Citroen C4 Picasso (2013 – 2018) Review

• July 2013: UK prices and specs announced
• September 2013: Third generation Citroen Picasso goes on sale
• September 2015
• August 2016
• September 2016

10-06-2014:

Power steering failure on 6 week old new model Citroen C4 Picasso. Dealer unable to repair after a further 6 weeks. Next day Citroen agreed to replace the car.

18-04-2015:

Repeated electrical problems reported on Citroen C4 Grand Picasso from new. Car delivered 12-3-2015. On 16-3-2015 the car's warning lights showed faults with ESP, ABS, Auto Gears, Passenger Airbag, Tyre pressure monitor, Hill start and Parking brake. Faults then mysteriously disappeared. A few days later they re appeared, then went again, then 2 of them appeared. AA came to check, but found no faults. Several days later faults occured again and electric parking brake automatically applied twice at speed. Then suffered gearchange faults. AA came to transport the car to the supplying dealer and this time all the fault warnings came up and were seen by the AA. Car taken back to supplying dealer for 2 weeks. No faults found.

16-08-2016:

Auxiliaries belt snapped on C4 Picasso at 2 years old and 12,000 miles.

21-11-2016:

Report of problems with April 2014 Citroen Grand C4 Picasso 1.6 THP 155 manual. Engine warning light came on in April 2016. Faukt was a failed coil pack. Then in November 2016, at 37,000 miles, engine warning light cvame on again. Two faults were fuel tank sender pump and carbon deposits on the inlet valves (THP 155 is direct injected). Prior to this engine had been idling roughly on start up. Owner had been using a mix of 'premium' 95Ron petrols. Advised to switch to Shell V-Power 99Ron. (This follows: 19-6-2016: Report of 1.6THP 156 petrol engine of 2011 Peugeot 5008 (same engine) going lumpy at 54,000 miles after a lot of short local stop/start school runs. Dealer updated software on recall, found misfire on no 1 cylinder, proposed Terraclean at £600. Car then started running better on long runs, so suggested switch to Shell V-Power or BP Ultimate might clean it up.)

16-01-2017:

Report of n/s front wheelarch liner of Grand Picasso repeatedly detaching itself in heavy rain.

01-03-2017:

Report of fault coming up twice on 2015 Citroen C4 Grand Picasso diesel. RAC cleared fault code both times. Dealer unwilling to replace injector as fault not currently showing. Possibly due to the diesel being used. Recommended a swap to Shell V-Power Nitro Plus.

01-03-2017:

Report of new (B78) 2016 Citroen C4 Picasso Airdream Exclusive 1.6 e-HDi manual, bought September 2016, breaking down in mid November with a manufacturing fault identified by the dealer but which they can't fix because the part is unavailable. The Motor Ombudsman ruled that it was acceptable for the owner to be supplied with a smaller C3 Picasso until his brand new car was finally repaired. Owner wants to reject the car, as he has every right to do under all relevant legislation and case law including The Consumer Rights Act 2015.

21-05-2017:

Report of milometer of new Citroen C4 Picasso 1.2 Puretech 110, bought 13-3-2017, randomly changing from miles to kilometres. Dealer (Robins & Day that is owned by Peugeot) later admitted this was caused by a software problem and it would require a 2 hour reboot to cure.

23-08-2017:

Report of problem with TA Traffic Announcements on radio of Citroen C4 Picasso Purtetech+ VTR bought new in July 2015. Car returned to dealer who removed the radio for details to be sent to Citroen for a remedy to be found. On the first service owner enquired if the repair was possible to be told its status had been upgraded in the system. On the second service in July 2017 the answer given was to make contact with customer service, which the owner did and the reply was that some units may not function correctly to which there is no solution. Owner lives in in West Sussex; local station is BBC RADIO SUSSEX, he has never received TA from them but receive BBC RADIO BERKS which is fifty miles away and random commercial stations around the country.

