Citroen C1 road test reports and car reviews

Citroen C1 2009

I have only been driving this car since December and while its quite nippy, a good sound system, reasonable on fuel,I find the controls to access the radio is a bit awkard as its situated on the top and to the left, which to my mind is pretty dangerous. It is not a knob or button ,which is normal but a flat thing(?) you press, which is integrated in the fascia! The other complaint I would say about this car is its rev counter, which is situated on a stalk! This detracts from the looks of the vehicle and will put many people off. All in all I wouldn’t recommed this car, which is a shame as Citreons are usually excellent and lovely looking cars.

Citroen C1 Vibe 1.0 2005

I love this car! I’ve done just over 80k since I bought it new. I haven’t looked after it particularly well - it’s never been serviced properly. I always over rev it (you kinda need to - the cars only fault!) and I’m not very nice to the clutch! Despite all this, the car is still as tight as a drum! The only work I’ve had to do to the car is replacing wear and tear items - brakes, spark plugs, filters etc. Everything else is still working as well as the day I bought the car! This is pretty bloody impressive for a 6k runaround! It’s also great fun to drive, the handling is superb. I’ve been fortunate enough to drive a lot of cars... 35k Mercs, Beamers, Hondas, Renaults etc. I can honestly say that out of all the cars I’ve driven, if I had to chose the best I would go with the C1. It’s fun, it’s cheap and it’s ridiculously reliable... it’s a wee trouper! Love it!

Citroen C1 1.1 2006

It’s a pile of c**p!!! I’d rather have a Citroen C2, which is more powerful, sporty and more aggressive!

Citroen C1 Rythym 2008

Great car, no faults, 1 trip to dealer for 12,000 mile service. It is cheap to run and the air conditioning is worth it for the extra comfortability but the car would certainly benefit from a bucket type seat. I would have another but why did they not change the rear when they changed the front on the 2009 model? It would have been easy as it’s plastic. Or after-market body styling panels colour coded for individuality?

Citroen C1 2007

Our Citroen C1 (June 2007) has developed a slipping clutch after only 35000 miles - most of which has been done on motorways, not around town. Having done some research on the Internet, I suspect that this is a design or manufacturing fault - common to Toyota Aygo’s and Peugeot 107’s as they share the same engine. I have taken the car into the Citroen garage this week, and have told them that I expect the clutch to be replaced under warranty, but they say that this is unlikely as the clutch is only guaranteed for 12000 miles. If the garage cannot replace the clutch under warranty, I will take this to Trading Standards, as I don’t believe that 35000 miles on one clutch demonstrates "merchantable quality". If others out there have experienced similar problems, perhaps we could consider a class action against Citroen? It’s a real shame as aside from the clutch problem, we are very happy with the car.

Responses to this review

I bought my C1 in 07. I’ve had door seals leaking, the driver’s side window got jammed, there have been problems with the brakes, the interior has pulls all over it, the back seat doesn’t sit properly, the clutch has just gone and now the baffles in the exhaust have gone. Apart from that its great!!!!!! I agree, we should all get together and get these problems sorted out. It’s in the garage at the moment and if they don’t agree to sort my problems out I’m going to the papers to get it published. When you pay a lot of money for a car you expect it to last at least 5years!!! - Jane from Yorkshire

Citroen C1 Cool 2007

I bought my wife a Citroen C1 Cool last August. It was brand new out of the showroom. It was our second showroom bought Citroen; the other was a Saxo Forte - it had a glove box; our C1 only has a shelf. Surely the cost would be small for somewhere to hide those CDs! Also, last winter my wife found that when we had a frost the drivers door locks would freeze up and the door would not latch she had to come from work holding the door with one hand. The car though is cheap to run - £35 road tax, endless miles per tank-full and remarkably comfortable and nippy around town. Hopefully you will some how sort out these rather minor problems before we purchase our next Citroen car.

Citroen C1 Vibe 2006

Very good small car, looks great according to my daughter who uses it more than my wife. Nippy and gives 52/56mpg on short journeys, going up to 65/69 on longer runs. Good dealer, only seen for a service, no faults so far.

Citroen C1 1.0 Vibe 2007

Great car - great price. I needed a car that was good value for money, good in towns and cities and good looking! At just over 5k this has to be the best car around for that money. Fuel economy is excellent, I only have to visit the filling station twice a month. Reliability has not been questioned in 7 months. Power steering and expanse of glass make driving and parking really easy, plenty of legroom and headroom too. This is an environmentally friendly car that is cheap to run, cheap to insure and is, without a doubt, the best in its class.

Citroen C1 1.0 Vibe 2007

I love my little C1 and it’s so affordable to run. The only downside is the boot space but it’s a very well designed compact car and looks gorgeous too. Very nice and nippy to drive. Extremely reliable.