Citroen Xsara Picasso

Whats owners opinions? On yesterdays ride I had a nosy around one and it looks like a great (if slightly odd looking) biking car. Whatcar recommends the 1.8 petrol over the 2.0HDI- true?

Thing of a c5yr old one unless they are still robust older?

Father in law has one 2l td on a 57 in met gray, its a fam bus, dive bus and his work van, all the rear seats can be totally removed to make a van floor good for lugging and excellent on fuel, he regularly does heathrow airport runs to pick up his britherin law, il get exact costs on fuel n mpg if u like but he wont buy owt else now as its ace, n hes hard to please, it also takes 3 adults and full dive gear, twins suits etc to capenwray etc

Sounds good yes please

Crikey thats a different universe to a 3 litre petrol beemer Hora… 😉

Oh christ, not another car that he’s ‘thinking of buying’…

Lol! Has he got form? He’s had two looks at mine….

Heathrow and back with two (large) adults and luggage from blackpool £85 quid at current prices for derv. And 719miles to a tank average mpg motorway 60-65 driving at 65mph with a impact driver, sds, transformer and bag of sparkies hand tools, oh n a shit load of ginsters and costalotta coffee cups lol, he loves his and he says its comfy as ****, im 6ft4 and fit comy in the back with my lunch tray down : )

we have a 54 plate 2.0hdi great space quite comfy not as good fuel wise on shorter commutes. interior plastics a bit plasticky!! a lot of electronics in ours mostly been ok but huge chance of total fail. 1.6 hdi sposed to be better but been mostly happy with ours.
HTH
John

He has a 1.9 diesel sorry my bad

I’ve got one, I’ve had it for four years now (it’s a 55 reg) and I’ve had no probs at all with it (apart from the broken petrol cap cover – which I leant on and the huge scratch down the side – again my fault 😳 ). It’s seriously practical, the rear seats fold down individually or are removable totally, there are some very handy hidden storage areas (under floor, under front seats, side of boot etc), tables for the kids in the back and the middle seat becomes a central “table” too. I’ve got a hatchback bike carrier as well as roofbars but it’s easy to get two bikes in the back with seats down.

Mine’s a petrol, I suspect my sister’s diesel version is more economical but I might be wrong. I’ve got very used to the high driving position and being in other cars feels a bit weird now.

Lotta love for the picasso : ) its a hidden gem tbf

I want a second car with a tad more space now ‘kryton 8)

I have a wandering eye when it comes to bikes or cars 😉

Mate has one (the current shape one) and I really like it. Masses of space, dead comfy and lots of toys.

My wife has a 2006 1.6 one to kart out three kids about in, owned for the past 3 years. Been 100% reliable now covered in parking dents. I find it slow to drive and a little thirsty on Fuel – wish I had bought her the Diesel.

I’ve looked at them the last two times I’ve changed cars – they’re very practical as a bike wagon, for all the reasons above. Being able to totally remove the rear seats would be handy, although you’d have to store them somewhere so maybe not as practical as at first glance. I found the interior very plasticky and the fabrics pretty cheap looking. Most of the ones I looked at were very tired and scuffed inside even at 3 years old, OK they’re mostly family cars so liable to take a pasting but they seemed to have worn particularly badly.

All the above combined with relative price and spec meant I’ve plumped for Zafiras for the last two cars – definitely worth considering, along with C4 Picasso (has solved some of the Xsara’s issues), Mazda 5 (bit pricier but nice), CMax (not as roomy) or Renault Scenic (OK but I was scared off by bad reliability problems).

Horrid things.
About the only thing I would not swap my wife’s current Megane Scenic for.
I would jump at C4 Picasso though.

I;’ve had a couple.

First was a 2.0D. Ended up with 165,000 on the clocks (02 plate sold about 2 years back) I would average 47-49mpg out of it. It would sit happily up to about 85mph and you could get 3 bikes and 3 people in it with ease. (i put 60,000 on it)

The next we had was a 1.6D, that ended up costing about a grand in suspension components, but that’s not uncommon on the roads me and teh wife commute on as they’re harsh on cars and suspension. (the wife put 40,000 on it) We bought from her parents who had a few air-con issues with it, but the air-con was fine for us.

I like driving them, they’re a decent motor.

wife’s current Megane Scenic

Theres a few scary comments on used readers reviews on Whatcar’s site for those 😯

I’m looking at buying one of these or a vauxhall zafira. not sure which yet but i’m edging towards the vauxhall. just seems to get better reviews and you get 7 seats. there’s loads about too.

we have to sell our Seat Altea which has got a cracking sized boot. easily get 3 bikes in with the seats folded flat. Its for sale if you’re interested!

