Car reviews

Introduction

The Citroen C3 comes as either a 5 door hatchback or 2 door convertible names the Pluriel. This makes it desirable to both young drivers as well as small families. The driver and front passenger have loads of space in the front, but backseat passengers will suffer for legroom if they are over the age of 12. The dashboard layout is logical and easy to use even if a few of the buttons and knobs are a bit fiddly. The ride is also surprisingly uncomfortable for a Citroen. However, in 2005 they did try to fix the problem and succeeded to some extent. The handling is a lot better in the 5 door hatchback compared to the Pluriel as the soft-top loses a lot of its rigidity when the roof is off.

Exterior & Interior

Both the 5 door and Pluriel C3's are stylish looking cars with a generous amount of kit coming as standard. Inside there is plenty of room up front for the driver and front passenger. The cabin has a nice big open feeling but there is not a lot of space in the back and fitting three people in will be a very tight squeeze. The boot is also exceptionally small and with a big lip and the boot cover doesn't leave much space room for bigger bags to fit easily. There are some drivers who will also find the high positioning of the drivers seat uncomfortable. The Pluriels removable roof is very poorly designed as the supports used to hold the roof in place when up have no where to go when it's down. This means you need to be sure of the weather if you set off from home with the roof down! It is also extremely fiddly to remove and put back with the hooks holding things in place being easily bent and damaged.

Drive

The C3 is enjoyable to be in with comfortable seats and good all round views of the road. It is nice and nippy through town and handles the motorways fairly well as long as you don't have the 1.1-litre. The ride in early C3 was extremely uncomfortable with every bump being conveyed back to the cabin, but thanks to a redesign in 2005 the ride was improved to smooth out all but the biggest bumps. The handling is good with the C3 cornering competently however it could do with more grip and less body roll. The Pluriel though is terrible with the roof down with serious flex in the body and it feels very shifty over any bumps. With the roof up though the ride feels better and the soft-top does a good job of keeping out most of the wind noise.

Faults & Repairs

The sensodrive gearbox has proven to be nothing but problematic with it breaking no matter how well it is cared for. The only advice we can give on this gearbox is avoid it at all costs! As for the interiors they have proven to be cheap and will break easily if treated too roughly. Other areas of concern are the suspension and electrics, be sure to check everything thoroughly when buying second hand version. As for the Pluriel make sure to inspect the fold away roof carefully making sure it can be put up and down smoothly. Also makes sure that the roof supports are easy to unhook as they can be fiddly leading people to lose their patience with them and they eventually get broken. The repair costs are fairly cheap for most C3 parts so you are not likely to break the bank when you take your vehicle in for a regular service or repairs.