Just to provide some balance to the comments I had 3 of these during my 16 years in France - with no reliability issues. Very practical - I`m a surveyor could get my 3 surveying ladder inside and also going on holiday had 2 bikes in the back plus luggage. Regular trips back & forth to UK - comfortable after a 10 hour drive to the Tunnel and 48MPG. I used a local garage for regular servicing (French version of Ed China who was a wizard with all makes & models) and always bought second hand from Citroen dealerships with extended guarantees - which I never needed to use.
We had a 09 Grand Picasso, to be honest we had no issues it was reliable, the engine was quite economical and lots of space but that one there hasn't been looked after, so I'm not surprised it being in that sort of state
This should be fun. Wife had a brand new one, all the spec, full leather. Kept it for 8 months and lost a pile trading it in. Biggest problem was we lived at the top of a hill and the C4 could only get to our house with a run up.
@@HighPeakAutos Hey man could you please give your opinion on more of these family tourers??? I really want a Ford S-max but my wife needs convincing and she likes this channel…So please could you help a guy out?
@@justkiddin1980 Avoid the Powershift gearbox - we had our S-Max for 13 months and moved it on at a loss after warranty work couldn't fix ours.. apart from that the car was brilliant.. go for a manual!
When it briefly stranded you at the entrance of the car park, I half expected you to run out of the picture and come back with a ripped out tree to give the car a "damn good thrashing". But then, I'm a late boomer and a Fawlty Towers fan.
The whole time I thought myself "surely it can't be that bad" but by the time he got to driving it I realized with abject horror that it is, in fact, that bad. Astounding that this thing passed an MOT in that condition frankly.
I pray that Matt one day has a pub conversation that starts, "Hey, I'm a car guy myself! Sometimes, when I get bored of the Picasso, the wife lets me cut loose in her Juke!" Love this video! Made my day!
This has to be the funniest video I've watched in ages. Matt, you had me in absolute stitches! When I thought it couldn't get any better, it's the Picasso that keeps giving. It was worth every penny for the entertainment value, brilliant. 😂
I just got a regular 2011 c4 vtr. And so far I think it's brilliant. It has a normal gearbox and proper handbrake. Despite the small diesel engine it's punchy and sips fuel the same way my t total mother in-law sips her annual thimble. The handling is way above average. Lotss more fun and in better condition than the 10k 2012 v6 Audi a6 I nearly bought which was comfy worn and quite but very dull. Better condition than the 2012 seat Ibiza, 2013 golf both rusty and hammered, and 2014 astra which handled ok and good pulling power but very wooly gearbox and a smashed in bumper and keys like they had been through a dog. All around 6k. So my 2k c4 seems like a bargain with 12months MOT. I've had it up to 6points territory on b roads. It handles so well that you dont need the brakes. It's booked in for service and I'll splash out on some good tyres and I'll update if it blows up.
Matt, one of the funniest car videos ever particularly with the constant warning bleep sounds. For a split second a few years ago I considered 😊buying one of these from the local Citroen dealer. It was very low mileage with service history and I went to ask for the keys. I thought it strange when the salesman said I will meet you outside. He walked with me so we were away from the main building and told me to “walk away as these cars are garbage”and “they are only traded when they start to fall apart and the auto box is terrible”. I thanked him for his honesty, he didn’t even try to sell me anything else and went back indoors! No, I never did buy one thankfully instead bought a petrol Toyota which has been faultless.
Sounds more like he didn't want to deal with you, especially as you say he didn't want try to sell you anything else, car sales men would sell their own grandmother, they want the sales regardless....
I actually have a soft spot for these, we had a grand c4 that ran through the family. Nothing really beat it for family roadtrips with all that cabin space, and the copious amounts of glass made it really bright on sunny days. I just love how quirky and weird they are. Not to say it didn't have faults though. The gearbox did have plenty of issues, the electric windows failed multiple times leading us to tape them up, and the drivers sun visor (on the hinge side) kept falling off and twatting the driver in the face. The visors are completely made of plastic too so they're really heavy and properly attack you when they fall
10:32 That's where radio and climate controls should be, in my opinion, so that only the driver can access them. I didn't know that was a thing on these. I love it! 10:58 The cover is to make the design look cleaner when you aren't using the radio, which is a good thing. It's not a particularly good looking unit, despite it having a great on-board computer. 11:34 Those sliding covers are meant to both let more sunlight in and to make the cabin feel a bit more spacious/less claustrophobic. It's a neat feature, but I don't think I'd use it much. 17:39 The "center never moves" so that all the buttons are always in the same place when you need them. It also allows them to fit more buttons there. The only reason why I don't like that is because I love seeing brands' logo spinning around when turning the wheel (no matter the brand). The "Risk of ice" thing shows up whenever it thinks outside temperature is below 3ºC. It's the same on other Citroën products with the same head unit, and it's annoying because it blocks off most of the on-board computer/radio screen for a couple of seconds. With all of that being said, that thing sure seems to be in a sketchy state.
I forgot to mention this: it tells you if it's in Drive, yes. You selected 2nd gear (that big "2" on the screen) while messing about with the paddles. Edit: 19:26 The handbrake is on if the light is on. I tried out a similar system on a new-ish Berlingo and hated it. You need to hold the brake to disengage it.
@@thearousedeunuch To be really honest, these cars are good cars. You just need to maintain them properly. The clutch I think was replaced but never programmed in. This means that the ECU doesn't know where the bite point is so it starts slipping at a very early state already, despite being new. The ABS/ESP is the same sensore. Could be a wheel speed sensor going bad or just bad ABS pump/ecu(?). The handbrake doesn't work automatically because of the ABS/ESP fault. And it needs a new temperature sensor. The DPF eloys fluid needs to be put in and programmed in and the "fumes" he smelled was clearly a leakage on top of the engine and the smell goes inside the cabine. This also needs some time. A normal person gets these issues after some time after proper maintanence but this car was clearly never maintained well.
You know Matt’s impressed when he takes a seat in the back 😂 love all the scenarios you come up with to explain how things got broken ‘ah yes a kid must’ve stuck his foot straight through that’ haha top!
Hey Matt! I'm probably one of a handful of fans you have in Romania but just wanted to say your videos make my evenings better for a year now. Just ordered a keychain from your store and I'll rock it with pride. So yeah, cheers mate, see ya next time!
Hi Matt love the channel,but what I find even more refreshing is the way you treat your mum ( new cars ) and flippantly mention your cleaning her car and filling it up for her Absolute quality Matt
Before I bought my Volvo, I had the previous version of this car (the older Picasso [petrol 1.6] on a 52 plate). It was much more simple and lacked many of the things you hate. However, the end of the line came when I had to pay £400 for engine and suspension work on a car that was worth, at best, £200. I scrapped it off soon after before it got to the stage whereby I'd spent so much that I couldn't afford to NOT keep it.
Hi Matt, I bought a 2006 C4GP in 2012 for 3k and have used it for the last 11 years. It sometimes shudders when you drive off and I have replaced the radiator fan and A/C rad. Best 3k I have ever spent. It travels 12 hours at a time up and down the French motorways six times a year. The seats are the most comfortable for a car in this size range. If you buy a £300 car then what do you expect. I have features on my 2006 that were not adopted by other manufacturers for 10 years. I think other C4GP owners will agree with me that although quirky, they can be practical and fun to drive.
I have two French cars. A Peugeot 208 1.0 vti and a Partner 1.6 HDi - same engine as in this Picasso. They’re both very simple and so far very reliable. The Partner has just gone past 410,000km. I’ve had it since new in 2006 and it’s been well maintained. But the electronics are simple, everything is manual and, because it’s based on a van, everything is robust. The 208 is more flimsy but again it’s simple and just works.
It’s not the engine that’s the problem (Well, if it’s not looked after it is the engine), it’s everything else surrounding the engine, and the bigger the car gets, the more complicated it becomes and the more “luxuries” it tends to include. I’ve seen Peugeot Vans clock well over 300,000 miles with ease, just never the family cars, they can’t stand the challenges that a family car has to face.
