Xsara VTS. What's the pros and cons?

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alan s
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Xsara VTS. What's the pros and cons?

Post by alan s »

One of my family is considering a Xsara VTS, 2 litre 5 speed manual with fairly low miles.
Looks a nice car and has a full history to it, but where I live Xsaras are a rare commodity, in fact Citroens in general are rare, so as I've had nowt to do with them, can anyone give me any first hand advice on how good/bad they are, what weaknesses they may have and a general overall opinion particularly as it relates to the VTS.


Alan S
RIP Sept 19th 2008.

She said "Put the cat out" She didn't mention it was on fire!!
deian
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Post by deian »

it's a quick car, if your (son i assume) is looking for one, make sure it's isn't abused by boy racers, they appeal to the younger crowd, it's basically like a 306gti (correct me if i'm wrong), just nicer in my opinion!
Stuart McB
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Post by Stuart McB »

Had two VTR's a few years back. Great cars, both of them. Big doors with easy access to the rear seats. Big old boot space. I had no real issues apart from MAP sensor problems but that was an easy fix. Only thing I can think of would be that the gear knob is different on the VTS 2.0 and wears quite quickly. Apart from that great cars. If memory serves me well, things like plugs and filters are no specials, standard all round. Same with tyres and the alloys. All pretty standard stuff.
The wifes got a C4 I've got a ZX TD SX!!!!
wheeler
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Post by wheeler »

the xsara vts is a great car,very powerful more at the top end of the rev range.common things to go wrong are exhaust brackets breaking off,a/c condensors leaking,cooling fan problems,also seen the plastic part of the inlet manifolds cracking a couple of times.i also know that a batch of the mk 2 ones had engines that were breaking valve spings (although not causing any major engine damage).also the vts is the only one that the timing belt is due at only 50,000 thousand miles.
alan s
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Post by alan s »

Thanks guys, that's the kind of info I was looking for; this is the car which we have committed ourselves for:

Image

It has 74,000 klms on the clock and has been dealer serviced (by a very reputable dealer) all its life.
Wheeler, I take it the service book would advise the 50K miles cambelt (85,000 klms?) or what..... 4 years?
How much alike is the cambelt job on one of these to a BX16V? I can almost do those with my eyes shut, but are there any tricks to these that make them different to the 16V?
This one has the full house of extras including full leather interior and top of the range Michies that apparently cost A$325 each. :shock: :shock:


Alan S
RIP Sept 19th 2008.

She said "Put the cat out" She didn't mention it was on fire!!
Stuart McB
Posts: 1635
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Post by Stuart McB »

Aaaaaaaaaaah baby, sweet motor. That loks realy great.
The wifes got a C4 I've got a ZX TD SX!!!!
wheeler
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Post by wheeler »

alan s wrote: It has 74,000 klms on the clock and has been dealer serviced (by a very reputable dealer) all its life.
Wheeler, I take it the service book would advise the 50K miles cambelt (85,000 klms?) or what..... 4 years?
How much alike is the cambelt job on one of these to a BX16V? I can almost do those with my eyes shut, but are there any tricks to these that make them different to the 16V?
Yes the service book would mention this but it could easily be missed as all the other petrol mk2 xsaras are due at 75k miles.
never seen the BX 16v engine but dont imagine it would be too much different.there are 2 slightly different setups with the tensioners,the older style that is tensioned with the square key & the later type has a spring loaded tensioner.they have floating cam pulleys so as long as you loosen the cam pulley bolts when you tension it then you shouldnt have any problems.
I've never seen a VTS in the uk with a sunroof though as the all have A/C. Black is definitely the best colour they come in by the way.
sub42
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Post by sub42 »

All I can say is one of the biggest grins on my face of 2002! It's a real monster of a car. Very agile and sure-footed, maybe just a little over-zealous at the very edge. Easily controllable throttle steer on roundabouts, and bomb-proof engine. Nimble steering and almost 'ahead-of-you' road manners. Lots of fun in a small package. Well done Sir!
Previous convictions for ferret and giraffe rustling.