04-09-2017:

Report of owner taking Citroen C4 Picasso in for an a/c regas to be told "it's the expensive gas" (R1234YF). While there, some TSB recall work was done and the whole job took 3 hours. Several weeks later the a/c failed again.

19-09-2017:

Complaint of screen washer jets of 2016 Citroen Grand Picasso not spraying far enough up the screen. Owner has been told by the Citroen dealer that this is normal. The wipers are supposed to pick up the screenwash and distribute it over the screen.

22-02-2018:

Report of driver's side windscreen wiper of Citroen C4 Picasso intermittently but repeatedly hitting the right hand side screen pillar. There is a variation of around 30mm in the point at which the wiper ends in the vertical position. Apparently each front wiper arm has a separate motor. Despite numerous attempts, the Citroen dealer has not been able to rectify the problem.

23-03-2018:

Report of "in service" replacement of alternator belt tensioner pulley on 2015 Citroen C4 Picasso 1.6HDI at 22,500 miles. Though the tensioner was replaced under warranty the owner was asked to pay £55 for the belt itself. (If an alternator belt comes off, it can wrap itself around the unprotected lower timing belt pulley, causing the engine to self-destruct.)

05-05-2018:

Report of top dashboard screen malfunction in new 2018 Citroen C4 Grand Picasso.

24-05-2018:

Report of ex-rental 2016 Citroen C4 Picasso bought and first serviced at 17,000 miles in March 2017 suffering worn auxiliary belt when service for a 2nd time at 22,000 miles by non-franchised garage.

25-07-2018:

Report of failure of clutch and dual mass flywheel of 2016 Citroen Picasso at 8,000 miles. Dealer quoted £1,536 and refused to allow owner to keep old clutch and DMF for independent inspection.

03-08-2018:

Report of injector failure on 2013 Citroen C4 Picasso at 40,000 miles (presumed to be 1.6HDI). Lost power on motorway. Recovery company diagnosed injector failure. Citroen dealer has quoted £600+ for labour?

07-10-2018:

Report of 2014 Citroen Grand Picasso recalled in May for replacement of clutch master cylinder. Subsequently, in September 2018, at 50,000 miles, the clutch slave cylinder failed, making it impossible to select any gears. The dealer told the owner that this would necessitate a new clutch and quoted £800.

18-10-2018:

Report of a/c condenser of 2015 Citroen C4 Picasso 2.0 HDI cracking at 30,000 miles along one of the welded seams. Citroen replaced the condeser FoC but charged £350 for labour.

12-02-2019:

Depending on the age of the car a 1.2 Puretech might be due a software update for the engine ecu. There's has been a software update campaign for the older Puretech 130s that Peugeot / Citroen main dealers will carry out when you take the car in for a service / other work.

19-02-2019:

Report of failure of a fuel injector in a 2015 Citroen C4 Picasso 1.6 e-HDI. Cost to repair £500.

29-04-2019:

Report of all four blistered alloy wheels on a January 2018 itroen C4 Grand Picasso replaced FoC under warranty.

01-05-2019:

Report of 2015 Citroen C4 Picasso requiring an R1234YF aircon re-gas in July 2018. The gas has now leaked and a further re-gas with R1234YF is charged at £245, adding to Honeywell's profits.

02-05-2019:

Report of history of problems with October 2015 Citroen C4 Picasso 1.6 E-HDI 115 Exclusive now at 33,000 miles. 7.10.16 City Motors Bristol – multiple rattles – partially rectified – no charge. Date unrecorded – City Motors Bristol – heavy/clunking gearbox – reported as normal for this model – no charge. 20.6.18 City Motors Bristol – Rubber buffer pad n/s tailgate – broke, fell out, replaced – also rattles from sunroof/headlining -no charge. 2.11.18 City Motors Bristol – Heated front seat not working (failed 27.10.18, 12 days outside of Warranty). Diagnoses to have further full diagnostic investigation at a cost of £193.70. Cost of initial diagnoses £57.00. 11.12.18 Ubley Motors, Ubley Parking brake fault occurred 30.11.18 fit new rear r.h.s.brake actuator – cost £253.56. 15.1.19 City Motors Bristol - Full diagnostic test for heated front seat – replacement heating diaphragm cost £144.53+VAT and Parking brake replace rear harness cost - £404.39+VAT. Citroen contributed £270.35+VAT towards the cost of seat and brake (33%). Total nett cost of this work £673.70. 11.4.19 City Motors – Clutch pedal not returning to engaged position – replaced Master Clutch Cylinder – cost £311.12. Citroen granted a 33% discount in partial recognition for the seat and brake problem but this is a reduced discount because owner had the car serviced outside of the franchised dealership even although all genuine parts and consumables were original. This car has cost over £1,600 in servicing and repairs in less than 3.5 years and 33,000 miles.