Brilliant video as always. Hate to say that the wife has one of these for the family run-about, same colour too, but however embarrassing it is, it is the most practical thing ever: I took a washing machine to the tip the other week. And I’m reasonably sure I could stick my neighbour’s Fiesta in the boot. But I'm afraid you gave in too early! These suffer from a common problem: ABS sensors get pushed out of whack due to corrosion, and the crap design of the system makes the computer think that in addition to faulty ABS, you also have a faulty park brake and gear box and probably other things I’ve forgotten. Basically, every warning there is comes on and you can’t get above 2nd or 3rd. All from a single ABS sensor. When it first happened to us we thought the car was dead! Dealer charged very little to clean the corrosion and replace the ABS sensor, and all was good. Until it did the same again a year later! Great cars, just don’t go too far from home. And don’t go out in the rain. And make sure your seat-belt is tight for when it decides to notch down to 1st despite the fact you're still doing about 15mph. And only drive at night so nobody you know will ever see you. Apart from that, all good!
Ah, think that's the best one yet. I nearly lost it when the handbrake went. What a shed. Liked that old range rover sport in the background at the end too
I had the 7 seater version of this car in excellent condition. It was a complicated car and even the Citreon fellas sometimes can't tell what was wrong with it. The car was written off in an accident but the amount of money thrown at the car was eye watering. I bought the newer version C4GP MK2 - 2016 after the accident. The maintainence cost for Citreon is almost the same as my 5 series GT. However, I still love this French car. Better you scrap this car. It is too expensive to fix.
I've sold some cars through the years. In Denmark and Norway we use a holder/frame to hold the licenceplate. I always change it front and back. A new sparkly one from a renowned cardealer and a polished and coatet licenceplate works magic.
I spent an unhappy 5 months working at a Citroen dealer in 2016/17 and we saw so many of these in a state of disrepair…so many minor faults. Another common fault is the alarms randomly sounding, everyday there would be at least one mid 2000 Citroen blaring all day in the service car park. I am glad it has been scrapped and I hate waste.
I use to work at a Citroen specialist. Long before these come out. The old Picasso were very dull and apart from the dash packing up were generally tough cars. But these are utter sh*** Great video and honest view of these
Indeed. I actually chose to buy a Xsara Picasso on a 59 plate - last of the old model. Never had any issues and the 1.6hdi is actually very quiet and refined for an old diesel. Pretty much bullet proof.
@@IceReef The old 1.6 HDi xsara picasso wasn’t that bad we just had a few more issues than the 2.0hdi but the 1.6 was a nicer engine to live with. I use to service a fleet of these a taxi firm had brought new. In 2.0 hdi form they were among the most reliable cabs he had. He brought one of these C4 Picasso it was taken off fleet with in 6 months.
I have one of these cars. It gets me from A to B without any hassles so far. The one thing I do battle with at times is pulling away from a standstill position without the car shuddering to start with.
I was in tears watching this video, which should go on the Comedy Channel. Your dire predictions at the start came true very quickly as you attempted to drive off with a cacophony of warning sounds, dodgy handbrake, accompanying slapstick, and sarcastic commentary. You brightened up for me what had been a heavy workday with a dose of light relief. Keep up the great work - the UA-cam watches on this video alone should help offset the cost of this Citroen Trasho.
Hi Matt! An absolute shocking car which literally on this video is falling to pieces when touched and driven. Your dead pan sense of humour makes a great comedy spectacle for Citroen! Love it 😂😂
The 56 plate Xsara Picasso I'm driving currently is in great condition and has no faults even at 125k miles, my mechanic described them as "agricultural", and it's flown through the last 2 MOTs with the odd advisory for play in a joint or bush. I had a 56 plate one 4 or 5 years ago and it was falling apart with rust and the one before that, a 54 plate, was a pretty good car.
23:06..."What a Lemon"... I just properly laughed.... A great review echoing my sentiments entirely! Keep it up Matt.
2 роки тому+15
I always thought the panoramic windscreen was the one redeeming feature of these! I can tell you it was never fun to use in the south of France because you'd burn your skin in 5 minutes but I'm sure it's quite nice with UK weather to get a bit more light into the horrible cabin!
The adjustable sliding visors do a decent job of reducing down to more of a normal sized windscreen, so I only see mine as a bonus and unless the sun is head, I always slide the visors back.
I really liked my old C4 Grand Picasso, full leather and very practical, no electrical issues. Gear changes while on the move were good but only if you were in manual and adjust the pedal while changing, I could live with that no problem. What I faced though was that stuck in traffic it was far too jerky. It had no crawl function so in 1st the clutch was either fully engaged or disengaged. I honestly thought there was a serious issue with the car until I found out it was normal in these.
Crawl or creep is not a function, this is how automatic transmission works. This citroen is not an automatic car that's why it doesn't creep. Dual clutch transmissions fake being an automatic transmission by half applying the clutch and creep a little bit.
Yep I have one of these, 1.6 HDI. The gear change is done by a 5 year old as you say. However you get used to it. Its not a bad car in reality (A lot worse out there). Good on fuel and pretty reliable, just ahd full engine service and gearbox service along with MOT which it passed. Honest car and does what it says on the tin.
i love the way they kept a 2009 service sheet, looking at it thats probably the only time it went for maintenance but could imagine the owner saying "but its been serviced" 14 years later
Had one of these for 3 years, it was 4 years old at the time of purchase, and unbelievably it didn’t fail once, except for a puncture which doesn’t count obviously, did 40000 miles which included 2 trips to Paris and 1 to Cornwall. Yes some bits inside were a bit flimsy but nothing fell off nothing stopped working and nothing exploded. Couldn’t wait to get rid of it 😂😂
I have my one for four years now It’s a manual and I’ve put 130,000 kms on top of the 120,000kms already on it. It’s been very reliable, never let me down at all 🤷♂️
@@BrianMccairn-lw9vb I used mine as a van when the engine went in my van. Folded the seats flat and there was part of me was sorry to be going back in the van because it was a comfortable way to do long journeys.
Personally I have never had a problem with all the Citroens I have owned but they have been well looked after I mean £300 won't get you a standard service these days, the only duff car I had was a Ford which I got rid off after 3 months of strife. keep up the good work..
In my life I’ve had 1 Citroen - a C-Cross thing, and that was only allowed because it’s a Mitsubishi underneath. After 1 month we started calling it the Shitroen, and after 3 months it was replaced by a BMW 3 series.
I was thinking about getting a c6 hdi v6 But decided against diesel since it's more expensive than gas plus over double the tax 😔I also started to worry about reliability issues so i got a 250hp volvo s60 instead
After a quick google search, the Nitro OBDZ you found in the glovebox seems to be a £25 device which is supposed to increase horsepower and torque using a custom engine map based on the driver's habits. I'm reluctant to believe that it does anything, and the previous owner probably did too since it was found in the glovebox.
A gem of an episode and such a release from the travails of Lineker. Thanks for bringing many smiles to my face. Mind you I did once own from new a Citroen Dyane.
There was genuine peril there Matt. Avis gave us the 7 seat version as a hire car in Cyprus a few years ago. It had red number plates… should’ve seen the warning signs right there… what a crock! Keep up the great work.
I am NOT the kind of person to buy a C4 Picasso.. but I did. It's a long story but I arrived by plane with my family after 16 years of living in Asia. This was in 2016, I needed a car the next day after I arrived, I had a lot of other things to do like find a home.. Anyway on my first day I bought a 125,000 mile 2007 C4 Picasso (not grand Picasso) for 3450 quid, insured it and drove it away. I immediately changed the oil and filters and put some decent branded tyres on.. I drove that car for 3 years and in that 3 years I never had any problems except a sticky brake calliper. It did get serviced properly. We went all over Europe, including once driving from Algarve to Northern Ireland in 2 days. The handling was like a boat, but it was so practical and comfortable and actually reliable. And the MPG on a long run was amazing. I never sold it because it's effectively worthless.. I parked it in 2019 and its been parked ever since. Since then I have owned a Merc C200, Honda Insight and VW Polo and nothing has really matched the space and comfort of the old Citroen. These are better than most people think, provided you buy one that has been serviced and do continue to service it.
I ran a C4 Grand Picasso 1.8 petrol as a taxi for 4 years, fairly reliable but not the most economical choice but it did the job. The centre rear seat slides forward so mummy can keep an eye on her little cherub.
Such a quality item. As he pulls off a door handle assembly and demonstrates the dashboard cubby lids. Ya don't get this in Volvos and Hondas, thankfully.
