My Citroen Ami replacement has arrived. It's a disaster.  

So Citroen customers are now responsible for quality control. Who knew?

That is appalling. Even if it cost half the price I'd still be fuming at how badly it's thrown together.

I totally agree with you. My grand daughter has got one. It’s red with a yellow roof, the build and finish is only a little bit better. Plus, it’s got no windows or engine! You have to move along by putting your feet down and kind of walking whilst sitting in it. It’s good on fuel though. Oh and it’s only got one door.

This is why we needed Clarkson on Topgear. He would have made sure the whole world knew this car was a joke and Citroen simply wouldn't get away with it.

What a disgrace for Citroen... Hopefully they will choke on this crap for pushing this to their customers/ Thank you for taking time and making this video/ Hopefully more and more people will see it and spread the word. I really hope Citroen will feel that and hopefully learn the lesson/

I imagine someone rejected it before it was passed to you .

I'd suggest writing to Citroën directly. Make a formal complaint and demand a proper response to let them know that you're taking this very seriously and willing to escalate the complaint, if needed. This kind of quality is unacceptable.

As of March 2023, the Citroën Ami has not been crash tested by Euro NCAP. The Ami is a quadricycle, not a car, and therefore it does not have to meet the increasingly rigorous safety standards that new cars have to pass. Even a minor impact and the occupants would be dead.

Citroen must’ve felt confident exporting the Ami to the UK after taking a closer look at Allegro’s and Marina’s.....

If you can get your money back I would definitely buy something else. The defects that you see now are very annoying, but if you are like me then they would bother me much more over time. It is better to get something that you are happy with as soon as possible so that you can put all of this behind you. Thank you for making this video to let others know what to expect if they are looking at one of these vehicles.

What i can't believe is that you paid £8,000 for that monstrosity 😂

I really love the concept of the Citroen AMI but looking at all those faults I'd rather walk

Definitely ask for a replacement! That suspension looks like it would work better as a bear trap

As the owner of a somewhat newer Citroen I can tell you it will never end. My car needs constant fixes to the electronics, mainly, that keep cropping up year after year...

It's the sort of thing I'd expect to see outside someone's property accompanying a sign saying "free to a good home"

If you are not happy with the quality tell them to take it back. There is no point stressing yourself out over other peoples failures to do a good job. Life is to short for that.

What an absolute shocker. I'd reject it and take the money back. I'm never buying anything from PSA after seeing that.

It's absolutely disgusting...reject it again immediately... you need to inspect it before you take delivery.. I think I will just stick with my smart car as I was seriously thinking of one as my smart is 17 years old now, and it's been brilliant ... I'm pleased I've seen this, and im not surprised you're gutted 🤔

By the way you can change the direction of the super sprayers in all cars. You need a small pin and you can movie it around using it.

I thought my Microcar (Ligier) was bad for the money, but this is really not acceptable, absolutely right you return this!

After watching your channel I have decided to cancel my order for an Ami.I was so impressed with concept and was one of the people who showed interest in bringing the Ami to the UK!.I have been sitting on the fence to order one,but took the plunge a couple of months ago,but after videos like yours has made me rethink!.🙏🏼

I'm starting to understand why Citroen is not keen on introducing it to new markets...

Thanks for sharing Anthony and condolences on the disappointment. Having grown-up in the car business it looks like what I've seen when manufacturers up production and cut costs to maximize profit margins. And dealers aren't concerned for customer satisfaction. Some of the issues like the badge, wiper and light bracket could be resolved easily, but other fitment issues with the doors and body panels are related to major frame or assembly misalignment, they may not be resolvable, however, I wonder if the front body panels might be missing some structure? As for the rust, personally, with with any AMI, I'd be inclined to personally clean the surfaces of rust, treat them with rust inhibiting paint and coat the frame and metal parts with rubberized undercoating. I might suggest rejecting it for defects within your grace period (in the U.S. it's three days). I've rejected new vehicles from Ford, GM and MB for major defects I discovered after delivery. in the case of the Ford SUV, the wrong transmission and cooling system were installed over what I ordered and were on the build sheet, and other defects such as missing sun-roof seals, Seat-belt latches that would not release and trapped me and a front seat passenger. requiring cutting of the passenger belt to get her out. Rather than buy the car back, Ford had a special rep to deal with such issues, and eventually I negotiated with Ford who refunded $12,000, installed the heavy duty cooling system it was supposed to have, fixed the other issues (except the wrong transmission) and I accepted the car. Perhaps Citroen at the factory level might do something such as fixing the issues and offer financial compensation (basically give up their profit), and that might save you from having to wait months and risk the same later. You likely have some leverage with your channel and presenting this comment to Citroen as a suggestion from a viewer that would benefit you, Citroen and help to promote rather than reflect negatively on the product might help to convince Citroen you have concern for the brand and are not out to take advantage.

there should be no issues with panel alignment as they came properly sized out of production line. Unless it had an accident or something and things got deformed. Worth looking into it.

