Happy to report a good Cactus experience!! But fancy a series 2?

[minimike]

I've enjoyed owning my 66 reg Cactus (Flair, leather, pano roof and self parking) for almost 3 years. Bought it at 2 yo with only 6k on it for <10k. It now sits at 99K (mostly m/way miles and has been mostly reliable. I have recently had to replace a snapped front anti roll bar(£500), replaced the NoX sensor about one year ago (£230) and it has had 4 new doors under warranty (£0) Apart from that I have self serviced it (air, oil, fuel & cabin filters every time £80ish) at the correct service intervals and updated the maps once.

So overall I have no complaints, it has been a pleasure to own.

It's approaching the cam belt/water pump replacement time and the reversing camera is playing up a bit now (£84 genuine off Ebay) but it is still a great car! BUT I was thinking of trading up to a 3008. However it's a big step financially and I'm still going to be piling the miles on (after lockdown anyway) and I have seen a 2018 Cactus 2 Flair with a low 6k on it for £10500. I just might go for that instead because when I start looking and you add everything up they are just great value cars to own and run. They are also different although the 2 is not quite as unique as the 1!

It's worth about £4500 according to WBAC.

So 2 owners, what do I need to know? Have any of you gone from series one to series two and what are your thoughts generally.

Cheers, Mike

[minimike]

So I have taken the plunge and bought a used series 2. Hopefully it will be as good as the first one.

[Mike66]

You'll have to tell us how you get on with the Mk2 in comparison to the Mk1, what's better, what's not, what you miss, etc.

Enjoy

Cheers
Mike

[routemaster1]

Petrol or diesel? If diesel, has it got a warranty, and has it been Citroen maintained to allow Citroen Extended Warranty. (Yes I know that it doesn't need to be maintained by Citroen but it does make life easier).

[minimike]

Well I've still got my 1st gen Cactus.

I was about to pay for the new car by bank transfer on Thursday with a view to collecting on Saturday. The car was from a franchised garage but not Citroen. It had 6489 miles on it and was a 67, 18 reg (so it must have been one of the very first registered.) I rang Citroen to check for recalls and for any history of the car they might hold. It had a new key when brand new as only one was supplied (no issue) but they said it also had a full suspension geometry set up under warranty at only 550 miles in 08/19. That seemed strange to me? So with all this in mind, despite it being a garage I did my own HPi check.....

Turns out the car has a milage discrepancy. The manufacturer reported it had 9200 miles at 1 year old. The next one at 18 mths old is 168 miles, then 550 (suspension geometry) and in November last year 6489. So I just walked away from the deal and got my £99 deposit back. I think it was probably damaged/or had a major issue at a year, was repaired which some how reset the milage, was sold to someone who after a few 100 miles said it drove wrong? Had the suspension done and was then traded at 6489.

I might be wrong of course. Garage were fine about it.

Moral of the story? Always HPI check yourself, even from a garage. I'm still looking BTW and mine is up for sale.

[minimike]

Petrol or diesel? If diesel, has it got a warranty, and has it been Citroen maintained to allow Citroen Extended Warranty. (Yes I know that it doesn't need to be maintained by Citroen but it does make life easier).

My diesel has been totally reliable over 96k. I self service it as required.

It's had a NoX sensor (£230) which I fitted myself and was pretty easy to do.

Four doors under warranty, which they can all suffer from.

And I've just had the front anti roll bar replaced which was a bugger to do (£300 parts, £200 labour) it tore the drive shaft rubber and bent both drop links.

Hence why I'd happily have another.

It sounds like you maybe had a worse ownership experience?

[routemaster1]

We have a C3 110HDi 110bhp which has been fine apart form an injector at ~90,000 miles under warranty. It has now done 125,000 with little other than normal servicing. But it doesn't have Adblue.

We have a C4 Grande Picasso which has had just about every common fault. The only one that has cost me has been the stop/start battery. Everything else has been either under the original warranty or the Extended warranty. I had the Adblue fault after the original warranty ran out, and the alternator/starter as well. These two faults alone would have cost me over £2000 if I'd had to pay myself. Then there was the clutch pedal (free under recall). Sounds like I have an issue with the car, but I like it and when it's going well, which is most of the time, I'm very happy with it. I just wouldn't want to own it without a warranty.