Best to scrap it mate, it was actually dangerous, those hand breaks are a nightmare, quick tip, there's a release tool that you put thru a hole in the passenger side like a thin starting handle, it winds off the handbrake, on the old ones it's a pull cable in the boot, citroen knew it would stick one!
the electronic handbrakes are a lot better these days Citroen have upgrded the rear calipers which dont stick like the old cheap and nasty ones in the C4 and C5 cars. in my 2019 C5 Aircross you can apply the handbrake and drive off it and it will release automatically. nowadays you need to tell the ecu your changing the rear pads and it electronically releases the rear calipers for servicing, but thats just the way things are going these days. Never had any issues with the electronic parking brake as yet. hill hold is also very good as you dont need to be operating a manual handbrake as you pull away on a hill even when towing.
@@oojimmyflip yes bud I've got one on a 61 plate scenic and it's been no trouble, tbh matt in the video should have just been driving off and not using the switch, might have been OK, I once modified a handbrake motor on an old picasso to work with a reverse pol switch, its basically just a motor that pulls the cables anyway.
Im pushing mine c4 grand picasso almost 350000 km hdi engine ,great practicality ,power and so so good comfort not much breaks but regular maintnence.i reccomend it for people with kids like me 😉👌
I had one and got that ABS warning - turned out to be a lump of dirt on the ABS sensor. That got fixed…however then the clutch went. Glad to see the back of it
I really liked that car. I had a 2010 model same exact colour and alloys 1.6. Very practical and loved the visibility all the way round. Kids loved it, too. Served us quite well for 2 years ish. Moved on since then to Mercedes CLA 220d Shooting brake - much more fun.
Everything you say about this car is spot on, I bought a Grand Picasso because of the room in the boot to carry all my tools to the jobsite. It cost me a fortune in repairs, electrics, suspension (all 4 corners) etc and as for that electronic hand brake 😝, I ended up scrapping it but I got more than £300 in scrap value.
What a lemon, nail, turd… 😂 Matt searching his nouns drawer for this episode was brilliant! And when the handbrake glued itself on at the gate… Matt’s reaction… 🤣
Matt, this is the best yet, I just cant believe how the person that drove this as their car got it through an MOT and actually drove it without killing themselves or others. It goes to show how electronic everything is just dangerous, as when it gets faulty there is no manual workaround. Goodness knows what the EV future is going to look like. Dead cars stuck in all sorts of dangerous places with no way of moving them. I had a Xsara Picasso, manual, and nothing ever went wrong with it in 8 years, but I can see why you, and many others wouldn't touch a French car with a barge pole. Especially the newer ones. French electrics were always bad, so more electrics, worse. This video is a classic.
I think this has to be your funniest one to date. ‘Let’s take it for a longer drive’ you’re brave! I honestly have never seen the point of these and I’ve driven a few working for a body shop. Always a relief getting to your destination and walking away. I think it gets an award for the noisiest handbrake 😂
My mum bought a Xsara picasso for something below a thousand quid a couple years ago. Passed mot with 0 issues for 3 years and only needed to have a spring replaced, suprisingly solid car.
I owned the older petrol manual version of the Picasso and it never went wrong until the ignition coil thing failed at around 95,000 miles. Replaced that and all was okay. Then sold it and replaced it with a Suzuki Swift. Much better.
I worked for a tyre company. We referred to these unknown brands as 'ditch finders'. It still makes me chuckle when you inspect the tyres in your vidoes.
Small French cars (up to the Megane size) are much more reliable and cheaper to run than the bigger ones. Don’t, see what would make a Clio a lot worse than a Polo (especially the TSI’s with timing chain) for example. Hopefully smaller french cars will feature one day in this series!
I think this video has just triggered hidden PTSD! 😂 My wife used to have a Grand c4 Picasso when we needed a 7 seater. We looked after ours so everything worked. I must admit though my heart was in my mouth every time I heard a beep in it as it was so fragile. We sold it a couple of years ago, much to my relief.
Great video. I don't know how Citroen lost their way since the DS19. How on earth we managed to build Concorde and the Channel tunnel. Have you seen the Citroen Cactus, who thought it was a good idea to stick a door mat on the outside of the doors? It really makes the UK cars during the BLMC management, quite attractive.
its coz the DS was so highly advanced that it cost a lot and demand was high so Citroen made a loss on them IIRC then Peugeot bought them out and then it all went generic and crap
I bought one of these 4 years ago with 72k on the clock and I haven't had eney issues and now have 105k on the clock. I regularly service it myself,there cheap to run,tax,insure and with all the seats down you have a massive floor space and is very practical. Mine is a auto and always drive it in manual mode using the paddle shifts and it's just like driving a manual without a clutch pedal. In the video you kept releasing the handbrake why?all you have to do is press the accelerator and the auto handbrake releases automatically.
I really enjoyed that video Matt, like you I have an absolute hatred for those ..... things. I couldn't believe the mileage; 102000 and I bet it's travelled another 50 or 60 thousand on the back of a recovery truck. Imagine driving that thing for 102000 miles, I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. Thanks for the video 👍🏻
Matt that was brutal. I had a 7-seat version, bought for buttons. It mostly thought it was a kangaroo, then occasionally drove as smooth as you like. One of the most practical and comfortable cars I've owned, but I don't think I'd risk another EGS gearbox. I took it to be washed before selling it (yes, I did sell, and not scrap it - sorry), and the chap in the car wash stripped about half the laquer off the bonnet with the pressure washer. Summed up the build quality really. Apparently the steering wheel was designed with that fixed centre so Citroen could optimise the shape of the airbag, knowing it would always deploy at the same angle.
Absolutely brilliant video Matt, honestly you cheer me up every time I watch your videos. This was entertaining and funny, hearing your comments about the Citroen shed. 😂
I had one of these as a company car but with the manual gearbox. A good car to transport half the U16 rugby team to a game on a Sunday and cruised down the autoroutes on holiday too, naturally it went back before everything went wrong.
To be fair Mat, any make of car that hasn't been looked after will have problems not just Citroen! I've had three of them Picasso's' Mki, Mkii, Mkiii without any issues for over 10 years and 120k. Like with anything, if you look after them, they will keep going!
Totally agree - I've had Citroens for years and found them to be very reliable. None of them have ever let me down. Like any car, if you don't maintain them they will fail! Very arrogant and childish comments from Matt I thought.
The problem is that some need too much care for how much they get going. Contemporary Japanese and Korean cars of that segment were not so overloaded with electrics, and French cars of the era were not well-built enough to protect the electrics. The empirical evidence is that these cars had low double-digit sales figures in competitive markets like Hong Kong, despite minivans being a massively popular body style at the time
@@charlesc.9012 You could say same for other brands, maintenance is the key in all of them. On the other hand, Mats picasso has had a hard life and doesn't make any business sense spending vast amount of money on it to get it fixed for resale! As for sales, yes i agree with you, although, they have sold a lot of them over the years, sales have being coming down, hence why Citroen stopped making it!
I have one of these, a 2008, same colour too, I bought it after reading Top Gear Magazine. It does what it says on the tin, moves a family, in comfort, without any great expense. The secret, as per every vehicle, regular maintenance….nice relaxing drive too. Nothing wrong with the auto box either, but perhaps it’s not the best car for the less gifted driver…
@@mcihs2 My last car was a purple mkii grand picasso with semi auto gearbox and had it for four years without mechanical issues other than tyres and servicing. I loved that car!!
18:30 Here you can see that you you drive in 2nd gear, because the transmission is in emergency mode, and it is controlled by the paddles under the steering wheel, and you pressed the + button, that's why it jerkily drive in 2nd gear.
This makes me so glad my father got rid of his seven seater grand Picasso. It was Because of Ulez. He’s now getting a ford B max from 2013 which is so much better than the Citroen .
I saw two further opportunities for comedy in this video. When the handbrake failed and you got out. I actually thought you might kick the plastic wing. And when you called the scrap people and told them what sort of car it was and they refused you. 😃
Handbrake was meant to automatically disengage when you selected gear and pulled away. You only needed the button for parking on a hill. Handbrake would also engage when you pulled up and went into neutral whilst applying the foot brake. I've had two, one diesel and one petrol - great load carriers but greenhouses in the Summer.
I bought an original Picasso for cheap - £1795 from a dealer. One owner dealer did a clutch and cam belt ( I got the parts receipts ) and I loved that car. Did 30 odd k miles in 18months ferrying offspring to and from Uni. In the end it sprang an oil leak and so I changed it. I knew better than go for a C4 Picasso though - for too many electrics for me to risk unlike the original which was a basic car at most level.
