Citroën C4 Picasso (2007-2026)

Absolute disaster. Huge system failure requiring 12k in repairs. Do not buy! – I purchased a 2015 C4 Grand Picasso brand new. It had a 6 year warranty at the time. To be very fair, it was a great car - great on fuel, beautiful to drive and roomy. Running costs were a little high (major service cost 2k!) and I was alternating between replacing brakes and tyres every year. However, no major repairs or recalls. However, out of… Read more

warranty and just ticked over 130,000kms the Ad Blue/urea system failed. I have been quoted $12k for repairs. The car is not driveable. It’s a major and very expensive system failure. The ad blue system failure is a known issue with these vehicles and Citroen did nothing to recall and replace - assuming it was too expensive. I have lodged a claim with Citroen but it has now been 2 Months and they have not been forthcoming in offering any support or compensation for the major system failure. The car will now cost more to fix than it’s worth. Warning to all buyers looking at Citroens and those cars with the Ad blue system - just don’t buy! It’s not worth it.

Best Family Car Ever – We previously had a couple of Chrysler Voyagers when our kids were younger. My wife wanted a smaller car easier to drive in the city. Saw a review about the Picasso and went for a test drive. My wife loved it, I loved it. Was hesitant to buy it as Citroen doesn't have much presence in Oz but it had a 6 year warranty so we took a chance and never… Read more

regretted it. Some minor computer related issues but for the past 6 years we haven't had any major issues. A 2 litre turbo diesel easily handles a loaded up car and trailer. Extremely economical with power to overtake on hills and highway. In Europe last year saw heaps on the road so its a shame they are not selling them in Oz any more. We're going to upgrade to a new one so will have to hang on to this one until it dies. Good turning circle, spacious, unique look, economical, powerful, etc so what's not to love about it! Serviced once a year, used daily in the city and frequent distant holiday driving. The build quality is not the best but the features are plentiful.

Poor aftermarket support with acknowledged materials issue – We bought a brand new Citroen in 2013. We have always serviced it at the specified intervals and didn’t drive it hard. At the end of 2020, the transmission died after travelling only 140,000km. When Citroen assessed it, THEIR assessment showed that the transmission died due to poor materials but they refused to replace it (fair enough - a new… Read more

one costs more than the car is worth) OR TO COMPENSATE US IN ANY WAY.

We have since been told that buying a European car in Australia was a bad idea (that would have been helpful before purchase, people!). So, in case you are looking at purchasing a Citroen and haven’t yet made that mistake, DON’T DO IT!!! When their assessment shows they’re using dodgy materials and they won’t assist the customer, they’re not worth your time or money. Buy something else!

Great 7 seater family car – We upgraded to this 7 seater car when we have 2 kids. The design is really good for the young family in details. Back seat blinds, small rear mirror and full size of middle back seat. Much more spacious compared to most similar size SUVs. Show details

Economical Strong Diesel Car – I needed an economical cheap family car. Came across this. People advised not to buy European cars, as its hard to find the parts. Now I have been driving this for almost one year and I am happy with. Very open comfortable family car. The only thing which make me a bit worry is its pickup from the rest position. It takes a bit longer time than the… Read more

others. Still it got turbo diesel engine. It has both Auto/Manual options. Built in back sensors and lot if other features like speed limit ,cruise control blue tooth etc are cool features. Very comfortable as well..

There's the Space Shuttle and then there was The Citroen picasso – I was advised to buy the Diesel C4 Picasso. However, now I realize that Diesel cars are fitted with a 'Particle filter Sachet'. The problem of course, is that if that sachet runs out, your car, being very intelligent, will simply leave you stranded (perhaps) out in the middle of nowhere?...(Because that's what the computer is programmed to do… Read more

LOL!) So, now I need to spend 800 dollars for a new particle filter, plus labour!. Who said a Diesel car was cheaper to run?. Certainly in the past, tractors did very well on Diesel...dirt cheap, but it's a whole new different story today. The 7 seater is pretty good, nice shape and comfortable to drive..I can't complain. This van would have been a huge seller, were it not for the space shuttle interior controls...Too much for me, personally.

