Faults:

Quite what Citroen were thinking about with that hydractive suspension is beyond me. Avoid like the plague.

Like all French cars I suppose, you need to buy them when they are very new. I bought it when it was 7 years old, so I suppose I was asking for trouble.

General Comments:

It's French so it's comfortable and stylish, but that damn suspension... bonkers.

Faults:

Where do I start?

About a month after ownership all the electrics completely collapsed. I gave the car to Citroen and it was fixed.

The suspension went wrong (don't know what happened), but the car was sitting on its floor pan. Back to Citroen and fixed.

It was the brakes next at about 2000 miles. Lucky they didn't fail when I was driving! I noticed when the car failed to stop on the driveway when I was about to set off. Back to Citroen.

I thought the steering was getting heavier, I thought it was my imagination at first, but I came to a point where I was getting out of the car with my arms aching like mad. I couldn't be bothered to faff about with Citroen's dreadful customer service so the steering went unfixed.

The car failed to start one day at about 2500 miles. The engine would turn over but not start. Back to Citroen.

The locks kept popping open randomly. First time I was in a shopping centre and I had my things stolen because the car unlocked itself. At first I thought I didn't lock it properly so I made a habit of checking the doors after locking.

One day my son walked in and said the car was open, this is when I realised there was a problem with the doors.

There were various other little things (mostly electrical) that went wrong, but I've covered the main problems that nearly got me fired from work.

General Comments:

The car was nice and comfortable.

It's nice and big inside, and loads of room in the back.

The ride is excellent (while the suspension worked).

The steering wheel is very odd and hard to get used to because you can't tell the position of the wheel.

The car is very safe crash-wise.

The sat nav and speedometers are very nicely designed.

To be honest, my previous car was a Vauxhall Belmont, and I bought a Citroen in search for some comfort, unfortunately the price for comfort is awful reliability. Stick to the Belmonts.

Faults:

1. Instability at traffic speeds (about 30mph) ; maybe dead spot on the throttle Pot. Throttle sensor replaced - Seems to have cured the problem.

2. NOTE: A potentially dangerous fault. Driving along at an even speed, the car (computer) suddenly, completely ignores the throttle. Result - you slow down and stop, & if you wait for a minute, the throttle starts working. No fault is shown or registered. If you switch off straight away and restart it is OK immediately. The engine idles through this fault. The Car is 'Fly-by-wire' so the throttle is a sensor potentiometer. Has happened at 6 times in last 6 weeks, at speeds from 30 to 70mph.

3. The mpg shown on the trip computer reads 15% wrongly. i.e. shows 42mpg and really only gets 36mpg. Therefore miles left in the tank will also show (wrongly) 15% more than you've got. I am an Engineer and have checked this MOST accurately over the last 2000 miles. Litre into the tank to miles done.

4. Automatic (auto adaptive 6 speed), takes FAR too long to make its mind up. When launching across a roundabout, it will give little power until about 1 second later.

Sequential manual HAS to be used to avoid a dangerous situation when it's busy.

Car went in (last week) for Fault 1, 2 & 3.

Fixed 1, NOT fixed 2 & 3. Fault 4 seems to be regarded as a 'feature' of this model!! (Is now booked in again).

General Comments:

1. Acceleration, Good.

2. Motorway Cruising, Good.

3. Lighting, Good.

Especially Xenon, Swivel-ling Dips, Bright.

4. Auto 'speed' Intermittent Wipers good - except for Misty days - doesn't work on auto!!

5. Computer 'assisted' braking - comes on too early. You only have to touch the brake a bit too quick and the car will stand on its nose.

5. Seats too hard for an Exclusive.