I had an original picasso 2.0 Hdi, bought it with 127k miles on it, put another 100k miles on it, gave it to my niece who wrote if off with 246k miles on it. The only problem we had apart from consumables was rust in the cills which were welded up for around £100. I never enjoyed driving it but it was by far the most reliable car we've ever had. Drove a c4 Picasso as a hire car in France once and was put off by all the electrics too.
@@chrisdowns1987 Mine was a 1.6 petrol but good enough on fuel - It was like piloting my sofa it was great. Most annoyingly when I decided that I was going to move mine on I found my Dad had traded his low miler 20HDI in for a new Nissan Note grrrrr - he's 120 miles away from me so I tend to speak to him weekly so that was not only news but bad news for me
@@derekgriffiths794 as a former owner of one I am always keen to look at them to see if any have survived that decay.................... not seen one that hasn't been welded and covered in black gunk in ages
Really good video Matt, you absolutely trashing a car is great entertainment! Apologies but a little part of me at 23:53 wanted the car to start rolling back😂😂😂
Given what you’ve just reported to be about this car’s reliability record, the fact I own a 2008 Version of this 7-seat Car (Grand) and it’s still working makes me feel both relieved…and almost feeling like I should get rid of it whilst it still works! Someone I used to know liked mine so much they acquired a 2009 Version so 6 months younger than mine…returned within a week. I do get the feeling I have been beyond fortunate to still have mine reliable! The Driver’s Seat on mine also sagged at the exact same spot; had the seat replaced about 5 years ago
Same here with my 2008 7 seat Grand Picasso, despite mine having loads of potential things to go wrong: the electronic gearbox (terrible in start stop traffic), digital climate control, air suspension, cruise control, handbrake, auto lights, auto wipers - perhaps it was a better produced batch we have?
@@rickardo522 I think more luck than anything! The EGS doesn't do Stop/Start Traffic whatsoever and changing from 2nd to 1st gear takes an age, but it's otherwise been fine
@@rammfan1482 I tend to manually change mine using the paddles because it can hold gears too long. I've done almost 70000 miles in mine to take it to about 140000. The last couple of years we also have a small batch for around town (and avoid the start stop gearbox use!), but it still does regular long trips to Scotland etc. and occasionally France/Holland, for which it's pretty comfortable taking the whole family (plus a roof box). Just annual service with MOT (does often need a couple hundred pounds worth of work doing, though!) and keep on top of usual fluids etc. Will be changing it this year, but overall I do feel I've been lucky.
I had one of these.. my wife drove it for the last 5 years basically to drop kids at school but it did a couple of long trips around Europe.After 10 years and only 100k miles it started to literally disintegrate. Built quality is simply disastrous. After 8 years literally everything started to fail. It was also not built for being repaired, as the guys at the Citroen dealership were always struggling to find what was causing the multiple warning messages on the dashboard. The ESP malfunction warning light was already part of our family! But the worst, was the painful "auto" gearbox... Spacious and clever for sure, but a piece of junk. Finally, we replaced it by a Toyota.
The build quality of these really is horrendous, the list of complaints I have with ours is too long to go into. The amount of space inside is the only redeeming feature. I gave up spending any money maintaining ours a long time ago, you get one thing fixed and something else breaks. Ours is thankfully on its last legs so it's finally time to say good riddance to it and buy something decent. I won't miss it at all - the worst car I've ever owned by a really long way.
Scrap seemed the best option for that one, even as a fan of old cheap french cars anything with either the prince petrol engine or the EGS automated manual are worth running away from. That gearbox does its best to recreate a learner driver trying to grasp clutch control. The later ones (and i think the 2.0 diesels) came with a proper torque converter auto, i got one for my aunt she is using it to transport my elderly grandmother so rather than carry food residue and sweetie wrappers its getting reasonably well cared for. So far touch wood in 2 years its gave no issues, but an old ropey example can be a pure headache especially with how they deliver warning messages.
I've only been in one of these like.. once but I kinda liked 'em, the big windscreen is pretty nice, and while cheap, those cubbies on the dash seem super convenient. Didn't know about how bad the 'automatic' was though.
Most entertaining. We bought one of these several years ago, and the seatbelt warning sound is very nostalgic. It never knows which seatbelt is faulty 😂. Yes, it was a terrible car, but if Citroën had built it correctly, it wouldn't have been so bad.
@@HighPeakAutos I hate them as well not only are they unreasonable there also unsafe the electrics on the car always seem to fail and if U buy a used one its never looked after but I really hate that the rev counter and speedometer are in the middle as that would honestly be the last place U would look for it I would just use a iPad and put on the dashboard behind the steering wheel and get my speed off that and U would never be able to hang something quick long on the mirror as it would constantly wack the display in the middle cracking The screen and make it completely useless
Pmsl at this one the constant bleeping the build quality the jarring ride and when the handbrake wouldn't release i was in tears, i watch everyone of your reviews even for cars i would never want to own because your channel is so entertaining, one of the best matt 🙂😂
I had a few c5's for load carrying, and they're reliable.Only had drop links and finally a clutch when it was a real old banger, oh one alternator..I had a 407 also only problem i had was the blocked exhaust filter at 130k miles which I sorted myself..I think what you have to remember with these cars is the low Road Tax , low running costs and size..They are big cars ..Japanese Cars of the era pumped out more C02 had higher road tax rates and the diesels are big compared to Citroën.I like Citroen a lot and there served me well..I'm currently driving a Renault that's proved reliable..Lexus is expensive ...The Citroën carried my family about in reliable comfort, its not a sin to have kids and a family
Your cheap car videos are addictive, never stop. I want to see you run this over with a tank though Matt.
Maybe one day!
I will second that with regards to the videos! The tank bit............... maybe not squire.
I was about to say something very similar, you beat me to it. Something very enjoyable about these videos!
@@HighPeakAutos get in touch with fitter Matt he'll help you out with a tank to run in over
@Jeremy Brown low standards much?
Just to provide some balance to the comments I had 3 of these during my 16 years in France - with no reliability issues. Very practical - I`m a surveyor could get my 3 surveying ladder inside and also going on holiday had 2 bikes in the back plus luggage. Regular trips back & forth to UK - comfortable after a 10 hour drive to the Tunnel and 48MPG. I used a local garage for regular servicing (French version of Ed China who was a wizard with all makes & models) and always bought second hand from Citroen dealerships with extended guarantees - which I never needed to use.
Whoa🎉
If they had no reliability issues why did you go through 3 of them
@ over a 16 year period- high mileage- OK?
"I can't imagine Pablo Picasso signing off on this design can you?" 😂 PMSL
He's got a lot to answer for
@@HighPeakAutos Picasso would have put the wheel on the roof and the bumper on an axel.
@@Sam-gw5pl probably where Citroen got their inspiration from!
@@reececollison5101 it drives like it
@@Sam-gw5pl Just an average Citroen, then..
We had a 09 Grand Picasso, to be honest we had no issues it was reliable, the engine was quite economical and lots of space but that one there hasn't been looked after, so I'm not surprised it being in that sort of state
This should be fun. Wife had a brand new one, all the spec, full leather. Kept it for 8 months and lost a pile trading it in. Biggest problem was we lived at the top of a hill and the C4 could only get to our house with a run up.
Hahah I can imagine
@@HighPeakAutos Hey man could you please give your opinion on more of these family tourers??? I really want a Ford S-max but my wife needs convincing and she likes this channel…So please could you help a guy out?
@@justkiddin1980 Get a 330d estate.
@@justkiddin1980 I wanted one but absoutely not Powershift so I went Tiguan automatic, not dual clutch.....
@@justkiddin1980 Avoid the Powershift gearbox - we had our S-Max for 13 months and moved it on at a loss after warranty work couldn't fix ours.. apart from that the car was brilliant.. go for a manual!
When it briefly stranded you at the entrance of the car park, I half expected you to run out of the picture and come back with a ripped out tree to give the car a "damn good thrashing".
But then, I'm a late boomer and a Fawlty Towers fan.
The whole time I thought myself "surely it can't be that bad" but by the time he got to driving it I realized with abject horror that it is, in fact, that bad. Astounding that this thing passed an MOT in that condition frankly.
Exactly! They’re always like this. Terrible cars
MOT tester definitely got a bottle of his favourite whiskey and £20 in his top pocket when this thing rolled into the garage
@@Redreplay24 the constant beeping made him go postal ☠️
@@MCTogs I've no idea how he managed to drive it
After 30 seconds I would have dumped it at the side of the road
@@HighPeakAutos and that's why they're priced accordingly...
