Following nearly 5 years and 97,000 miles in a C4 Long Term Road Test it was time to let the car go and move on following my 'retirement'

So I traded it in on October 1st 2009 for a September 2007 C6 2.7 V6 HDi Auto in Iron Gray with 9,385 miles on the clock. Whilst Road Fund Lice costas are high, I won't be doing 20,000 miles a year so the reduction in fuel cost's more than offset it.

It got a good workout straight away as I went down to the 90 years of Citroen event at the Ace Cafe on Saturday with some of the members of C4owners.org which site I also ran.

MPG going down was an imopressive 36.6 mpg over 324 miles but that dropped by the time we got back to 35,7 due to a slow crawl to and from the hotel/event on the North Circular

The car is one very impressive motorway cruiser it has to be said

The drive home on Sunday was quieter than the Friday on the M1 and the car really is built for motorway cruising. You get out after a long journey feeling as relaxed as when you started thanks to the superb seats and suspension, unlike those hard seats in most upmarket 'German' cars.

7th October 2010 and I have now done 750 miles in the first week with 600 of those on Dual carriageway or motorway, 10 miles of very very slow traffic on the North Circular and some local driving make up the balance. Fuel consumption is now at 35.4 mpg average over the 750 miles so I am more than happy for a car of the size of the C6.

It really is impressive

15th October 2009 2 weeks into ownership and time for a bit on the pros and cons of driving a Citroen C6

There is a lot of technology in a C6, more than in a C4 which was launched with the tag line 'Alive with Technology' it's just not all as easily accessible from the stering wheel. However the only 2 functions that I really ever used were 'Sped Limiter' and occasionally 'Cruise Control' both of which are on the C6 stering wheel

Things like 'mute' for the radio and channel change or track skip are on a seperate 'stalk' forward off and slightly below the wiper control stalk. To be honest though I again only ever used the mute and volume controls on the C4 and on the C6 they are within comfortable reach on the dashboard anyway so it's no real inconvenience.

Coming from a smaller car with lowered suspension and low profile tyres the difference in 'ride quality' is marked.

In 'normal' mode the C6 suspension seemed rather soft at first and the car seemed to 'pitch' on road surface camber changes. There is a software fix available from Citroen to reduce this but I was advised to take a while to get used to the suspension and let the car 'adapt' to my driving style.

Whilst it is possible to switch the suspension to 'Sport' mode (there are 3 'speres' across each axle which control the ride) which takes out the middle sphere so reducing the suspension travel, the car will learn your driving style and do that itself anyway so I decided to leave things alone and an happy with things the way they are.

Now the C6 is a big, heavy car, but can still be 'fun' to drive. Switch the gearbox to 'Sport' mode as well (which increases the point in the rev range at which the auto box changes up) plant your foot on the accelerator and hold tight!

Takes the smile off the face of those drivers of 'German' cars who love to 'tailgate' everyone! but does have an impact on fuel consumption (worth it though)

Remember though that the boot lid 'Spoiler' deploys at 78 mph and doesn't retract until your back below 68 mph. Anyone following and 'in the know' can tell what you are/have been doing.

What I don't understand about the C6 is why the car has 4 ashtrays and 3 cigarette lighters, but only 2 cup holders. I never realised how much the French must love to smoke!

Cons of the C6?

Well the size and turning circle mean you have to think about where to park and the front and rear proximity (parking) sensors do get used a lot.

The rear 'boot' as well lacks any hooks for a baggage net to secure things (or I can't find any) which is a minor thing but could have made a difference. Apart from that I'm really enjoying the car'

23rd October 2009 As the car is 2 years old I decided to take advantage of our local Citroen Dealer, Cookswell Motors to have the air con system 're gassed' for £30.00 to improve the efficiency (Citroen's guidelines are that it is done every 2 years)

While I was there I was informed that a re call MBW had been issued yesterday on my car for a 'Brake Assistance' concern. The letter will come direct from Citroen but with the postal strikes it may take some time.

Not all dealers have the tooling required to repair the C6 (Cookswell don't and could only do basic servicing and have since closed) so it will have to go back to the supplying dealer, Wingrove Motors, for any work required and they have told me it will be 7-10 days before the required parts are available

11th November 2009 OK the parts finally arrived and I had the recall 'MBW' work carried out today. I had booked the car in and waited and it took 1.5 hours (including setting the display for the USB Box which I fitted 2 weeks ago to play music from my iPod rather than fork out for a CD Multi-changer. (The USB Box came from my wife's Peugeot as I swapped it for a Dashboard CD player for her)

It was only the new vacuum hose and drain that was required, the brake servo was OK so on we go.

