CITROEN C2 1.4 HDi SX 3dr (2003)
The little C2 - Good mover for a diesel
I had to mark comfort down here just on account of the seats in the back of the Citroen C2. That doesn't actually matter to us much as we don't have back passengers often, but when our kids visit or if we're taking my parents somewhere, then it's REAL pain. The back seats are awful, and even though we don't often have people in the back it really is something I'd bear in mind when buying another car, simply because of the experience of having such tiny chairs this time around. It's silly really because the Citroen C2's front seats we find nice and spacious, it's just at the expense of those in the back, which is not good design. I mean it does make the car easy to manoeuvre given the small size, which is also helped by the nice big rear windows, but seriously, making back seats that size is almost not worth doing.
On the same note, the 3 doors are another big problem for getting people in and out. Again we thought it wouldn't be a bother if we only seldom have people in the back, but it's REALLY ANNOYING when you do have to get everyone out just to get the back people out. And they also have to go through the acrobatics of getting out and back in again. And the front seats also don't easily go back to the position they were in, which is annoying too. Plus, the thing about having the 3 door version of the Citroen C2 is a problem for another reason that just never occurred to us. The doors are HUGE, which means if someone parks closely next to you, you either need to lose some weight to get into your car, or clamber in the boot maybe. It's not great.
Oh dear I've just complained a lot! That's silly because our Citroen C2 is mostly very good to us. It's very powerful for a diesel, and we don't really hear the engine (you think of diesels as noisy but it's fine really). We haven't had any big repairs needing. It's done about 50 thousand miles now, and we've had it since 2006, and it's going strong. There are some creaks and squeaks from some of the interiors rubbing up against each other. Some of these we tracked down and fixed by sticking gaffer tape on some of the joints, but some others remain. It's the sort of thing you learn to blank out though.
The fuel economy is a great thing to end on. Fab, really. Over 60 miles a gallon, just great. Diesel is a tad more expensive than petrol but the extra efficiency really makes up for it.