I pray that Matt one day has a pub conversation that starts, "Hey, I'm a car guy myself! Sometimes, when I get bored of the Picasso, the wife lets me cut loose in her Juke!" Love this video! Made my day!
This has to be the funniest video I've watched in ages. Matt, you had me in absolute stitches! When I thought it couldn't get any better, it's the Picasso that keeps giving. It was worth every penny for the entertainment value, brilliant. 😂
I watched one last week where he reviewed a Peugeot 308 and he described it as "being used a pigsty and smelling of straw".
I just got a regular 2011 c4 vtr. And so far I think it's brilliant. It has a normal gearbox and proper handbrake. Despite the small diesel engine it's punchy and sips fuel the same way my t total mother in-law sips her annual thimble. The handling is way above average. Lotss more fun and in better condition than the 10k 2012 v6 Audi a6 I nearly bought which was comfy worn and quite but very dull. Better condition than the 2012 seat Ibiza, 2013 golf both rusty and hammered, and 2014 astra which handled ok and good pulling power but very wooly gearbox and a smashed in bumper and keys like they had been through a dog. All around 6k. So my 2k c4 seems like a bargain with 12months MOT. I've had it up to 6points territory on b roads. It handles so well that you dont need the brakes. It's booked in for service and I'll splash out on some good tyres and I'll update if it blows up.
Matt, one of the funniest car videos ever particularly with the constant warning bleep sounds. For a split second a few years ago I considered 😊buying one of these from the local Citroen dealer. It was very low mileage with service history and I went to ask for the keys. I thought it strange when the salesman said I will meet you outside. He walked with me so we were away from the main building and told me to “walk away as these cars are garbage”and “they are only traded when they start to fall apart and the auto box is terrible”. I thanked him for his honesty, he didn’t even try to sell me anything else and went back indoors!
No, I never did buy one thankfully instead bought a petrol Toyota which has been faultless.
Sounds more like he didn't want to deal with you, especially as you say he didn't want try to sell you anything else, car sales men would sell their own grandmother, they want the sales regardless....
Probably didn't want the comebacks and hassle.
@@davepersich3035 So why not try sell him a different car, also would be selling it at some point as it was up for sale....
I laughed so hard watching this episode. Matt exhausted his whole vocabulary of negatives on this one oh my word 😅😅😅
😂
25:38 the summary about this is just gold: People ask me why you are always biased on French cars, that is the reason. 🤣
The original picasso was brill,i had a 1.6 hdi ,you could remove the seats,and it was so comfatable ,it was a 2007 reg.
Had one removed all but drivers seat used as a scrap wagon for few weeks then weighed it in
Was my first car lasted 2 days before it shit itself and lost all oil over the road
I love my 2007 Picasso c4. So comfy. Vast window space. Nice high seat. No problems so far at 130k kms.
I actually have a soft spot for these, we had a grand c4 that ran through the family. Nothing really beat it for family roadtrips with all that cabin space, and the copious amounts of glass made it really bright on sunny days. I just love how quirky and weird they are.
Not to say it didn't have faults though. The gearbox did have plenty of issues, the electric windows failed multiple times leading us to tape them up, and the drivers sun visor (on the hinge side) kept falling off and twatting the driver in the face. The visors are completely made of plastic too so they're really heavy and properly attack you when they fall
Please take the C4 Picasso on a road trip to Spain, like you did with the Fiat Panda…
You might then fall in love with it! 🤣
I doubt it would get to Dover let alone Spain
10:32 That's where radio and climate controls should be, in my opinion, so that only the driver can access them. I didn't know that was a thing on these. I love it!
10:58 The cover is to make the design look cleaner when you aren't using the radio, which is a good thing. It's not a particularly good looking unit, despite it having a great on-board computer.
11:34 Those sliding covers are meant to both let more sunlight in and to make the cabin feel a bit more spacious/less claustrophobic. It's a neat feature, but I don't think I'd use it much.
17:39 The "center never moves" so that all the buttons are always in the same place when you need them. It also allows them to fit more buttons there. The only reason why I don't like that is because I love seeing brands' logo spinning around when turning the wheel (no matter the brand).
The "Risk of ice" thing shows up whenever it thinks outside temperature is below 3ºC. It's the same on other Citroën products with the same head unit, and it's annoying because it blocks off most of the on-board computer/radio screen for a couple of seconds.
With all of that being said, that thing sure seems to be in a sketchy state.
I forgot to mention this: it tells you if it's in Drive, yes. You selected 2nd gear (that big "2" on the screen) while messing about with the paddles.
Edit: 19:26 The handbrake is on if the light is on. I tried out a similar system on a new-ish Berlingo and hated it. You need to hold the brake to disengage it.
@@thearousedeunuch To be really honest, these cars are good cars. You just need to maintain them properly. The clutch I think was replaced but never programmed in. This means that the ECU doesn't know where the bite point is so it starts slipping at a very early state already, despite being new. The ABS/ESP is the same sensore. Could be a wheel speed sensor going bad or just bad ABS pump/ecu(?). The handbrake doesn't work automatically because of the ABS/ESP fault. And it needs a new temperature sensor. The DPF eloys fluid needs to be put in and programmed in and the "fumes" he smelled was clearly a leakage on top of the engine and the smell goes inside the cabine. This also needs some time. A normal person gets these issues after some time after proper maintanence but this car was clearly never maintained well.
You know Matt’s impressed when he takes a seat in the back 😂
love all the scenarios you come up with to explain how things got broken ‘ah yes a kid must’ve stuck his foot straight through that’ haha top!
Hey Matt! I'm probably one of a handful of fans you have in Romania but just wanted to say your videos make my evenings better for a year now. Just ordered a keychain from your store and I'll rock it with pride. So yeah, cheers mate, see ya next time!
Matt, I need to send you a T-Shirt with "You know what? This isn't actually that bad." on it 🤣🤣🤣
With a Qashqai or a Juke in the background
@@khelgarironfist3301 🤣🤣🤣
Doesn't apply to this car though haha :-)
Yes, but why not: "You know what? This isn't half bad!"
“All right guys..!?”
Hi Matt love the channel,but what I find even more refreshing is the way you treat your mum ( new cars ) and flippantly mention your cleaning her car and filling it up for her
Absolute quality Matt
Thanks! You've got to look after your family :)
Before I bought my Volvo, I had the previous version of this car (the older Picasso [petrol 1.6] on a 52 plate). It was much more simple and lacked many of the things you hate. However, the end of the line came when I had to pay £400 for engine and suspension work on a car that was worth, at best, £200. I scrapped it off soon after before it got to the stage whereby I'd spent so much that I couldn't afford to NOT keep it.
Hi Matt, I bought a 2006 C4GP in 2012 for 3k and have used it for the last 11 years. It sometimes shudders when you drive off and I have replaced the radiator fan and A/C rad. Best 3k I have ever spent. It travels 12 hours at a time up and down the French motorways six times a year. The seats are the most comfortable for a car in this size range. If you buy a £300 car then what do you expect. I have features on my 2006 that were not adopted by other manufacturers for 10 years. I think other C4GP owners will agree with me that although quirky, they can be practical and fun to drive.
I have two French cars. A Peugeot 208 1.0 vti and a Partner 1.6 HDi - same engine as in this Picasso. They’re both very simple and so far very reliable. The Partner has just gone past 410,000km. I’ve had it since new in 2006 and it’s been well maintained. But the electronics are simple, everything is manual and, because it’s based on a van, everything is robust. The 208 is more flimsy but again it’s simple and just works.
It’s not the engine that’s the problem (Well, if it’s not looked after it is the engine), it’s everything else surrounding the engine, and the bigger the car gets, the more complicated it becomes and the more “luxuries” it tends to include. I’ve seen Peugeot Vans clock well over 300,000 miles with ease, just never the family cars, they can’t stand the challenges that a family car has to face.
Then engines last forever…..it’s the bloody electronics that messes them up
Brilliant video as always. Hate to say that the wife has one of these for the family run-about, same colour too, but however embarrassing it is, it is the most practical thing ever: I took a washing machine to the tip the other week. And I’m reasonably sure I could stick my neighbour’s Fiesta in the boot. But I'm afraid you gave in too early! These suffer from a common problem: ABS sensors get pushed out of whack due to corrosion, and the crap design of the system makes the computer think that in addition to faulty ABS, you also have a faulty park brake and gear box and probably other things I’ve forgotten. Basically, every warning there is comes on and you can’t get above 2nd or 3rd. All from a single ABS sensor. When it first happened to us we thought the car was dead! Dealer charged very little to clean the corrosion and replace the ABS sensor, and all was good. Until it did the same again a year later! Great cars, just don’t go too far from home. And don’t go out in the rain. And make sure your seat-belt is tight for when it decides to notch down to 1st despite the fact you're still doing about 15mph. And only drive at night so nobody you know will ever see you. Apart from that, all good!
