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Greetings from the Midlands |
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DaveB
 
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  Member No: #17
Location: Midlands |
Evening folks and greetings from the Midlands. I must congratulate C6Dave on starting this web sight – like other owners here I too have been spending many hours researching the next car to buy and have considered and driven all the German brand's equivalent vehicles but none of them really grabbed me. I've always liked the C6 but real owner information/experience is thin on the ground and there is a considerable level of uncertainty surrounding it mainly from the sheep who make 'safe' vehicle choices. About a year ago I test drove both a 2.7 and 2.2 C6. I liked them both in there own ways. The 2.2 was surprisingly willing, bright and frugal. I have to agree with some of the comments on the forum relating to tyre noise in that the higher profile tyres with smaller diameter wheels fitted to the 2.2 were quieter. The trade off though was that the handling felt less sharp. On balance I prefer the larger tyres which really suit the style of the car. The 2.7 is also much more suited to the nature of the car. So - 2 weeks ago I bought a low mileage 12k 2006 2.7 Exclusive (pictures attached) but the snow conditions meant that it took a further frustrating week to finally arrive on my driveway. One week further on and absolutely everything works fine and I'm completely satisfied with my purchase. What a way to travel. Even the kids love it - “its cool and relaxing”. I picked up my two young girls from dancing tonight they both jumped straight in the back, reclined the rear seats all the way and put the seat heaters on – I had to wake them up when when I got home, perfect. Reading through the forum threads two of the most common frustrations relate to boot space and road noise (for a car in this class). The small boot is largely a function of the vehicle's unique proportions which I think are stunning - for me this car was a very personal choice and the styling was a very big part of this. To try and reduce this inconvenience for the times when more space is needed I plan to investigate the purchase of a suitably styled roof box which can also be used on my wife's car. I personally believe that a very large proportion of the road noise that is there, which is not a lot, is down to the tyres. I had a VSX Xantia for many years which had a similar problem – of slightly higher road noise on certain surfaces. After a lot of investigation I changed the tyres to ones that had a slightly softer side wall. This not only made the car quieter but also significantly reduced harsh inputs from road rumble strips. Any one had any similar experience or tried alternative tyres on their C6? Any other owners in the Midlands ? – the cars may need to talk.      |
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C6Dave
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    Member No: #1
Location: Northumberland |
Welcome, looks like we have another happy owner. 
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gmerry
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 Member No: #21
Location: Scotland |
Dave, mine is the same colour as yours. They look stunning when clean don't they. I'm currently running 17" wheels and 225 section tyres for the snow and pothole season up here in in Scotland. April I'll revert to 18". In the meantime ride is much softer and quieter and I'm not finding handling a problem and believe me there are a lot of very twisty roads in Aberdeenshire. My spec is Linage however someone must have specced all the toys so apart from reclining rear seats and the wood trim there's not much difference to Exclusive. My passengers all absolutely love those heated leather seats!. I've just got a couple of niggles to work through. Current one is getting the GSM telephone to work (been told I need a now obsolete 2G sim card so would like some feedback from you on this) Like you I will fit roofbars (because I'm into cycling competion stuff and need to transport a bike regularly and can't keep borrowing my wife's car for this) plus on our longer holidays we have always filled a large roof box. I've also got a classic car that will need transporting so my C6 will end up with a towbar. Let you know how this goes later in the spring |
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tonyrome
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  Member No: #15
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Welcome to the forum, Dave. That's a very low mileage 2006 you bought - there can't be too many 3-4 year old cars with less than an average 1 year old car's mileage around! Glad to hear you are enjoying it. DaveB wrote ... The small boot is largely a function of the vehicle's unique proportions which I think are stunning - for me this car was a very personal choice and the styling was a very big part of this. To try and reduce this inconvenience for the times when more space is needed I plan to investigate the purchase of a suitably styled roof box Yes, a roof box is one option. However, if, as you note, the size of the boot is due to the shape of the car, it's rather ironic if the answer is to fit a roof box, which totally ruins the beautiful lines you describe! In addition, fuel consumption will be considerably reduced and, since the box is only likely to be fitted for longer journeys, this will be significant. DaveB wrote ... After a lot of investigation I changed the tyres to ones that had a slightly softer side wall. This not only made the car quieter but also significantly reduced harsh inputs from road rumble strips. I'm not sure it's a great idea to put tyres with a softer side wall on a car of this weight, though. The handling will be affected, you will be more likely to suffer punctures and the wear across the tyre will be less even, meaning more frequent replacement. I'd also be interested to hear whether anyone has tried alternative makes, as both my 18s and 17s are fitted with Michelins. |