Sadly no longer available as a 5 seater – I am currently averaging 5.5L/100km which is actually slightly better than the published ‘combined’ figure.......and on E10 fuel at that. Amazing adaptability, all round comfort, fabulous vision including high seating position in a compact sedan size. The automatic 6 speed transmission is from Toyota owned Aisin and the proven engine means one… Read more

can expect solid reliability.

If only it continued to be sold new here, but that is what happens when you fail to promote it. Nobody realised it existed.

So much care put into the design. Perfect family car – After a year of ownership, we love this car. We bought it to be able to seat three across the second row comfortably, while still having a large boot. The large boot is fantastic. The third row seats are only occasionally used. We always have one of the third row seats up to provide a partition, which we find very practical. The features in… Read more

this sub $50,000 car are amazing and only found on more expensive cars for other makes. Things like top view (birds eye view) camera, lane departure warning (tugs on the seat belt), self parking and blind spot monitoring. The leather seats option is a smooth Nappa leather, not the corrected grain plastic leather found on most vehicles that including Mercedes and BMW. These “leathers” are leather scraps that are ground into a fibrous power and then stuck together with a plastic like adhesive. A leather texture is then imprinted onto the leather fibre matte. If you look closely enough, you will find the leather texture repeats and the surface is always perfect. This is a sign of leather fibre leather - which can legally be marketed as “leather”. The Picasso has no such thing, it is smooth high end leather that is a joy to sit in.

The car drives well. For a large car, it feels like a small sedan to drive and is easy to park manually, or using the park assist. There are many well thought out features in the car that you discover as you own it - things like the individually adjustable and collapsible second row seats. Economy is excellent. We fill up the car once a month, getting about 800km from a full tank.

My only gripe is the front row passenger side glove box. It is useless, being taken up by the fuse box. Really odd.

Would buy another, no question. After sales support has been great too at Allpike Citroen.

Perfect family car – A very practical family car which is a joy to drive on both rural and city roads. Ours is the 2 litre diesel which is extremely frugal yet surprisingly quick. The visibility is excellent with massive windscreen and it also comes standard with a reversing camera. Very easy to manoeuvre with a tight turning circle. Seats are extremely comfortable… Read more

and versatile. Only criticism is that the centre control panel can only display one function at a time.

Terrific car to drive and cheap as chips at the pump – I love the comfort of the so called captains chair it feels like luxury you sit high and comfortable with every possible adjustment and luxury you could want it has a 60L tank diesel when you fill diesel it bubbles up and around 10% will not be accepted so around 54L of diesel will allow me to travel around 660km Sydney driving I drove to… Read more ·  1

Canberra recently i filled the tank the previous night 293 km one way on my arrival home I had clocked 641 km the gauge said more than quarter full left and the computer told me I could travel a further 212 km 853 km I'm happy with that the auto shifting manual gearbox helps with the economy initialy on my first drive I did not like the gearbox but within 10 minutes of driving I was sold it has 7 seats auto everything really nice leather trim and the amount of space in this vehicle is incredible I'm very happy with it on summing it up my wife drives a late model Honda Jazz it feels underpowered in comparison and uses far more fuel than the Citreon

Love the car not so mad about the service support – Chose this car for a family of 5 (needed 3 booster/baby seats across) and occasional relative pick up and drop off tag along. Ticked all the boxes for me: - Diesel (good for carting weight) - Not an SUV - Not a an oversized people mover (relatively standard size car driving experience) - excellent safety rating - excellent visibility … Read more

- when not used as 7 seater excellent luggage space (throw the bikes in)

- 3 baby seats fit in

- Wife feels comfortable to drive it

- Bit of French design differentiating itself from the market

- parking sensors

- Auto handbrake (wasn't originally on the tick box but I love it), auto windscreen, tyre presser sensors, auto lights

- independent AC settings for left, right, front and back with a master control

- Seating flexibility and versatility

Things that would be nice:

- All wheel drive

- Hybrid Diesel (for future)

- Could do with a slightly higher clearance but still OK.

