21st Apr 2009, 17:18

I have a C4 and I have grown to hate it. The warranty currently ran out in January and the same week we had a loss of power, stopped in the middle of a roundabout. The engine system is faulty or the depollution or both, the engine mis-fires every 3-4 days. I have to stop the car (where that may be) and turn it off and restart it. It's an automatic car and it is getting to be too dangerous to drive.

We also have had the speed system fault, but the dealers could not find anything wrong. The windscreen does not clear in cold weather and water started to come in the passenger side and pool. The rear seat belt would bleep when no-one was sitting in the back.

We bought the car for over £16,000, and at 3 years old it was worth £3,400 (and that was pushing it). It will cost £170 just to find out what is wrong. I would never ever recommend this car. I hope to be rid of the thing in the next few weeks. A pity as it is a really good looking car.

28th Apr 2009, 15:42

I have a 3 year old C4. Almost since I first got it, it has been difficult to start in temperatures below 4 celsius, it takes 5 or more minutes of turning the engine over to start properly. Over the last 2 years the Citroen dealer replaced a sensor, the computer, and the battery, they then said it was something to do with the valves, but nothing has worked, the problem is exactly the same. Every time they say "the computer says..." but the computer has always been wrong. Now they say they have no idea what the cause is.

For the last 6 months the car has been getting noisier, the dealer told me it was probably a baffle, and not to worry about it. It kept getting worse, so I took it back again, and today they told me that the wheel bearings were breaking down, so I have had those replaced, plus new brake pads and discs. It's made a huge difference, wish they had done it 6 months ago though. This was my first Citroen, and it will be my last. I've been looking for a lemon bumper sticker! I am very glad it is a lease car, if I had been paying all those garage bills I would be broke by now.

9th Oct 2009, 09:30

I have just recently sold my Citroen C4 as it caused me no end of trouble. Having bought the car in July of this year, which by the way on test drive drove beautifully, I saw the dreaded "depollution warning" come on after 3 days, as it was already going in for a service I thought ah well they'll fix it.

How wrong I was, after a full service and with the problem allegedly cleared at a cost of over 600 pounds after various bits and bobs were fitted, only a day later the fault was back and a terrible smell of smoke filled the cabin. Back it went to Citroen.

This time Citroen had it almost 2 weeks trying to identify the fault, basically from what I could gather their fault finding process was try a part, then another part etc... until the fault stayed clear. By now my confidence had gone totally as they didn't seem to have a clue what to do. Anyway to cut a long story short I got the car back with no fault on it and traded it in asap just to get rid!!

The Citroen I had was a lovely car, but what use is that if the thing isn't reliable. It was far too complicated, with too much automation, wouldn't ever buy another after this experience. Keep it simple is my philosophy. I now drive a Suzuki Swift diesel, it is superb!

18th Oct 2009, 12:03

I have a 2006 Citroen C4 and it has only done 22000 miles. It has been fine apart from occasional "bucking bronco"shuddering when pulling away in first gear from cold, but this has not happened much. The other day, a coldish morning, the car almost failed to start and so I switched off and restarted no problems. 8 miles later the pollution fault light came on whilst driving. I could do nothing but go to work and drive home afterward. I rang a Citroen workshop who said it would need diagnostics at £90 an hour, but I could drive it for a short distance during the next few days. He said it could go into "limp mode" at worst and only go at 5mph!

Anyway I had an inspirational idea to go outside and open the fuel cap and a load of air came out {the car was cold at this time}. I started up and hey presto, the anti pollution fault light had gone. My husband's dad had confirmed that it could be the fuel cap sensor or exhaust pressure sensor, so I was pleased that I knew roughly where problem was. I continued to drive for a week, but always undoing the petrol cap after every sector and the light has stayed off.

The other day I forgot, and after 16 miles the light has come back and remains, so I guess it will have to be sorted at the garage, but at least I think it's one of the above problems so shouldn't go through weeks of mechanics shooting in the dark! I have an extended warranty and I don't know if it's covered.

23rd Feb 2010, 12:14

Here is one more C4 owner complaining about faults and poor dealer responses. I bought my C4 less than 3 years ago (still under guarantee). Last year the "depollution fault" light started coming on. I took it to the local dealer and they said it was a fault with the computer. Indeed, the car was running fine till two weeks ago, when I started first losing power and then the engine started stalling while the car was on the move (even while at 2nd or 3rd gear, and for no apparent reason at all).

When I took it for service and repair, the response I received was "the computer can find nothing wrong with your car - you should bring it to us when the light is on, or when the engine is stalling - oh, and here is a bill for £300"

I am completely disenchanted with Citroen - and their dealers. This is not the first time that my requests are being ignored. As far as I am concerned, this is a new car and it shouldn't be having that many faults that often (I am describing here the problem that has caused me most concern, but there have been numerous other minor faults, that I either dealt with myself or learnt to live with - dealers couldn't be bothered!).

Like others said, my next car is definitely NOT going to be a Citroen.