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Comment by cfn | Hacker News Reader

I also had a Xantia at some point and the hidraulic had a complete failure while doing a 360 downhill in the sierras here in Portugal. It was mighty scary as everything failed: suspension, steering and brakes (and I got the dreaded red stop light on the dash). Thankfully I was going very slowly and there was a long straight to help me stop. I think having a separate system for the breaks is a good thing.

I have to add that I was very happy with that car and my riding experience mirrors the article even though it was not a C6.

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The advantage of the combined suspension and braking meant that the car would adjust its brake pressure based on load. A heavier loaded car would thus brake harder with the same amount of pedal pressure.

The handbrake is still entirely mechanic, and is your emergency brake in case the brakes fail (the same would be the case on a regular car). Fortunately, I've never had that experience yet, and while I've heard the stories, I am still convinced the combined steering, braking and suspension system is a mechanical superior system, even if it requires more maintenance. I'd concede, that from a maintenance's perspective, it's an inferior system. Which is probably why Citroën abandoned it.

My renault handbrake is electronically actuated, motor driven. It’s got all of the reliability of Renault electrical systems.

Mechanically, it’s pretty solid. THere are wear issues with the front suspension, but that’s as much Ireland’s obsession with speed bumps as anything else. And there was one issue with the shared hydraulic clutch/ braking fluid system failing.

But electronics? Wiring harness? Windows? Horrible. The driver's window only properly works in France. Sunroof sticks open, passenger window only goes down unless triple click force locking everything. Which is lovely when driving in 32c into a thunderstorm. (Ac? Long gone). Rear lights have totally gone a couple of times.

> The driver's window only properly works in France.

I'm sorry... what? :D

Probably condensation in there somewhere, and it dries up in a less humid climate.

Sounds like climate change can be good, at least for Irish cars.

Maybe. But some things work when super locking that don’t work otherwise. The France thing was funny, but there are far more variations in the electrical system than can be explained by just condensation.

Drivers window would either: not work at all, only go down unless triple clicked, be reversed (push down to go up, et vice versa), only go down and then only go up (current behavior).

One week into an extended trip to France, it started working fine. It then continued to work fine until a couple of days after we returned to Ireland.

This car is an adventure, rarely completely comfortable, but it has only stranded us once. (The clutch/brake thing). But it fits 5 people + dog, tows a trailer, isn’t too horrible for mileage (~35-40mpg without trailer, 30 with / 6-6.5 l/100km vs 7.9) and is paid for.

(And helpfully, the passenger window now is refusing to go up. I blame Belgium, but we’ll see if that gets better with a passage through France tomorrow.). I tell you, there is no way you could ever get me to buy a Renault electric car.

I used the handbrake to stop in that occasion and it just reduces speed and is very hard to stop the car with it. I used the gear box and turned it off for a hard stop. The mechanic that got me out of this drove the car downhill for a couple of km just using the gear box and the handbrake to negotiate the terrain, that was a scary ride.

If you ever smell something like rubber burning after you do some difficult parking with lots of turns then have the hidraulic pump looked into. This is what happenend to me, it had these smells every now and then that I could not identify until it failed and then the cause was clear (something wore off in the pump, sorry I can't remember specifics anymore).

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