17th November 2009 First problem today, got in the car and started up, selected reverse and got a 'Parking Sensor Fault' message. Going to leave it and see if it happens again, if it does it's going to have to go to a dealer to be checked.

Checked again this afternoon and seemed to be OK with the fronts anyway. I'll test the rears tomorrow but It maybe one of those BSI 'Gremlins' so I'll have to keep an eye on it.

20th December 2009 When driving yesterday the Service light flashed on with a low tyre pressure warning. So duly pumped them up (offside front was low) and the system reset.

Came out this morning and the same tyre was flat. On checking, the top of the valve stem had snapped just below the dust cap so is going to need replacing (it is a common problem with the valves across the whole Citroen/Peugeot car range that use them) and as it's a Sunday, all the dealers are closed so it will have to wait until tomorrow as it's far too cold here today to even bother!!

Had a bit of a mission with it today, phoned the garage who said put the spare on and bring it in and we will take a look.

Now it was still -2c but had a go.

Got all the wheel bolts out but.....

Yep the wheel had bonded to the hub and wouldn't move so called Citroen Assist

RAC came out and duly got the wheel changed (needed a copper faced mallet and several heavy blows to move it)

He wasn't surprised when he saw the valve as it's quite common, especially on Ford's for some reason which tend to blow the valve core out!)

Anyway went 15 miles to the dealers through all the pre christmas shopping traffic.

No problem, it will be replaced but.....

None in stock so had to be ordered and won't arrive until Wednesday which means I have to go back Thursday AM (Christmas Eve) to have it fitted and coded to the car

I had to politely request they fitted a normal vale as a temporary measure as I wasn't prepared to run around for 4 days with no spare in this weather

24th December 2009 @ 12,330 miles - had the tyre pressure sensing valve changed today under warranty so everything is OK again. The front tyres are down to 3mm so looks like a new set will be needed around 15-16,000 miles.

Not a great deal of mileage but it is a big heavy car so not unexpected.

16th May 2010 @ 14,200 miles - renewed the front wipers today with Genuine Citroen parts. The ones I removed looked like the originals but the hard winter we had took it's toll and they were streaking badly.

I always knew that I wasn't going to be doing high mileage in the C6 but did a 320 mile round trip on Sunday which was a breeze as the car is so comfortable and a great mile muncher.

13th June 2010 now at 15,276 miles had a 447 mile round trip to Corby at an average 35.6 mpg (didn't hang about either ) I did have a tyre pressure warning that was a bit of a pain (more here: - Click Here - ) but the car really does thrive on fast motorways and covers the miles with ease.

Oh and didn't see another C6 all the way there and back!

14th June 2010After fully checking the tyres this morning I have ordered 2 Falken Ziex ZE-912 245/45/R18 W (100) Reinforced tyres as the fronts are nearing the wear indicators and although could go longer, the nearside one has a badly cracked outer side wall so the fronts have to go.

16th June 2010 2 front tyres were replaced and the Michelin's were far worse than I suspected and we had a problem with the locking bolts which had to be replaced as the 'key' broke. There is more detail on this here: - Click Here -

19th July 2010 and 16,989 miles. Everything is OK and once again the car proved it's a superb long distance tourer.

I was at Citroen Car Club National Rally yesterday and the round trip was 490 miles. The car did 35.2 mpg at an average 65 mph (quiet roads on a Sunday afternoon helped with the average speed)

The first MOT is due in September so that's likely to be the next real test.

20th September 2010 and 18,518 miles. The car was first registered 3 years ago to the day (but was built 08/09/2006 according to the ORGA number..

I would have had the test done sooner but actually forgot!

Anyway the car passed with flying colours, the only comment was on the rear Michelin tyres showing signs of surface cracking which has been well discussed in this forum thread

The warranty on the car is nearly finished so I better have a good check around to be sure there is nothing outstanding.

28th September 2010 and 18,579 miles. As the car isn't dong a big mileage and there are quite a few short runs involved (plus it was very cold last winter) I decided to run with the Severe Operating Conditions service schedule (well partly)

I had the engine oil and filter changed today as a precautionary measure. Turbo's on a C6 HDi are expensive things to replace and they rely on clean oil to keep them going!

