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As 2020 hasn't been awful enough yet: My £750 Citroen C6!


richykitchy

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Maybe unsurprisingly for somebody who has a DS, CX and XM I have a huge liking for the C6 since launch. I did consider a newish one as a main car but it just did not have the tow capacity or 4WD to tow our boat.  Now the price has fallen to an affordable level for adding to our classic fleet it is very attractive, but I am just not brave enough! Also £565 Road tax on a car that I would probably only do 1500 miles a year on is hard to stomach.

Hats off to those who take them on. 

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3 minutes ago, Six-cylinder said:

Maybe unsurprisingly for somebody who has a DS, CX and XM I have a huge liking for the C6 since launch. I did consider a newish one as a main car but it just did not have the tow capacity or 4WD to tow our boat.  Now the price has fallen to an affordable level for adding to our classic fleet it is very attractive, but I am just not brave enough! Also £565 Road tax on a car that I would probably only do 1500 miles a year on is hard to stomach.

Hats off to those who take them on. 

Their probably the last 'mad' citroen too, I can see the appeal. 

You just know deep down that that 1500 miles a year in it would be horrible (bong WARNING)! 15000 a year and it may be safer... it wouldn't have time to sit and break itself then! 

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3 hours ago, 808 Estate said:

Top stuff and excellent read.

Looks like Fort Fareham.

It is. You know your Palmerston fortifications!

1 hour ago, chaseracer said:

ULTIMATE TESTICULAR FORTITUDE - LEVEL ACHIEVED: BALLS OF TITANIUM

Thank you for doing this, so we don't* have to!

But then you don't get the good stuff, either! And then, when it's clear that it's no risk at all, you'll all be forced to buy one as there is no longer a reason not to.

 

 

 

 

Probably.

35 minutes ago, GeordieInExile said:

Holy cow this is ace and I want it.

 

There's one on AutoTrader for £1500... 12 month MOT as well. WCPGW?

That's twice as much as mine was, so my logic says it will be twice as good.

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16 minutes ago, jon.k said:

A really interesting read. Thanks for giving an insight into owning one of these cars... like everyone else, I've looked at these countless times on Autotrader but there is something so intimidating about them. Then you're making it sound like no big deal!

It's been no big deal at all, certainly across the whole three months and 400 miles that I've owned it. I'm sure the next couple of years will be exactly the same.

 

 

Oh, that's not including the things that are still brokeh.

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1 hour ago, Soundwave said:

Always loved these. Now I can live the dream* of ownership vicariously through this thread, with someone else paying the bills! Excellent work.

This has the potential to be thread of 2021- the tears, the joy, the suspense, the bills, the lack of parts. Can’t wait!

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2 minutes ago, chaseracer said:

If it's anything like the landmark my local dealer had cluttering up the showroom, it probably took 18 months to achieve the appropriate level of discount for it to sell...

A bit like my x1/9. Stuck in the showroom until my godmother took a shine to it on Christmas Eve. A bit more end of year discount and a huge trade in...

I saw the car show prototype lignage concept at the British motor show in 1996? Sadly the c6 was outdated with tech and finish when was launched. I’d love one, but the ongoing issues and £££ have put me off.

 

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Blimy ,I didn't realise these were so expensive to tax in the UK. The once only Rego fee here was a bit steep but nowhere near what you guys are paying annually . 

Does the presumably cheaper to tax 2.2 exist in the UK ?

A four pot C6 would be so wrong, a bit like a manual XM. 

My manual XM is for sale btw...

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As I was a serial Citroen botherer in the past (in my case, everything is in the past!) having had loads of Xantia's, 2CVs a few CXs and even (briefly) an XM, I love these but have never actually seen one on the road, not round here anyway!  I am now a massive fan both of the car and of the OPs writing style. Keep it up, loads more posts please, I'm bored.

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I started a thread a while ago about these when thinking about getting one like everyone else. It successfully scared me off them so I'm delighted with this thread to live the dream vicariously.

Just remembered that I saw one of these in Perth, western Australia in about 2009. The dealer must have been forced to take it at gunpoint.

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19 hours ago, bezzabsa said:

did you ever explain why its a 2007 on a 59 reg??????????

I did on the other thread (I think, but it must have come up in a reply to someone.)

