Login   
C6owners :: Forums :: The Lounge :: The Lounge

Why do C6s fetch so little money?

Home   Forum Rules    Forum Help  Conversion Tools
   
Please Register to enjoy additional Member Benefits
Top Thanked Forum Posts: Today | Week | Month | Year | All time | Most Thanks Given: To member | By user
Author Post
PercyPorcelain   
Sat Jul 15 2017, 02:28pm
Joined: Jan 19 2015
Member No: #2027
Location: London
The fear is that road tax on diesels will get even more expensive, which is surely another factor in the C6's depreciation (though no more so than any other diesel).
e3steve   
Wed Jul 19 2017, 07:59am
Joined: Jan 21 2013
Member No: #1163
Location: Warsash, Hants & Palma de Mallorca, Spain
Many owners are prepared to let them go for too little, rather than stick it out for a better price, IMHO... Bear in mind that there are just cca. 700 rhd C6s in the Northern Hemisphere...

Most "Big-Cit" fans/enthusiasts know that they can be troublesome, particularly if not properly maintained! It's like getting a dog: if you ain't gonna take care of it, then don't b l o o d y well get one in the first place!

There's a (reasonable) abundance of lhd models, but just look at this pricing philosophy - Click Here -
FraserG   
Thu Jul 20 2017, 01:16am
Joined: Jan 05 2015
Member No: #2011
Location: Auckland
700 rhd C6's in the Northern Hemisphere, crikey there are even fewer rhd C6's in the Southern Hemisphere.

Great to see the low milage Sable example being priced as deserved. Sad however to see such a wonderful car hardly being used.

ul9601   
Thu Jul 20 2017, 02:13am
Joined: Dec 14 2014
Member No: #1975
Location: Auckland
I'd be very surprised if it sells anywhere close to the asking price... And it's a 2006 2.7HDi with RT3.
Wantathreelitre   
Thu Jul 20 2017, 06:29am
Joined: Jun 14 2017
Member No: #3179
Location: Forest Town
You occasionally get a car that's so OTT, price-wise, you wonder why they pay to advertise it. I saw a Citroen C5, 2010, for £14,995. Yes, with the 3.0 V6 diesel but i am sorry, a BMW 335D at that price will be way more reliable, have 50 bhp more and hold it's value better. I guess the reasoning is you only need to find one fool!
e3steve   
Thu Jul 20 2017, 07:24am
Joined: Jan 21 2013
Member No: #1163
Location: Warsash, Hants & Palma de Mallorca, Spain
ul9601 wrote ...

I'd be very surprised if it sells anywhere close to the asking price... And it's a 2006 2.7HDi with RT3.

Well, it is very low kliks, but I agree, Sam. And it has black interior (but that's just a personal preference); and it's lhd, of which there are many, but....


Wantathreelitre wrote ...

You occasionally get a car that's so OTT, price-wise, you wonder why they pay to advertise it. I saw a Citroen C5, 2010, for £14,995. Yes, with the 3.0 V6 diesel but i am sorry, a BMW 335D at that price will be way more reliable, have 50 bhp more and hold it's value better. I guess the reasoning is you only need to find one fool!

...anything is worth what somebody is prepared to pay for it.

You can't really compare the two, TBH; one is a 240hp, front-drive Hydractive III+, ultra-comfy cruise-missile, and almost as rare as the C6 with the same powertrain -- the other is just another Beemer-3: Teutonically-sterile, rear-drive, abundant and not particularly comfortable.

Regarding reliability: ze Germans ("Snatch") aren't always as 'reliable' as you might think, and scarily expensive when in the dealers' garages! Any of today's CANbus cars demand a high degree of knowledge & understanding when in the workshop.
David Hallworth   
Fri Jul 21 2017, 06:30pm

Joined: Apr 16 2010
Member No: #90
Location: Glasgow
Wantathreelitre wrote ...

You occasionally get a car that's so OTT, price-wise, you wonder why they pay to advertise it. I saw a Citroen C5, 2010, for £14,995. Yes, with the 3.0 V6 diesel but i am sorry, a BMW 335D at that price will be way more reliable, have 50 bhp more and hold it's value better. I guess the reasoning is you only need to find one fool!


I own a 3.0 HDi C5 Exclusive, having owned one of these, I'd rather spend £15k on the C5 knowing that I've got a car I like that doesn't resemble a boring rep mobile even if it does loose more money and need more fettling to keep it on the road. It's also very easy to extract an extra 50bhp from a 3.0 HDi as well.

I know friends with 335D's who have had a LOT of problems with them too.

Other then the BMW badge which is of no interest to me, I really don't see the appeal of a 3 Series. I test drove a 4.0 V8 M3 a few years back after hearing people rave about how good they were. Sure enough it was quick, very quick, but the interior was boring and just resembled a 3 Series. I decided it wasn't for me as I'd get bored of it in 5 minutes when I couldn't use the power.

