I bought a real Gabatron! - Citroën C2 VTS

[vmo]

So, after two years using my family car -the Toyota Verso-, and after months searching for a car, finally, a week back ago, and a lot of discarded cars, llast week at the end I chose the one that is my current car. A Citroën C2 VTS (the sportiest C2 trim), from 2005.

That model is black, and it comes with some extras, like the rain sensor for the wipers, climate control and automatic lights. And the best of all, with 54.000km, used by a woman to carry the kids to the school.

When you enter into the cabin, the first that do you notice is that is big inside compared with the exterior dimensions: You don’tt feel overwhelmed by lack of space.

When you start the car, the engine sound is funny. It remembers to a motorbike engine. Is a very peculiar (and normal) sound produced by the intake of that cars (the same happens to the VTR with the TU5 engine).

The VTS trim, compared with a standard C2, it comes with stiffer springs, shocks and stabilizer bars, a close-ratio 5-speed manual gearbox, 16-inch wheels, and of course, the TU5 JP4S (NFS) engine: a naturally aspirated 1.6L 4-cylinder engine, 16-valve DOHC, with 125hp.

Soon, I will post more photos, and talk about the driving experience about that small hot hatch.

More photos:

(My VTS vs the VTR from a friend)

[Knightophonix]

Hella clean.

Also someone getting a hot hatch / any other form of sports car or interesting car to drive the kids to school? I thought this only happenned in America :o
There’s hope.

[vmo]

Week 3: 500km later…

I use the car daily (20-25km everyday in the city), as well the weekends (country roads and highway), and I’m really happy with it.

last week I took the car to our workshop to check the basses (it is not normal for them to rust in my area), as well as check the condition of the shock absorbers by a noise that I heard (spoiler: they are fine), and the truth was that impeccable … until I found a surprise: the radiator was somewhat bent. Indication of having had an accident. Luckily, it does not lose.

When I went to watch the car, I made sure to look for signs of impact, but this one could only be seen from below. Even so, we take measurements and checks, and no part of the chassis is out of place.

And one of the questions that I have been asked the most has been the consumption of fuel. In general. If you have touch on the foot and without going below (or above) the maximum speed, spend little gas. If you let yourself go, go up.

In general terms, in the Terrassa-Barcelona-Vic trip, traveling by road in 75%, city by 10% and motorway by 5%, I made an average of 6.5L. Not bad at all.

In city, the usual is about 8-10L, if you have to do a lot of stop-start. But if it goes evenly at 30-50km/h, the consumption ranges between 4.5-6L/100km, very correct.

Two points that penalize him are the lack of a sixth gear (in 5th to 120km / h, going to 4000RPM), as well as a small fuel tank.

[vmo]

One year and 8.000km later…

---

I get some troubles with the car: the first, the suspensions were gone, as well the silentblocks and ball joints, so I needed to change it.

Also, I crashed the car this summer, because the other car skipped an stop signal, and I could’t brake properly, but it was a small crash at 15km/h. Covered by the insurance. But I discovered that, in addition to the bent radiator, there was the AC radiator, and the front impact bar bent, and not by my impact.

Other problem was the starter motor didn’t work when the engine was hot. But that was covered by the warranty, so not big deal.

And the latest problem happened that week: the diff oil ring (that couples into the CV joint) is broken and is leaking gearbox oil, and I have the MOT that week… But I took the car to the workshop today, so they can change it. Since I don’t have time to do it by myself.

But not everything has been bad news.

The car is pretty cheap to maintain and fix (for example, a complete front axle with CV joints costs 85€), is fuel efficient if you have good feet, without going slow (I managed to get 650km with one tank, 41L), and is pretty fun and confident to drive, as well easy to park.

So, despite that issues, I’m happy with that little french car: you don’t need a powerful engine or a very sophisticated suspension design (it uses McPherson struts on the front, and torsion beam axle on the rear), or the latest on infortainment: simple ingredients but well tweaked can offer a very good result.

---

What I have planned to do to the car on the future?

---

I want to keep the car as stock as possible, but I want to do some tweaks that I find it needs some attention:

Brakes: for daily use, it works pretty well, but on a sporty driving, they lose effectiveness quickly. So I have two options:

• Using the same brake caliper and brake size, and use Ferodo DS2500 pads and high-carbon content disks.
• Change the whole brake system to a 4-piston Brembo used on the Peugeot 406 V6 Coupé, and 306 GTi6 disk, plus custom brake lines, homologation… So, painful.

Tyres: I’m using the tyres that came with the car. A Chinese unknown brand, that are a danger with water, and so soft, that it degrades quickly (but doesn’t grip well if you go quick). So, my first option is to choose the Michelin Pilot Sport 3. 95€ each wheel, because the typical PSA strange wheel size (195/45 R16 80V).