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

Re: Allow me to introduce, the Citroen C15

#111

Post by writebetterc » Sat, Jan 10, 2026, 3:23 PM UTC

ninalanyon wrote: post #64

helsinkiandrew wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

The solution to city air pollution is a different vehicle with a different drive train: an EV. The C15 is a workhorse for farmers and craftsmen not for shopping trips and driving the family to visit granny on the other side of town.

> The solution to city air pollution is a different vehicle with a different drive train: an EV.

Priority list should basically be:

0. Bicycles 1. Metro 2. Buses 3. EVs

(not counting emergency and service vehicles)

Re: Allow me to introduce, the Citroen C15

#112

Post by ExpertAdvisor01 » Sat, Jan 10, 2026, 3:23 PM UTC

OptionOfT wrote: post #104

Genuine question: what about the NOx? I remember in Belgium when the laws pushed for lower CO2, and you got an influx of all these diesel engines, as you couldn't get that low with gasoline engines (that had some power). But a few years later people came to the realization that CO2 is the least bad of the global warming gasses, and those diesel engines emitted a lot of NOx. Every year there was a distance that you'd…

Don't forget pm2.5 ! Especially since this doesn't have an DPF(diesel particulate filter).

Re: Allow me to introduce, the Citroen C15

#113

Post by wrigby » Sat, Jan 10, 2026, 3:24 PM UTC

dgacmu wrote: post #63

ramesh31 wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why late 90s cars are objectively the greatest ever built. You had ECUs, cats, ABS, disc brakes, airbags, power steering, and conventional automatic transmissions. Everything that makes a modern car safe and reliable, but none of the high tech digital BS that has infused things nowadays.

ESC (electronic stability control) didn't become common until about 2010 to 2015. It makes a really big difference for safety -- EU estimates are that it's saved more than 15,000 lives. Let's backport that one too. :)

My 2004 RX-8 had decently solid ESC, but it was a “high-end” vehicle at the time. It’s definitely something we want to keep in our idealized vehicle (but let’s also keep the “disable ESC so I can have fun” button)

Re: Allow me to introduce, the Citroen C15

#114

Post by criddell » Sat, Jan 10, 2026, 3:24 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.

When my kids were small, we bought a minivan and it was pretty awesome. I really hadn’t thought much about it until…

A couple of years ago, I rented one to help my kids move into college. It was a Chrysler of some kind and now I’m kind of tempted to buy one. The seats disappear into the floor and then you can carry full sheets of plywood. It’s front wheel drive and drives like a car. Super comfortable, super configurable, good visibility, lots of cup holders, climate controls, power outlets, and reasonably fuel efficient (for what it is). But it’s just sooooo dorky.

Re: Allow me to introduce, the Citroen C15

#115

Post by stickfigure » Sat, Jan 10, 2026, 3:29 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…

> If your C15 breaks down in a field, you can fix it with a wrench.

I could. My wife couldn't.

Also, let's not forget the creature comforts of modern cars... rear seats, airbags, sound insulation, power steering, automatic transmissions, 4wd.

Living in the country, tool-vehicles are very useful. This is typically a beat up old 2wd pickup truck (lower is easier to load) with an 8-ft bed (so you can load full sheets of plywood) and a single cab (so you can get an 8-ft bed). My buddy down the street has one and I borrow it all the time. But you'd never take the family anywhere with this thing. It basically spends its entire life going back and forth to Lowes.

Re: Allow me to introduce, the Citroen C15

#116

Post by globalise83 » Sat, Jan 10, 2026, 3:29 PM UTC

forinti wrote: post #62

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…

What really makes me mad is how bumpers were made to protect the car and now they are these expressions of design that you have to protect at all costs from scratches even.

You don't HAVE to. In a no fault case you can just take the insurance payout and live with the damage.

Re: Allow me to introduce, the Citroen C15

#117

Post by ajsnigrutin » Sat, Jan 10, 2026, 3:30 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…

Many of the things are also there because of regulation.

eg: https://www.forbes.com/sites/edgarsten/2024/07/01/mandated-a...

You have cameras, sensors, gps, maps, that need to be updated... and all that would easily be solved by a few policemen with radar guns and writing fines.

Re: Allow me to introduce, the Citroen C15

#118

Post by ExpertAdvisor01 » Sat, Jan 10, 2026, 3:30 PM UTC

How casually people here are ignoring NOx and especially PM2.5. It has no DPF (Diesel Particulate Filter). You are emitting more than 200 times the amount of pm2.5 than a modern diesel. source:https://www.nanoparticles.ch/archive/2011_May_PR.pdf https://aaqr.org/articles/aaqr-20-02-oa-0081

Also this car has only has 60hp.

Re: Allow me to introduce, the Citroen C15

#119

Post by wrigby » Sat, Jan 10, 2026, 3:32 PM UTC

_3u10 wrote: post #72

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…

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

This comment shines a spotlight on my issues with the US auto market. None of these vehicles are sold in the US, for a variety of reasons - both economic and regulatory. I hate knowing that the vehicles I want to buy both exist and are affordable, but I just can’t have them. Meanwhile, the cars sold in my market are all egregiously enormous, have giant screens inside, etc.

This is the very definition of a “first world problem,” but it sure is frustrating.

Re: Allow me to introduce, the Citroen C15

#120

Post by lbreakjai » Sat, Jan 10, 2026, 3:33 PM UTC

cjs_ac wrote: post #60

Most people who live in rural Britain today are still getting around in hatchbacks or estates (station wagons, to use the American term). The enormous SUVs are almost entirely driven by people who've used their money to buy into the countryside aesthetic.

That’s why those big SUV are nicknamed “Chelsea tractors”