Why do people buy Citroens?

sdabel

sdabel

Member
Fellow Frogger
Joined
Jun 25, 2003
Messages
215
Location
Adelaide
The other day while I was having my hair cut one of the other customers was talking about the car she was going to buy, a (new) C3. My ears pricked up and we had a bit of a chat about it, what did I learn?

  • Clearly she saw my car as one of those weird/Citroens- nothing she would ever own
  • She didn't know if it was an auto/sensodrive/manual so I don't think she was buying it for its technical qualities
  • About all she did seem sure of was that it "ran on the smell on an oily rag" and her present car was a 4WD so I guess she won't be disapointed
  • She didn't have an opinion on how the dealer had treated her, so I hope she is not disapointed if they provide the usual dealer standard of service
  • The lady in question was baby boomer age and my guess either HR or marketing management
  • So why did she choose a Citroen? I didn't get a straight answer to this but it seemed that she liked they way it looked, and perhaps it seemed a bit exotic.

So is the typical Citroen buyer?

regards
sean
 
Not sure, just guess:

Someone want looked different

Someone read too much Euro Auto magazine or don't read at all.

WRC fans but didn't like Jap cars.
 
My reasons are as follows

  • Unique here in Adelaide
  • Point of difference
  • Interesting to drive
  • Wife prefers autos i prefer manual/best of both worlds
  • We have a C2 so it's small size
  • Small Price
That's about it, and as for the socio economic side of things, i'm in the building industry & my wife is in science

Dan
 
For me it was because it was an affordable Euro, well equipped for the price and was good to drive.

Troy.
 
Our neighbour bought her Xsara VTS a few years ago with the divorce payout. She is a 50 something uni Dr of phylisophy and wanted a car that wasn't something her husband thought she should have. :nownow: :roflmao:
Jane liked the look of the Cit but when she took it for a test drive she told me it was so far above the Honda and Mazdas she was used to it was laughable. :party:

We bought ours because Sue wanted a nice small 5 dr auto hatch and nothing Korean/Asian/Jap was going to cut it. She learnt to drive in a 505 wagon so it was all uphill from there
 
She might well be the average C3 buyer. And quite possiby the C4 falls into that category too - well-equipped, bit more character than a lot of other things in the class, standout interior and exterior design, a nice friendly ambience. Also well marketed as a stylish, cool euro choice (whether this is true or not). The C3 is a decent little car; the 1.4 SX I drove in particular compared well to Mazda 2 and 206 for most of the driving; sure the Fiesta is a better handler and the 2 more capacious but it was torquey, quite refined, rode well - likeable.

C4 too has a distinct feel on the road; ergonomics, interior and seat design give it that. It has load of showroom appeal of course, great practicality. And, in spite of anti-Citroen sentiment at ACP its a really nice car to drive (in 1.6 SX form at least); good refinement, great handling and a brilliant speed-hump muncher.

C5 is presumably bought for its suspension and general refinement; and that is reason enough IMHO.

I fear most people buy cars because they like the design and it drives better than their old one, and they are comfortable its not too wierd and so they won't be laughed at, and it won't break down too often, rather than for exceptional chassis or technological advancement. Which is presumably why the C2/3/4/5 are selling better than Citroens have for a while.
 
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My BX is a post-separation car. Something I could never have had during my marriage. I’ve always liked cars of the 1980’s, it was a time of turmoil in the industry worldwide where makers were trying out all sorts of new ideas. (If anyone had said during the 70’s that Holdens would be rebadging Jap crap in another 10 years they would have been thrown out of the pub). It was a decade of choice. And 80's cars are still technologically accessible for the backyarder.


I enjoyed working on cars with my Dad when I grew up and inherited his insatiable urge to tinker. I also like technical innovation, admire the work of Bertone and needed a comfortable, economical car for long trips.

Only their reputation for reliability put me off, but I kept seeing the BX’s on the websites and finally decided to take one for a drive. That was all it took. :cheers:
 
Q. Where do you buy a low milage 10 yr old car for less than 7 grand that's not a Korean POS, or just a general POS?
A. Buy a Xantia
 
I'll see that Q and raise you a "Where do you buy a car that rides like a limo, handles like it's on rails, will carry four adults including their knees and elbows, cover 1000km in a day without batting an eyelid, generally give the impression of being both bulletproof and dead cool, all for less than some people spend on a set of speakers?"