Had a diesel one as a hire car a few years ago for a week in Tennerife and it was pretty bad. Rubbish to drive, crappy interior trim though it could fit 4 biggish blokes in with climbing kit, though not in great comfort as the seats had very little support.

Over here they seem to be driven badly by breeders who have nothing to look forward to in life and are now just waiting to die, noticably more so than other mpv’s, probably because they’re cheaper. If you don’t need to cart kids round (and probably if you do) just buy a decent sized estate car (like a 530).

Agree on the seats, they’re not the most comfy on the planet. Although i have done 5-6 hour drives in them… but they’re not exactly ‘plush’

We are on our second C4 Grand Picasso, loads of room inside and all the seats fold flat. 4 bikes on the back is no problem and the suspension self levels the car. Ideal as a biking car.

We had the 1.6 oil burner on an 06 plate for the Mrs.
Overall, it was a bit of a spaghetti western.

The Good:
1. Superb engine with plenty of get up and go
2. Really economical, always over 50 mpg (the 1.6 is way better an angine than the 2.0 D)
3. Loads of room in the back for lugging stuff about with seats out.

… but then there’s the Bad:
1. It handles like a jelly
2. It has a lousy turning circle
3. It’s all a bit flimsy and quite possibly made of tin foil
4. The interior is not robust and soon looks worn

… and the Ugly,
well yes it is.

Seems to be a common theme on the seats- how ‘bad’ are they compared to other cars? 😯

My C1 has very thin seats but I’ve never thought about them on long drives.

they seem to be driven badly by breeders who have nothing to look forward to in life

ahahahahahahahahhaha

they seem to be driven badly by breeders who have nothing to look forward to in life

TOTALLY agree- so the tip is to make sure its as beaten and dirty as possible. That way it looks like it aint trying and its a Parisian French vehicle. Perfect. Its when you see that staid-metallic light pale green/tourqouse colour one that seems popular that you think ‘****’ with the way men (its always men) drive them.

Tehy’re not like sitting on a bench… but they’re not exactly your favourite sofa either LOL.

Sometimes it’s only when you buy something new you realise how bad something old was. The new CR-V i got, well that’s the favourite sofa… compared to the Mondeo before it… which was the favourite sofa, compared to the Picasso 🙂

Oh yeah,.. they do actually handle like a jelly 🙂

All that said… if on a budget, i’d buy one again with no issues.

The only time mine let me down the water in the coolijng system froze, however the temp gauge was showing -18.

Its when you see that staid-metallic light pale green/tourqouse colour one that seems popular that you think ‘****’ with the way men (its always men) drive them.

Mine was that colour lol

After the myriad of thing that went wrong / broke on my fathers two citroens nothing would every inspire me to buy a citroen.

one_happy_hippy – Member
After the myriad of thing that went wrong / broke on my fathers two citroens nothing would every inspire me to buy a citroen.

My step father swears by them, but TBH he should be swearing at them as his last 3 seemed to develop weird engine/electrical faults that were/are impossible to fix.

I once owned a BX diesel, I’ve had enough counselling to talk about it now as it was one of the most traumatic ownership experiences in my life (and I’ve owned a few howlers/sheds). If it could fail or fall apart it did, in the end I gave it away and bought a Rover which was a model of reliability over 10 years of ownership!

… and the Ugly,
well yes it is.

Ugly Xsara Picasso, you say?

Ugly? Moi?

The French are good at many things, cars not being one of them.

Ford- you could say the samething about their mechanicals
VW- ditto
Vauxhall…

Etc etc etc…

well there’s plenty here who seem to have had decent experiences with them. It’s impossible to find a review of a car now that doesn’t have some horror stories associated.

You’re questioning the reliability of VW’s and Fords, and intend instead to buy something French? 😆

MrOvershoot – Member

one_happy_hippy – Member
After the myriad of thing that went wrong / broke on my fathers two citroens nothing would every inspire me to buy a citroen.

My step father swears by them, but TBH he should be swearing at them as his last 3 seemed to develop weird engine/electrical faults that were/are impossible to fix.

THIS. Also the locks which either seem to not lock at all, or enter a state of terminal lockness.

Also the suspension was a nightmare.

And I never liked the clutch.

If its of a certain age I don’t mind the locks not working- I leave my windows open sometimes on a 12plate car 😆

Had a spin in one today. Surprised. The Grand Picasso wallows badly to me. This felt more than fine by comparison. The plastics are better quality too. Im getting one, if anyone knows of a decent mechanical-condition one going I’m all ears.

I’m viewing a 1.6 petrol tonight. Not the most powerful but still not a bad engine?

In what car? And 8 or 16 v ??