19-05-2019:

Report of 2016 (out of warranty) Citroen C4 Picasso 1.2 Puretech 130 suffering engine fault. The engine management system detects the fault and responds by turning the engine off, even when driving down a dual carriageway. Reader writes, "The fault code from the engine management system is meaningless to anyone except Citroen, so it has to be fixed by a main dealer, who need to completely strip the engine and rebuild it – obviously a very expensive repair at main dealer prices. The local dealer has taken 3 weeks, wasted time, fobbed us off with promises that it will be another 2 days, another 2 days, etc, and so far done nothing useful." (By 24-5-2019 it had turned out that t here were 5 engine management faults. The main fault was caused by the cam belt shredding and the bits blocked up the oil system. They didn't say if that's happened to that sort of engine before. Citroen will supply a new timing belt + labour to fit, but the dealer is still charging £678 for diagnostics, stripping the engine down, work on a cam centring switch and to clean the valves.

11-06-2019:

Final report of 19-5-2019: Citroen C4 Picasso 1.2 Puretech 130. Engine needed a replacement camshaft, cleaning of valves to remove carbon pitting, and a fresh timing belt. Citroen Goodwill amounted to 70%, plus one free subsequent service. Customer did have to pay the remaining £678.02 for removal of the pitting and the replacement camshaft. (May be related to 3-6-2019: Report of 2017/67 Citroen C4 1.2 Puretech 130 EAT6 auto being recalled for a "quality recall Software Download reference code GNK." SEE UNDER RECALLS.)

24-06-2019:

Report of cracks at the top of the tailgate of a 2014 Citroen C4 Picasso both sides. Citroen agreed it was a manufacturing defect and will supply a new tailgate free of charge but will not cover the labour cost of fitting the replacement and nor will the supplying dealer.

28-08-2019:

Report of 2016 Citroen C4 Picasso 1.2 Puretech 130 requiring two new replacement engines and yet a dash message of “engine fault” persists. When the warning comes up the engine feels sluggish.

18-09-2019:

Report in Ask of faulty ECU, BCM, wiring loom in 2017 Citroen C4 Grand Picasso 1.2 Puretech 130 Manual. Now been with dealer for 5 weeks being repaired under warranty.

25-09-2019:

Report of waterpump failure leading to timing belt coming off and destruction of engine of 2015/64 Citroen C4 Grand Picasso (presumed diesel) at 57,000 miles.

11-10-2019:

Complaint that stop/start not functioning on 2017 Citroen C4 Picasso 1.2 PureTech 130. Recently Citroen dealer chenged the battery and stop/start will now function as long as no major electrical components are being used. If the A/C and climate control are switched off it works. If owner sets the ventilation fan above 5/8 of maximum, it stops working. This is the compromise between a regenerating alternator and a stop/start system. An engine-powered alternator uses 2-3mpg of fuel, whioch is a lot more than the stop/start system saves.

22-11-2019:

Report of gradual failure of aitconditioning of 2015 Citroen C4 Picasso, eventually traced to a failed a/c condenser. Apparently there is a TSB about this, number A1CW010GQ. There seems to have been a problem of incompatibility between the new R1234YF low CFC refrigerant and the condensers. (See: 4-9-2017, 18-10-2018 and 1-5-2019.)