Allow me to introduce, the Citroen C15 • Hacker News Board

Re: Allow me to introduce, the Citroen C15

#71

Post by egeozcan » Sat, Jan 10, 2026, 2:33 PM UTC

Fiveplus wrote: post #12

The C15 represents a time when a vehicle was a tool. I feel vehicles want to turn into a subscription service these days. I still see these running in rural Spain and France, usually held together with wire and hope, clocking like what 400k+ km? The XUD diesel engines are practically unkillable. They have no ECU to brick, no adblue sensors to fail and put the car into limp mode and thankfully none of those DRM locked…

My driving skills are probably below average. I really like that my car warns me of zebra crossings and can follow the car in front of me with a safe distance.

Many of the modern car features are just useless marketing fluff, but there is some really good progress too.

Re: Allow me to introduce, the Citroen C15

#72

Post by _3u10 » Sat, Jan 10, 2026, 2:34 PM UTC

KronisLV wrote: post #19

Fiveplus wrote: post #12

The C15 represents a time when a vehicle was a tool. I feel vehicles want to turn into a subscription service these days. I still see these running in rural Spain and France, usually held together with wire and hope, clocking like what 400k+ km? The XUD diesel engines are practically unkillable. They have no ECU to brick, no adblue sensors to fail and put the car into limp mode and thankfully none of those DRM locked…

> The C15 represents a time when a vehicle was a tool. I feel vehicles want to turn into a subscription service these days. I wonder how differently cars would be built, if instead of maximizing for value extraction and crap nobody needs, they instead were optimized for utility and maintenance (and sure, fuel economy, aerodynamics and some sane environmental stuff). Like take the C15 and add 2-4 decades of manufactur…

But whatever you want Toyota has a 10k truck and a jimmy is 15k, if you need a car a vitz can be had for 12k

Re: Allow me to introduce, the Citroen C15

#73

Post by wiseowise » Sat, Jan 10, 2026, 2:35 PM UTC

Earw0rm wrote: post #54

epolanski wrote: post #10

Won't impress friends/chicks as an F150 or a Land Rover Discovery /s On a more serious note real (which is a minority) owners of bigger trucks need some serious torque for hauling.

I must have missed a memo, because every situation in which I've ever wanted to "impress a chick" has taken place indoors, or at least far from roads. And yet lots of guys seem to spend an extra $30k or more on their vehicle for no additional utility beyond that. Literally who is impressed? Then again, these are probably dudes who get their dating advice from the Tate brothers. /shrug

Closeted gays trying to impress other dudes, idk?

It’s like those huge bodybuilders: you’re picturing being surrounded by chicks, while realistically it’s other buff dudes miring your physique.

Re: Allow me to introduce, the Citroen C15

#74

Post by ultratalk » Sat, Jan 10, 2026, 2:35 PM UTC

jacquesm wrote: post #48

KronisLV wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The C15 represents a time when a vehicle was a tool. I feel vehicles want to turn into a subscription service these days. I wonder how differently cars would be built, if instead of maximizing for value extraction and crap nobody needs, they instead were optimized for utility and maintenance (and sure, fuel economy, aerodynamics and some sane environmental stuff). Like take the C15 and add 2-4 decades of manufactur…

Modularity would be great too. Standardized connectors and outer dimensions for engines even between brands. Medium, large, small. You don't need 100 different types. Meanwhile, all this has been overtaken by the need to get away from fossil fuels as soon as we practically can. Oil should not be valued based on the cost of pumping it out of the ground but based on the cost of creating a liter of it from raw materials…

> Modularity would be great too.

Unfortunately, that wouldn't pad the car companies' margins. What's best for th consumer is generally worse for the company.

Re: Allow me to introduce, the Citroen C15

#75

Post by Padriac » Sat, Jan 10, 2026, 2:36 PM UTC

I have the Ford Ranger with the 2 litre biturbo diesel engine in Australia. It is so good it's hard to conceive that a better vehicle could be possible.

