Content / Road Tests / Daves 2009 C6 3.0 HDi Exclusive Long Term Road Test

Daves 2009 C6 3.0 HDi Exclusive Long Term Road Test

A newer C6

by Dave-Retired

This car replaced my 2007 C6 Lignage

25th April 2012 Yesterday we travelled down the 460 miles to St Austel in Cornwall to look at a replacement for my older C6

C6 3.0 HDi

The car is a November 2009 3.0 HDi Exclusive in Abyss Blue and had 20,846 miles on the clock when we picked it up.

The interior of this car is 'cream' and took a bit of getting used to following the dark interior of the previous car and may be a challenge to keep the carpets clean but......... There is a picture gallery here: - Click Here -

The return drive was again 460 miles and the car returned an average of 36.7 mpg even though the weather was not good and on the stretches where it was a bit clearer we didn't hang about

The car does feel more solid that the previous Lignage and performed a bit differently on the motorway, seeming to change down less when overtaking etc. so that will help with fuel economy

Just need to learn what all the additional 'toys' are and how they work, but the LDS (lane departure warning system) was soon turned off as it's a bit annoying.

1st May 2012 @ 21,380 miles. There was a small chip and crack in the windscreen, low down on the right hand side which was repaired today by AA Auto Windscreens.

When booking the job I said it was repairable (I know the criteria) but the call centre insisted they bring a replacement screen in case it 'cracked' during the repair. It didn't so I had no excess to pay, but if the screen had been replaced, it would have cost the Insurance Company £3,180! and me a £75 excess.

10th May 2012 The car (like most others apparently) came without a USB socket fitted in the armrest storage bin, but I bought a cable from eBay France and installed it yesterday

Had to partially remove the glove box to run the cable and instead of fitting a socket, simply left the plug behind the fuse box cover inside the glovebox as it's only going to be used to plug a USB stick with music on or map updates.

At the weekend the cover over the drivers door handle lock key hole fell off!

When I checked it, someone had stuck it on with 'Bluetack' The clips which are moulded into the cover itself looked OK, but it wasn't very secure, so I refitted it with araldite instead of Bluetack......

I suppose it might fall under warranty work, but it was simpler to go the DIY route. But Bluetack on a £40K car was the last thing I expected to see................

There were also quite a few minor scratches on the paintwork once I had a good look around, but managed to remove most of them with some ' colour restore' (milder than T Cut) as they were only in the lacquer coat and not down to the paint. Then I finished off with a good coat of 50% carnuba wax.

14th August 2012 @ 24,102 miles - well back from a long weekend at ICCCR 2012 in Harrogate and nothing to report on the C6 front as the car, well just runs sweetly and is a real long distance mile muncher.

18th August 2012 - after a fast 150 mile run down to Hull the car threw a 'Risk of particulate filter blocking' message along with the 'Service' lamp lighting up.
The car was stopped for 20 minutes or so before we set back off when it started throwing the message again, over and over, around 20 times in total before it eventually went away.

Seems like it's an issue with the auto DPF regeneration so will have a word with the dealer and possibly get it booked in for next week.

13th October 2012 @ 26,979 miles and 6 months have flown by since we got the car. Forgot to post the outcome of the DPF warning back in August. It showed a temperature warning error so that was cleared and a 'Forced Regeneration' of the DPF carried out. Nearly 3,000 miles later and the warning hasn't come back.

Fitted the Winter 'Grille Screen' today as temperatures haven't been much above 10c for a week and had a 200 mile ride out to the North Yorkshire Moors Steam Railway 'Railway In Wartime' event: - Click Here - Had a very interesting day and may make a weekend of it next year. The car ran fine with the temperature at 'normal' all the way there and back and it will help the car warm up faster on these frosty mornings.

Won't be long now before I swap to the winter tyres, which I kept when I traded the Lignage

22nd October 2012 as it's now cold and damp had the winter tyres fitted at a local garage for £40.00 (summer of the rims and winter on + balanced)

The car feels like it has far more grip on the Michel Winter Tyres and it should given it cost £1,000 for the set of 4 last year

14th November 2012 @ 27,950 - MOT was due at the end of the month so took my dealers offer up for £29.00 - Click Here - and had an interim service done even though it's not officially due for another 12 months or 40,000 miles.

Passed the MOT no problem.

15th April 2013 @ 31, 974 miles. Finally the weather appears to have broken and gone above the +4c high we have had for months now

so took off the cold weather 'Grille Screen' today and had the summer tyres refitted. However one had a 'soft' and cracked inner wall and was near the wear indicators, so was replaced with another Michelin Primacy HP from Mytyres at a cost of £209.70

The other 3 tyres were fine so opted to get the same make of tyre to keep the full set the same.

13th November 2013 @ 36,314 miles. 7 months on and not a lot to report! The C6 sat on the drive most weekends over the summer as we enjoyed days out in the 1952 Traction .

The winter tyres went back on on Tuesday (along with the winter 'grille screen') in time for the MOT today (still 8mm of tread on them) which the car passed with the usual Brake pad advisories - MOT said 75% worn but we also had the car serviced today and that report said 50% worn, so who to believe?

Well both were done at the same Citroen dealership!

As the car is 4 years old I also had the brake fluid changed during the service plus had the onboard fault log checked and the total bill came to.... £163.42 including the parts and Vat.

Who said dealers were expensive?

14th January 2014 @ 37,878 miles. Today the heater blower motor was replaced at a cost of £328.05. It wasn't working when we came back from holiday on December 22nd but came back to life the next day. Alas it failed completely on Xmas eve and between the public holidays our local dealer confirmed it required a new one.

So I set about trying to contact the warranty company, but kept getting a recorded message so assumed they were closed for the holidays. But they weren't, they were closed, period. The dealers duly ordered a new motor which was fitted on 7th January and immediately removed as it was 'noisy' so had to wait another week for a replacement.

The new one is great, but.... they managed to damage the front bumper of the car whilst taking it into the workshop, so they are now going to have to repair it - Click Here - This year hasn't started well at all.....

One positive thing though is that since before Xmas I have only been using Shell Diesel and the car does run better on it than diesel from Asda. It is quieter, smoother and more responsive.

27th March 2014 It's taken since January to get a new headlight from Citroen but the car now has a new front bumper and headlight and looks as good as new again.

4th April 2014 @ 39,610 miles. Had the winter tyres on the car swapped back to the summer ones now that the cold damp weather appears to have gone....

October 2014 My C6 wasn't getting the use it should so I took the decision to sell it.... In it's place I now have another older Citroen, a 1974 D Super.

Last update December 2014

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