Citroen City one - Model Year

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Fri 8 Feb 2019 13:55
Citroen City one - Model Year - Citbowler

I have been warned by a dealer to check the model year, when buying a "bargain" new car.

What did he mean

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Fri 8 Feb 2019 14:14
Citroen City one - Model Year - mcb100
Just a bit of industry speak. A ‘brand new’ unregistered car could be a previous specification, ie pre-facelift. Great for getting a potential bargain if you’re not overly bothered about having the very latest spec.
The days of cars sitting in fields or at the dockside for years are long gone, the dealer that said this presumably has only current model year cars to sell, whereas a competitor may have bought a batch of previous generation from the manufacturer.
It’s typically a six year cycle for a new model, with a facelift/refresh/LCI (Life Cycle Impluse for BMW!), after three years.

Edited by mcb100 on 08/02/2019 at 14:32

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Fri 8 Feb 2019 14:18
Citroen City one - Model Year - daveyjp

Manufacturers change their models on an annual basis. These may be slight tweaks to specification, but every 4-5 years there is often a mid life 'facelift'.

It is quite possible for a car to be manufactured, but not registered for many months so it could be an older style model with the latest number plate. If it appears to be a bargain you need to know when it was actually made and not registered. You can sometimes find date stamps under the bonnet on components, you can also decode the VIN number to get the date of manufacture. The tenth digit for the year, the 11th for the month.

I once looked at a bargain Audi A2 at a car supermarket. Before I entered the showroom I knew it wasn't the specification for the reg on it - the wheels were older specification and it didn't have climate control. Sure enough the car was 18 months older than the registration suggested.

Edited by daveyjp on 08/02/2019 at 14:19

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Fri 8 Feb 2019 18:54
Citroen City one - Model Year - Citbowler

My vin, s 10th letter is D. then J879955

Can you please tell me the build date.

Thankyou

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Fri 8 Feb 2019 20:05
Citroen City one - Model Year - mcb100
2013 is the year of production, but for some manufacturers the 11th digit denotes in which plant the car was built.

Edited by mcb100 on 08/02/2019 at 20:12

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Fri 8 Feb 2019 21:32
Citroen City one - Model Year - RT

My vin, s 10th letter is D. then J879955

Can you please tell me the build date.

Thankyou

D is 2013 model year so built between August 2012 and July 2013 - BUT - it's not unknown for makers to introduce the model year early or keep it running into the next year without any change, so exact date can't be determined.

Contacting the car makers customer services with the full VIN number is the only accurate way.

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