I had a Citroen C3 Exclusive Sensodrive (55 plate) and wouldn’t recommend a C3 pre-06/56 plate.
When I first bought it and phoned my insurance company to get everything switched over, my breakdown / recovery premium bumped up straight away, because it was an “older model so more likely to have problems”
It ran well enough and was problem free at first although a few months after buying it, the alternator went. In November 09, the right front coil spring went resulting in breakdown recovery, closely followed by the left spring in January 10.
The “Sensodrive” aspect of the car was the final nail in the coffin. It has a manual gearbox but automatic clutch (technically an automatic) which caused endless problems and was the reason I got rid of it at the first opportunity. It began intermittently going into “Snow mode” and without warning meaning a total loss of revs whilst driving even at high speed on motorways etc.
When it wasn’t acting daft, I actually quite liked the C3. It was nippy, handled well and was quite comfortable to drive.