I made a rule post 2002 or so after owing a dozen or so Citroens and Peugeots. NEVER buy another French car. That rule has served me well since.

Get back down the dealer ASAP, give them a decent ultimatum that's weighted in YOUR favour, see what they say. This is a brand new £8000 piece of equipment which is clearly exhibiting a number of design issues, and build quality issues. Get it off your chest soon, otherwise it will drive you wild. I was really into these, but your video has given me the 'willies' and actually scared me off - I couldn't bear the hassle. Your video and dissatisfaction wasn't in vain my friend, you've saved me a lot of sleepless nights.

When I see this, I am very happy with my 18 year old car.

We did look at the Ami but after watching this you make a great car sales executive showing us all the fine points🤔 and I think we will give Ami a miss

Doesn't matter how much it costs, $1 - $100.000 it was bought new an needs to be perfect. Don't settle for less or you will regret it

We used to have a C4 Grand Picasso and at 4 years old it suffered failed ABS, intermittent check engine lamp / limp home, loose exterior trim and is the only car I've ever owned that unscrewed it's own injectors. We dubbed it the Shitroën. Ditched it, bought a Skoda and never looked back.

You’ll have to reject it again. Citroen must have fired their entire quality assurance team That rust may not be an issue in the south of France but in the UK it won’t last 5 minutes I love the Amie, but not way I’m buying one

I was looking into one of these when they were first announced, and by the looks of things you've saved me a very expensive and wasteful credit agreement! _Merci beaucoup!_ 💳💸👍 I'll start off in saying when I first looked at it, that £8,000.- price was (iirc) the basic OTR spec in the UK. The equivalent spec in France was €5,000.- OTR at the same time - So £3,556.- of the UK price was a Brexit💩 „Benefit“ and nothing else - And for elegible French citizens there was also a 20% EV grant on offer. Even without the grant I was intending to save a lot of time, hassle & money by ordering through a French dealership, and using some of the savings to buy a Eurostar ticket. 🚄💰👍 Understandably, Citroën had *floods* of orders for the Ami under these conditions and would've been under a lot of pressure to fulfil them, and might also have been forced to shoulder some of the burden of the EV grant scheme. Under these conditions they'll have been slapping the Ami's together as quickly as they possibly could, reducing fabrication times as much as possible (Hence the flimsier parts) and as all Ami's look alike they'll have been sending the C-grade stuff to „Poundland“ as UK consumer rights over poor product quality are a lot less than for any EU citizen. 🛂🇪🇺📜 My plan to buy an Ami derailed when I found out my landlord would veto any attempt I made to install charging equipment (We have a communal parking area) so I never went ahead, but by the look of things - When it comes to electric vehicles from France - I'd be much better off sticking with my long-preferred EV manufacturer: Alstom. 🚄🇫🇷❤‍🔥⚡💨😇 #ViveLeTGV! 🚄🇫🇷❤‍🔥

Wow I am shocked by the quality of the frame/ crash structure of the car I have built stronger go carts in my garage I am truly shocked at how cheap that has been put together

Well it's a fookin french car mate. It's a Citroen, you get what you pay for. It shouldn't be a surprise

Put together by Hammond, Clarkson and May. Its the Ami Hammerhead eagle i-thrust.

Should have gone to Airfix, they have a good track record for plastic kits!

Think it came from Ncap test station 😂

Note to self - Don't buy a Citroen Ami.

