Xantia - the most reliable cit ever?

jeremy · Post by **jeremy** » 14 Jul 2005, 23:17

I would have said from my experience of Citroens (Mega mileage BX TD for 6 years and ZX 1.9D (low mileage) for 3 that they were fundamentally as tough as old boots and never never really noticed any problem with buid quality save for the quality of the electrical terminals used on the BX.
Most of the components like brakes are shared with other manufacturers anyway (similar parts - not necesarily identical) and things like suspensions seem well specified and up to the job.
It must be remembered that many people here are sucessfully running cars that previously they would have considered well past their sell by date - and of course things go wrong through old age and corrosion. Was the BX seriously designed to exceed 200,000 miles - and was a BMW either?
jeremy

j_roc · Post by **j_roc** » 15 Jul 2005, 00:19

My reply - madasafish what you have said is completely true. Over the years me and my family have had countless Ford cars - 3 x Fiesta, 1 Popular (sit up and beg, great fun),6 x Escort, 2 x Cortina, 6 x Orion, 3 x Sierra, 1 x Capri, 2 x Mondeo, 2 x Granada and a Transit 90. In all of these cars we have had minimum problems, the most probs seem to be the dreadfull auto choke and ford VV carb of the 70's and 80's. I do like my Citroen, but like a 1991 405 GTX 1.9i that I owned a few years ago, they both have problems. The most seem to be electrical on the Xantia, but on the 405 that car was really, really sh*t. I went through countless front tyres, 2 sets of shocks, 3 starter motors, 2 batteries and countless elec probs. In the end the cam pully bolt snapped on the M4 totally trashing the engine - I was really, really happy because that was the end of that pathetic car.
In my view (to be totally honest) the Xantia seems to be a much more better car than my friends 1988 diesel BX.
BTW - If annyone ownes/drives J345 OKV (white 405) please burn it forthwith. I thank you.

Post by **Peter.N.** » 15 Jul 2005, 03:11

All the citroens I have owned have been very well built mechanicaly and capable of very high mileages. The last XM 2.1 td estate I had was on 292k miles when I sold it and still going strong, my CX td Safari had done 266K, 152K of that I had done. I had to replace the head gasket 7 or 8 times and the head twice, this wasn't a design fault, it was due to a pourous block. I don't think I have ever changed a suspension ball joint on any of them, I had to change the steering rack on an XM but that was at about 250K, so, as I say, they are well built mechanically but most of the peripheral equipment, especially electrical is, to be kind, less than perfect.

p20 · Post by **p20** » 15 Jul 2005, 03:25

Only on this forum could you have the topic of - Xantia most reliable Cit, with the topic below being - My Xantia gave up on me.[:o)]

davethewheel · Post by **davethewheel** » 15 Jul 2005, 03:44

i have to say my xantia 96 td is the best car i have ever owned.....touch wood, returns around 47mpg, is very comfortable, a pleasure to drive and i have had it for 3 years now and it's passed every m.o.t. first time and in that time it's had new sphere's ,tyres ,front disc's and pads, rear exhaust box, timing belt, one abs sensor and thats about it apart from oil changes which i think is pretty good ,also had a zx td volcane for around the same sort of time and was also very good.

Stinkwheel · Post by **Stinkwheel** » 15 Jul 2005, 03:50

Right, well I'll start by saying I have owned several CX's,couple of GSA's. one Xantia, 3 BX's, several dyanes, several 2cv's and one H van and one AX.
Most reliable was undoubtedly the 2CV's/Dyanes. The least reliable was my one and only Xantia. It depends how and where you buy them and how they are looked after. I think its a generalisation to say Xantias are most reliable, maybe he has seen many that have covered large mileages without trouble, thats probably because he has seen more xantias through his workshop than most other models.

czenda · Post by **czenda** » 15 Jul 2005, 03:53

If there is a person interested in my gibberish:
Yes, I bought the Cit because of its reputation. The reputation came from the old 60s French movies where DS was presented so cleverly.
Silly me to be so sentimental [8)].
No, in fact, I needed a car for peanuts when my trusty Fiat was made un-roadworthy (being stolen and crashed worthless by some juvenile/senile junkies) before getting my bank account ready for leasing a brand new car.
And, indeed, I got the BX for peanuts. Nobody wants them, their reputation of unreliability is even worse than that of Fiat. (I know you UK guys will find this unbelievable, but BXs are sold here for about a half of Skoda Favorit - pre 89 prices. Just to make sure you understand my lack of patriotism, I never owned Skoda and do not plan to own one).
Surprisingly, the neglected piece of junk has proven quite surprising piece of machinery. I replaced flat spheres, put in some 10l of LHM (rust-eaten pipe to the rear strut and brake), fidgeted around carburettor, replaced the lower balljoints and driveshaft rubber stuff.
Yes, I will have to change a clutch and an arm bearings. I know I will never be able to sell the car. But, considering this, my daughter July found this car extremely comfortable even before she was born, and she is happy with that right now (show me any other car steadying a screaming toddler - maybe CX can do better).
Uh... hm...
Honestly, next car will be Fiat Multipla (the number of toddlers you can put into BX is limited to 1).

bxbodger · Post by **bxbodger** » 15 Jul 2005, 04:22

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">(I know you UK guys will find this unbelievable, but BXs are sold here for about a half of Skoda Favorit <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Not unbelieveable in the UK!! Here a BX costs the same as a Skoda Favorit!!!
(I had one of those, incidentally,a beige one, and it had the best heater of any car I have ever had, and it also had the 2CV feature of a lift out back seat to turn it into a van......)

DoubleChevron · Post by **DoubleChevron** » 15 Jul 2005, 09:27

Hi Guys,
depends, does he mean reliable as in "never do anything but general services ... eg: oil changes". Or reliable as in extremelly tough, very hard to break, and even if it breaks it will still get you home.
If so a well looked after CX or DS is an incredibly hard car to kill... However you will without doubt experiance wiring and age related issues that will cause you headaches.
A 2cv is very strong ... If you had a "Raid Australia" prepared 2cv, I'm sure it could survive just about any ill treatment. Plus ... There's not much to go wrong (see DS and CX electrical issues above).
Xantia ?? Lots of electricals == lots to go wrong... It would probably have to be a base model deisel BX that would the most reliable of the *real* Citroens. Plus it'll get faster as all the plastic turns to dust before your eyes. Being the base models and deisel, there's very little electrically that can go wrong.
seeya,
Shane L.

rossnunn · Post by **rossnunn** » 15 Jul 2005, 17:31

The worst thing I can think about to do with the Xantia his they never made a coupe version, that would have been lovley. I look at the Xant at some angles & think, yeh why did they never make one!! It would have been a stunning shape.
I've also never unstood why they never put the hydro suspension onto the ZX, its not a really small car like the AX.
I like the fact neither the ZX or Xant rust, I'm about to cut the rear arches on my ZX & have no worries about the thing rusting in a few months

paranoid · Post by **paranoid** » 15 Jul 2005, 18:16

I want to post about the reliability of my 2 xant TD's but really seems like asking for trouble if I do!!!

Mandrake · Post by **Mandrake** » 16 Jul 2005, 04:14

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by paranoid

I want to post about the reliability of my 2 xant TD's but really seems like asking for trouble if I do!!!
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Chicken [:D]

jeremy · Post by **jeremy** » 16 Jul 2005, 04:18

I remember the sad tale of his first one!
jeremy

bxbodger · Post by **bxbodger** » 16 Jul 2005, 04:52

But wasn't that the other drivers fault.......??

jeremy · Post by **jeremy** » 16 Jul 2005, 06:37

Yes it was
jeremy