Citroen C1 Airscape Flair

Citroen C1 Airscape Flair

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Shermanator

Original Poster:

549 posts

76 months

Wednesday 23rd May 2018
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Not really C1 related, but hey ho

A friend recently passed her test, and she has a classic Mini! Popped over today when she was taken another friend home and it was a 5 minute detour to my house. Anyway, it looks like a Cooper Sport but has the 999CC engine, while having a 35 Anniversary steering wheel so we're unsure about what it actually is, maybe any of you know?

Did grab a picture of it with my car in the background though, just to keep this thread related to my C1:



I will stress that it is no way shape or form perfect, she has said on multiple occasions that it needs a full restoration but it passed its MOT and is more of a rolling project currently.

Shermanator

Original Poster:

549 posts

76 months

Friday 25th May 2018
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zarjaz1991 said:
Out of interest, why are you suddenly scared of crashing? You've mentioned it a couple of times now.

You've done quite a lot of driving, including some long distances, on various types of road, and it's obvious you're pretty careful driver. Your skills will be building up so your confidence should be too. It's a little concerning that your confidence appears to be going down instead.

Obviously I'm not suggesting there is no risk of crashing, but you haven't crashed up to now, no reason for that to change.
That's a very good question, which I can't answer. I'll try my best though!

I'll also point out that my confidence isn't deterioting, I am just more dubious on country roads. However I still keep my speed up, don't assume I'm going at 10 miles an hour on every corner, I'm just going slower than I used to.

However, I think the crash worry comes from a few things:
1. My dad smacked his Toyota into the side of a Peugeot last year, which I think has subconsciously scared me (not that I actually think it, I've never sat thinking will happen to me, even though it could, its probabaly some really complicated physiological thing).
2. My mum revered my dad's Toyota into my sister's Fiat last week, which was incredibly hilarious to me (no damage, it was at about 2mph in the driveway) which might have also subconsciously showed mistakes are easily made.
3. If I do actually have a crash anytime soon I'll not be able to afford to drive, which will limit job opportunities (I'm currently unemployed, long story) which could cause serious problems in general life (I know that is likely an overreaction). So I'm worried about future plans, this is actually probably the main reason.

So yeah, it's not so much my confidence is going down, in just more worried about crashing due to a number if factors (I think, don't know for sure)

Shermanator

Original Poster:

549 posts

76 months

Saturday 9th June 2018
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Quick update, with question!

The car was washed and is now sitting undercover until Tuesday, obligatory picture: (excuse the dirt on the window)



Now onto the question; the wings have different coloured plates (I don't know the word, but the bit of metal which attaches the wing onto the rest of the car) under the bonnet. I've never noticed this before because I don't normally pay attention to the colour of those bits when checking oil, coolant and windscreen wash.





The driver side has a body colour "plate" while the passenger side has a green "plate". Everything else in the car which isn't painted such as under the bonnet or beneath the boot floor are green.
My first thought was that the car has been damaged and the driver side wing was replaced. Am I jumping to conclusions? Or is this a logical explanation?

Shermanator

Original Poster:

549 posts

76 months

Monday 11th June 2018
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Just putting this picture up to bump the thread up the pages, just because I would quite like someone to try and explain the difference in wing bracket things.



Edited by Shermanator on Monday 11th June 19:45

Shermanator

Original Poster:

549 posts

76 months

Monday 11th June 2018
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J4CKO said:
I love our old style C1, bought an M135i and still enjoy the Citroen, cant bear to get rid for what it costs, amazing little cars, ok that old Mini is cute and funky but not one I would want for daily use, C1 is its spiritual successor more than the BMW one is, not that I want to slag those off as I quite like them and can see the point, but for small, cheap and a bit of fun,t he C1/Aygo/107 is much more in the mould of the original Mini.
You're not the first person to say that! Had a Mini owner at a show tell me that he thinks the C1/Aygo/107/108 will be the next Mini. The one everyone wants in X amount of years time.
These little cars get under your skin, and the amount still driving about show that they are built to last!