Ah, think that's the best one yet. I nearly lost it when the handbrake went. What a shed.
Liked that old range rover sport in the background at the end too
I had the 7 seater version of this car in excellent condition. It was a complicated car and even the Citreon fellas sometimes can't tell what was wrong with it. The car was written off in an accident but the amount of money thrown at the car was eye watering. I bought the newer version C4GP MK2 - 2016 after the accident. The maintainence cost for Citreon is almost the same as my 5 series GT. However, I still love this French car. Better you scrap this car. It is too expensive to fix.
Never thought about new plates lifting the look of the car but I just stuck some on my cayenne and it looks even better!
They make a big difference!
I've sold some cars through the years. In Denmark and Norway we use a holder/frame to hold the licenceplate. I always change it front and back. A new sparkly one from a renowned cardealer and a polished and coatet licenceplate works magic.
I spent an unhappy 5 months working at a Citroen dealer in 2016/17 and we saw so many of these in a state of disrepair…so many minor faults.
Another common fault is the alarms randomly sounding, everyday there would be at least one mid 2000 Citroen blaring all day in the service car park.
I am glad it has been scrapped and I hate waste.
I use to work at a Citroen specialist.
Long before these come out.
The old Picasso were very dull and apart from the dash packing up were generally tough cars.
But these are utter sh***
Great video and honest view of these
Indeed. I actually chose to buy a Xsara Picasso on a 59 plate - last of the old model. Never had any issues and the 1.6hdi is actually very quiet and refined for an old diesel. Pretty much bullet proof.
@@IceReef The old 1.6 HDi xsara picasso wasn’t that bad we just had a few more issues than the 2.0hdi but the 1.6 was a nicer engine to live with.
I use to service a fleet of these a taxi firm had brought new.
In 2.0 hdi form they were among the most reliable cabs he had.
He brought one of these C4 Picasso it was taken off fleet with in 6 months.
I have one of these cars. It gets me from A to B without any hassles so far. The one thing I do battle with at times is pulling away from a standstill position without the car shuddering to start with.
I was in tears watching this video, which should go on the Comedy Channel. Your dire predictions at the start came true very quickly as you attempted to drive off with a cacophony of warning sounds, dodgy handbrake, accompanying slapstick, and sarcastic commentary. You brightened up for me what had been a heavy workday with a dose of light relief. Keep up the great work - the UA-cam watches on this video alone should help offset the cost of this Citroen Trasho.
haha thanks! Glad you enjoyed
Hi Matt!
An absolute shocking car which literally on this video is falling to pieces when touched and driven. Your dead pan sense of humour makes a great comedy spectacle for Citroen! Love it 😂😂
The 56 plate Xsara Picasso I'm driving currently is in great condition and has no faults even at 125k miles, my mechanic described them as "agricultural", and it's flown through the last 2 MOTs with the odd advisory for play in a joint or bush. I had a 56 plate one 4 or 5 years ago and it was falling apart with rust and the one before that, a 54 plate, was a pretty good car.
23:06..."What a Lemon"... I just properly laughed.... A great review echoing my sentiments entirely! Keep it up Matt.
I always thought the panoramic windscreen was the one redeeming feature of these! I can tell you it was never fun to use in the south of France because you'd burn your skin in 5 minutes but I'm sure it's quite nice with UK weather to get a bit more light into the horrible cabin!
The adjustable sliding visors do a decent job of reducing down to more of a normal sized windscreen, so I only see mine as a bonus and unless the sun is head, I always slide the visors back.
I really liked my old C4 Grand Picasso, full leather and very practical, no electrical issues.
Gear changes while on the move were good but only if you were in manual and adjust the pedal while changing, I could live with that no problem.
What I faced though was that stuck in traffic it was far too jerky. It had no crawl function so in 1st the clutch was either fully engaged or disengaged. I honestly thought there was a serious issue with the car until I found out it was normal in these.
Crawl or creep is not a function, this is how automatic transmission works. This citroen is not an automatic car that's why it doesn't creep. Dual clutch transmissions fake being an automatic transmission by half applying the clutch and creep a little bit.
We love ours. For a family car it's brilliantly designed.
Yep I have one of these, 1.6 HDI. The gear change is done by a 5 year old as you say. However you get used to it. Its not a bad car in reality (A lot worse out there). Good on fuel and pretty reliable, just ahd full engine service and gearbox service along with MOT which it passed. Honest car and does what it says on the tin.
Don't poke your eys out, I had a good laugh on this video. Keep it up matt ,never gets old. Thanks Andy
i love the way they kept a 2009 service sheet, looking at it thats probably the only time it went for maintenance but could imagine the owner saying "but its been serviced" 14 years later
They're amazing family cars!!
If your idea of a family day out is being stranded on the M6 waiting for the RAC to arrive that is
Had one of these for 3 years, it was 4 years old at the time of purchase, and unbelievably it didn’t fail once, except for a puncture which doesn’t count obviously, did 40000 miles which included 2 trips to Paris and 1 to Cornwall. Yes some bits inside were a bit flimsy but nothing fell off nothing stopped working and nothing exploded. Couldn’t wait to get rid of it 😂😂
You had a good one , ours was a bloody nightmare
@@oddsandwindsocks5905 it was a manual so... 🤷🏻🤷🏻
I have my one for four years now
It’s a manual and I’ve put 130,000 kms on top of the 120,000kms already on it.
It’s been very reliable, never let me down at all
🤷♂️
Had one for 10 years, put 250k on it, just stick it in cruise control and pottered around, maybe I looked after it better than most.
@@BrianMccairn-lw9vb I used mine as a van when the engine went in my van. Folded the seats flat and there was part of me was sorry to be going back in the van because it was a comfortable way to do long journeys.
Personally I have never had a problem with all the Citroens I have owned but they have been well looked after I mean £300 won't get you a standard service these days, the only duff car I had was a Ford which I got rid off after 3 months of strife. keep up the good work..
In my life I’ve had 1 Citroen - a C-Cross thing, and that was only allowed because it’s a Mitsubishi underneath. After 1 month we started calling it the Shitroen, and after 3 months it was replaced by a BMW 3 series.
This was incredibly funny to watch ! please make more of these Mat 🤣🤣
😂🤷🏼♂️
Interesting. My son had a 2.0 Grand piccaso and from 0-78k miles No problems. Powerful 150bhp Deisel. Great cruiser.
I was thinking about getting a c6 hdi v6 But decided against diesel since it's more expensive than gas plus over double the tax 😔I also started to worry about reliability issues so i got a 250hp volvo s60 instead
After a quick google search, the Nitro OBDZ you found in the glovebox seems to be a £25 device which is supposed to increase horsepower and torque using a custom engine map based on the driver's habits. I'm reluctant to believe that it does anything, and the previous owner probably did too since it was found in the glovebox.
😂 exactly
Snake oil, Big Clive has disected many of these fake devices. Still, it suits the car! 😂
@@midinotes You beat me to it. Love Big Clive
A gem of an episode and such a release from the travails of Lineker. Thanks for bringing many smiles to my face. Mind you I did once own from new a Citroen Dyane.
There was genuine peril there Matt. Avis gave us the 7 seat version as a hire car in Cyprus a few years ago. It had red number plates… should’ve seen the warning signs right there… what a crock! Keep up the great work.
I am NOT the kind of person to buy a C4 Picasso.. but I did. It's a long story but I arrived by plane with my family after 16 years of living in Asia. This was in 2016, I needed a car the next day after I arrived, I had a lot of other things to do like find a home.. Anyway on my first day I bought a 125,000 mile 2007 C4 Picasso (not grand Picasso) for 3450 quid, insured it and drove it away. I immediately changed the oil and filters and put some decent branded tyres on.. I drove that car for 3 years and in that 3 years I never had any problems except a sticky brake calliper. It did get serviced properly. We went all over Europe, including once driving from Algarve to Northern Ireland in 2 days. The handling was like a boat, but it was so practical and comfortable and actually reliable. And the MPG on a long run was amazing. I never sold it because it's effectively worthless.. I parked it in 2019 and its been parked ever since. Since then I have owned a Merc C200, Honda Insight and VW Polo and nothing has really matched the space and comfort of the old Citroen. These are better than most people think, provided you buy one that has been serviced and do continue to service it.
