Them french motors again

[bub2006]

How do folks. Hope everyone is staying safe and practising social distancing. Must admit car buying is a little more difficult but not impossible! 

As some of you may know,I have a mini countryman through motability.  With the lockdown in effect we aren't going too far which is having a detrimental effect on the minis mpg and I'm lucky to see 30 out of it.  The wifes Corolla  was ok on mpg but I struggle with smaller low down cars with manual boxes,need to be high up to drive a manual comfortably.  Sold the wifes corolla for a decent price and jumped on gumtree for the old faithful french cars! Picked up a 54 plate picasso locally for 300 to replace wifes Toyota.  Mot till October,a dent in bootlid and had the welding done on passenger sill as par for the course.  2.0 diesel engine,225k on clock but had binnacle changed in 2017 which added nearly 100k to the mileage! Was getting ready for tyres too and had a broken exhaust hanger on rear silencer. That's where the spares car stepped in. 2003 on a 53 plate,nearly new exhaust and 4 nearly new tyres. Mot fail on broken spring,welding and emissions. Bought for a paltry 75 quid split between me and a friend who also owns a picasso. My friend had mirrors,wheel trims and stalks, I had wheels and tyres,exhaust and a shedful of bits and bobs. We scrapped it in for 110 quid collected from my drive. I'd call that a winner. The mini is still in use when we go to take things to mother in laws and town driving is taken by the picasso. The tax and insurance is cheaper than corolla and mpg is better by 5mpg too. Oh and it also had a full deep clean upon showing up on my drive. 

[Matty]

Picasso's must be god's gift to practical budget motoring. Id even have one and I don't need one

[bub2006]

Plentiful,cheap and spares ten a penny. I also find them bloody comfy and spacious. 

[maxxo]

superb choice! of course i would say that though......

looks a very nice example too i must say!

you need genuine mud flaps and roof bars though....gotta have all those genuine accessories

[maxxo]

does yours still have the trolley in the boot? if not i have a spare you can have

[bub2006]

No it doesn't and I'm looking! The spares car was thepre facelift too so not much would fit yours and sadly no undertrays either. 

[Supernaut]

I learned to drive in a Mauritius Blue 2.0HDi one of these. The parents got rid of it in 2010 and I haven't been in one since. I only know the name of the colour because my Xantia was the same colour.

It was a bloody good car, though. I remember driving it across to Fort William, 4-up with luggage. I drove it at (or slightly above) 60mph as much as possible for the entire trip and it still averaged 55mpg. At one point in Fort William I drove it through a foot of water because of flash flooding.

Another time I hit a pheasant at 70mph. It hit just next to the passenger headlight and bounced up and over the car. It left a ding about an inch long, and that was it.

It wasn't an exciting car by any means, but it was comfortable, spacious, easy to drive and surprisingly durable.

 

It still had the trolley in it, too.

 

PJ51 NXL, but the MOT history shows it died a while ago. Admittedly even in 2010 it was on 140k-odd.

[bub2006]

The trolley haunts me. I've spent a lot of time looking for them in various picasso's weve owned! 

[spartacus]

Mother Spart has one, I can't fault it, although the most exciting aspect of driving it is the way, as had been said already, it can transport five people in comfort at motorway speeds at such little cost. Cavernous with the seats folded too. She must have had it 10 years or more and I'm still finding cubby holes and features I didn't know were there.

That's a result for you bub.

ETA, it still has the trolley!

[beko1987]

I'm warming to them as a skip on wheels it must be said. From the same blobby era as my xsara! 

Infact the main thing I don't like about them is they come up in searches etc rather than the xsara... Takes some refining! 

I should have asked for you to nick some of the wiring and the mfd wiper stalk for me thinking about it, want it for a project I want to do to mine... Ah well, there will be plenty more broken for spares! 

[bub2006]

The wiper stalk was taken by the friend who wanted spares too. Sorry. The 53 plate was cherry picked for everything we both needed and then some!

[bub2006]

Boot dent now gone. A little crease on the swage line which I cant get but I think it looks better

[beko1987]

1 hour ago, bub2006 said:

The wiper stalk was taken by the friend who wanted spares too. Sorry. The 53 plate was cherry picked for everything we both needed and then some!

Nah its cool. Its to perform a mod on my xsara, the Picasso stalk plugs into the clocks, extra wire to run to the bsi (plugs into an empty socket) and voila, full mfd. 

Biggest problem will be getting hold of an mfd from a xsara that had one from the factory... Which is where I've given up because its tricky and I don't fully care that much

[bub2006]

The xsara picasso stalks are a complete unit. Need to remove the steering wheel and unplug the whole lot.  Regards internet searches I had same issue when I had my xsara hatch too!

[chaseracer]

Is it the circular COM2000 unit?

[bub2006]

Yea,the comms 2000 unit. I know stalks are same across all citroens of that era so its possible it fits but again being French it may fit but won't work. 

[maxxo]

oh the good old comms 2000 units, very good for makeshift auto lights!

shame they only work automatically when indicating

[bub2006]

Had a knocking on the suspension the other day. I couldn't pinpoint it so its had new springs,droplinks,top mounts and wishbones. Also had a service. Service was well overdue,looked like previous owner had forgotten. This is why I service a car within first week or two of purchase. 

Pollen filter was crudded up,diesel filter was black and the air filter was bulging inwards on itself. Engine was definitely struggling to breathe. 

[chaseracer]

ORLRITE DAVE!! ?

[bub2006]

Everyone knows a dave. Luckily this o e us a top mechanic