Citroen C3 HDi – most economical conventional car in Australia
July 23, 2007 by Alborz Fallah
Step over Toyota Prius, there is a new kid in town, the Citroen C3 HDi. The Europeans have finally caught up to the iconic Toyota Prius, producing a conventional car with a fuel economy of just 4.4 litres/100kms. The new Citroen is now on par with the Prius for fuel economy.
The new Citroen C3 HDi goes to show that Diesel engines are able to keep up with the development of Hybrid cars, and with recent reports showing a swing against Hybrids, it seems that buyers are aware!
“The Citroën C3 HDi will be common sense choice for car buyers looking for the ultimate in economy motoring,” says Miles Williams, General Manager for Citroën in Australia.
Powered by a 1.6-litre 66 kW Turbo Diesel engine, the C3 HDi will do the 0-100 kmh dash in a respectable 10.8 seconds.
More details for the new Citroën C3 HDi will be availabe in October.
Print it: 
The fuel economy is all well and good for the environment, but it doesn’t translate to dollars in the pocket of the owner because diesel in Sydney is about 15 to 20 cents more expensive to buy…. why is it so?
True but in the C3’s case it uses more than 15% less fuel than the petrol version.
The C4 is also best in it’s class for fuel economy too.
My simple rule for a modern turbo diesel isn’t about the economy (to me, that’s a bonus), the higher price is validated by the larger amount of torque with a small engine and a turbo charger from just off idle RPM’s.
I am a low end grunt fiend.
Oh, and just to add on the higher price of Diesel fuel in Sydney. This has to be a rort.
Yeah less refined… costs more. That seems logical. The whole industry is rorted, you drive passed a servo in the arvo and its a certain price on a given day, drive by later in the evening and its gone up by 8cents or so.
As for Diesel, as someone said it translates into less money saved… and Im sure emissions wise it wouldnt be near the Prius. As for overall better for environment, youd be forgiven for saying the C4 has it, less fuel consumption means less fuel produced for the car ie less energy cost and using Diesel its less refined so again less energy cost to produce the fuel.
Despite this, hybrids are the way of the future… so fair enough Diesel, a technology which has been around for a while can finally catch up… but given the same time hybrids will be alot better.
As a C4 (Picasso) owner, I couldn’t agree more about the beauty of a modern diesel motor Steve. The Tractability is fantastic, and the pulling power is equally impressive even with a full carload and both aircon units running.
My only issue though is with those manufacturers that still don’t have particulate filters with their diesels. Curiously, all the French cars, and most of the Japanese diesels have them, but the “premium marquees” such as BMW and Mercedes have only just started to include them in their top end models.
Even the Holden Captiva has the particulate filter!
A brief correction on my earlier comment:
It appears that most of the diesel BMWs do have filters, but Mercedes have only just introduced it in their new S Class.
VW is the other manufacturer that has been behind the times, and are now introducing the filters across the range as model revisions occur.
VW is behind the times? – yeah, right – not
Problem with French cars is, well – they’re built by the French. You know, those people who exploded nuclear weapons in our back yard despite us pleading with them not to.
So to me it’s tanatamount to treason to do anything which supports France, including buying French cars when there are others available that are better and less quirky.
Actually, Reckless1…. my “French Car” was built by Spaniards!
So, if you applied the same principles to other cars:
* you wouldn’t buy a Ford, GM, Chrysler because of the attrocities inflicted by the USA
* you wouldn’t touch a German car because of what the Nazis did
* Jap cars are off limits for what they did to our POW’s in WWII
* The Italians were on the side of the Japs and the Germans, so they’re out too!
So I hope you enjoy buying your non-quirky Korean or Chinese car when you next shop for a vehicle.
Lol yeah time to let go of history… but I wouldnt get a Citreon and the likes for other reasons, like higher servicing costs particulary when the car is older. Something that is more common generally has cheaper maintenance costs… not to mention the C3 looks ordinary.
As for behind the times, for curiosities sake I was looking up info on BMW’s etc and they really are a rip off for what you get. Say comparing a 330i to a Lexus IS350 (or even 250) you dont get things like rear side airbags, driver AND passenger knee airbags (dont get any knee airbags in fact), other features like VDIM stability control which is managed a different way to conventionals ones and als prity sure they dont have things like radar cruise control which has a safety feature where if it senses your about to crash and it cannot be avoided it braces you by tightening your seatbelt etc. And you miss out on all that yet the Beemer is still a fair bit more expensive.
Reackless1, do you ever have anything constructive to say?
If not then please stay away..