Reliability:

I have had a couple of stall issues in the first 6 to 8 months with the engine conking out, for which a restart saw the problem disappear until next time. Took this to Continental Cars (under warranty) and they fiddled around with it and haven't had the problem since.

Handling:

The handing has been a bit rough on the poorly maintained Sydney roads, and under heavy turning the weight of the car becomes apparent which is why I presume the XL (stiffer tyre walls) were fitted for improved performance. The original tyres I got were the older Primacy HPs which I have just changed at 32k (95% city driving), and have put the Primacy 3 ST (Michelin) on also with XL spec which seems to offer reduced roll noise, and a smoother ride. Will put the pressure up to same as before to see if this still holds true. Overall with the original tyres the general passenger comment was that it is a quiet car, and comfortable ride.

The feel on the steering seems delayed or at least not sensitive enough to smaller movements (like going through small roundabouts) but I have put this down to it being a people mover thing. The steering does seem to require more turning than normal. I also noted under braking and turning that I get creaking noises from the steering column, but no issues from that thus far.

Over all the driving experience (despite the harshness over the bumps) as been ok to better than ok, but I am really not pushing this car hard at all, as that is not it's main purpose anyway.

Fuel economy:

Nowhere near what the labels were indicating in the shop (I am getting between 10.5 and 11/5 per 100km on diesel around the city, short trips typically). On the open road I can get about 6.5 to 7.5 per 100km. Not sure if this is related to the stalling thing I mentioned earlier.

Service:

To me the servicing is the other half of the car sale. Buying from Continental Cars which sell and service, gave me relative confidence as the point of sale, but...

I have had a service for each year thus far (standard) but have failed to trust the service centre at Continental Cars, especially after the last service I was smacked for $400 and they "missed" some very obvious things like very low coolant and brake fluid levels. This was just before needing to hit road for several hours on holidays. They tried to rectify, but for me the trust is gone, as I now doubt they did any of the work they stated in previous services.

Buy Again:

Would like to but...

I love the styling of most of the range, strong association with Peugeot. However now that the I have issues of my own with the service centre (who are considered pretty good as far as Citroen goes) , I think I will reconsider where I go for a second car, which may be on the books soon, as the kids get older. visibility, diesel, 7 seater, auto lights, auto wipers, auto handbrake, pressure sensors, french styling, clever design don't trust service support, some stall issues at start

Great family car - love my C4 Picasso – With 3young children under 5yrs we looked at many family cars before buying the C4 Picasso. Although I loved the Volvo XC90, Mercedes R Class, Mazda CX9 and Toyota Kluger we decided against these (as well as the larger 4WD 7seat cars) due to high fuel needs & high price. After looking at the Honda Odyssey, Toyota Avensis etc, all 7seat comparisons… Read more

- we couldn't go past the spacious yet small sized, cute, practical, easy to drive and low fuel consumption. The flexible floor plan was what won us over in the end. Love how it seems so small, yet it easily fits 3 car seats in the middle row. I often us the 3rd row for my children's school friends - so roomy for booster seats - but not really for an adult in 3rd row. I'm looking at buying a new car again now (lease is up), but can't think of a better car as yet! Comfort, kid friendly (rear window blinds, kid rear vision mirror, seats recline, fits 3 car seats in 2nd row. Under floor boot storage. A little bouncy on bumpy roads. Concerns of high parts cost - although no problems since new (6yrs old).

With a young family you can't really to at least look at the C4 Picasso – After shortlisting the C4, Volvo XC90, Honda Odyssey and Kia Carnival. We settled on the C4 and are truly glad we did. How they managed to fit so much space in a car this size is amazing and the all round visibility and light inside the cabin is great. In the end though it was a few touches that are probably really specific to our situation… Read more ·  1

that won us over. Of the greatest importance was to be able to have two child restraints in the middle row of seats yet still have good access to the third row. Of the other 7+ seaters that could do this they came with some fairly hefty fuel consumption figures or poor safety rating (or both). Further in the case of the Honda the mounting points for the child restraints were in the roof above the third row seats making them essentially unusable.