A 70s Citroen :headbang:

Oh, and you can can change a tyre in about 2 minutes flat, even when the car is fully loaded, they had collapsing steering columns and crumple zones before most manufacturers would admit that their cars even crashed, the engines last forever, the seats are excellent, and (should the need arise) you can steer and brake with one front wheel missing.

One-eyed, me? :spy:

Chris
 
chris said:
and (should the need arise) you can steer and brake with one front wheel missing.
Click to expand...
So you've tried this have you....:eek:...or are you just propogating the myth... :D :wink2: :crazy:

A back wheel, yes, a front wheel no.....the centre of gravity is too far forward to allow stability with a front wheel missing, especially on a GS or CX both of which are very front biased.

And then there is the teeny-tiny problem of no forward drive due to the diff allowing one wheel hub to spin uselessly... :D

If you had two flat front tyres you'd transfer a rear wheel to the front. (And yes I HAVE tried driving a GS with one rear wheel missing :cheers:)

Regards,
Simon
 
Simon old son, the French are calling you a liar:

http://137.111.107.167/~chris/commercial2.avi

There's also someone on the GS Yahoo list who did a one-front-wheel stop from motorway speeds after one front wheel fell off! Not sure who did up the wheelnuts :crazy:

Not something I'd rush out to try, but I'm assured it's possible, at least for long enough to save your life.

Chris
 
chris said:
Simon old son, the French are calling you a liar:

http://137.111.107.167/~chris/commercial2.avi

There's also someone on the GS Yahoo list who did a one-front-wheel stop from motorway speeds after one front wheel fell off! Not sure who did up the wheelnuts :crazy:

Not something I'd rush out to try, but I'm assured it's possible, at least for long enough to save your life.

Chris
Click to expand...

Hi Chris,

I've seen that video before...

Thats a tyre BLOWOUT at the front, not the wheel removed entirely.... a slightly different situation you must agree :D (you did specifically say "one front wheel missing")

Theres a better quality version of that video at this site:

http://81.68.229.29/

As well as a video showing a GS driving with a rear wheel missing entirely.

Yes, a flat tyre is handled very well by the GS, so well in fact that most drivers will not notice a punctured rear tyre at all, while a flat tyre at the front still renders the car quite controllable.

I've run over a board with a nail (presumably) on my GS many moons ago and punctured the rear tyre and only felt a slight bump, couldn't tell anything wrong with the handling or ride, so kept going another Kilometre, and by the time I found somewhere safe to stop the rear tyre was shredded :blackeye: No noticeable affect on the driving.

As for a wheel coming off the front after you're already driving, I have no doubt that you would be able to come to a controllable stop, but again thats different to driving semi-normally with the wheel missing, which was your implication.

Regards,
Simon
 
Why Citroen?

For more than 30 years of driving I have always driven a French car. Only last year did we buy our first Citroen - a Xsara. Now I know that some here at AF would say it's not a real Citroen. Maybe so, but friends who ride in it are consistently impressed by its handling, performance and comfort. They chatter positively about its superiority to other cars in its class. The styling and interior IMHO is better than the Pug.
For us then its a bloody good and practical car. Thats why we bought it. It impressed us (and our friends) by maintaining those French qualities that I have sought for those 30 odd years.
Now that I have spent time on AF, the Cit forum would have to be the most "interesting" and I read it daily. So much so that our 405 and 505 S/W are likely to make way for a "real" Cit.
A C5 is out of our budget at the moment. (maybe the C6 will depress values a bit?) So I guess that makes it a late model Xantia manual.
But at my house that makes me Robinson Crusoe. Others want a 406 (but the Coupe is parallel to the C5 in $ value). A Laguna is on the agenda too.
Whatever and whenever it will be FRENCH.
 
Mandrake said:
So you've tried this have you....:eek:...or are you just propogating the myth... :D :wink2: :crazy:

A back wheel, yes, a front wheel no.....the centre of gravity is too far forward to allow stability with a front wheel missing, especially on a GS or CX both of which are very front biased.

And then there is the teeny-tiny problem of no forward drive due to the diff allowing one wheel hub to spin uselessly... :D

If you had two flat front tyres you'd transfer a rear wheel to the front. (And yes I HAVE tried driving a GS with one rear wheel missing :cheers:)

Regards,
Simon
Click to expand...