I think the higher servicing costs assumption is a little vague, since I’ve been looking for a new car for a while, I ask what the servicing costs are, and the Citroen C4 is cheaper then the Golf at minor and major serving. I’m not saying it’s cheap, but if you want to save money on servicing, buy a Getz and be done with it. :)
The particle filter issue is controversial to me. Why? Because manufacturers state that they support Bio-Diesel, but having a particle filter stops you from using the fuel due to the “catalytic” converter dying due to the chemical reaction while catalysing the unburnt/polutive gas.
I agree, the C3 looks plain, but what other car looks like it? When you see a Corolla, it could be a Tiida, it could be an Accent. When you see a C3 or a C4, you know it’s something else. That makes it appealing to me.
Regulars here probably know I’m a bit of a French car lover. And although I will always love the handling and the quirks, I am open minded about all other manufacturers.
Either way, the French know how to make engines. Renault is a king when it comes to shoe horning a 3L V6 into a car the size of a pack of smokes. Citroen knows how to make a nice luxury car that handles and rides well…. look at the C6. I’d take the turbo diesel C6 over any BMW, and I like BMW.
Getting back to the C3. Well done Citroen, I say. It’s a chicks car, but I think they are brilliant for the engineering.
Cheers
Steve
^
Fair enough… but looks wise I find it hard to like, if you look at the Proton Savvy it does bear a very distinct resemblence. In saying this, I think the C4 on the other hand is a very good looking car.
I think the looks of the C3 are not something that the demographic of this site will like. If you look at where the C3 advertising campaign is being focused; Vogue Magazine, and other home & lifestyle magazines, it is quite clearly aimed at the middle aged professional female who wants an economical little car with a bit of style and panache not available from the Asian offerings in this market segment.
It’s more a fashion statement than a “A to B” choice.
I can appreciate that but even when considering that it still looks ordinary, very similar to the Savvy which is far from a good looking vehicle. The only demographic that would maybe like its good are the blind.
After a CV2 as a teenager in Europe, a Xsara here, I now drive a C4. in 1 Year I have driven just 18000kms and spend $27 a week on premium unleaded (8000) in Adelaide.
The Citroen dealer in Adelaide is over the top with their service prices, unfortunately.
by the way, Andre Citroen, was actually from the Netherlands. Read his story pretty interesting.
My husband has a garden maintenance business and drives a Citroen Berlingo Van. He is on the road every day with a trailer and has spent average $39 per week on premium unleaded (8000) and has done about 40000kms
Marijke
We have had a C3 Pluriel for 3 years.
Great car to drive, roof options great for summer.
But make sure you have another car available to use while it is in the workshop as these cars have a terrible electrical history both here and overseas.
Problems with central locking and car just refusing to accelerate for the whole 3 years. Dealers unable to fix.
Warranty expired on Sunday, Monday electric power steering quit for about half an hour, Friday starter just refused to work for 15 minutes even though lights and radio all working fine. Both problems seemed to self correct eventually just like the central locking problem does.
Looking to trade it in on a Toyota or Hyundai just to get a better dealer/service network.
Does anyone know how easy it would be to convert this car to take 100% biodiesel?
Install LPG boosting and get consumption down to around 3.0 – 3.5 litres per 100km, with some of that being cheaper LPG and that would be real economy. ADRIAN
HI There all,
Firstly the engine in the citreon if built by Peugeot. 2. They are not turbo charged they work on a higher compression ration that enables them to be mor eficent. 3. Vw, Audi, Porche and volvo all use the audi diesel built engine. Citreon, Jaguar, ford and toyota (europe) all use the epugeot built diesel engines.
If you want to get the service cost down on your european vechile then shop around. I save nearly 70% on all my parts by simply using an aftermarket supplier. I can still service my car at 10years old cheaper than a toyota supra import!
To the person having electrical problems take it to a peugeot factory as the computers are similar. Most parts are interchangeable and the peugeot parts are usally cheaper and visa versa, it always pays to check. In australia you might want to consider contacting Eurocar service center in Brisbane and newmarket they are very cheap when it comes to genuine parts for cit’s and pug. Ask for mick!
The reason that diesels are not popular here is that Holden and Ford can not make a decent diesel engine. The japs cannot make a diesel engine and therefor we do not have many diesel cars. But the strange thing is that most pug’s and citreons and Vw and audi’s selling at the moment are the diesel models and these are selling at a ratio of 6-1 in favor of the dieel. My 407 diesel get an average of 6.6 liters p/100 at an average of 800-950 kil per tank including a mix of city traffic and freeway driving!
My 406 v6 pug get around 600-700 per 60 liter tank. Given the cost of petrol and diesel we should all hold our breath for the new 308 diesel hybrid which blows all current cars out of the water. It has next to no emissions and gets an average of around 3.3-4 liters per hundred depending on the situations.