I ran a C4 Grand Picasso 1.8 petrol as a taxi for 4 years, fairly reliable but not the most economical choice but it did the job. The centre rear seat slides forward so mummy can keep an eye on her little cherub.
Such a quality item. As he pulls off a door handle assembly and demonstrates the dashboard cubby lids. Ya don't get this in Volvos and Hondas, thankfully.
Best to scrap it mate, it was actually dangerous, those hand breaks are a nightmare, quick tip, there's a release tool that you put thru a hole in the passenger side like a thin starting handle, it winds off the handbrake, on the old ones it's a pull cable in the boot, citroen knew it would stick one!
the electronic handbrakes are a lot better these days Citroen have upgrded the rear calipers which dont stick like the old cheap and nasty ones in the C4 and C5 cars. in my 2019 C5 Aircross you can apply the handbrake and drive off it and it will release automatically. nowadays you need to tell the ecu your changing the rear pads and it electronically releases the rear calipers for servicing, but thats just the way things are going these days. Never had any issues with the electronic parking brake as yet. hill hold is also very good as you dont need to be operating a manual handbrake as you pull away on a hill even when towing.
@@oojimmyflip yes bud I've got one on a 61 plate scenic and it's been no trouble, tbh matt in the video should have just been driving off and not using the switch, might have been OK, I once modified a handbrake motor on an old picasso to work with a reverse pol switch, its basically just a motor that pulls the cables anyway.
I love your bewilderment with this kind of car, another surprise everywhere you looked!
HighPeakLemons would make for a funny channel 😂
I could fill that channel with daily content
“Citroen: specially designed by French engineers to be a warning from history” 🤣
Im pushing mine c4 grand picasso almost 350000 km hdi engine ,great practicality ,power and so so good comfort not much breaks but regular maintnence.i reccomend it for people with kids like me 😉👌
I had one and got that ABS warning - turned out to be a lump of dirt on the ABS sensor. That got fixed…however then the clutch went. Glad to see the back of it
If you ride the clutch in any car it goes?
@@foppo100 why do you assume that they can't drive rather than a cheap poorly built French car just failed?
I really liked that car. I had a 2010 model same exact colour and alloys 1.6. Very practical and loved the visibility all the way round. Kids loved it, too. Served us quite well for 2 years ish. Moved on since then to Mercedes CLA 220d Shooting brake - much more fun.
Everything you say about this car is spot on, I bought a Grand Picasso because of the room in the boot to carry all my tools to the jobsite. It cost me a fortune in repairs, electrics, suspension (all 4 corners) etc and as for that electronic hand brake 😝, I ended up scrapping it but I got more than £300 in scrap value.
The most beautiful steering wheel of all cars,love the French designed Picasso.
It gives a bad name to the actual Picasso, he never deserved to have his name on a soccer mom’s runabout
Upvoted as soon as the forensic dissection of the typical C4 buyer was complete!
Haha thanks!
What a lemon, nail, turd… 😂 Matt searching his nouns drawer for this episode was brilliant! And when the handbrake glued itself on at the gate… Matt’s reaction… 🤣
Love your comments on the car! Please keep these coming!
Never felt as stressed on a drive with you Matt!!😂
Matt, this is the best yet, I just cant believe how the person that drove this as their car got it through an MOT and actually drove it without killing themselves or others. It goes to show how electronic everything is just dangerous, as when it gets faulty there is no manual workaround. Goodness knows what the EV future is going to look like. Dead cars stuck in all sorts of dangerous places with no way of moving them. I had a Xsara Picasso, manual, and nothing ever went wrong with it in 8 years, but I can see why you, and many others wouldn't touch a French car with a barge pole. Especially the newer ones. French electrics were always bad, so more electrics, worse. This video is a classic.
I think this has to be your funniest one to date. ‘Let’s take it for a longer drive’ you’re brave! I honestly have never seen the point of these and I’ve driven a few working for a body shop. Always a relief getting to your destination and walking away. I think it gets an award for the noisiest handbrake 😂
My mum bought a Xsara picasso for something below a thousand quid a couple years ago. Passed mot with 0 issues for 3 years and only needed to have a spring replaced, suprisingly solid car.
Proper funny 🤣 you had me in tears. Least your £20 up and another C4 off the road 🤣
This is the funniest but also the most entertaining video you have uploaded 🤣🤣
I've had a couple of these and loved them both. Each to their own I guess.
I owned the older petrol manual version of the Picasso and it never went wrong until the ignition coil thing failed at around 95,000 miles. Replaced that and all was okay. Then sold it and replaced it with a Suzuki Swift. Much better.
Your face was priceless when the handbrake wouldn't work, that would of been hilarious 😂
I worked for a tyre company. We referred to these unknown brands as 'ditch finders'. It still makes me chuckle when you inspect the tyres in your vidoes.
Small French cars (up to the Megane size) are much more reliable and cheaper to run than the bigger ones. Don’t, see what would make a Clio a lot worse than a Polo (especially the TSI’s with timing chain) for example. Hopefully smaller french cars will feature one day in this series!
One of your funniest videos, Matt thanks for keeping all of us entertained
I think this video has just triggered hidden PTSD! 😂 My wife used to have a Grand c4 Picasso when we needed a 7 seater. We looked after ours so everything worked. I must admit though my heart was in my mouth every time I heard a beep in it as it was so fragile. We sold it a couple of years ago, much to my relief.
Yes I bet. They’re rubbish cars
@@HighPeakAutos All it wanted was a croissant in the fuel tank and a trip to the scrapyard.
Brilliant, funniest video to date! Keep up the great work youngster!
Great video. I don't know how Citroen lost their way since the DS19. How on earth we managed to build Concorde and the Channel tunnel. Have you seen the Citroen Cactus, who thought it was a good idea to stick a door mat on the outside of the doors? It really makes the UK cars during the BLMC management, quite attractive.
its coz the DS was so highly advanced that it cost a lot and demand was high so Citroen made a loss on them IIRC then Peugeot bought them out and then it all went generic and crap
I bought one of these 4 years ago with 72k on the clock and I haven't had eney issues and now have 105k on the clock.
I regularly service it myself,there cheap to run,tax,insure and with all the seats down you have a massive floor space and is very practical.
Mine is a auto and always drive it in manual mode using the paddle shifts and it's just like driving a manual without a clutch pedal.
In the video you kept releasing the handbrake why?all you have to do is press the accelerator and the auto handbrake releases automatically.
I really enjoyed that video Matt, like you I have an absolute hatred for those ..... things. I couldn't believe the mileage; 102000 and I bet it's travelled another 50 or 60 thousand on the back of a recovery truck. Imagine driving that thing for 102000 miles, I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. Thanks for the video 👍🏻
😂
Matt that was brutal. I had a 7-seat version, bought for buttons. It mostly thought it was a kangaroo, then occasionally drove as smooth as you like. One of the most practical and comfortable cars I've owned, but I don't think I'd risk another EGS gearbox. I took it to be washed before selling it (yes, I did sell, and not scrap it - sorry), and the chap in the car wash stripped about half the laquer off the bonnet with the pressure washer. Summed up the build quality really. Apparently the steering wheel was designed with that fixed centre so Citroen could optimise the shape of the airbag, knowing it would always deploy at the same angle.
Absolutely brilliant video Matt, honestly you cheer me up every time I watch your videos. This was entertaining and funny, hearing your comments about the Citroen shed. 😂
I had one of these as a company car but with the manual gearbox. A good car to transport half the U16 rugby team to a game on a Sunday and cruised down the autoroutes on holiday too, naturally it went back before everything went wrong.
To be fair Mat, any make of car that hasn't been looked after will have problems not just Citroen! I've had three of them Picasso's' Mki, Mkii, Mkiii without any issues for over 10 years and 120k. Like with anything, if you look after them, they will keep going!
Totally agree - I've had Citroens for years and found them to be very reliable. None of them have ever let me down. Like any car, if you don't maintain them they will fail! Very arrogant and childish comments from Matt I thought.
The problem is that some need too much care for how much they get going. Contemporary Japanese and Korean cars of that segment were not so overloaded with electrics, and French cars of the era were not well-built enough to protect the electrics.
