All generations and engines together · 9,809 MOT tests in the 2025 data · typical mileage at age 7: 56k
Worse than most people carriers, by age and by mileage. Watch suspension and emissions/leaks. A used buy worth some caution. Check the MOT history for repeating suspension advisories before you go.
Split by first-registration year. Cars registered in a changeover year can belong to either generation.
Owner folklore from forums and the motoring press, with how well each report stands up. Most of it never shows up in an MOT, which is why this section exists at all.
Mk1 cars (2007-2013) with the EGS/SensoDrive semi-automatic 'box are the ones to worry about. Owners report the actuator pump leaking hydraulic fluid every few months, jerky or delayed gear changes, and occasional total loss of drive with a gearbox warning light. Citroen never issued a recall for it, and repairs run from a few hundred pounds for a pump relay or fuse up to over a grand if the actuator or gearbox ECU needs replacing.
The electric handbrake cable can fail to apply enough force, so the car rolls on a hill with the brake lamp lit and a 'parking brake faulty' message on the dash. Citroen recalled early cars for exactly this cable fault, but owners outside the recall batch report the same failure later on, with water getting into the wiring loom as a separate cause. Full cable and motor replacement has been quoted at around £1,000 for both sides.
HDi diesel engines across both generations have a history of individual injectors failing, showing up as rough running, a flashing glow-plug or engine light, and reduced power. It is not universal but comes up often enough on forums to be a genuine buying consideration, with each injector costing roughly £300 to replace plus labour, more if more than one has gone.
A long-running forum complaint on both generations: creaks, knocks or a dull thud from the rear when going over bumps or when the car rocks on its suspension. Owners and independent garages usually trace it to the sealed rear subframe/torsion-beam bushes, which have no grease nipples and cannot be serviced, or to the axle tube itself flexing. This lines up with the model's measured MOT data, where suspension is the standout fault category, so a test-drive creak from the rear is worth taking seriously even if it does not show up as an advisory yet.
Both generations get a steady stream of dashboard warning lights for ESP, ABS, tyre pressure and hill-start assist that come and go without an obvious cause, sometimes for months before a fault is pinned down. A front wheelarch liner working loose in heavy rain has also been reported repeatedly on Mk2 cars. None of this tends to be expensive on its own, but repeated intermittent electrical faults are the main reason the model scores below average in Honest John's MOT-file reliability data.
Cars fitted with the EAT6 automatic can develop a noticeable whirring or whining noise from the transmission. Citroen's own position, reported by owners, is that this is a characteristic of the gearbox rather than a fault, so getting it fixed under warranty or goodwill can be a fight even though it sounds like something is wearing out. Only relevant if you are looking at an automatic.
Ranked from this model’s own MOT record, then from what owners report.
Saveable checklistThe physical checks its own defect data says are worth your time, most telling first.
These judge the seller’s upkeep rather than the model, and they are where the haggling money is.
The physical checks its own defect data says are worth your time, most telling first.
These judge the seller’s upkeep rather than the model, and they are where the haggling money is.
The physical checks its own defect data says are worth your time, most telling first.
These judge the seller’s upkeep rather than the model, and they are where the haggling money is.
Drawn from the reports above rather than the MOT data. These are the model-specific ones.
Computed from DVSA MOT results, all of Great Britain, 2025. Nothing here is opinion.
Share of tests where each item was recorded. The dark tick is the class average across all tracked models; bars are scaled within each group.
The rows that judge the model rather than its keeper. 6,079 tests in this band.
Tyres, pads and stone chips say more about how the car was driven and maintained than about how it was built.
Same segment (MPVs), best MOT record first. Compare before you shortlist.