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michaelb
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 Member No: #14
Location: London |
Welcome to the forum Dave. It is a great forum and it's just what the C6 needed - finding information on them is quite difficult. Every time I visit here I thank C6Dave for creating this great resource. When I read through your post quickly I mis-understood that you were planning on sending your luggage in your wife's car. What a guy, I thought, there's a man with his priorities straight. I'd be nervous of softer walled tyres too. Citroën renewed a pair of the Michelins for me (because the ones on it when they sold it to me were barely legal) and before they put new ones on for me I did a bit of research on what else might be suitable. It seems we share a tyre size with quite a few Lexus owners and their forum is full of "What tyres should I buy?" threads. There are quite a few horror stories there about Pirellis being written off after a gentle kiss on a kerb. I don't know what weight the Lexus in question is but it's unlikely to be heavier than the C6; which is an awful lot of metal, with very powerful power steering, and well-insulated from the driver, which would worry me about the ease of tearing a vulnerable tyre on a kerb. Nice photos - doesn't the C6 really stand out when seen in a car park full of 'normal' cars! I look forward to seeing more of your posts. Michael |
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C6Dave
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Member No: #1
Location: Northumberland |
Remember, whatever tyres you buy, the have to be 'extra load' rated The wrong spec tyres could invalidate your insurance. |
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tonyrome
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Member No: #15
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michaelb wrote ... Every time I visit here I thank C6Dave for creating this great resource. Yes, he has done an excellent job with this site and keeps putting the work in to make it better. Good on him  C6Dave wrote ... Remember, whatever tyres you buy, the have to be 'extra load' rated. The wrong spec tyres could invalidate your insurance. Good point. Those insurance companies will use any excuse they can not to pay out, so beware! |
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DaveB
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Member No: #17
Location: Midlands |
Evening folks – good to hear from you all, thanks for the warm reception I'll try and respond in one go. C6Dave – You certainly do have another happy owner on your sight and fortunately the family are of the same view. The tyre debate is one that I took a long time over with the old Xantia and did get expert technical advise. The tyres I selected were of the correct spec for speed, size and load rating but were slightly more biased toward touring and refinement which was exactly what I wanted. This effectively traded off a little grip at the limits in the dry (which I was not planning on exploring) for more refinement in everyday driving. The side walls were only a little softer but the effect on refinement was noticeable in the situations previously mentioned. Gmerry – Have to agree with you on the colour – took one look at this in the garage and the search stopped there. Very interesting that you have the two sets of tyres and I can fully understand why especially in pothole season. Perhaps I gave the wrong impression with my view on the taller section tyres. To be clear - I didn't think the handling was a problem as such just a little less precise/crisp. I do think the car style suits the larger wheel/tyre and will look to see if I can achieve a similar level of change of attribute balance to that of my Xantia. There is no rush as there is still plenty of tread left but I want to get it right when the time comes. Lets keep talking on this. Not actually tried the phone yet just been to busy with current work situation – mainly enjoying relaxing in it at the moment. I'll look into it now though. My roof box driver sounds similar to you in that my main reason wanting it is to allow me to justify using the C6 to take the whole family on very long journeys. Without it this would not be practical. But - if I've got to have a box I'd like one that complements the car style so this search is on. What classic car do you have? Tonyrome – the car is in very good condition even for the low mileage – sat inside it actually feels new. One minor irritation is that a small dent appeared on it somewhere between me