Hello from newbie, and some buying advice please

Nigel G1ZFS · Post by **Nigel G1ZFS** » 01 Jul 2008, 21:18

Hello all, and thankyou for allowing me to join the forum.

I'm in the rather embarrasing position of having crashed my Volvo 850 estate, its in the process of being written off (my fault entirely).

I work as an electronics engineer and supply my own car, I usually buy an estate car for a couple of grand and run it for two years or so, high mileage motorway stuff.

I've been looking at some citroens, hence I'm on here !

There are some very nice below two grand xantia diesel estates on auto trader, and one very nice looking C5 estate (Y plate, 65,000 miles from new, one owner) for £1995

What are the pitfalls with these cars guys ?

My mates keep telling me to leave well alone, suspension problems etc, but none of these mates have ever owned one, its all just hearsay.

I'm impressed by the reported fuel economy, with the price of fuel this is important to me, but so is reliability

Many thanks in advance for any help

Post by **admiral51** » 01 Jul 2008, 21:31

Hi Nigel and welcome

I cant help much with the estates or the c5 as having never driven either

but i was a complete green blood novice when i bought my Xantia hatch 16 months ago and all the help ive had from the forum has made life that much less complicated when it comes to keeping the thing on the road

The suspension is different but no harder to work on than any other type just need to treat it with a good deal of respect and once you understand the principles of how it works its very straight forward and comparitively cheap to maintain.
there is a citroen bible on the suspension etc detailing how it works linked on the forum.If i can find it will post it up unless someone else beats me too it

Colin

Post by **admiral51** » 01 Jul 2008, 21:36

Pretty sure its this

Colin

newmezuk04 · Post by **newmezuk04** » 01 Jul 2008, 21:52

As a very quick opinion I owned a couple of Citroen zx's in my teens and decided to go for the Xantia as I had a holiday coming up with 4 passengers and luggage to boot (apologies for the pun), I got an SX Xantia P-Reg with I think from memory just over 100k on the clock, the aircon didnt work but I wasnt that bothered all for £850 and it was fantastic, I owned it for a year with basically trouble free motoring for all of it until I was given a company car, my sister and BIL had it off me and they had it for just over 2 years with again pretty much trouble free motoring apart from the odd thing that didnt really cost that much at all, until recently a suspension problem but with a couple of other pending things to do on the car (MOT, ABS Light, Hydraflush/LHM change and coolant change) they decided to get rid.

In summary it was a really really nice car

and Im only 23 now.

andmcit · Post by **andmcit** » 02 Jul 2008, 00:54

Unless it is genuinely overpriced a Xantia estate for under 2k will
still probably be the best around that money can buy; that said, buying
from an enthusiast private seller will likely get a very sorted car for
that money where a dealer car may suffer from obvious gaffes that
are missed by ignorance both by the company owner or the non
specialist garage.

The estate is very much the most able and arguably the best looking
Xantia, and these cars generally are very reliable hard working servants
that genuinelly merrily pile on the miles but ask for very little in return
for stable comfortable and effortless motorway munching - a forte for
all bigger Citroens.

Ok, all that said, you didn't expect a totally unbiased opinion, but the fact
we're all here talking about these cars with such enthusiasm and loyalty
must give you some clue to how good these cars are!!

No wonder many own many versions!!

Andrew

Xaccers · Post by **Xaccers** » 02 Jul 2008, 07:49

Personally, I'd go with the Xantia.
Very easy to work on, very reliable, and the 1.9TD can run on vegetable oil

The estates sometimes suffer from the front doors dropping, so check their function and their hinges.
Check out the speared strut tops for what to look out for with the front suspension.

I normally budget for a complete sphere replacement (~£20 each) and hydroflush as that way I know it's been done.

Post by **RichardW** » 02 Jul 2008, 07:52

A late Xantia is a much better bet than an early C5...!!

davek-uk · Post by **davek-uk** » 02 Jul 2008, 10:14

Personally, I would go for a quality Xantia than a cheap C5 – the Xantia will be cheaper too. I have run my R-reg Xantia estate ragged for over 100k miles now and it’s still always willing to please at 195k. If you keep up the servicing, change other consumables preventively and have some luck the thing just won’t die.

