I BOUGHT A CHEAP CITROEN C4 PICASSO FOR £750! 

I bought a C4 Picasso new in 2008. I liked the styling, the quirky Citroen design engineering, even the flappy paddle/automatic gearbox. However, it quickly developed squeeks, rattles and aged very quickly, with saggy drivers seat etc., I offloaded it as soon as the three year warranty was set to expire!

Citroen engineering was second to none for amazing innovation. Peugeot came along and squeezed all the life out of them . I have a 1977 car and I love it .

10 year old Citroen with 100K+ on the clock for £750 and a full tank of fuel, kinda knew where that was going. I had good money on it having the EML on for sure at the start, well blow me down!

Love your videos Matt but keep hoping you will find a good Citroen - bearing in mind I lived in France for 16 years 2004/2020 and ran three automatic C4 Picassos without any problems at all. I worked as a surveyor and needed the space for a surveyors ladder in the back with the seats folded flat and also to carry two bikes in the back on holiday. Drove them back to UK loads of times, comfortable (no sagging seats) and 48 mpg from the 1.6 diesel. The quirky Citroen features were great such as loads of storage , the great sideways vision in front of the A pillars, flappy paddle gear change and the rear view mirror for the passenger. Needless to say now we are back in UK I have a Citroen 7 seat Spacetourer so we can take the bikes back to Frane on holiday - 56 mpg bears out the great reputation Citroen have for diesel technology. Anyone attracted to a Citroen should buy from a reputable Main Dealer or a second hand car dealer like you who does his best to offer well sorted motors.

I howled at 12:50 when you finally ran out of optimism. Citroen never fails to impress. Brilliant video as per Matt.

Slowly, slowly, we are working ourselves towards the C6 video. Keep up the good work Matt!

I always feel a sense of relaxation when I start watching your videos and hear the music. You are doing a great job Matt all the best from Ireland👌.

You maybe a car dealer But your opinion of citroen is misguided! I'm 80 years old ,so you can imagine how many cars I have had since 17 years old.!! Well after about 8 different makes of vehicles I can honestly say that the last 2 vehicles I have had over the last 6 years are a berlingo van 147000 miles ( delivery driver) never let me down one broken front spring normal brakes etc service, Now a berlingo Multispace 100 000 no problems. The MOST reliable vehicles I have ever owned!!!!!!

I'll never skip a video about Citroëns from you Matt!😂

I know someone who’s had one of these since new, 2007 1.8i 16v VTR with nearly 200k miles on it. Apart from usual wear and tear bits like brakes, clutch, timing belt and routine servicing it has been an excellently reliable car.

All we need is Matt to buy a normal automatic c4 picasso and the trilogy is completed

I'm on my 5th Citroen Grand Picasso Matt and had no problems on any of them. Cheap motoring as i don't need to keep-up with the Joneses! 😆

The original older shape Xsara Picasso previous to this up to around 2010 was absolutely superb, I sold loads of them, petrol and diesel and always had great profit, then these came along and it all went downhill, you could say the same for most of the French stuff after the mid 2000's, Renault and Peugeot included, it all got a bit too complicated and quality just wasn't there, but you can never knock their design Matt, best bit about French Cars 😮

I've always loved the quirkiness of Citroen's , and i owned a 1st gen C5 estate with air suspension. I kid you not that was the most comfortable car i have ever driven , going over your estate road ramps felt like driving over a catseye on the road. However downside , it ate brakes for snacks.

My C4 Picasso 1.6 diesel from 2011 serves me great. Egs gearbox works and doesn't bothering me. Few of my friends have similar model and age and serves them well too.

Love the videos Matt😊

We have Shitroens on the this side of the pond too. They're called Chrysler products.

My first new car in 1996 was a Citroen Saxo 1.1SX. Ridiculously flimsy build quality (I once leant on the front wing and dented it!), but great fun to drive, it was like a little Jack Russell. It would take any amount of punishment an 18 year old would throw at it, and crucially, came with 1 years free insurance, which for an 18 year old was a god send!

Hi Matt another well presented video on what not buy .

I loved my C4 Grand Picasso it was the perfect family bus, big, comfy and smooth to drive. It had a new gearbox but I had to go in the end as it kept randomly cutting out. It did over 155k though.

I had the Grand Exclusive EGS version for 6 years until recently, only sold it at 12 years old and had no trouble from it in the whole time I had it. Went to France and back in summer, 600 miles in one day twice in 10 days without a hiccup. I think mine was the exception!

lol @ the peter griffin comment, it was the first thing i thought before you said it. well done sir.