Shermanator

Original Poster:

549 posts

76 months

Friday 6th July 2018
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In terms of the wing issue, I've worked out the wing has been replaced, but nothing else has been. Lights etc are all from the factory in 2014 so they are still the original parts however a friend has a 2015 C1 Feel who had a look at his for me, and his are both the same colour, non-body colour. So, drivers wing has been replaced, I'm going to assume it's just a case of a mechanic being a bit careless and swinging a spanner into it or something, before I bought it.

Anyway, not much has happened. While the weather is nice it means traffic is worse, and I'm more worried about the financial element of driving unnecessarily all the time, so I've only been on one trip since the last update. I went to Neptune's Staircase! Nothing really exciting, it was more for the drive element than anything else.







No pictures but I was at the B.V.A.C Classic Car Show at Thirlestane Castle at the start of last month and had a lot of fun leaving! It was muddy, so wheel spin was possible. Everyone in the traffic saw a young guy, in a newish car, with private plate delibrately spinning the wheels so probably jumped to conclusions, but I'm not bothered, it was great fun!

Shermanator

Original Poster:

549 posts

76 months

Tuesday 24th July 2018
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Another update, and one that is more like the other threads here; a bit of DIY!

When I took the car in for it's service and MOT at Citroen I was told there was some stuff stuck in the rear brake drums. There was no danger, it could just reduce the life of the drums and pads. They wanted over £80 to clear the stuff out! I told them no, and planned on doing it myself soon after. That was November... Finally did it today:



(That's my dad's feet in the picture)







I know this is Pistonheads so there will be someone who thinks I'm a danger on the road because I drove thousands of miles with something stuck in my rear drums, however as I've already said there was no danger! It wouldn't have left the dealership service area had there been an chance of a crash due to it. The only thing I endangered was my wallet (and luckily there is no visible damage, so I think even that is safe).

In terms of driving, well I've done 40 miles since the last update... As I said, the financial worries of driving so often have hit home, so the car has been parked up for 2 weeks, driven for 2 days (10 miles each way, per day) then parked up again today.

Shermanator

Original Poster:

549 posts

76 months

Thursday 9th August 2018
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Car has now reached 20,000 miles!



I couldn't get a picture at exactly 20,000 because I was on a motorway and as much as I wanted an 10,000, 20,000 etc mile pictures I wasn't going to stop when everyone else is going 70! That's just a death wish.

Horrible picture I know, quickly taken.

Shermanator

Original Poster:

549 posts

76 months

Thursday 9th August 2018
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WarrenB said:
Looks like you've rolled it to celebrate!

Congratulations on the [20k]milestone! I enjoy getting pictures of momentous mileages. 121212 was the last I got. Waiting for 123456 next! I'm well aware that I need to get out morelaugh
Haha, no idea why it's upside down! Scotland must have moved down-under without me noticing! smile

I hope my car gets to those miles! When you get to 123450 you'll just need to drive around the block, just so you can get the picture!
I know the feeling, although most people on this page need to get out more wink

Edited by Shermanator on Saturday 11th August 12:02

Shermanator

Original Poster:

549 posts

76 months

Saturday 22nd September 2018
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There aren't many updates on this any more, purely because I now work full time and so don't have every single day of the week to do what I want. I do have the weekends though, and so I did go on a bit of a "hoon" last weekend. Parked up in the Aberfoyle Car Park cooling down (let's gloss over the fact I was going nowhere near fast enough to actually need to cool down the brakes, clutch and whatever else):





In terms of the commute of my new found job; it's around 13 miles each way down the motorway, I cruise along at 60mph which is vastly more relaxing and I get better fuel economy. Much better fuel economy in fact, I can get over 400 miles to a tank, which costs around £35-40.





It could be even better than that if I drove like miss daisy and went purely motorway everyday. They were taken a few days after I had to crawl through multiple towns due to the motorway being closed as someone had flipped their SUV, Which obviously killed the fuel economy.