Engine wise, I’d recommend the 1.9TD over the 2.0HDI. The TD is easy-ish to work on; a real DIY maintenance and tuners Heaven (search this site) – and veg oil compliant (without any conversion). The HDI is a good engine, with slightly better fuel economy, but dangerously misunderstood – even by main dealer mechanics. The HDI is electronically controlled it isn’t an easy DIY option - the wealth of sensors aren’t easy to diagnose when problems occur. Early HDIs suffered fuel tank pump break-ups that trashed the diesel pumps. Driven hard 1.9TD should return 40-42mpg and an HDI should be around 45mpg-ish – be very careful and you may see 45mpg and 50mpg respectively. The rarer 2.1TD is somewhere between the two for DIY capability and mpg returns but arguably the strongest unit of the lot.

Suspension wise, you have never experienced a comfortable road-hugging ride until you have driven a green blooded monster: I have been staggered at how responsive and controlled the car has been in even the direst weather – it is my car of choice when travelling in very bad, very wet weather. Forget the old hearsay, the Xantia suspension is reliable. If you go for a base model car it’s pretty basic and mechanically controlled. Keep the mechanical bits lubricated and you’ll have few problems.

As with any second-hand car purchase, make sure the car does what it should. A properly functioning car is more important than a service history providing you can be fairly certain basic maintenance has been done regularly. For a long lived engine check that oil changes have been done on time – so either the service book is correctly stamped or the seller sounds like he does proper servicing. Search this site to find out how the suspension should operate – and check that it does. Look for signs that the car has been cared for and look for signs that the car has been used as a van. A well cared for car will serve you well; an abused car will cause you a lot of time, money and trouble.

Specific areas to look for are: dropping drivers door, rusty front suspension tops (read about the subject), wet boot carpet (feel underneath and under the rear seats), correctly working suspension (with good spheres) and non-working electronic items (aircon, rad fans, cabin climate fan, central locking etc). All of these problems are easily sorted – even DIY with info from this site. Also look for signs of coolant leaks/rusty rad/clean coolant – an over heating engine will fail and a matrix change is a dash out jobbie.

Oh, and GOOD LUCK!

Dave

Post by **myglaren** » 02 Jul 2008, 10:53

I have a C5 estate and while I like it well enough I would agree with the previous posters that a good Xantia is a better car.
Citroens have their detractors but they are generally people who have little real knowledge of the marque. They aren't perfect but what is?
They are interesting though, a more than pleasant car to drive and IMO just streets ahead of most of the competition.

One of the biggest advantage Citroen owners have over other cars is this forum, unlimited help and advice where needed but the advantage of foresight inasmuch as anything that can go wrong will have done so for someone else and you can watch out for the warning signs and nip it in the bud.

Welcome to the forums and much enjoyable Xantia driving

Post by **Peter.N.** » 02 Jul 2008, 17:29

The Xantia estate is one of the few cars you can still repair, unless it has an Hdi engine. The 2.1 is the best for performance and economy, or if you really want the best estate car in the world, get an XM.

andmcit · Post by **andmcit** » 02 Jul 2008, 18:36

...or a Cx Safari, right Peter!?

Andrew

Actually, £2k would get a very nice Cx Safari...

reblack68 · Post by **reblack68** » 02 Jul 2008, 21:32

It wouldn't get this one.

Post by **Peter.N.** » 02 Jul 2008, 21:54

Hi Andrew and redblack

I rather like the look of that, even if it is over 2k. if the body really is that good. I went to look at one in Yorkshire last year, it drove beautifully but you could see the road through the rear sill! I still reckon they are a very nice car. They were without doubt the first really refined diesel - I had three of them.

I might have been tempted only I am still putting a clutch in the last XM I bought - for spares!

Peter.

nick · Post by **nick** » 02 Jul 2008, 22:22

I've always wanted a CX Safari, our neighbours had one of the early series 1 petrols from new and it fascinated me as a kid. While my friends lusted after Porsches and Ferraris I dreamed of owning a turbo diesel Safari !

Post by **Peter.N.** » 02 Jul 2008, 22:57

This is true! I used to go to the motor show every year primararly to look at the Mk2 CX Safari. When I eventually got one, I stopped going.

isn't it.