I've had two, the 5 and 7 seat. If you have the EGS version, get rid of it as soon as you can. It WILL throw its toys out of the pram and the input shaft will destroy the end of the crankshaft no matter how much you have spent on maintenance over the years. Loved ours to bits, comfortable, loads of space and nice to drive but the ticking EGS time bomb is always at the back of your mind.

Matt, we used to have convos back in the day when your channel was small - super geeky car convos 😃I haven’t had the time to watch your videos due to work, life etc but I’m always thinking i need to catch up. I’ve watched quite a few today as on holiday from work and even watched the ads 😀 to support your channel as much as possible. Your videos are just better and better all the time but importantly maintain the cool approach you’ve always adopted I feel proud to have watched your stuff since the start. So glad I came across ur channel all that time ago - ..good to see you thriving All the best!

_"Do you fancy spending the next 20 minutes of your life...."_ Actually, yes; yes I do. With the exception of my content on my channel, This video is more entertaining than anything that has been posted on RU-vid in the last week! I will say, I do like that car's quirky interior features.

Thanks for the video Matt. Reminded me our days with the growing family in our 7seater diesel. I really miss the captain’s bridge as the dash behind the wheel looked like a deck😊. Very comfy for long hauls… I am also sad to see that MPVs have been replaced by SUVs

Matt, absolutely spot on about the focus knee clatter!…every time I get into my daughters …..bloody painful!

I've got a 2014 - next shape - and it's a great dad wagon. 3 isofix points is a game changer for these

Hi Matt. I'm a big fan of the channel. I just wanted to mention that Citroen is not exactly a translation of lemon. The Citroen or Citron, fruit is a citrus tree fruit which although may be similar to a lemon, is not the same species. In Hebrew it is called an etrog (אתרוג) and plays an important role in the harvest festival of Sukkot, around September/October time. Before the festival, prices for Etrogim (Citrons) can reach in the hundreds of dollars for choice examples and there are Jewish families who come from a long line of Etrog traders. Some actually took the name of their trade as their adopted surname, such as the French Jewish family of the founder, André-Gustave Citroën. Having said this, I agree, Citroen are absolute rubbish.

Well someone has taxed it for another 12 months so it can't have been that bad. We ran a 2001 Picasso for 20 years with no major issues at all - a fantastic family car. It's still on my drive and I had to move it yesterday after about 8 months. I charged the battery and it fired up straight away. A clutch and suspension issues are hardly limited to Citroen are they.

To be fair I could have guessed it was a lemon from the fact it was a citroen with no history. But oh well, worth the try. Good video anyhow.

You can't win them all Matt, far better to loose £150 than spend a fortune making it saleable only for it to bounce back with more faults to pay for. Some makes of cars shout "Keep Away" and Citroen are the no.1 in my list.

I drive a 15 year old MercE Class sport 2008, 15 years old which I have had for 3 years. No rust, no rattles and can roll off a 500k trip by late afternoon and emerge fresh. So there, old E Classes, my third in 22 years. Motto, buy well, luxury motoring for 5K.and they last years more.

After you sell a Citroen you dont have to worry about the owners coming back, because they're most likely stranded somewhere.

Had a Xsara Picasso and loved it. The later one's like this got far too clever for their own electronics - seen too many money pits bought on YT so I'd be out. I had an Insignia that got similar sill damage when a Kwik Fit Fitter ( you can't get better we were told ) jacked it up in the wrong place and the sill just deformed. Of course when I got there and spotted it they denied it.

"Loose on the front end" 😂😂😂 I've had one of these for two years and it's been great.

I've had 3 Citroens. C5(2003, 2.0), Saxo(2002, 1.1) and C2 VTS(2005, 1.6). I have been very satisfied for all 3. C5 was VERY comfortable and reliable for about 6 years i had it. No expensive faults and no problems in yearly inspection. Although the automatic gearbox on it was annoying. Very slow to "react". Saxo was only 700€ and also was reliable and cheap to run. The only annoying fault i had was rain water getting in somewhere behind the dashboard. And it the water would flood down on the floor mats. C2 VTS has been really fun to drive. C2 VTS i've only had about a month so not much to say about it yet. My family also had a 2009 C5 Diesel. This was also reliable like the older one. Also very comfortable. I liked driving it. The automatic gearbox was really good compared to the older one. We had it 15 years before selling this car.(about 310 000 km driven). Picasso or C4 Picasso i have always disliked very much compared to other MPVs. It looks so awful I could never own one.

Sensible decision, Matt and an excellent narrative of the frustrations of buying a cheap, used car...