WoW my first car was a 1956 Morris Minor and it woud leave that Citroen for dead in finish way back then. I would get back to Citroen and demand a car with a good finish, with No faults. Good Luck, and Grettings from Oz 👍

It's like one of those kids cars they push with their feet 😂 Looks like something you can buy from alibabba for a grand

All this points to is they are making a loss on Ami sales and they are seriously cutting corners on labour and parts. It’s so obvious that as little time as possible is going into them, be it repairs or builds. Doug’s shed broke the top suspension mount on his Ami - it just came away from the bonding. He also tightened everything up himself and applied a wax coating to the inner parts of all the frame. Things you just shouldn’t be doing with a brand name. As someone said ages ago, he would rather buy a Nissan leaf 1st generation for half the price, because it’s a *car* and not a quadricycle with proper NCAP testing and airbags. Anyway, this is the future of the EV industry. It either makes it or fails miserably. One autocar report suggested that an EV at 4 years has only a 51% return , whereas a petrol as approx 62% and a diesel slightly less. Because of battery diminishing

That’s a great idea and would be assembled with more care! You can remove front and rear very easily just open frame and some wiring etc. best wishes Anthony

This really makes the Ami out to be something in between the Mitsubishi iMEV and any one of those Chinese literally adapted golf carts that are really practical in many Chinese villages, but people fail to appreciate that. Actually the Ami could probably do well in that market.

The panels moving i dont know but the rest.... Wtf Citroen is this true?

Buying that shoebox is embarrassing enough, having that be the final product somehow makes it even worse lmao.

Under the sale of goods act, it should be of merchantable quality, the defects you have identified in the film, in my opinion, do not meet that criteria. The fact that this is an inexpensive car that has been built to a budget does not mean that it should exhibit the problems shown. Looks like it is sloppy build quality and I am sure that removing the panels & re-fitting these would resolve the problems, which should be done by Citroen or their dealer, these do seem to be unduly flexible, like it is missing stiffeners. Doors must have some sort of adjustment to get these to fit correctly, again, that is something that they should do. I think you should again raise this with Citroen, it is brand-new and they should not have delivered something that is sub-standard, how very frustrating, go back to them for another replacement, could be third time lucky!

That is unbelievable - wouldn't even use it for a door stop! It looks like someone has made it in a shed for a 'practical joke'. 😅

I'm fairly sure a big rc car would be built better and probably has more features

I am glad that I paid a little bit extra and got myself a dacia spring. I can really recommend this car!

100% reject!!!!! Appalling quality. I don't care what people say, £8,0000 IS NOT cheap, that's a lot of money. Just take it back Anthony ASAP

I know for sure microcars like Microcar, Aixam, Ligier and Chatenet have far better build quality.

A shame because I thought it'd be a great little car, to see the build quality is so terrible has made me rethink it. Probably will go for a second hand twizy or something

Glad I watched your video before purchasing a cute Citroën Ami. This is utterly shameful manufacturing quality and makes me feel sad.

Not sure whether to call it a nice plant pot or a rubbish car. I cannot understand why they would let that thing leave the factory. Hope you get it sorted out.

So there's a few things to consider here. Firstly, expectations. Your expectations are clearly high, if you'd ever bought a brand new car before you'd know they are never 'perfect'. Even bentleys can be rejected on quality grounds. If you're fussy and you look hard enough you'll find a problem anywhere. The Ami is a I have car in many ways, it offers relatively cheap motoring transport for two people. But there are trade offs with a cheap car built deliberately lightly for reasons of performance. I honestly think that there are better Ami's than yours and also worse. Basically, if you want a premium experience then move up market, maybe japanese? But I'm guessing you bought it because it's cheap, there's a reason for that!

You buy french, you get french haha

This is what you call a throw away car

Citroen lunch box 😂 They went from the Xsara d-turbo to this heap

Coming from an engineering/automotive background, I can't even believe what I'm seeing in this video. It makes the Top Gear Hammerhead Eagle i-Thrust look like an engineering marvel. Worst of all there's a child seat in there....

8 grand ?? I thought these were 3 grand and advertised as that as I was interested when I first seen them

It's your fault, guy. If you buy rubbish you get rubbish...

Ask your money back ! I have seen other videos of customers complaining about many issues with this car. I am so sorry for you because I am French, and it's a french brand.

The lack of substance underneath suggests this Sinclair C5 masquerading as a car would not be a good place to be in a crash. Seems also recent good Citroen anti corrosion performance has stepped back to rival 1970s cars which did well to last 5 years. This thing seems to be an exercise in unsustainability for both itself and its hapless occupants. Do buyers not have a chance to look at the car in a showroom before deciding to order?

