I have had my Citroen C2 VTR since June 2004. Apart from a few problems to start with the car now looks great and drives superb.

At first I must admit I had a few problems with the gears, but now the car is perfect. So just to put a few people right, learn how to drive the car first as the paddle shift does take some working out.

These cars are not slow and if you are comparing it to a BMW as someone was, they are two completely different car - look at the difference in price.

My little pocket rocket is great and I would recommend it to anyone.

I have a Citroen C3 1.6i 16v Exclusive Sensodrive and its performance is brilliant. And its brilliant for over taking.

I bought a C2 VTR Ministry of Sound in early January and have only driven it twice. The first time I drove it using just the automatic gearbox I thought the car was stalling in-between gear changes. The time between changes is so long that you could easily have a game of Monopoly. The automatic gear box is appalling so I tried using the paddles which was slightly better, but I would like the chance to use all options. I am hoping that as the car does more mileage and is run in a bit, that this problem will get better, but for the time-being I'll stick to my husbands car. Impressions so far is that I feel it was a complete waste of money.

A great wee car. Consider changing your grade of petrol to enjoy the VTR senso drive at it's best Just filled the tank with Shell Optimax and noticed great improvement of acceleration, power, performance, and fuel economy. Supermarket petrol has the complete opposite effect, and needs fuel additive to clean the build up oftar and gum inside the engine. Change gear at 5000 revs. Also consider upgrading the ECU chip and fuel filter to further improve performance.

C2 VTR 1.6 16V Sensodrive. A great wee car. Consider changing your grade of petrol to enjoy the VTR senso drive at it's best Just filled the tank with Shell Optimax and noticed great improvement of acceleration, power, performance, and fuel economy. Supermarket petrol has the complete opposite effect, and needs fuel additive to clean the build up oftar and gum inside the engine. Change gear at 5000 revs. Also consider upgrading the ECU chip and fuel filter to further improve performance.

Hi, I am considering purchasing this car second hand.

I am looking at a 2004 model at the moment.

How do I go about ECU upgrades?

Thanks.

Citroen C2 VTR: I have had one for over a year now, the sensodrive system in auto mode is not responsive enough in selecting gears and can lead to the car hesitating on gear selection especially on gradients, leaving you standing for a second or so with oncoming traffic speeding towards you!, it then over compensates and takes off like a rocket (very dangerous on roundabouts!) it has been back to the dealer on numerous occasions for software upgrades, I owned a C2 GT before, the VTR has been a great disappointment.

Disappointed with Gear Box, especially in Auto Mode. Gear change is hesitant and allows the car behind to quickly enter your back end!! I have had the car 3 months and to date had to disconnect battery 4 times, to allow gearbox to reset as it was once locked in 4th gear. Only this week it locked in 1st gear... the manaul or the paddle never allowed any gear change. Roundabouts are a terrifying experience now... snow mode on mine seems to switch on every time I start up... right now I have nothing poistive to say about gear box. Its still a great looking car and does shift and handle well once goin, but getting it there and driving in towns is awful.

What do you expect??? It's a citroen for 1, and a cheapo one at that. You can't expect a second rate french car company to produce a good sequential paddle change semi-fully auto box. Period.

I'm soooo upset.. I've always wanted a C2, and the other day I thought to myself, lemme find out about it before I buy it.. And now I'm searching up on the net an you guys have just made the car seem soo bad..

I'm in S.A.. I was thinking of getting the e1.6 VTR, but it's quite a bit more, so I might have to stick with the VTR..

But the only complaints I have heard are about the gearbox!! I don't know much about C2's.. but can't I just get a ordinary plain manual fearbox, no fancy auto.. I just want a full on manual.. Can someone please help me..

Ohhh, and would anyone know anything about extra's for a C2, like airfilters, lights, bodykits, and other engine upgrades, and where I can go to see pics of them and prices.. Any help would be appreciated.. thanks..

I have a 2004 Citroen C2 VTR, which I bought second hand in March '06. So far it has had a new gearbox installed (June '06), a cylinder replaced, rear brake calipers changed, mass airflow sensor changed, other teething gearbox problems, which persist to this day, although the latter seems to reset itself on it's own.

In addition, it has had all the engine mounts replaced, there are the funny banging noise,s which I can never tell where they are coming from.

The Citroen dealer I use is useless beyond imagination. Then again, most of the problems are not the car's fault, but rather the fault of the previous owner who did not maintain the car properly and abused it severely.

None the less, I love this car, having downgraded from a Volvo S60 2.0T (227bhp - chipped). I know most of you will think I'm mad for doing that. I would recommend installing an enclosed induction kit (BMC) and an Ecotek Valve to improve the performance, although I will NEVER EVER EVER EVER in my life buy a Citroen again.

I recently purchased a C4 Grand Picasso 20hdi auto box.

It's useless; it keeps going into what seems like neutral when you kick down to overtake. You have to change over to manual mode, pull over and restart the car to sort the problem out. When overtaking I always get a loud clunk and it feels as if someone has run into the back of the car.

Fuel economy is not what they say it should be either; they state 35 to 55, combined 46. I live in a town with no traffic lights and plenty of dual carriageways, and do about 50% motorway, and I am lucky if I get 35 combined.

I have owned Citroens for over 10 years now, but would not purchase another one if they were giving 75% cash back.

The dealer is a waste of time, stating if no fault code shows up they can't fix it. Stay well clear.

I have a C2 VTR 2006 model and cannot stress how bad the Senso Drive gearbox is. 1st and 2nd gears are a complete nightmare and roundabouts should be approached and exited with great caution!

The car has been into the garage for the gear shift to be looked at on 5 separate occasion's all to no avail.

Anyone considering a C2 VTR please be very aware the performance of the gears are not good. The manual VTS model is worth the extra £500!

I have just bought the C2 for my wife, 'BUT' before I bought this car, we both 'Test' drove it!!! This enabled us to make an educated decision whether we liked the feel and the drive of the vehicle... Please note: The C2 is NOT a performance car, however it does go better than most little 1.6 vehicles out there (even with the air/con on and 4 persons), and especially ones with an auto fitted. It does handle really really well and that is in comparison with the Subaru Wrx Sti that I own! The C2 has all the mod cons you would need, and great car for what it is and priced. If you want a performance car, buy a car that is firstly a manual (unless it's a v8), or get a EVO lancer, Subaru wrx or similar.