Re: Allow me to introduce, the Citroen C15

#76

Post by nolok » Sat, Jan 10, 2026, 2:36 PM UTC

wiseowise wrote: post #68

KronisLV wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The C15 represents a time when a vehicle was a tool. I feel vehicles want to turn into a subscription service these days. I wonder how differently cars would be built, if instead of maximizing for value extraction and crap nobody needs, they instead were optimized for utility and maintenance (and sure, fuel economy, aerodynamics and some sane environmental stuff). Like take the C15 and add 2-4 decades of manufactur…

Yeah, but how do poor VCs make money then?

Definitely not with a car sold for relatively cheap that has a engine who refuses to die...

Re: Allow me to introduce, the Citroen C15

#77

Post by hermanzegerman » Sat, Jan 10, 2026, 2:40 PM UTC

omnicognate wrote: post #41

blell wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the EU cared about this so much they wouldn't have allowed all car makers to buy one another until all cars cost €25k for the base model. Maybe, maybe that's the issue that prevents people from updating their cars which emit a lot of stuff they don't like.

You seem to have an axe to grind about something completely unrelated to the article here. Since you brought it up, though, if you're going to be one of the thousands of people driving up the road outside my house every day then, as a member of a family with multiple generations of life-threatening asthma, the fact that you're required to do it in a car with strictly regulated emissions is an unalloyed positive as fa…

20 day old account and constantly hates against the EU. Probably a bot.

Not worth engaging

Re: Allow me to introduce, the Citroen C15

#78

Post by maxerickson » Sat, Jan 10, 2026, 2:40 PM UTC

helsinkiandrew wrote: post #37

Fiveplus wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That would be the absolute dream engineering brief. If I actually sit down and design that vehicle, it would have something like this. List, off the top of my head. 1. You keep the modern metallurgy and the crumple zones. You keep ABS and basic traction control because they are solved problems that save lives without needing cloud connectivity. 2. Instead of a 2000 USD proprietary touchscreen that will be obsolete in…

> The sane environmental stuff you mentioned has morphed into a requirement for deeply integrated electronic oversight Decent catalytic converters require an array of sensors, ECU, and ability to fine control the engine inputs to work - without them most large cities would become smog ridden hells.

For gasoline engines, electronic fuel injection is far better than a carburetor, it isn't just the emissions systems.

Sure, it's harder to work on. The trade off there is that you don't have to work on it.

Re: Allow me to introduce, the Citroen C15

#79

Post by nicbou » Sat, Jan 10, 2026, 2:40 PM UTC

I had a Renault Kangoo and was similarly militant about its supremacy. It was a cheap, reliable thing and people carrier. It could fit five people, or two people, two bicycles and plenty of camping gear. It was cheap and ugly enough to shrug about cosmetic damage, so I never worried about kicking the doors shut or sitting on the roof. It was also tiny and easy to drive and park. It was mechanically simple and reliable.

It broke down recently at 18 years of age and I can't justify maintaining a car in Berlin, but I loved that car to bits.

Re: Allow me to introduce, the Citroen C15

#80

Post by masklinn » Sat, Jan 10, 2026, 2:47 PM UTC

delichon wrote: post #56

Can you fit an 8'x4' sheet of plywood in it? My pickup truck wants to know. But it doesn't have to worry, because my other main use for it is as a large gas powered wheel barrow for carrying yard waste, and the little enclosed C15 can't compete. In fact it looks like the love child my Ford F350 and a Citroen C2. But it can't be because I had the Ford fixed.

> Can you fit an 8'x4' sheet of plywood in it?

If you keep the rear doors open, the cargo platform is 1644 by 1540 (mm), 8x4 would be 2438 by 1219.

Most likely you'd just put sheet goods on the roof (and yes roof racks for panel vans were common, still are).

> my other main use for it is as a large gas powered wheel barrow for carrying yard waste, and the little enclosed C15 can't compete.

You can certainly put yard waste in a C15, though people usually use a trailer for that (unless there's little enough of it it fits in a large builder / garden bag).