David.
Wantathreelitre   
Sat Jul 22 2017, 06:01pm
Joined: Jun 14 2017
Member No: #3179
Location: Forest Town
Well now, i have had most makes of cars and will have to throw a word in for BMWs and Audis here. I am afraid that the many French cars i have owned (i have 2 2CVs at present, one currently getting an 1130cc engine from a BMW R1150RT motorcycle) have all been less reliable than the German cars i have owned. The 335D saloon i had was the best all-round car i have driven and a C5 though rarer and quirky (but then so are Kia Prides rare) is nothing like the car the Beemer was. That straight six engine is an absolute gem and mine had 138,000 miles when i sold it with nothing at all bar service items. My Citroens have ALL sprung leaks, destroyed their electrics and let me down 10 times as often as my German or American cars. This is a site for Citroens so obviously people will be biased but as a neutral who loves and owns all makes i can assure you that the Germans make fabulous cars and our current M4 is a fantastic car. Anyway back to prices of C6s.
ul9601   
Sat Jul 22 2017, 10:30pm
Joined: Dec 14 2014
Member No: #1975
Location: Auckland
Wantathreelitre wrote ...

Well now, i have had most makes of cars and will have to throw a word in for BMWs and Audis here. I am afraid that the many French cars i have owned (i have 2 2CVs at present, one currently getting an 1130cc engine from a BMW R1150RT motorcycle) have all been less reliable than the German cars i have owned. The 335D saloon i had was the best all-round car i have driven and a C5 though rarer and quirky (but then so are Kia Prides rare) is nothing like the car the Beemer was. That straight six engine is an absolute gem and mine had 138,000 miles when i sold it with nothing at all bar service items. My Citroens have ALL sprung leaks, destroyed their electrics and let me down 10 times as often as my German or American cars. This is a site for Citroens so obviously people will be biased but as a neutral who loves and owns all makes i can assure you that the Germans make fabulous cars and our current M4 is a fantastic car. Anyway back to prices of C6s.

You answered your own question here, didn't you - as an unbiased person - the lack of reliability, why would anyone pay good money for cars that are constantly leaking suspension fluid, electrics going ga ga and cooling system losing its cool.
Ghostrider   
Mon Jul 31 2017, 04:25pm
Joined: Jul 22 2017
Member No: #3219
Location: Plymouth
I've owned Citoens for 30+ years and part of the attraction is the bargain basement prices. Depreciation has always been steep, eyewateringly so for things like DS, CX, XM and Xantias.
I remember going to my main dealer in 1990 for some spares for my BX and there was a CX GTi Turbo II on the forecourt, 9 months old less than 9000 miles on the clock up for sale at £10500, a bargain as new it was around £23K at the time if memory serves. I made some quip about never having seen a secondhand CX for sale for a 5 figure sum, he shot back that if I offered £8k they'd let it go £15k depreciation in 9 months...... scary.

I bought one with 40,000 on the clock and a FSH about 3 years later for £1500 so £23K to £1.5k in 4 years. A cheap car and superficially fine but over the next 5 years I spent perhaps not a lot of money, but a huge amount of time getting it fully sorted. At the end of the day things like the CX and C6 are executive cars with running costs to match, irrespective of the purchase price, when you do all the work yourself it's cheap motoring, start paying main dealers or independant specialists and if you're unlucky you can be in for a rough ride (literally and figuratively !! ).

I miss my big comfortable Citroens and I'm about to buy a C6, but I no longer have the facilities or youth to do the work myself so I'm faced with the reality of having to pay someone else to fix it. As in the past the Achilles heel of the C6 as with every other Citroen (apart from my trusty BX19 RDs, 300,000 and 285,000 milers) looks like the electrics, judging by the posts on here. Citroen never have been able to do electrics well and they have gained a reputation for problems in that area which is hard to shake off.

As I consider my purchase, what have I checked out? Price of full workshop manuals, Lexia, a laptop to run XP (unreal!!!) spare navigation/radio units, ways of getting my iPhone 5 to communicate with the car and wondering wether like nearly all my other Citroens how much time and effort it's going to be to repipe the whole hydraulic system with non corroding pipe ). Still at least the tyres are not too bad, the tyres on the Gti TII were metric (390mm?) rims and the choice was limited to say the least.

Am I completely insane? I miss the ride, but all that grief?

And there's the reason that they're cheap, you need a proper machanic, and by the sounds of it an IT expert as well, to own one, they are massively innovative and a breath of fresh air in comparison with the German fodder most buy at this level, but they lack the quality control of the Japs.