I don't know for certain, but there are a lot of GJ59 *** cars which appear to be an older spec (the specs didn't vary much over the years, but 2009-on cars had little chrome (ish) bits of plastic on the door handles, among one or two other tweaks). My car was actually built 20/04/07, but wasn't registered until 14/09/09. I know the newer spec cars tend to be 10-platers, so I imagine Citroen UK had a shittonne of RHD C6s stacked up in a field somewhere they couldn't shift. I don't know the dates, but the VED super tax coming in probably played a part too (the 3.0 that replaced the 2.7 is much cheaper to tax). Imagine having a field full of 2-3 year old C6s that had failed to sell from new, and that would soon cost a grand a year to tax!
I'm assuming Citroen UK pre-registered loads of them in one hit (GJ59 *** is undoubtedly the most common C6 reg plate) and then tasked the dealers with getting rid of them. Mine has lots of mention of Warners of Cheltenham, so I guess that's where it went. God knows what kind of discount somebody actually got on mine when new!

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You actually bought a cheap C6...Or indeed a C6 at all.  Brave, brave, brave man.

Says the person with a Xantia Activa AND a V12 Jag XJ-S.

Lovely, lovely cars, but the sheer potential for disaster - especially in the electronics department - just puts me off.  That and the ridiculous vehicle tax band which for how few miles I do would just be impossible to justify.

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20 hours ago, Frogchod said:

Blimy ,I didn't realise these were so expensive to tax in the UK. The once only Rego fee here was a bit steep but nowhere near what you guys are paying annually . 

Does the presumably cheaper to tax 2.2 exist in the UK ?

A four pot C6 would be so wrong, a bit like a manual XM. 

My manual XM is for sale btw...

Yes, the 2.2 was sold in the UK. I drove one and found the entire experience very underwhelming. Bit like driving a four pot Rover P6.

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1 hour ago, Zelandeth said:

You actually bought a cheap C6...Or indeed a C6 at all.  Brave, brave, brave man.

Says the person with a Xantia Activa AND a V12 Jag XJ-S.

Lovely, lovely cars, but the sheer potential for disaster - especially in the electronics department - just puts me off.  That and the ridiculous vehicle tax band which for how few miles I do would just be impossible to justify.

Ha! I've got an Activa too, though it's had a fight with a Ford C-Max apparently. Certainly looks like it has. Likely a donor for my upcoming project that I really don't need in my life.

Oh, and I've got a TVR - people normally mince about how unreliable those are, too. In comparision, it's a Hi-Lux!

21 hours ago, Frogchod said:

Blimy ,I didn't realise these were so expensive to tax in the UK. The once only Rego fee here was a bit steep but nowhere near what you guys are paying annually . 

Does the presumably cheaper to tax 2.2 exist in the UK ?

A four pot C6 would be so wrong, a bit like a manual XM. 

My manual XM is for sale btw...

1 hour ago, dollywobbler said:

Yes, the 2.2 was sold in the UK. I drove one and found the entire experience very underwhelming. Bit like driving a four pot Rover P6.

The 2.2 was available here as Ian says. I've never driven one, but having driven this car I can imagine the 4-pot diesel ruins the experience a bit. I had a 407SW a couple of years ago with the 2.0 version of that engine, and competent as it was, it was a tractor compared with this. Horrible gearchange, too. I don't doubt the performance difference would only be marginal, but something about the way a V6 auto delivers over a 4-pot manual makes a huge difference to the character of the car. It's the same with a 5-cylinder petrol S-Max we've got; It's silky smooth and relaxing to drive (engine-wise), and I know the 4-pot cars aren't. 

The 2.2 didn't get the AMVAR active damping, which does make quite a difference to the drive, apparently. It also came with fugly wheels, though by all accounts the smaller diameter/fatter tyre combo gives a more refined ride. Oh, and they didn't have the active spoiler, HUD or headlamps that steer around corners, so am oot.

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Most unregistered C6s were laid up in Citroen showrooms up and down the country. If you were in one of the top performing dealerships - you were offered extra backend  incentives if you took on a C6 from Slough. This meant that every six weeks you'd have a different C6 arrive on the back of a trailer to be swapped over for one in the showroom. These cars remained the property of Citroen UK rather than dealer bought stock - but the proviso was that they had to be displayed prominently in the showroom.  It did mean though that as a dealership you had to register a C6 demonstrator to qualify - it also meant that to remain fully in Sloughs good books and get maximum backend bonus points you also had to keep a demo Pluriel on the fleet too.

To be brutally honest - having a C6 stuffed in the showroom was a right royal pain. Take your mind back to the mid late noughties and Citroen had been transformed in to a value brand - cashbacks and Picassos from 9995,  C2's and 3s for165 quid a month . Suddenly having this 30 -40k luxobarge stuck in the middle of the showroom - doors locked - it's battery normally as flat a a witches tit didn't really scan - Citroen dealerships just weren't set up for selling such a car in the modern era - the car was too expensive for your average Citroen punter - and the dealership experience was far far too low rent for the modern age premium car punter - so the dealer display cars just came..and went. 

