Citroën C-Elysée: the cheap car that ends up costing you
A forum user looking for a diesel estate for 25,000 km a year ended up ordering an Opel Astra for €17,000; the C-Elysée failed to convince him as either a diesel or an LPG car.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Citroën C-Elysée: the cheap car nobody wants to buy
The budget doesn't stretch that far. That's the premise behind one of the most frequently asked questions on consumer forums: is it worth buying a Citroën C-Elysée when you can't afford a mainstream brand? The typical buyer has a clear profile: they drive 25,000 kilometres a year, need an estate with a good boot, and have discovered that mainstream brands' offers deflate when you don't take out financing or trade in a car under the PIVE scheme (a Spanish scrappage incentive programme). The fine print turns the advertised 13,000 euros into 16,000. And that's where the problem begins.
The real price of a cheap car
The first conclusion to emerge from the discussion is an uncomfortable one: the C-Elysée isn't as cheap as it looks. A Skoda dealership asked as much as 19,000 euros for a mid-trim Rapid, according to the original buyer's account. The Seat León, with a smaller engine and worse equipment, came to 19,000 euros. The Skoda Octavia Ambition 1.2 TSI, 21,100. And the Ford Focus Trend+ 1.0 EcoBoost was in the same league. When the C-Elysée enters the scene, it does so with a price argument that collapses as soon as you compare it with alternatives from a segment above.
Some argue the problem isn't the car, but the market. Mainstream brands' prices have risen while sales recovered on cheap money from the ECB. The conclusion of the buyer who started the thread is telling: he ended up ordering a 140 hp Opel Astra Sports Tourer 1.4T for 17,000 euros, with no financing and no trade-in. In other words, a C-segment estate for the same money they were asking him for B-segment saloons.
The C-Elysée isn't a car, it's a concept
The C-Elysée is derived from the C3. It's a three-box saloon with a capable but not very versatile boot. The difference with a Toledo or a Rapid is that those have a tailgate, which multiplies practicality. Anyone who has tried to fit an Ikea sofa into the boot of a three-box saloon understands the difference. The C-Elysée is a car for people who will never need that versatility.
The most repeated criticism concerns safety. One participant goes so far as to claim that the C-Elysée won't even last ten years with that engine, and that its safety isn't anything to write home about either. It's an opinion, not a fact, but it reflects the consensus: the car is perceived as an emerging-market product recycled for Europe. The word third-world comes up several times in the conversation.
What about diesel?
The original buyer wanted diesel because of the mileage. The forum's answer was almost unanimous: no. The argument is that modern diesels add DPF, turbo and maintenance that eat up the fuel savings. One participant claims the 110 hp 1.2 TSI is infinitely better than the equivalent diesel, and that the latter has five gears because it can't cope with a sixth. The recurring recommendation is to look at LPG or CNG, or convert a petrol car.
The problem is that Citroën's LPG version is a 75 hp 1.2. For 25,000 kilometres a year, the buyer considers it insufficient. And there the circle closes: the C-Elysée fails to convince as either a diesel or an LPG car.
The alternative nobody expected
The conversation drifts towards a conclusion that contradicts the initial premise. If the budget doesn't stretch to a mainstream brand, the answer isn't to buy a low-cost car, but to look for unregistered stock or discounted units on deal sites. A C-segment Hyundai i30 could be had for just over 12,000 euros. A diesel Peugeot 308 SW, for just over 13,500. A diesel Dacia Logan SW, for 10,000.
The original buyer ended up with an Astra estate. It wasn't the car he wanted when he peine the thread. It was the car the market put in front of him when he stopped looking at the sticker price and started looking at the real price.
The question remains unanswered: is there a buyer for the C-Elysée? On paper, yes. In practice, the Spanish market has condemned it to invisibility. And the sales figures don't seem to prove anyone right.
The budget doesn't stretch that far. That's the premise behind one of the most frequently asked questions on consumer forums: is it worth buying a Citroën C-Elysée when you can't afford a mainstream brand? The typical buyer has a clear profile: they drive 25,000 kilometres a year, need an estate with a good boot, and have discovered that mainstream brands' offers deflate when you don't take out financing or trade in a car under the PIVE scheme (a Spanish scrappage incentive programme). The fine print turns the advertised 13,000 euros into 16,000. And that's where the problem begins.
The real price of a cheap car
The first conclusion to emerge from the discussion is an uncomfortable one: the C-Elysée isn't as cheap as it looks. A Skoda dealership asked as much as 19,000 euros for a mid-trim Rapid, according to the original buyer's account. The Seat León, with a smaller engine and worse equipment, came to 19,000 euros. The Skoda Octavia Ambition 1.2 TSI, 21,100. And the Ford Focus Trend+ 1.0 EcoBoost was in the same league. When the C-Elysée enters the scene, it does so with a price argument that collapses as soon as you compare it with alternatives from a segment above.
Some argue the problem isn't the car, but the market. Mainstream brands' prices have risen while sales recovered on cheap money from the ECB. The conclusion of the buyer who started the thread is telling: he ended up ordering a 140 hp Opel Astra Sports Tourer 1.4T for 17,000 euros, with no financing and no trade-in. In other words, a C-segment estate for the same money they were asking him for B-segment saloons.
The C-Elysée isn't a car, it's a concept
The C-Elysée is derived from the C3. It's a three-box saloon with a capable but not very versatile boot. The difference with a Toledo or a Rapid is that those have a tailgate, which multiplies practicality. Anyone who has tried to fit an Ikea sofa into the boot of a three-box saloon understands the difference. The C-Elysée is a car for people who will never need that versatility.
The most repeated criticism concerns safety. One participant goes so far as to claim that the C-Elysée won't even last ten years with that engine, and that its safety isn't anything to write home about either. It's an opinion, not a fact, but it reflects the consensus: the car is perceived as an emerging-market product recycled for Europe. The word third-world comes up several times in the conversation.
What about diesel?
The original buyer wanted diesel because of the mileage. The forum's answer was almost unanimous: no. The argument is that modern diesels add DPF, turbo and maintenance that eat up the fuel savings. One participant claims the 110 hp 1.2 TSI is infinitely better than the equivalent diesel, and that the latter has five gears because it can't cope with a sixth. The recurring recommendation is to look at LPG or CNG, or convert a petrol car.
The problem is that Citroën's LPG version is a 75 hp 1.2. For 25,000 kilometres a year, the buyer considers it insufficient. And there the circle closes: the C-Elysée fails to convince as either a diesel or an LPG car.
The alternative nobody expected
The conversation drifts towards a conclusion that contradicts the initial premise. If the budget doesn't stretch to a mainstream brand, the answer isn't to buy a low-cost car, but to look for unregistered stock or discounted units on deal sites. A C-segment Hyundai i30 could be had for just over 12,000 euros. A diesel Peugeot 308 SW, for just over 13,500. A diesel Dacia Logan SW, for 10,000.
The original buyer ended up with an Astra estate. It wasn't the car he wanted when he peine the thread. It was the car the market put in front of him when he stopped looking at the sticker price and started looking at the real price.
The question remains unanswered: is there a buyer for the C-Elysée? On paper, yes. In practice, the Spanish market has condemned it to invisibility. And the sales figures don't seem to prove anyone right.
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (70 replies).
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