On 18.10.2010 I bought a Citroen C5, 2.0 HDi 138 EU4 Diesel VTR 5 door estate manual 6Spd from the main local Citroen dealership. After checking my paperwork and details of DVLA records I realised that the car sold to me was not that of the above description but a C5 VTR HDi 1560 which has a 1.6 litre engine with only a five speed gear box and not a 2,0 litre engine with a six speed gear box!

In addition to not receiving the goods I purchased the vehicle sold to me did not perform as it should have and was faulty right from the beginning. On 21 st October I returned it to the showroom because the EML was registering a pollution filter fault and the trip computer was not working properly. I also complained about the oil being particularly black and questioned if it had been changed before I bought the car. The light continued to come on periodically but after studying the instruction manual of the car, which stated that the pollution filter cleans itself at regular intervals above a certain speed, my concerns were alleviated that the pollution filter would clean itself. The car also lost acceleration once or twice over the 3 months period but corrected itself after a short time.

During my last trip in the car the above symptoms re-occurred. First, the EML was showing pollution filter faulty, then speed controller faulty and the car was losing speed. After that it showed ‘oil pressure low stop’, so I stopped immediately. The car was then towed to the garage who said that it was outside their warranty scope of 3 months / 3000 miles – although it was still within the three month period, I had driven 3800miles!

I feel that the turbo charger and engine of the car should not have failed at 70,000 miles and their suggestion that the engine needed to be replaced leads me to believe that the vehicle was not of satisfactory quality, as laid down by the law.

I requested a refund, an exchange or repair of the car, as I had not taken possession of the car they described in the paperwork. This was refused.

Eventually, I had the car repaired by an independent Citroen garage with the approval of the original dealership. They discovered that the oil was highly contaminated with carbon soot, the oil was like treacle at the base of the sump, the exhaust particle filter was completely blocked, the carbon filter cleaning fluid mechanism was faulty which suggested that the car had never been correctly serviced or inspected, as they claimed before I bought it. The repairs cost me £5800 including VAT. The dealership, after several months of negotiation, has only agreed to pay me £2200. I bought the car for £4995! Do you think this is fair compensation?