C4 Grand Picasso for main family wagon
Discussion
Hello,
We are looking for a new family car as the biggest car we have in the household is my trusty Mk5 Golf GT TDI.
With about 8k to spend we are looking at Picasso’s / Honda CRV's etc. How given the Picasso is built for families and would be a lot newer than the CRV is it worth considering.
I’m worried that is will be a reliability nightmare, any advice is much appreciated as for models which engines are considered the most robust?
Thanks,
Matt
We are looking for a new family car as the biggest car we have in the household is my trusty Mk5 Golf GT TDI.
With about 8k to spend we are looking at Picasso’s / Honda CRV's etc. How given the Picasso is built for families and would be a lot newer than the CRV is it worth considering.
I’m worried that is will be a reliability nightmare, any advice is much appreciated as for models which engines are considered the most robust?
Thanks,
Matt
About 9 months ago we chopped our 2008 5-seat C4 Picasso for a new A-Class.
C4 Picasso is nice and airy. Very attractive design internally. Everything's nice and logical. Routine maintenance is fairly cheap. It's easy to drive, and has a reasonable turn of speed.
That's about all good I can say.
The 2.0 130BHP diesel engine is agricultural. The EGS gearbox is quite slow-witted, and won't engage 2nd gear below 11mph, and doesn't like to slip to clutch, making it a bit of a 'mare in traffic queues. We had persistent intermittent dashboard warnings - mainly surrounding the electronic handbrake - which the dealer wouldn't even look at without charging £50 + VAT for "diagnostics". And then it blew both of its rear air suspension bladders, twice, in six months. Apparently that's very common, so if you buy one, check that those have been replaced.
My advice though would be to steer clear. It's a clever design sitting atop some shonky engineering in my view. But there are millions of them about, so perhaps I'm in a minority.
C4 Picasso is nice and airy. Very attractive design internally. Everything's nice and logical. Routine maintenance is fairly cheap. It's easy to drive, and has a reasonable turn of speed.
That's about all good I can say.
The 2.0 130BHP diesel engine is agricultural. The EGS gearbox is quite slow-witted, and won't engage 2nd gear below 11mph, and doesn't like to slip to clutch, making it a bit of a 'mare in traffic queues. We had persistent intermittent dashboard warnings - mainly surrounding the electronic handbrake - which the dealer wouldn't even look at without charging £50 + VAT for "diagnostics". And then it blew both of its rear air suspension bladders, twice, in six months. Apparently that's very common, so if you buy one, check that those have been replaced.
My advice though would be to steer clear. It's a clever design sitting atop some shonky engineering in my view. But there are millions of them about, so perhaps I'm in a minority.
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