As it sits today: It was filthy, travelling between two industrial towns (and parking in an industrial estate) causes the dirt to build up fast, so I gave it a wash, and a Hoover in the drivers side. Nothing major, and while I took pictures to show how dirty it was my phone is about 3 years old so isn't great at actually showing anything. Anyway; the car now looks lovely and clean:



My mum also put up fairy lights last year around the fence and they have since stopped working, however for some reason today some bulbs came on, so I popped out to grab a picture with my car, admittedly a pretty crap one (old phone reason again):



Yes yes I know, fairy lights on a fence in the front garden is council and chavvy, leave it out...

Not exactly an exciting update, but it allows me to keep track!

Shermanator

Original Poster:

549 posts

76 months

Sunday 7th October 2018
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Another update, despite the fact I now have less time I seem to be typing more updates laugh

I went to Connell a couple of weeks ago, nothing terribly exciting but it was nice to get out the house on a local bank holiday.





Yesterday I gave the car another wash, and in doing so I noticed a lovely new scratch on the side, quite deep (you can feel it) which I assume was caused by a stone flicking up on the motorway (or driving on the gravel yard of my work to get out). Very annoying, but I'll have to live with it until after winter when I'll get some touch up paint, then send the car off to a professional paint restorer/detailer.






Hopefully soon there will be an update showing some new tyres going on the car (following my "what tyres should I get" thread on General Gassing)

Shermanator

Original Poster:

549 posts

76 months

Sunday 7th October 2018
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jonamv8 said:
You sound like a nice lad

I remember my first motor a 1.1 fiesta mk3.......... it was bad but I did like it

You have a life of buying faster and more exotic motors ahead of you but nice to read about your enthusiasm for the car and driving , all the best mate
Thank you

I hope your right biggrin Would love an Alpine A110! Better get working harder to afford these more exotic cars!

Shermanator

Original Poster:

549 posts

76 months

Sunday 7th October 2018
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WarrenB said:
Glad you're still enjoying the car and it's serving you well!

Shermanator said:
Yes yes I know, fairy lights on a fence in the front garden is council and chavvy, leave it out...
I don't think they're that bad. I had some solar ones around a fence on a farm I used to work on. Looked quite nice!

If they were plastered all around the fence and the house as well, well that'd be different... wink
Nothing's went wrong yet! MOT is next month (better get that booked) though so it could get very expensive soon!

They do look quite nice, but i had to cover my bases, as everything and everyone is a tt on this site laugh (according to many many people who frequent certain threads)

Shermanator

Original Poster:

549 posts

76 months

Sunday 28th October 2018
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Yesterday was an exciting day, I went to see another car!
Don't worry, it's not going to replace the little C1, nothing ever will, it will be a second car. I'm not going to say what it is, however I can tell you it's in Bristol. According to Google 6 and a half hours away from my house, took me 8 to get down and 7 and a half to get back up. All in 1 day, in a C1. I slept for 12 hours last night and I still amn't 100% today, no idea if a more comfortable car would have made the journey easier, but hey ho, it was certainly an adventure! Will probably look back on it in a few years with only happy memories though.
Annoyingly I didn't take a single picture so here is what it is looking like right now, disgustingly dirty (also because of my commute though, not all of the dirt was caused by the M6, which is now my least favourite road in the country).







The pictures don't show the extent of it, but my phone isn't the newest and I have no need to get a new one so just take my word for it! It's filthy! It will be washed reasonably soon, and then left for the winter to get as bad as it does.

On the bright side, it's now got 4 new Yokohama BlueEarth ES32 tyres on it! They were £10 cheaper than the Continental yet had the same level of wet grip, same level of fuel economy and were 1 decibel quieter. No brainer really. Some of the comments on the tyre thread weren't great though, I think £50 is a lot of money, if you don't why comment on my thread saying how you've just spent £200 odd!


Shermanator

Original Poster:

549 posts

76 months

Sunday 28th October 2018
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avenger286 said:
So jealous about where you get to on your little drive outs! Know the bridge well and waiting at the lights at each side! Keep on updating up as there are people who are interested.
I think I take most of these locations for granted! I also went over the bridge, accidentally, as I took a wrong turn!