I really don't like the idea of 20,000 mile oil changes. For what it costs to do (£73.26 by a Main Dealer including oil and filters and disposing of the old ones) it really isn't worth skimping on.

January 1st 2011 and 19,280 miles. As you can see the car hasn't had a lot of use of late and that's been due to the weather we have had since mid November, snow and ice. Whilst the C6 was fine to drive in 'snow mode' my wife's car was not. Her Peugeot 207cc was atrocious, so it was traded for a C-Crosser with 4 wheel drive on December 8th and the C6 was covered up with a 'car cap' and left sitting on the drive as the C-Crosser was much more practical.

Yesterday though, when we came back from holiday it was time to make sure the C6 was OK, so removed the cover and the car started first time after being stood in sub zero temperatures and snow and ice.

Took the car for a run to charge the battery and dry things out and managed to catch the front number plate on a low kerb hidden by, yes frozen snow still lying around. It was pulled off and snapped

Now you can't have a car like the C6 marred by a cracked number plate so I had to quickly get a new one made up as it's a long holiday weekend, with most car parts shops closed.

Now the important bit.... Whilst the C-Crosser is actually a rather good drive, the difference to the C6 was more than apparent yesterday after not being in it for 3 weeks. It glides along effortlessly and is still at the top of my list for comfort of any car I have driven over the past 40+ years. If you have never been in one and are considering buying a large car, try and get a test drive to see the difference for yourself.

Yes the Road Tax is high, but the 2.7 HDi's do return 35+ mpg (higher on a good motorway run) and for me, it's worth it to drive something a bit special and different to anything else out there.

2nd March 2011 @ 19880 miles. Well the car isn't getting a lot of use at the moment so nothing really much has happened, apart from someone scratching the bonnet.

Initially it was thought it would need painting at over £250, but the local bodyshop managed to polish the scratch out after all, so the paintwork stayed original, but it still cost £102 through blatant vandalism

21st April 2011 @20,542 miles. I have been have some strange error messages for a while now about ESP and Handbrake Faulty which could have been the rear ABS module or the front brake pedal switch. As the brake pedal switch was the simpler job I had it changed today, the part (453466 Switch Kit) cost £25.82 inc Vat so will see what happens over the next few weeks

There is more information in this forum thread: - Click Here -

13th May 2011 - When I got the brake switch done a check under the car showed a 'guard' hanging down so it was removed and a new one ordered. It was fitted today. Details here: - Click Here -

17th May 2011 - Finally got around to changing the rear tyres to Falken ZE 912, same as the front. Whilst they were legal with plenty tread the sidewall cracking had become more noticeable so they were changed for safety's sake

There is more detail on this here: - Click Here -

7th September 2011 @ 24,135 miles. Well it was Service and MOT time so took advantage of Citroen's £199 value service offer at my local dealers, Cookswell.

The service includes all filters except 'Pollen' which is just an inspection, but as I had a new one and they were inspecting the old one, they changed it for me. I also had the brake fluid changed for £30.00 and the MOT cost £29.99 so a grand total of £260.37.

The car passed the MOT, though there was an advisory for the nearside front brake pad wear sensor as it has a broken wire. Apart from that and 'condensation' in a lamp unit, everything was fine.

22nd September 2011 @ 24,536 miles. Had to change the offside lower lamp unit (indicator and DLR) as water had gotten in, not condensation and it was half full. Not a manufacturing fault, but my clumsiness: - Click Here -

A rather expensive exercise.

5th November 2011 @ 24,425 miles. Well so much for the MOT a month ago. I had a set of Michelin Alpina Winter Tyres fitted today and the front pair of Falkens were badly worn on the inner edges, to the point that they won't be going back onto the car next spring.

Turns out that the tracking was out and so have only got 9,250 out of the pair of Falkens.

Tread across the rest of the tyres was OK though and it looked like they would have done the same mileage again if the tracking hadn't been so badly off.

I'm just disappointed that the MOT tester didn't give an advisory of the front tyre wear as I would have had it checked immediately

9th March 2012 @ 27, 700 miles. Had the winter tyres removed today and the Falkens refitted along with 2 new ones to replace those thrown away last November Total cost £304.00 via eTyres.

Looks like I need a set of front discs and pads as well, as whilst the outer disc faces and pads looked OK visually, the inner faces were badly lipped and seems like the calipers aren't sliding properly.....

25th April 2012 @ 29,340 miles, the C6 has been traded for.... a 2009 C6 3.0 HDi Exclusive with Lower VED and more 'Toys'