I have an '09 Citroen C5 petrol manual and it is still going strong at almost 100,000 miles. It has needed the usual consumables plus 1 clutch, 2 wiper motors and 2 window winders (the cables rust) Don't buy old, high mileage diesel cars (applies to most manufacturers) or automatics (particularly with no/poor service history) and you are generally okay. It cost me £4k at 3 years old with 35,000 miles on it, so it has been cheap motoring in a comfortable saloon car.

Love ur videos all the way from durban south africa 🇿🇦 ❤️

One of the best company cars I ever had was a 1997 Citroen Xantia, incredibly comfortable compared to the previous BMW 3 they seem to have lost their way since then

Drain the tank, there’s a £100 of fuel in it.

Matt, you’ve seen the future of when you hit 50 👍🏼 Joking aside, I look forward to your great posts, keep ‘em coming.

I had one of these as a cheap banger, never wanted one, but I have to say I loved it and I was gutted when it died (semi auto gearbox went)

Mine is the 7 seater. I had two the MK1 and MK2. Great and practical car for a young family. Service can be expensive and maintenance will be on the high side. Mine is serviced religiously. Every issue is fixed immediately.

So glad you stitched in the Peter Griffin clip 😂🙌

There are some automakers I just dont understand how they are still in business. I dont have any French automakers in my country but both Peugeot and Citroën fall into that category. The internet is loaded with stuff about how bad they are.

Another excellent video Matt 🚗🚙🚘👍👍👍⭐️⭐️👏👏

I love you keep up the amazing work ❤

I had one of these as a rental back in 2013 or thereabouts. I thought what a brilliant family motor. Thankfully, I had no family just myself in the South of France having fun in the hills. Made cheaply they were never going to last. Pity as I liked the design.

I have had french cars, and they have been very good. This Picasso just hasn't been looked after.

I don't know whether it's because it was tortured, had a rough life etc or if it's just because it's French but 10 years/ 114k miles out of a car is dispicable.

Very underated car, they are like a van and great for shifting stuff about.

I had a ZX and an XM they were great. After that they seem to have created a worse reputation for themselves. Great vlog as usual.

it was either watching your video or sorting out my sock draw .. seriously i love your content .

Another awesomely honest video, cheers Matt! I bore my Mrs to death talking about Matt's vids...(It's ok, she is insured!)

i have grand picasso auto and its brilliant, you have to know how to drive the gearbox, once mastered is good

I had one of these as a stop gap a while ago. It was the auto vtr+, which actually drove very well. I paid £1700 for it and sold it after18 months for £1700. However, I always had the feeling that it was all going to go bang on a long drive. Another great video Mat.

Before I watch; I love the look of this car and I hope you haven't overspend....

Love the seats in the range .

Hi matt, at least the weeds have been cut where you parked the car's lol, from marty in Belfast northern Ireland God bless

These cars always remind me of a bubble that's been blown up too far and just about to burst, everything stretched and strained until POP! Took 5 minutes to get to "good buff" and we didn't even get to the cupholder count ... the writing was on the wall. Hopefully goes in the "you owe me" column with your trade-in mate.

You didn't massively overspend on this one! I'm in shock 🤯. You definitely called it. Could've been 2 grand to repair 😮

Another interesting video and a BIG SHOUTOUT to CAR VERTICAL for sponsoring the video. Strange that non of your checks ever show anything negative ?

I personally don't think its worth repairing it just a scrap 😂😂 awesome matt

The state of some of these cars! My French car is 14.5 yo and no rust at all. Maintenance.... Can't imagine you even lose money on £750....10 years old and a goner already.

I have no clue how I discovered your channel. Might have been from watching other car channels. Anyway I’ve followed and subscribed on a few platforms and I’ve been been binge watching loads of your videos , mainly to see if you’ve massively overspent 😂

If Citroen is lemon (in french), what does "citron" stands for?

I may be wrong but I’ve never seen one of your Carvertical checks reveal any major problems like accident history or outstanding finance. It would be interesting to see one that does pick up a problem just to prove that the system actually works.

People never learn when they buy these new, they aren't even that cheap but after 60,000 miles they go wrong massively wrong.