Within the first year we'd be given  pre registered Slough cars to punt on the used yard. These tended to be the 2.2 Linage manual  spec - which drove - not unsurprisingly like a facelift early C5 with a few extra trinkets - and much like the unregistered top spec showroom cars they remained unsold and got sent back to Citroen - to be put on another dealers lot. 

In the time that Citroen UK were making any effort in selling the C6 - we sold 3.  All top spec,  2 of which were  dealer demonstrators that we managed to transfer existing C5 exclusive customers in to - one of which kept his C6 for a decade - and another straight business sale to an eccentric Australian businessman who absolutely adored the car for 6 months - that was until its electronics  started to play up and would cut out randomly for no particular reason.  He played very hard ball with Citroen for a replacement car - but after his experience id very much doubt he'd have bought another. 

I'll always regard the C6 as a bit of a curates egg. It looked fantastic but in the cold light of day it's C5/407 based underpinnings were a bit undernourished for the purpose - the 2.7s eat their way through front  tyres and certain elements like the generic Psa comms unit and stalks could have been upgraded - and why they never fitted  the fixed Hub steering wheel from the C4 always bemused me when it could have added an extra futuristic feature to the facia. 

A  decade and a half on though -the very fact now you can purchase one so cheaply is a great source of amazement - and are the electronics any worse or better than any Merc or Beemer of the same era??...not really.  Most of your of your cars issues are just symptomatic of its age and lack of general maintenance in the past few years.  I shall be looking forward to see how you get on with it.

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7 hours ago, Braddon81 said:

Most unregistered C6s were laid up in Citroen showrooms up and down the country. If you were in one of the top performing dealerships - you were offered extra backend  incentives if you took on a C6 from Slough. This meant that every six weeks you'd have a different C6 arrive on the back of a trailer to be swapped over for one in the showroom. These cars remained the property of Citroen UK rather than dealer bought stock - but the proviso was that they had to be displayed prominently in the showroom.  It did mean though that as a dealership you had to register a C6 demonstrator to qualify - it also meant that to remain fully in Sloughs good books and get maximum backend bonus points you also had to keep a demo Pluriel on the fleet too.

To be brutally honest - having a C6 stuffed in the showroom was a right royal pain. Take your mind back to the mid late noughties and Citroen had been transformed in to a value brand - cashbacks and Picassos from 9995,  C2's and 3s for165 quid a month . Suddenly having this 30 -40k luxobarge stuck in the middle of the showroom - doors locked - it's battery normally as flat a a witches tit didn't really scan - Citroen dealerships just weren't set up for selling such a car in the modern era - the car was too expensive for your average Citroen punter - and the dealership experience was far far too low rent for the modern age premium car punter - so the dealer display cars just came..and went. 

Within the first year we'd be given  pre registered Slough cars to punt on the used yard. These tended to be the 2.2 Linage manual  spec - which drove - not unsurprisingly like a facelift early C5 with a few extra trinkets - and much like the unregistered top spec showroom cars they remained unsold and got sent back to Citroen - to be put on another dealers lot. 

In the time that Citroen UK were making any effort in selling the C6 - we sold 3.  All top spec,  2 of which were  dealer demonstrators that we managed to transfer existing C5 exclusive customers in to - one of which kept his C6 for a decade - and another straight business sale to an eccentric Australian businessman who absolutely adored the car for 6 months - that was until its electronics  started to play up and would cut out randomly for no particular reason.  He played very hard ball with Citroen for a replacement car - but after his experience id very much doubt he'd have bought another. 

I'll always regard the C6 as a bit of a curates egg. It looked fantastic but in the cold light of day it's C5/407 based underpinnings were a bit undernourished for the purpose - the 2.7s eat their way through front  tyres and certain elements like the generic Psa comms unit and stalks could have been upgraded - and why they never fitted  the fixed Hub steering wheel from the C4 always bemused me when it could have added an extra futuristic feature to the facia. 

A  decade and a half on though -the very fact now you can purchase one so cheaply is a great source of amazement - and are the electronics any worse or better than any Merc or Beemer of the same era??...not really.  Most of your of your cars issues are just symptomatic of its age and lack of general maintenance in the past few years.  I shall be looking forward to see how you get on with it.

Really interesting insight, thanks!

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1 hour ago, Garythesnail said:

You'd be making me look plain amateur by taking on one that has done twice the miles.

That said, if they're motorway-based, it might not be too bad. GJ59 *** car too 😄

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2 hours ago, Garythesnail said:

You'd be a brave, brave man to take this on. Titanium balls? I'd say diamond studded titanium balls!! 

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