Shermanator

Original Poster:

549 posts

76 months

Monday 29th October 2018
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brickwall said:
Shermanator said:
. Some of the comments on the tyre thread weren't great though, I think £50 is a lot of money, if you don't why comment on my thread saying how you've just spent £200 odd!
The C1 is a great car. Whilst £50 a corner might feel a bit steep now, I think the posters might have been saying that in the event you one day find yourself in some more exotic metal then be prepared for some chunkier numbers.

My first car was a 107, and great fun it was too. (Tyres were £35 a corner back then). Roll forward 9 years (!) and a set of rears for my Boxster was £400...
That's fair enough, and had they worded it like that it would have been far better. However some of the wording were comparing the money they spend on tyres vs me as if our situations are the same and everything. It's why I've not responded to that thread.

Shermanator

Original Poster:

549 posts

76 months

Monday 29th October 2018
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Typing that last post I remember that last week, on Friday, the car started to make a horrible grinding noise on the way to work. I managed to limp it home, going the "town" way rather than the motorway. Dad and I (mostly him, as I got changed etc) took the rear drums off one by one, the offside (drivers) one had a tiny little bit of metal. Looked like a piece of very small chain. No idea how it got in there, but very relieved it was something so simple!

Shermanator

Original Poster:

549 posts

76 months

Wednesday 31st October 2018
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So today... Was horrible, and very very scary.

I got a text from my dad saying there was oil on the drive so I should check my level at lunch. I went out at break to find a huge rainbow puddle under the car, and under a colleagues car (the Avensis wheel in the pictire). Obviously I checked the dipstick, bone dry. Absolutely nothing on it.





Obviously the pictures aren't great, but taking well framed pictures which show great detail as to where the oil is wasn't exactly at the top of my priority list!

However, I work as a Parts Person in an Accident Repair Centre, which means everybody knows far more about the mechanics of cars than I do (I'm not mechanically minded in the slightest). Car was brought in (the 20 yards from my parking space to the building were extremely nerve wracking, even though I had been told it would be fine), boss leaned under and managed to tighten the oil filter up, apparently a good half turn. Very bluntly pointed out that was likely the issue...



Tightened up, new oil in, and it seems fine, however it is sat in a different part of the driveway to usual with a bit of hard-board under it, so I can see if it drips anymore.

Extremely nerve wracking, and I certainly do not wish to repeat it!

Shermanator

Original Poster:

549 posts

76 months

Saturday 10th November 2018
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I have now found the real culprit of the huge oil leak in the post above.

Last year I took the car to Arnold Clark Citroen Stirling for its 3 year service, because I was naive and believed that I needed to go to a manufacturer approved dealer in order to retain the warranty (I now know that's a load of bks).
This year I took it to an independent garage which my dad has used for roughly 21 years. What did he find?

THE OIL FILTER WAS MULTIPLE YEARS OLD! Arnold Clark had not replaced the filter, or the oil (I assume) like they should have last year when I paid over £150 for them to do it! I'll be going for a "chat" tomorrow...

Luckily it is all sorted now, the car has had its four year service by a well respected mechanic and I've given it it's last clean for 2018, and start of 2019.

Shermanator

Original Poster:

549 posts

76 months

Tuesday 25th December 2018
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My sister is moving out, which means boxes are needed. I managed to get a few "surplus to requirements" boxes from work (from Mercedes Sprinter headlights to be exact), however that meant they needed to be transported the 16-18 miles home... They took up the whole of the back of the car!



Today I also went on my second Christmas drive, one last year, one this year. Going to try make it a Christmas tradition. Ended up in Culross, took a picture of the car in the car park, and drove back home.



Oh, the car also hit 25,000 miles on the way home after work last week. On the motorway again so it was a little over when I took the picture in the driveway. Not that long since it hit 20,000.



Edited by Shermanator on Tuesday 25th December 21:21