My experience with E class Mercs from the early 2000s would indicate that just as Citroen can't seem to shake its reputation for poor build quality, Mercedes can't shake its reputation for quality when it isn't
Wantathreelitre   
Mon Jul 31 2017, 08:02pm
Joined: Jun 14 2017
Member No: #3179
Location: Forest Town
I suppose reliability has to be the issue, having thought long and hard about this.
My C6 pleases me every time i drive it. I have just had a full hydraulic service with new struts and it leaks nothing from anywhere, but buyers are expecting me to give an immaculate FSH car away in case it costs them money later. I have priced mine very low for the condition, history, miles and quality, yet it's proving tough to sell and i may have to keep it if the alternative is giving it away.
e3steve   
Thu Aug 03 2017, 07:28am
Joined: Jan 21 2013
Member No: #1163
Location: Warsash, Hants & Palma de Mallorca, Spain
Wantathreelitre wrote ...

For me this is a totally unique car. Likely to be the next DS in the collectable Citroen stakes, once their numbers fall a bit further in R H D form. Loaded with kit, even in Lignage spec and absolutely great to drive. Equivalent Mondeos fetch more fgs, even with a boring 2.0 diesel 4 pot instead of the creamy 2.7 V6 in my car.
So why in your view is a good low mileage one, costing almost £40,000 new, not a £9,000 car now, rather than the £5,000 they command?


I think you've answered your original question with your own recent post in "C6s For Sale" :

Wantathreelitre wrote ...

The market is very cruel to the awesome and unique C6. Price is now a faintly ridiculous £5,750.
This is an astonishing amount of car for the money. My SM has arrived and i really need the space. This car is in stunning condition and the mileage is amongst the lowest in the world for a C6.


dalicro   
Thu Aug 03 2017, 09:03am
Joined: Nov 05 2014
Member No: #1932
Location: Perth
I recently 'watched' a fine example 2008 C6 Lignage auction on eBay just to get an indication of how much I could sell mine for. There were NO bids at all! For the past 9 months I've tried to sell mine on Autotrader, Gumtree and Preloved for £4,650 then reduced to £3,650 (FSH, 1 year MOT, 114,000, excellent nick blah blah). It attracted one timewaster and one tyre-kicker who offered me £2,500. If I can hang on to it for another 31 years it will be exempt from VED. I'll be 101 then so with my classic car and my telegram from King William, I'll be a happy chap. My theory is that anyone who wants a C6 has already got one.
Wantathreelitre   
Thu Aug 03 2017, 12:43pm
Joined: Jun 14 2017
Member No: #3179
Location: Forest Town
Everyone who wants a C6 has already got one. Hmmm. Not sure that's too logical.
Many people may want one later, due to circumstances. Some will be saving for one maybe. Some will be waiting until their own car sells. Others don't yet need the extra space it offers but later might, etc.
Has everyone who wants a BMW M3 already got one? or a Focus RS perhaps?
C6Dave   
Thu Aug 03 2017, 05:48pm

Joined: Oct 01 2009
Member No: #1
Location: Northumberland
Wantathreelitre wrote ...


Has everyone who wants a BMW M3 already got one? or a Focus RS perhaps?

Different market completely that one.

It's a great car but as we all know the C6 unfortunately has a reputation for being expensive to run and maintain (forums like this one don't help with that despite the great support it gives) Online searchers and motoring journo's (with a couple of exceptions) in the majority post negative reviews, which impact on residual values.

It was never a 'mass market' car to start with and never sold in the numbers Citroen planned for it due to the 'badge snobbery' of potential buyers of big cars. There loss and our gain

It's actually far more reliable than a lot of other 'Premium' brands if maintained properly.

As an example (though no direct correlation)a friend who worked as a Warranty Claim manager for BMW moved over to a Toyota/Mazda Franchise and the claims he handled dropped dramatically. The Weekly warranty claim numbers he handled with BMW dropped to a MONTHLY total (a 75% reduction) with Toyota/Mazda but people still buy BMW's crazy amounts. My own 2 year old Mercedes suffered 2 warranty claims, but again there perceived as a 'Premium' brand.

The market for a C6 is small (it was when the car was new) but at some point real, knowledgeable fans of big Citroens will start buying and prices will rise.

Don't forget even SM's didn't fetch a lot of money at one stage, but can now sell for £30,000+ for a properly sorted one.

Finally, say you bought a C6 for say £6-8,000 a year or 2 ago and now sell for £3-4,000 and overall your loosing £3-4,000. Compare that with buying any mid to top end car new and your loosing far, far less in cash terms (don't even mention PCP deals)
Website
Go to page   <<        >>   

Jump:     Back to top

User Colour Key:
Head Administrator, Administrator, C6 owner, Technical Expert, C6 Premier Discount Club