The empirical evidence is that these cars had low double-digit sales figures in competitive markets like Hong Kong, despite minivans being a massively popular body style at the time
@@charlesc.9012 You could say same for other brands, maintenance is the key in all of them.
On the other hand, Mats picasso has had a hard life and doesn't make any business sense spending vast amount of money on it to get it fixed for resale!
As for sales, yes i agree with you, although, they have sold a lot of them over the years, sales have being coming down, hence why Citroen stopped making it!
I have one of these, a 2008, same colour too, I bought it after reading Top Gear Magazine. It does what it says on the tin, moves a family, in comfort, without any great expense. The secret, as per every vehicle, regular maintenance….nice relaxing drive too. Nothing wrong with the auto box either, but perhaps it’s not the best car for the less gifted driver…
@@mcihs2 My last car was a purple mkii grand picasso with semi auto gearbox and had it for four years without mechanical issues other than tyres and servicing. I loved that car!!
18:30 Here you can see that you you drive in 2nd gear, because the transmission is in emergency mode, and it is controlled by the paddles under the steering wheel, and you pressed the + button, that's why it jerkily drive in 2nd gear.
oh god, my dad's Fiat Stilo was also constantly beeping. It was a nightmare.
This makes me so glad my father got rid of his seven seater grand Picasso. It was Because of Ulez. He’s now getting a ford B max from 2013 which is so much better than the Citroen .
I saw two further opportunities for comedy in this video. When the handbrake failed and you got out. I actually thought you might kick the plastic wing. And when you called the scrap people and told them what sort of car it was and they refused you. 😃
U don’t need to press the handbrake button, just set off. Also when you park u can just turn ignition off with foot on the brake
Handbrake was meant to automatically disengage when you selected gear and pulled away. You only needed the button for parking on a hill. Handbrake would also engage when you pulled up and went into neutral whilst applying the foot brake.
I've had two, one diesel and one petrol - great load carriers but greenhouses in the Summer.
What a brilliant video Matt, top drawer.
I bought an original Picasso for cheap - £1795 from a dealer. One owner dealer did a clutch and cam belt ( I got the parts receipts ) and I loved that car. Did 30 odd k miles in 18months ferrying offspring to and from Uni. In the end it sprang an oil leak and so I changed it. I knew better than go for a C4 Picasso though - for too many electrics for me to risk unlike the original which was a basic car at most level.
The original Xsara Picasso was a bit more of a workhorse
I was always amazed at how well those drove considering the age of the platform they were on, quite liked the 2.0hdi in a worrying way 🤔
I had an original picasso 2.0 Hdi, bought it with 127k miles on it, put another 100k miles on it, gave it to my niece who wrote if off with 246k miles on it. The only problem we had apart from consumables was rust in the cills which were welded up for around £100. I never enjoyed driving it but it was by far the most reliable car we've ever had. Drove a c4 Picasso as a hire car in France once and was put off by all the electrics too.
@@chrisdowns1987 Mine was a 1.6 petrol but good enough on fuel - It was like piloting my sofa it was great. Most annoyingly when I decided that I was going to move mine on I found my Dad had traded his low miler 20HDI in for a new Nissan Note grrrrr - he's 120 miles away from me so I tend to speak to him weekly so that was not only news but bad news for me
@@derekgriffiths794 as a former owner of one I am always keen to look at them to see if any have survived that decay.................... not seen one that hasn't been welded and covered in black gunk in ages
Really good video Matt, you absolutely trashing a car is great entertainment! Apologies but a little part of me at 23:53 wanted the car to start rolling back😂😂😂
Given what you’ve just reported to be about this car’s reliability record, the fact I own a 2008 Version of this 7-seat Car (Grand) and it’s still working makes me feel both relieved…and almost feeling like I should get rid of it whilst it still works!
Someone I used to know liked mine so much they acquired a 2009 Version so 6 months younger than mine…returned within a week. I do get the feeling I have been beyond fortunate to still have mine reliable!
The Driver’s Seat on mine also sagged at the exact same spot; had the seat replaced about 5 years ago
Same here with my 2008 7 seat Grand Picasso, despite mine having loads of potential things to go wrong: the electronic gearbox (terrible in start stop traffic), digital climate control, air suspension, cruise control, handbrake, auto lights, auto wipers - perhaps it was a better produced batch we have?
@@rickardo522 I think more luck than anything! The EGS doesn't do Stop/Start Traffic whatsoever and changing from 2nd to 1st gear takes an age, but it's otherwise been fine
@@rammfan1482 I tend to manually change mine using the paddles because it can hold gears too long. I've done almost 70000 miles in mine to take it to about 140000. The last couple of years we also have a small batch for around town (and avoid the start stop gearbox use!), but it still does regular long trips to Scotland etc. and occasionally France/Holland, for which it's pretty comfortable taking the whole family (plus a roof box). Just annual service with MOT (does often need a couple hundred pounds worth of work doing, though!) and keep on top of usual fluids etc. Will be changing it this year, but overall I do feel I've been lucky.
@@rickardo522£200 for MOT at 140k is by no means a bad car...
Hilarious. You should be on terrestrial TV as you’re interesting, funny and highly entertaining. Keep it up Matt
Thanks
I had one of these.. my wife drove it for the last 5 years basically to drop kids at school but it did a couple of long trips around Europe.After 10 years and only 100k miles it started to literally disintegrate. Built quality is simply disastrous. After 8 years literally everything started to fail. It was also not built for being repaired, as the guys at the Citroen dealership were always struggling to find what was causing the multiple warning messages on the dashboard. The ESP malfunction warning light was already part of our family! But the worst, was the painful "auto" gearbox... Spacious and clever for sure, but a piece of junk. Finally, we replaced it by a Toyota.
The build quality of these really is horrendous, the list of complaints I have with ours is too long to go into. The amount of space inside is the only redeeming feature. I gave up spending any money maintaining ours a long time ago, you get one thing fixed and something else breaks. Ours is thankfully on its last legs so it's finally time to say good riddance to it and buy something decent. I won't miss it at all - the worst car I've ever owned by a really long way.
Scrap seemed the best option for that one, even as a fan of old cheap french cars anything with either the prince petrol engine or the EGS automated manual are worth running away from. That gearbox does its best to recreate a learner driver trying to grasp clutch control.
The later ones (and i think the 2.0 diesels) came with a proper torque converter auto, i got one for my aunt she is using it to transport my elderly grandmother so rather than carry food residue and sweetie wrappers its getting reasonably well cared for.
So far touch wood in 2 years its gave no issues, but an old ropey example can be a pure headache especially with how they deliver warning messages.
Prince engine ?
I've only been in one of these like.. once but I kinda liked 'em, the big windscreen is pretty nice, and while cheap, those cubbies on the dash seem super convenient. Didn't know about how bad the 'automatic' was though.
Most entertaining. We bought one of these several years ago, and the seatbelt warning sound is very nostalgic. It never knows which seatbelt is faulty 😂. Yes, it was a terrible car, but if Citroën had built it correctly, it wouldn't have been so bad.
I get a sneaky suspicion you’re not a fan, Matt. 😂
Not at all!
@@HighPeakAutos I hate them as well not only are they unreasonable there also unsafe the electrics on the car always seem to fail and if U buy a used one its never looked after but I really hate that the rev counter and speedometer are in the middle as that would honestly be the last place U would look for it I would just use a iPad and put on the dashboard behind the steering wheel and get my speed off that and U would never be able to hang something quick long on the mirror as it would constantly wack the display in the middle cracking The screen and make it completely useless
@@HighPeakAutosdjhhggyuygfddf
Pmsl at this one the constant bleeping the build quality the jarring ride and when the handbrake wouldn't release i was in tears, i watch everyone of your reviews even for cars i would never want to own because your channel is so entertaining, one of the best matt 🙂😂
never stop making these videos
I've got lots more on the way
I had a few c5's for load carrying, and they're reliable.Only had drop links and finally a clutch when it was a real old banger, oh one alternator..I had a 407 also only problem i had was the blocked exhaust filter at 130k miles which I sorted myself..I think what you have to remember with these cars is the low Road Tax , low running costs and size..They are big cars ..Japanese Cars of the era pumped out more C02 had higher road tax rates and the diesels are big compared to Citroën.I like Citroen a lot and there served me well..I'm currently driving a Renault that's proved reliable..Lexus is expensive ...The Citroën carried my family about in reliable comfort, its not a sin to have kids and a family