Myth :confused: :confused: :confused:

It's no myth, ask fellow member Roger.... His '59 DS19 lost a front wheel at highway speeds. Ground hell out of the lower ball joint apparantly, however it steered straight, and pulled up without an issue. He simply had to hike into the paddocks to find his wheel, then put the car on 'high' to refit it :roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao:

seeya,
Shane L.
 
Why drive French?

1. Unique.
2. Innovative.
3. Comfort.
4. They know how to design interiors and exteriors.
5. Rattles. They keep me company :)
 
DoubleChevron said:
Myth :confused: :confused: :confused:

It's no myth, ask fellow member Roger.... His '59 DS19 lost a front wheel at highway speeds. Ground hell out of the lower ball joint apparantly, however it steered straight, and pulled up without an issue. He simply had to hike into the paddocks to find his wheel, then put the car on 'high' to refit it :roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao:

seeya,
Shane L.
Click to expand...

Trust me, it's no myth. A couple of years ago I was driving my "new" 1959 DS19 home from up north down the Newell. I obeyed the speed limit sign and slowed to 80km/h for the railway crossing-bend-intersection conglomeration near Tomingley (south of Dubbo). What should appear ahead and to my right than the right front wheel of my car! I felt nothing. I backed off the throttle. The wheel sailed off into the bush on the other side of the road. Luckily there were no oncoming vehicles. I applied the brakes gently and the front right corner of the car sank. The steering stayed completely neutral, it didn't pull to the side at all. I heard a horrible scraping sound. The car pulled up smoothly, doing what I told it to do the whole time. At the last it stopped with a bit of a shudder. I got out and saw that the bottom ball joint bolt thread and nut had been completely worn away and the bitumen had just started grinding away on the lower arm. The family in a Jap 4 wheel drive behind me pulled in to help. They were aghast at what happened but impressed with the fact that I had complete control of the vehicle the whole time. OK, I couldn't have accelerated because of the diff, but I was able to come to a controlled and fairly smooth stop. After a quick wander in the bush I found the wheel. Fortunately the hubcaps weren't mounted at the time. Now, how to get the wheel back on again? I put the suspension on high. With a bit of scraping away of the gravel on the road shoulder I managed to get the jack stand on the knob at its shortest setting. I lowered the suspension and up came the hub. A bit more scraping and I could fit the wheel on. Tightened up the wheel nut (properly this time) and I was away. The family in the Jap 4wd just could not believe it.

Try doing that in aything else.

I have also had a front left tyre blow out at 100 km/h in a D Super. Again I felt nothing and it was only the funny noise that alerted me.

These are truly extraordinary cars.

Roger
 
Why drive French?

1. Unique.
2. Innovative.
3. Comfort.
4. They know how to design interiors and exteriors.
5. Rattles. They keep me company :)
Click to expand...

Here here. I like to be different also.
 
danielsydney said:
Here here. I like to be different also.
Click to expand...


So what do you French drive to be different? A Skoda?

I drive them because they're comfortable and its easy to find your car in a car-park.
 
parents roginally purchased a citroen xsara (which i now own and drive) because they were after a euro car that was reasonably priced and nicely specced, and obviously looks werent a priority:crazy: .

no other car, at the time, was even competitive 'cept for a 306 xt and xsi, but my oldman didnt like the "hatchback" look, and preferred the obviously classy proton persona look.:crazy: :crazy:

its given them - and me - fairly maintenance free motoring with a non-descript flavour. the best thing about the xsara is that at least nobody tries to bail you up at the lights. and well some older folk have recognised the badge and think its as expensive as a merc, and it has that "quirky" upsy downsy suspension :eek: .

if i ever own another citroen itd have to be a an sm or bx 16v. none of that ghey cx turbs for me.:wink2:
 
Re "myth"

I think it was about April last year when I was driving back from Bargo to Wollongong after an astronomical observing night. Doing about 100-110 on the motorway - suddenly...floppity flop! Didn't twig to it right off as the C5 continued to track straight and true.

However, judgement borne of 40+ years of driving suggested slow down and inspection ASAP. Drove off at the Wollongong exit, stopped under the overpass lighting and got out for a squizz. Sure enough, near-side front tyre flat as the proverbial pancake.

Not happy Jan! I had a lot of gear in the boot which all had to come out and then there was the dreaded routine with an unfamiliar kit of tools to deal with.

Compared to conventional cars, the Cit continued with its "wound" as if normal. This could be a disadvantage if the condition goes undiagnosed but that's how it was.

Viva la Cit!!

jmn
 
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