A moon-mileage French oddity
Discussion
After a few years of financing cars, an increase in working from home meant I decided to sell up, settle the finance and put myself back on the market for a cheap daily.
Of course this meant I should go for something mechanically simple, as low mileage as possible and something which would avoid the pitfalls of big-bills. In the end I did the complete opposite.
It's a 2012 Citroen DS5, not a particularly common car but this one goes even further down the rabbit hole by being the Hybrid4, which combines a 2 litre turbo-diesel engine powering the front wheels, to a battery powered electric motor which is in charge of the rear wheels. The 2 aren't physically connected, the car's brain decides whether it's best to be driving in pure electric, pure diesel, front wheel drive, rear wheel drive, or all wheel drive, although a dial on the centre console lets you control it too.
And here's the part where I should have ran a mile. It had just shy of 245,000 miles on the clock and a short MOT. But for £1,450, how could I say no?
In theory, it's a disaster waiting to happen. French electrics and all the highly strung tolerances of a modern diesel engine with DPF's and EGR's, but in truth, in the 14 months, 2 clean MOT's and 8,000 miles since I've owned it, it's been an incredibly dependable car. Other than a tyre and 2 front springs (along with strut-top mounts) it's needed nothing outside of a service and now sits on 252,500 miles.
I still think it's a lovely place to sit. The watch-strap leather seats with their massage function are incredibly comfortable, the interior still feels like the cockpit of a plane and the dashboard still looks like something from the Starship Enterprise. The ride quality is awful on anything other than billiard-table smooth motorways though.
Of course this meant I should go for something mechanically simple, as low mileage as possible and something which would avoid the pitfalls of big-bills. In the end I did the complete opposite.
It's a 2012 Citroen DS5, not a particularly common car but this one goes even further down the rabbit hole by being the Hybrid4, which combines a 2 litre turbo-diesel engine powering the front wheels, to a battery powered electric motor which is in charge of the rear wheels. The 2 aren't physically connected, the car's brain decides whether it's best to be driving in pure electric, pure diesel, front wheel drive, rear wheel drive, or all wheel drive, although a dial on the centre console lets you control it too.
And here's the part where I should have ran a mile. It had just shy of 245,000 miles on the clock and a short MOT. But for £1,450, how could I say no?
In theory, it's a disaster waiting to happen. French electrics and all the highly strung tolerances of a modern diesel engine with DPF's and EGR's, but in truth, in the 14 months, 2 clean MOT's and 8,000 miles since I've owned it, it's been an incredibly dependable car. Other than a tyre and 2 front springs (along with strut-top mounts) it's needed nothing outside of a service and now sits on 252,500 miles.
I still think it's a lovely place to sit. The watch-strap leather seats with their massage function are incredibly comfortable, the interior still feels like the cockpit of a plane and the dashboard still looks like something from the Starship Enterprise. The ride quality is awful on anything other than billiard-table smooth motorways though.
Steve421 said:
And here's the part where I should have ran a mile. It had just shy of 245,000 miles on the clock and a short MOT. But for £1,450, how could I say no?
In theory, it's a disaster waiting to happen. French electrics and all the highly strung tolerances of a modern diesel engine with DPF's and EGR's, but in truth, in the 14 months, 2 clean MOT's and 8,000 miles since I've owned it, it's been an incredibly dependable car. Other than a tyre and 2 front springs (along with strut-top mounts) it's needed nothing outside of a service and now sits on 252,500 miles.
My immediate family currently run five cheap French cars and this is exactly my experience as well. The only time one has broken down is when my sister in law filled her car with petrol instead of diesel. My dad drained the tank, filled it with diesel and all was well.In theory, it's a disaster waiting to happen. French electrics and all the highly strung tolerances of a modern diesel engine with DPF's and EGR's, but in truth, in the 14 months, 2 clean MOT's and 8,000 miles since I've owned it, it's been an incredibly dependable car. Other than a tyre and 2 front springs (along with strut-top mounts) it's needed nothing outside of a service and now sits on 252,500 miles.
I would happily buy that for £1450, it looks amazing for that money.
I had a the same model as you for a period of time and absolutely loved it.
I’ve never referred to my cars as anything other than ‘The car’ but this did earn the name of ‘The spaceship’ we only sold it because the potential for something going mighty wrong with was too much of a risk for us, but it’s one of the very few cars I’ve regretted selling.
I’ve never referred to my cars as anything other than ‘The car’ but this did earn the name of ‘The spaceship’ we only sold it because the potential for something going mighty wrong with was too much of a risk for us, but it’s one of the very few cars I’ve regretted selling.
t that everyone says the ride quality is so poor. It's a big Citroen FGS, how did they get it so wrong?That's the same colour/wheels as our family duties car. Is yours the adblue version?