Synergie 1.9td SX loaded spec.
alan s
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Post by alan s »

I'm looking forward to the trip home. (This should make everybody jealous) :P

It's around 1300 klms mostly of country roads. In it, there's a couple of winding ranges and heaps of road so flat and long that they seem to disappear to a point at the horizon... that's the upside.

Downside is; even out in the middle of nowhere they have speed cameras both mobile and fixed; on dusk and dawn the roads are full of bloody roos, particularly now a lot of this country is in drought and hitting a big one of those can easily write a car off.
Road Trains are in plentiful supply and you need plenty of go and a long stretch of straight road to get past but are a fun sport as most of the drivers cut you a bit of slack when you overtake, but they can become a real hazard if we happen to get a bit of a shower of rain due to the spray they throw off all the tyres they have. Ones carrying cattle are always a menace due to the slurry of cow pats soaked in p**s getting sprayed out each time they hit a bump. I can imagine that drop of bovine beverage would look well on that shiny black paintwork. :shock: :shock:



Alan S :wink:
RIP Sept 19th 2008.

She said "Put the cat out" She didn't mention it was on fire!!
MattG
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Location: Victoria, Australia
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Post by MattG »

Hey Alan

Isn't it amazing how we trip to the other side of the world to chat.

I love my VTS, it is a cracker I also had a dodgy Valve spring and an incompetent mechanic at the dealer that bent a valve putting the head back on.

Apart from that the only other problem is the window reg that is $600 from the dealer but I got one from OS for about 350.

I service it myself and it purs, I am due for a timing belt change that I will also do so if anyone can help with a timing belt diagram for a VTS with torque setting for the tensioner belts that would be handy.

Alan I might be interested in selling mine though as I am having Company car discussions with the boss and may need to sell it.

I've just ticked over 40,000 kms and iy's red. I like this colour the best as the tail lights are all red and they blend into the paint nicely. Let me know if your interested.

Cheers

MattG
Downunder
alan s
RIP 2010
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Post by alan s »

Deal's already done mate, I'm flying to Sydney Wednesday to drive it the 1300 klms or so back otherwise he could have been interested.

I thought I'd sent you a PM via aussiefrogs the other day with that info regarding cambelts on it, but just checked when I read this message and find that for some reason, it didn't go.
I'll chase up what I have and send it again.
It hasn't got all the info you require but it does have a few tips on the job.
I notice a few other messages haven't gone from A/F as we've been having problems, so I'll send them PM via this forum, so keep the eyes peeled.


Alan
RIP Sept 19th 2008.

She said "Put the cat out" She didn't mention it was on fire!!
MattG
Posts: 18
Joined: 24 Apr 2006, 14:44
Location: Victoria, Australia
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Post by MattG »

Cheers Alan

I'd appreciate it.

AF was totaly off line this morning but it's back now, Just sent PM.

Matt
sub42
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Post by sub42 »

alan s wrote: Road Trains are in plentiful supply and you need plenty of go and a long stretch of straight road to get past but are a fun sport as most of the drivers cut you a bit of slack when you overtake, but they can become a real hazard if we happen to get a bit of a shower of rain due to the spray they throw off all the tyres they have. Ones carrying cattle are always a menace due to the slurry of cow pats soaked in p**s getting sprayed out each time they hit a bump. I can imagine that drop of bovine beverage would look well on that shiny black paintwork. :shock: :shock:



Alan S :wink:
And there was me thinking that a fourty-foot artic was a menace when loaded with bloody sheep! I had to sit beside one on the M25 the other day, Jesus! What a bloody stink! Thank god for air con and a recirc button! My Dad's on his way down-under this weekend for three weeks, lucky sod! I'll tell him to avoid the roadtrains, he has hired a HSV R8 clubsport for the first week, and says he will be going looking for them, and then added 'so bog off!'.
Previous convictions for ferret and giraffe rustling.

Synergie 1.9td SX loaded spec.
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