Citroën Grand C4 Picasso Exclusive+ BlueHDi 150 Automatic

What is it about a car reaching 10,000 miles? Suddenly the car no longer feels new, with the extra digit on the odometer seemingly taking the car past an important milestone. A friend told me last month that his Renault had passed the 10,000-mile mark without issue, a feat which, he suggested, was rare for a French car. Non, non, I protested, the same would be true of my Grand C4 Picasso which was about to complete 10,000 miles without a hitch. I probably spoke too soon. While the last four weeks have been pleasant enough, it would be fair to say the honeymoon is over.

Take the seven-inch touchscreen infotainment system, which as Citroën’s press material explains is used “to control all vehicle functions”. So when, with my wife driving the car, it shut down, only to re-load a minute or so later, it was quite a surprise and rather worrying. Never mind, perhaps it was a one-off niggle that would go away. Only it didn’t. A week later, on the M25 near Heathrow, it did the same again. Only this time it wouldn’t re-load. Once again, the screen shut down, resulting in a loss of satellite navigation directions at what could have been a crucial point. A blank screen was followed by the Citroën logo and a partial return to normality. The map was frozen on a section of the A303 some 50 miles back and none of the buttons would operate. Four times it went off and came back on in a state of confusion. I gave up, parked the car and left it for two days, by which time it had kicked the gremlins into touch. Either that or they had been killed off with hypothermia.

Fast forward another seven days and a potential issue with the keyless entry and start system raised its head. With my wife and mother enjoying (if it’s possible to enjoy) a day of Christmas shopping, they returned to the car and much like you see in the promotional material for such systems my wife left the keys in her jacket pocket, opened the car using the button on the door handle and put her coat on the back seat. The car started as normal and my wife went to exit the car park. Only the car didn’t want to leave. Instead it just stopped and the screen went blank. After a minute or so of putting the car in neutral, park, reverse or whatever gear might work, the car came back to life, only to claim the key was absent from the vehicle. Having moved the key from the coat to the front storage box, all was fine, but some prior warning or an initial failure to start the engine would surely be preferable to this scenario? Finally, two days before Christmas, a symphony of bells and flashing messages warned me the car had developed an emissions control fault. Further investigations revealed the diesel exhaust fluid needs topping up, something I’ll be sorting prior to the next update. I might just ask the garage to seek and destroy the electrical gremlins while I’m there.