taking these pictures and agreeing to buy it and it arriving on my drive. The vehicle transport company have agreed to fix it but it has not happened yet. I agree with you on your roof box comments but if it lets me take the family around Europe in it then it has to be. At holiday time, given the chance, the wife will fill any vehicle regardless of size so I'll need to be careful with this. Both 2.2 and 2.7 C6's that I test drove had Michelin's. Interested that you too have both 17 and 18 inch wheels – do you have a different summer and winter driving situation? I think the other comments above cover the soft sidewall's but lets keep the tyre discussion going. Michaelb – Agree with your comment on the forum as I've visited it often before finally taking the plunge. It certainly helped. I daren't suggest sending luggage in the wife's car because she might just except the offer and we'd end up with two cars rammed with stuff! The kitchen sink and bathroom suit. Have previously commented on softer tyres but the Lexus link is an interesting one and I'll have a look myself – also would want to know exactly what Pirelli's were fitted. Will also follow your logic and have a look at what other vehicles have similar tyres. It certainly does stand out. It has very crisp clean focussed styling unlike just about everything else out there – but we probably all feel this. So far not had a negative comment about it either and most say they have never seen one which is interesting – someone has missed a trick somewhere along the line. More photo's when the small dent has gone!! Cheers for now folks |
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tonyrome
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Member No: #15
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DaveB wrote ... At holiday time, given the chance, the wife will fill any vehicle regardless of size  DaveB wrote ... Interested that you too have both 17 and 18 inch wheels – do you have a different summer and winter driving situation? Yes, the car came with the 18s and original Michelins but I bought a set of 17s (as fitted to the 3 litre petrol and 2.2 HDi originally), which had Michelin winter tyres fitted. I thought it might be prudent, as I knew I'd be in Berlin over the winter period and needed to make some journeys during that time. I'm thankful I bought them because the conditions here have been treacherous this winter, worse than in the last few years. Road noise is greatly reduced as a result of the wheel size, tyre profile and tyre compound, as you'll read elsewhere on the forum. I'll switch back to the 18s in April. |
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gmerry
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Member No: #21
Location: Scotland |
DaveB, thanks for replies. Very interested to see if your built-in telephone works. I was just going to use mine in conjunction with my normal handset divert mode for in-coming calls but no joy as of yet. On the roof rack, I'll let you know has this works: expecting delivery this week. The 17" tyres I'm running at the moment ar Avon Icetourings which are 101 loaded rated (slightly higher than the homologated rated tyre). As they are winter tyres with a M&S tread and silica tyres only rated as a V tyre. In the UK this means I will need to keep my speed below 130mph or so !! Regards |
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DaveB
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Member No: #17
Location: Midlands |
tonyrome - Yes, the car came with the 18s and original Michelins but I bought a set of 17s (as fitted to the 3 litre petrol and 2.2 HDi originally), which had Michelin winter tyres fitted. I thought it might be prudent, as I knew I'd be in Berlin over the winter period and needed to make some journeys during that time. I'm thankful I bought them because the conditions here have been treacherous this winter, worse than in the last few years. Road noise is greatly reduced as a result of the wheel size, tyre profile and tyre compound, as you'll read elsewhere on the forum. I'll switch back to the 18s in April. I guess we are lucky around here with the weather in this respect in that the snow (when there is some) only comes for a few days and so it is not really worth having two sets of wheels. The worst road surfaces tend to be the types and numbers of speed bumps and traffic calming. There does seem to be a reasonable number of tyre manufacturers making the 18" C6 size tyres and I would gladly trade off some of the longevity of the Michelins for a reduction in noise in order to ake the most of the cars general quietness. gmerry - DaveB, thanks for replies. Very interested to see if your built-in telephone works. I was just going to use mine in conjunction with my normal handset divert mode for in-coming calls but no joy as of yet. On the roof rack, I'll let you know has this works: expecting delivery this week. The 17" tyres I'm running at the moment ar Avon Icetourings which are 101 loaded rated (slightly higher than the homologated rated tyre). As they are winter tyres with a M&S tread and silica tyres only rated as a V tyre. In the UK this means I will need to keep my speed below 130mph or so !! Regards Had a chat with a local used Citroen sales guy who it turns out has had a couple of C6's and used the phone feature. He said the in