Citrojim's Ka, Saxo and Bike Tales

[Northern_Mike]

Something is going wrong. Citroen owners are leaving in droves. Rover 75s, Mazda RX8s, Subaru Imprezas', and (maybe) Renault 25s'.

DON'T LEAVE ME!!

I still have my Berlingo, and will not be getting rid of it any time soon. I'd have a Xantia V6 again if a reasonably priced one is available.

It appears Citroen, as usual, have conspired against me owning a Subary..

[Hell Razor5543]

Well Mike, there is always this one to look at;

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1998-CITROEN- ... 257a24a95c

[CitroJim]

Something is going wrong. Citroen owners are leaving in droves. Rover 75s, Mazda RX8s, Subaru Imprezas', and (maybe) Renault 25s'.

DON'T LEAVE ME!!

Don't worry James, I won't be going away from Citroens for a long time.

As I've said before, a change is as good as a rest and going over to the other side makes us appreciate our Citroens even more...

Coming home from work one evening last year there were three identical silver ones parked, two on one side of the road and one on the other.

All with expired engines no doubt

[myglaren]

No, one was gone the next day, another the following day and the last one three days later but the latter two did change places on the road so presumably all working. All appeared to have been well looked after.

[Citroenmad]

Im not moving away from Citroens, I plan on keeping hold of a Xantia or two for a while to come yet!

RX-8s do seem to have a pretty poor reliability record, which is shown in their resale values. I thought they would be a desirable car until I looked at what they sold for! A friends mum got one new in 2007. It did 28,000 miles before she traded it in last year, got £2000 for it! It was immaculate too.

[DickieG]

Anything with a Wankel engine makes an Activa look positively economical

[CitroJim]

Anything with a Wankel engine makes an Activa look positively economical

You're probably right there Richard

[Northern_Mike]

Anything with a Wankel engine makes an Activa look positively economical

and positively reliable..

[Northern_Mike]

Im not moving away from Citroëns, I plan on keeping hold of a Xantia or two for a while to come yet!

RX-8s do seem to have a pretty poor reliability record, which is shown in their resale values.

They're supposed to be pretty reliable when looked after as they should be. The problem is that they rarely are. I looked at buying one a couple of times. I used to take my second MX5 to Rotechniks, the Indy Mazda specialist in Reading. Thhey ave loads of them. He buys them with knackered engines, fits new factor motors and clutches in them, checks them over and sells them for a massive profit.

One of the things you apparently don't want to see with one is a full dealer history. They have a habit of letting trainees do oil changes and they get filled with the wrong oil from the workshop oil system, instead of the grades they require. Other bits and pieces get missed, and it ruins them in short order.

Use the right oil, keep it topped up - because they do use oil - and don't drive them like a pansy all the time, and they are perfectly reliable and reasonably quick.

Not as mind-warpingly fast as my new toy is though. I can't believe I'm old enough that a 260bhp , 4wd supercar (0-60 in 4.5 seconds/150mph is supercar territory in my book) only costs me £39 a month fully comp..

[XantiaMan]

Drove the 231PS RX-8 when they came out, sounded like a washing machine and had about the same amount of torque, didnt find it 'fast' , different experience though, and a nice car, stupidly cheap, but very difficult to find one that has been looked after by someone who knew what the engines were like.

[Northern_Mike]

I looked at RX8s last year. I love the shape and the interior, but as you say, they don't feel "fast" to me. I think perhaps modern cars are sometimes a little too refined and hide the speed. I drove 4 of them and while they were nice, they didn't "excite" me. Lovely, if slightly odd cabin. The Subaru is the opposite. Horrid cabin, very exciting.

[CitroJim]

I'm getting quite interested in the RX-8 just because it's so quirky and so different - a refreshing change from the normal run of the mill stuff.. I like that a lot...

I discovered it's possible to get trapped in an RX-8 yesterday. We were looking at the rear seats and how you gain access to them via the suicide doors. Initially it looks like the rear seats are only usable by people with no legs but in fact someone of my size can sit in the rear with a full complement of legs but one's knees are around one's ears and it's not comfy...

One big worry is once you're in and the doors are shut you can't get out You're trapped and totally at the mercy of others to allow you out...

Looks like the engine is toast though. It does run but very badly and with lost of smoke and vibration. One plug looks suspiciously clean; it looks wile it has been wiped by a rotor and it has some rather worrying witness marks on it...

That was just a diversion yesterday as the main work was to replace an Activa clutch and reassemble the dash after the heater matrix change well before Christmas... I did the dash whilst Chris and Liam did the clutch. They found a much better way of doing it by not removing the gearbox completely, just moving it to one side. It saved hours of work and swearing and made the job quite straightforward really - as long as you have a stubby enough alignment tool.

We were all pleased at how smoothly and easily the gearbox wet back onto the engine...

Main reason for getting the Activa mobile right now is so that it can vacate the hard-standing area in favour of the RX-8 as we're all as keen as mustard to get stuck into sorting the poorly Mazda..

I'm sure thought that as soon as Chris's Activa is mobile again he'll be unable to resist her charms...

I fear this blog might get full of RX-8 stuff soon.. Sorry but I hope it'll be interesting...

I hasten to add though, despite my great interest, the RX-8 is not mine and I do not intend to acquire one even though I'm getting to like them a lot...

[Northern_Mike]

I look forward to more RX-8 stuff Jim, they're very interesting cars, I just feel that for me, I'd rather own one vicariously..

[CitroJim]

I'd rather own one vicariously..

I'd never have said it was a good car for a vicar Mike

[Northern_Mike]

It'd be a sod to get in and out of wearing a cassock!