8th Jun 2016, 18:49

Hello mate, do you still have the Picasso? Can you update your review as I'm about to buy one, thanks.

9th Jan 2021, 20:36

Hi.

2021 and I still have the car. 110,000 miles now (I don't do much driving these days).

Still getting up to 60mpg. A petrol version will not do much more than half of this. The flexibility of the seating is what I like most. The stuff I can get in it is amazing. The guys at the tip have complained on occasion.

Biggest issue is the fact that the clutch has been slipping for the last couple of thousand miles. It is making me think about retiring it now. But a quote of £500 seems quite reasonable and the car may be sellable for circa £1250 with an MOT and new clutch. Looks like this kind of mileage is common for the original clutch.

Amazingly it is still on the original exhaust.

Welding to the sills is pretty much an annual call at MOT time, but has never cost more than £100.

It started smoking a lot. I knew it was the EGR valve sticking open and was prepared to replace it. It's at the back of the engine so you work by touch removing three bolts after removing a few other things. The layout on this particular one is different and the air filter blocks access to the third bolt. I couldn't work out how to get the filter housing out even after splitting it in two. The fix was to slide a £2 blanking plate from Ebay in instead. You can do that without removing the bolts (just undo them a bit) - which saved the cost of a new EGR. It stops the exhaust gases being recirculated altogether. No more smoke and I didn't get the EM Light or any other issues. Back in for the retest, and my MOT guy said that as it's impossible to see it, he can't fail it as a modification.

With the advent of compulsory electric cars I'm reluctant to get another fossil burner. I will get the clutch done as a last resort (you never know what's around the corner).

10th Jan 2021, 14:26

Thanks for the update. I wouldn't worry about electric cars - I reckon they will not be common place at least for another 10 years. Used 2010 - 2020 petrol and diesel cars are still being sold for a lot of money, and as of 2021 petrol and diesel cars are still getting made, so they will be around for at least another 10 years also. I'm not against electric cars, but let's face it, by the time they are common, most will not be Tesla's, probably something boring like Nissan Leaf's.

So I for one will not be buying electric ever, unless we get to a point where there are no older cars left (don't fall victim to the scrappage scheme - it is still far more economical to run an older car into the ground). Myself I'm keeping my petrol 1990's BMW 530i till it dies!