17:31 my mate has a ford focus (which is living up to the fix or repair daily name 😂) with a slipping clutch and it is terrible because the clutch barely bites but at the same time so fun

So, how many takes did you do for the intro Matt? I heard a little 'one more time' at the beginning, reminded me of filming my own videos! 😅

I have a 22 plate Citroen c4 grand Picasso and I absolutely love it the automatic is smooth as ever and my wife’s wheelchair in it perfect

Hello Matt, good little video, shame about the car. In the 90 I had a 1.5 diesel AX, great little car, then a Saxo , then a Xantia , then a Picasso. They were all great and didn’t have any trouble with them. Times have changed now, would buy another Citroen. Ged

I've run a 65 plate DS3 for the last 6.5 years and barely had any issues thankfully. I do feel it's probably time to get rid before the issues all start to appear though 😂

Good call to get rid Matt - I am a regular viewer, and only disagree with you on one issue in life, French cars! I must say the C4 grand picasso 2.0 tdi with that auto gearbox was a family car of ours, we just scrapped it at 147000 miles after 16 years of use! What a car, what times we had. These cars can go on and on and be faithful servants as ours was, but you have to look after them and also have a ££ contingency fund to fix everything, as everything did go wrong on ours between 70k and 90k - French cars are like French women - great girlfriends, but tough to marry - we managed, it was a fantastic family car in the end, we loved her - and even got used to that gearbox - lovely comfy seats and suspension, she taking us all over Europe on family holidays, but buying one at the end of its life with no service history is not to be recommended - given the age of these now, unless you find a one or two owner with lots of receipts (and there should be...), do not buy. However, if you see one whose had everything done, it can reach high miles as we have proven - the diesel engine itself never went wrong!

Id gladly take it for 750. It would be a steal in Romania... Even with some fixing up... But that right hand drive... Ahh... That's a dealbreaker....

It's a shame really, as the Peugeot diesels are fantastic. I've owned both the 1.6 HDi, and the 2.0 HDi, even their Ford counterparts. The engines are really solid. The problem with a car like that, is no one buys it to look after, or care about. It's just seen by most as a family wagon, a tool to get kids from A to B. This is why most of them end up riddled with little faults, because the owners don't take care of them.

I love it when Matt is right.

These have always been cheap and i think the reliability shows. When i bought my 2006 smax 5 years ago you could buy at 2012 picasso for same sort of money. Im glad i went for the smax its been pretty reliable and bar aircon needing a regas everything still works. People hate the diesel in the picasso the 1.6 but if looked after they are pretty good. I racked up 110k in my focus in 4 years and it was floorless. They however dont take kindly to poor maintenance.

Unfortunately I had one of those bloody things Mathew, and I can tell you straight off that they suffer with crap suspension and engine mounts, and they eat clutches! The engines are bullet proof but the rest of the car is crap. They also suffer with water getting into the fuse box under the bonnet which then renders the car useless!!!

The one positive is you havent lost mega money; I also note you have finally trimmed the verge in your carpark 😊

How am I not surprised with that outcome Matt….as soon as I saw the video title I thought ‘uh oh here comes trouble’.

great video mate

I know they’re garbage but if the previous owner(s) had just looked after it this could have easily gone on for much longer time/miles. I’ve no idea why people don’t look after their stuff.

Just want to give a shout out to the newer shape C4 Grand Picasso (2014 on). It does indeed have the same dodgy build quality issues, but they aren't as bad as with the generation in this video. I just sold one that had done 150k miles and only at the very end did of my ownership did I have problems. The gearbox and engine were fine, but as always with French cars the electrics were terrible. They seem to use tiny wiring which breaks easily resulting in all manner of electrical glitches. Anyway, I liked the car so much I have just bought another which has only done 74k miles and so far no issues. Drives great and has everything I need - cheap motoring!

Cleaning up the roads one Citroen at a time…

Of course a man with your outlook on life is a 'Family Guy' fan 👍 - Thanks Matt 🤓

£750 Citroen C4? This will be good!

Wouldn't they have done a car vertical when they accepted the P/X

happy to see you like family guy!

I had a xantia back in 96. My mom always fell asleep - even on short trips. It was that comfortable.

1,6hdi has semi automatic, and 2.0hdi has Aisin regular automatic. Also 1,6hdi 66kw has not have flying wheel, but stronger versions of that same engine has.

7.35 the WORLD FAMOUS Dash Knee event. I have competed in this event many many times over my decades of driving. 😂💂‍♂️🪖🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇨🇦

"one more time" right at the beginning before you greeted us. 😂

My 2006 Citroen is still going strong. Just passed its MOT with no advisories. C5 2.0 petrol automatic. Strong bodywork and thick paint. Seats still good too so I reckon this model you bought was built to a price point with many compromises. A shame that. I'd say some models were better quality, based on a manual 2013 DS3 Sport Plus I had and a 2021 C3 my father has with a proper auto box.

Love it! 😂 "At least it's not one of those hateful automatics..... Aah, clutch is slipping and gearbox is noisy".

When I saw C4 Picasso and you.... how could I not watch lol... :D

Welcome baaaaaaaaaaaack

I don’t understand the hype around Citroen cars , so well said Matt. There are much better cars around.