For anyone with a young family there are some really nice touches to the C4 that make car trips with young ones that little more enjoyable, like the little mirror that allows you to keep an eye on them. The inbuilt sunshades in the rear doors, the drop down tables and all the storage spaces available near every seat and in the floor. To top it off, even a fridge that fits a fair amount of stuff and actually functions rather well - I had just written this off as a bit of a gimmick when the sales person told me.

There are some nice touches for the driver too like the unusual fixed hub steering wheel, the great windscreen and some really comfy seats but sadly this is no drivers car and with a full compliment of passengers can be a little sluggish. Admittedly I have the petrol model and if you get the diesel it will most likely have a bit more pulling power.

Also even though you can move the middle row of seats forward (each independantly) there is little leg room in the third row - as we only use these seats occasionally I was prepared to accept this for the fuel savings on offer but if you intend to use all seats virtually all of the time, you should really take everyone with you when you go for a test ride.

Overall though I would suggest anyone considering a 7 seater for young family needs to at least give the C4 a good once over. Nice family touches, windscreen, safety Third row seating could use a little more leg room

Superbly designed family mover – This car impresses with great design, outside and especially inside. You can tell a lot of thought went into it. Interior space is amazing considering the entire car isn't much longer than a hatchback. Three child/booster seats fit in the second row without a problem, which was a major factor in deciding to buy this model. Seats are very… Read more ·  1

comfortable and the driving experience is best described as relaxing. Superb leather steering wheel, and the whole interior feels classy and solid, with no cheap plastics anywhere. There is great adjustability in the driving position, and visibility is outstanding especially with that huge front windscreen and A-pillar glass. Build quality also impresses. The 2 litre diesel is a more than adequate unit, not terribly quick off the line, but with very solid mid-range torque.

On the minus side, the auto gearbox takes some getting used to in order to achieve smooth shifts, but once mastered becomes second nature. (The gearbox is actually not a true auto, but a "robotized manual", meaning there is no "creep" when the brake is released.) Or put it into manual mode and use the paddles to achieve seamless shifts. The other drawback is that with all 7 seats up luggage space becomes very tight, but this is the case with virtually all 7-seaters. The only exceptions are the Tarago (reliable but terribly bland and nearly double the price) and the Kia Grand Carnival (which is B-I-G but an ugly, dated design and feels like driving a tank - a very cheap tank).

Overall, a stylish and brilliantly designed family car that has so far been a pleasure to own. Great design all round, pleasant to drive Rainwater not draining properly from driver's door. Fixed under warranty

Good – We covered several thousand kms in an Exclusive model in June this year and found it a great tourer for four with luggage. The local model lacks a lot of the equipment we enjoyed so maybe wait for the top-of-the-line to arrive. We saw a lot of the newer five-seat model in France and I think for local use (and provideing you don't need the sixth… Read more ·  4

and seventh seats) this model would be a nicer package - assuming Citroën import it. Terrific sense of light and space - especially good for passengers in the centre row. Punchy 2 litre diesel and surprisingly good handling. Not as many under floor / seat storage lockers as the Renault Scénic.

Good car let down by poor service – This is a great car overall, the big front window is a real pleasure and the diesel is surprisingly sprightly esp at highway speeds. We bought this car because it was one of the few 7seaters with a diesel. But I wouldn't buy another Citroen whilst I still live in Canberra, because the service from Gulsons' is so poor. We've had a couple of… Read more

issues which were fixed under warranty, however we've just had a problem with a broken seat slide and when we did eventually get them to give us a quote, we got a figure of $900 plus labour. Comfortable, good engine Bad service

Excellent – I would recommend a test drive - you will be impressed. Ask for a grey interior. I do not regret this purchase. I've had the Picasso for almost a year and nothing has gone wrong. It's very easy to fold seats and great to drive. Lots of space. Lots of features. Fantastic on smooth roads, but does not like rough surfaces. The common interior colour is black - too dark - I had to wait 6 months to get a grey interior, but worth it. Show details ·  1