That's like a school project car - a basic frame with a plastic chassis dropped on top

dont worry about the rust, the citroen will be in the bin years before it starts to worry

You seem like a nice guy.... but this serves you right. You encouraged them that building and selling this was a good idea. I hope you have learned your lesson.

Inspired by the British Leyland cars and workers of the 70's!

An 8000 pound car? It somewhat works? That is to me amazing.

Jeeze, I was starting to think "too bad they haven't brought those to America", but now I'm glad they didn't.

One thing this video made me think about is that car manufacturers are missing an opportunity to ship just the bolted together body and engine+electronics. They could leave the assembly to the customer; maybe combined with an option to rent a space+tools for building. That way it's faster off their line and they don't have to deal with quality control on the exterior. And it would also save the customer money and allow him to be the quality control! It could maybe even create aftermarket jobs to build and improve these basic-sets. That's assuming Citroen stop cutting up the car to reduce production costs further and they put together something decent. I guess they don't even want you to see what's underneath those panels, now. Any small EV with a practical solution for inspecting the chassis and removing/adding body parts would be a winner, in my book. But nobody does it right...

I still love these despite these faults

a real death trap! reject it and take your money back!

Seems more to be a "Citron Ami," to me. 😂 Here in America we call that a lemon.

Its only 8k.. Let alone it being Citreon. What sort of build quality would you expect.

Comes in the category of "should have been strangled at birth".

Does Citroëm quality control check the vehicles by tapping a white cane around them?

Sad to say having seen the pictures of these cars when they were originally available, I just knew I couldn't even be seen in one, let alone buy one! But, each to his own. However, just had a look and there's a lovely 1965 Ami for sale in West Yorkshire for £5k. Eco friendly 602cc engine and no road tax. Which would you choose??😇

This makes cars like the Pinto, Gremlin, and Chevette look good.

It's actually a full sized Little Tikes car, I can't believe it

If I didn't know better, I'd say that's a prototype. Reminds me of the City Rover built in India. Although I think that was actually better.

Shocking. And you didn't mention that it's in primer, has not even been painted! It really doesn't look like it's made by a major first world car manufacturer. I'm surprised they want to be associated with it, but looking at the badge on yours it would seem they intend it to become anonymous soon after sale. For taht price you could get a gorgeous secondhand proper car with an engine.

Absolutely shocking! I’d either reject and get a refund or ask for them all to be fixed at a discount on the price! Reminds me of an old Renault Captur, I rejected the 1st one and the 2nd arrived with around 53 faults which was 5 more than 1st 🤦🏻‍♂️🤣

That has been chucked together, no way would I accept that.

Should have gone to specsavers!

I thought these were quite cool when they were first out in the news etc, but it really does look like a toy car. I hope you get everything sorted :)

looks like a golf cart for bad weather but without the room for clubs.

Looks like a real destructive Citro-nami for Citroen!

This thing has the build quality of a golf cart.

I really believe the only reason it' so expensive is because it has basically 0 competition. Their profit margins must be ridiculously high

Well, it appears to be usual citreon quality.

If this was a toy car I would still take it back, the quality is shocking.

Well, I wouldn't expect it to be like other cars, given the price. Although loose plastic and bending fenders are actually more common than you realize. You just don't normally do that kind of inspection on your regular car. The times when the car doors and panels were rock-solid is gone forever.

The Citroën Ami is built in Marocco obviously with little to no automation as far as the welding is concerned, I would suspect. Therefore I suspect huge differences subsequently occure from car to car resulting in unavoidable lack of accuracy and therefore rattling all over the place that you observe. The price compared to the quality you get I would say is not justified. If it were cheaper, one would be more motivated to overlook the shortcomings. To my opinion the best would be to return the Ami and would try to get a Wuling Mini EV for about the same money which is in the same category.

Assembled in Morocco they're looking at your video and having a laugh

As a dedicated Citroën enthusiast, I have to say I'd be gutted as well. There's no excuse for the shite work on that car. I'd return it, and wouldn't take delivery until it's all sorted

Where the heck did they get those plastics? Cadbury's Milk Tray? 🤣🤣🤣

5:35 omg how this is even possible .....i cant believe this comes from citroen

It’s French. It’s just par for the course, I’m afraid. As a former owner of a Citroen, it’s all very familiar.

Real size plastic RC car! That's so cool! Oh... it's actually a "real car" apparently.

As a german I think french built good trains but cannot build cars