car phone in basicaly completely unlocked. All he did was put in the card from his works phone and it worked fine. So I inserted the sim from my phone into the car slot whilst everything was switched off. Switched on and it worked stright away - all numbers on sim were accessable as were text messages. Interestingly the car actually reads the texts messages so you with a voice so you can hear the message/text. The card in my phone is a 3g one so not sure why you have a problem. The guy said his customers either get a duplicate card or have a separate pay as you go for the car and forward calls to the car from the handset. Hope this helps. Please keep me posted on the roof rack - any pictures would be great. The roads are quite clear here tonight so I had a little 'proper' play with the gear and suspension sport modes - very nice once in a while - much flatter cornering and crisp changes - but Still think I can find a better tyre selection for this area though. |
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Black&Tan
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 Member No: #43
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Hello, I just joined the Forum after buying a C6 about three weeks ago. Like the poster below - DaveB - I got a black one, also an Exclusive, 2007, but with about 30k miles and tan leather. In fact, I was totally adamant that it had to be black and had to have the tan leather seats and so I spent quite some months waiting for one to come on the market. It was worth the wait, though, as I love it (those tan leather seats and interior are going to be a nightmare to look after, though, and my wife is already annoyed by my telling her how to get in without catching her feet on the door). The wait included a week of having it on my drive but using my wife's C1 to go to work because the weather was too bad for me to venture out in it. (The worst weather for 30 years was not a good time to take out a new car for the first time!) I am pretty sure it is the only one around here; the only other C6 I have seen belongs to the Dealer Manager in Derby (I reckon dealers must account for 90% of new ones!). Not too many niggles as yet, but one is getting the telephone system to work. A simple bluetooth for my current mobile would have been better, but that appears to have been too straightforward! I have now got another SIM card and am going to try and insert it tomorrow and then set an auto-forward from my regular mobile. Wish me luck or offer me some tips!! |
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DaveB
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Member No: #17
Location: Midlands |
Following on from the tyre comments - Whilst purchasing a car with low mileage is usually a good idea there can be drawbacks as I have just found out. The car is of low mileage, in good condition and the tyres have plenty of tread. After having it for a couple of weeks and giving it its first wash I noticed that all the tyres had cracks in them. Upon seeking expert advise I was told by a number of different experts that the tyres are/were ageing prematurely, their structure was starting to break down, and that I should change them as soon as possible!!. This aging might also make them hard and more noisy than they would normally be. Also - because they are less than 5 years there is a strong basis for for financial compensation against purchase of a replacement set of tyres. I have taken detailed pics of the cracked tyres, if they are of use to anyone let me know. So - after trawling the internet tyre sites and other club forums in search of a tyre that was slightly more biased toward refinement I elected for set of Falken ZE912's. Fitted them lunchtime today and I have to say that on the first 80 miles driving they were exactly what I was hoping for. Not sure if anyone else has fitted these - would be interested to know what experience people have had with them, if any. If not I'll post some updates on them as they bed in. On the car phone - not fully sorted yet as coming up to contract renewal time and the car link will be part of the discussions - but at least I know it works with my current sim card. Roof box - not had time to look into it further yet but very interested in 'gmerry's' C6 roof stroage/stowage adventure - an pics yet mate? Oh and the delivery dent on my front wing has now gone so some more pics may now come along. Cheers all. |
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C6Dave
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Member No: #1
Location: Northumberland |
I will be interested to hear more on the Falkens as my front tyres will need replacing in the foreseeable future | ||
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michaelb
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Member No: #14
Location: London |
DaveB, Very interesting. I noticed these ageing cracks on my Michelins too. When I bought the car they were only two years old and only 10,000 miles. I assumed it was just the hard life that a heavy car gives them, I didn't think for a moment it would be the basis of a claim. One pair has been replaced now - with matching Michelins - but the remaining pair still has these cracks. I shall poke around a bit on the Net and see if I can find more information. M |
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