We have had it since 2015, and had to do a fairly expensive suspension refurb over the last year to get it riding well again (powerflex bushes, new wishbones, springs/tops, and new shocks). If we hadn't bought it new I would have just thought it was a bit rubbish but I know it was composed and rode very well at the start so wanted to get back to that.
There are 2 versions of the shocks, a harder one which is for the 2012 model like yours, and a more compliant one for 2015- cars. If you replace them make sure to get the new version.
They use eloys fluid so need topped up about every 100k.
We have had it since 2015, and had to do a fairly expensive suspension refurb over the last year to get it riding well again (powerflex bushes, new wishbones, springs/tops, and new shocks). If we hadn't bought it new I would have just thought it was a bit rubbish but I know it was composed and rode very well at the start so wanted to get back to that.
There are 2 versions of the shocks, a harder one which is for the 2012 model like yours, and a more compliant one for 2015- cars. If you replace them make sure to get the new version.
They use eloys fluid so need topped up about every 100k.
Edited by Decky_Q on Tuesday 30th April 14:19
Decky_Q said:
That's the same colour/wheels as our family duties car. Is yours the adblue version?
We have had it since 2015, and had to do a fairly expensive suspension refurb over the last year to get it riding well again (powerflex bushes, new wishbones, springs/tops, and new shocks). If we hadn't bought it new I would have just thought it was a bit rubbish but I know it was composed and rode very well at the start so wanted to get back to that.
There are 2 versions of the shocks, a harder one which is for the 2012 model like yours, and a more compliant one for 2015- cars. If you replace them make sure to get the new version.
They use eloys fluid so need topped up about every 100k.
This one is pre-adblue thankfully, it does have the eolys bag though. Yes I did see they improved the shocks, it was a tempting decision to change them but I struggled to justify it. We have had it since 2015, and had to do a fairly expensive suspension refurb over the last year to get it riding well again (powerflex bushes, new wishbones, springs/tops, and new shocks). If we hadn't bought it new I would have just thought it was a bit rubbish but I know it was composed and rode very well at the start so wanted to get back to that.
There are 2 versions of the shocks, a harder one which is for the 2012 model like yours, and a more compliant one for 2015- cars. If you replace them make sure to get the new version.
They use eloys fluid so need topped up about every 100k.
Edited by Decky_Q on Tuesday 30th April 14:19
Wow, what a buy!
I mean, what was the risk? If it broke down on the way home, spend an hour with a spanner pulling out a few bits that you could sell on and scrap the rest.
I think that sometimes with cars with moon mileage cars like this, is anything that could of gone wrong, has gone wrong and fixed. So actually makes a better buy than a lower miler that hasn't passed a certain point where things fail.
What mpg do you get from it?
I mean, what was the risk? If it broke down on the way home, spend an hour with a spanner pulling out a few bits that you could sell on and scrap the rest.
I think that sometimes with cars with moon mileage cars like this, is anything that could of gone wrong, has gone wrong and fixed. So actually makes a better buy than a lower miler that hasn't passed a certain point where things fail.
What mpg do you get from it?
Steve421 said:
Decky_Q said:
That's the same colour/wheels as our family duties car. Is yours the adblue version?
We have had it since 2015, and had to do a fairly expensive suspension refurb over the last year to get it riding well again (powerflex bushes, new wishbones, springs/tops, and new shocks). If we hadn't bought it new I would have just thought it was a bit rubbish but I know it was composed and rode very well at the start so wanted to get back to that.
There are 2 versions of the shocks, a harder one which is for the 2012 model like yours, and a more compliant one for 2015- cars. If you replace them make sure to get the new version.
They use eloys fluid so need topped up about every 100k.
This one is pre-adblue thankfully, it does have the eolys bag though. Yes I did see they improved the shocks, it was a tempting decision to change them but I struggled to justify it. We have had it since 2015, and had to do a fairly expensive suspension refurb over the last year to get it riding well again (powerflex bushes, new wishbones, springs/tops, and new shocks). If we hadn't bought it new I would have just thought it was a bit rubbish but I know it was composed and rode very well at the start so wanted to get back to that.
There are 2 versions of the shocks, a harder one which is for the 2012 model like yours, and a more compliant one for 2015- cars. If you replace them make sure to get the new version.
They use eloys fluid so need topped up about every 100k.
Edited by Decky_Q on Tuesday 30th April 14:19
I loved my DS5, probably the only car I ever regret selling. It was a lovely, lovely thing, only let down by the dreadful ride quality.
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