Xantia - let suspension go up before driving off?

[reblack68]

I think hypermiling techniques would have been used to achieve 100mpg in the AX so it's not a fair comparison really.

With the impressive mpg figures common rail engines produce in today's bloated cars I often wonder what kind of economy they would give in something like a 205 or a BX.

[vince]

a good question / point....however

dont forget also that a large factor on fuel economy is the friction coefficient of the vehicle alongside power to weight ratio.

Aerodynamically new cars are better than old ones (DS / SM apart of course) however the AX running thinner tyres and a thinner exhaust diameter which would make a considerable difference to the friction coefficient of the vehicle

[deian]

Did anyone bother hypermiling in that day and age? I'm sure it's a term thought up recently.

I thought a Xantia td is the slowest car to steal too, not only do you have to type the security code in, you gotta wait for the glow plugs to warm up, and then the stop lights to go off, and to do any mad cornering for the height to reach normal... the V6 is a better choice of course, but anycar with 200+ would match that.

[jeremy]

Or just lazy engineering - probably the problem with the specialist vehicle design courses being run all over the place. If engineers were recruited from other fields of engineering they might bring some expertise and ideas with them.

[CitroJim]

Jeremy, I have to very much concur. We see that in the IT field too. Bane of our lives really, people with loads of theory but absolutely no hard-won real-word experience We end up with impossible to support systems that are over complex and don't deliver the goods.

Did anyone bother hypermiling in that day and age?

Yes! It didn't have a fancy name then. My dad taught me the secrets of economy driving some 35 years ago when he tought me to drive in a Morris Marina (arrrggghhhh!!). "Hypermiling" is a buzzword in the same genre as "thinking outside the box" and "leveraging".

Bulls**t Bingo anybody?

I constantly "hypermile". Hence getting 55+ from the 2.1TD and a best of 39 from the Activa

[lolingram]

Again, a HDi would have done that top gear challenge too. I've had 700 from a tank and that was not driving economically.

All things considered, an HDi90 will be close to 10mpg better than an XUD92...

[ACTIVE8]

Did anyone bother hypermiling in that day and age? I'm sure it's a term thought up recently.

I thought a Xantia td is the slowest car to steal too, not only do you have to type the security code in, you gotta wait for the glow plugs to warm up, and then the stop lights to go off, and to do any mad cornering for the height to reach normal... the V6 is a better choice of course, but anycar with 200+ would match that.

Quick,...........pass that info onto the insurance companies, and they might give it a different lower insurance group rating.

Although keep the mad/hard cornering bit on the QT.

[Mr Matthews]

Just a quickie - I need to move the car off the drive each morning to get a van on the road.

Apart from the probably undesirable consequences of starting the engine, and moving the car 10', should I wait for the suspension to rise/fall/do whatever it wants to do before driving off? The font of the car almost leaps up on the first few revolutions of the engine, followed by the rear sometime later; not sure how long after, it's much more gradual.

Secondary question while I think about it - is the Xantia nickable? I mean to say, should I be concerned about it's theft and religiously fit a steering lock? Is the alarm enough?

Cheers dears

Hi Napoleon,

I have a xantia with self levelling suspension, let the car level itself if its on a gradient before pulling off, the stop light will dissapear after about 20-30 seconds, however wait a little longer as you need the brakes to calibrate also... I forgot one day and pulled off as soon as the light went out, when I touched the brakes they didn't respond straight away and I had to press hard for the effect to happen properly. I you are starting on a level surface, you can drive straight away, the first time you are stationary it will level itself accordingly.

As to whether the car needs a crook lock, If your car has an immobilizer then dont bother as thieves will never have the time to find the code (that is if they can get past the door locks first), just remember to put the steering wheel into its locked position and you will be ok.

[myglaren]

This may be complete BS but I have always thought that the brakes would be active before the power steering and suspension as they fail suspension first, followed by steering then brakes.

The rears are dependent on the suspension pressure - although the `anti-sink` sphere supposedly rectified that. Front brakes ought to be up long before that.

[jeremy]

On a BX and early Xantia the PAS is handled by the Flow Divider Valve - which works as soon as it has sufficient pressure - ie while the accumulator is charging and before the red light goes off.

Next the safety valve starts to work and prioritises the front brakes then the light goes out and it powerws the suspension and rear brakes.


Later Xantias have the twin outlet pump - so the PAS is handled by the majority of the pump and the rest is the same but rather slow - and the so called anti-sink spheres are important.

[Mr Matthews]

This may be complete BS but I have always thought that the brakes would be active before the power steering and suspension as they fail suspension first, followed by steering then brakes.

The rears are dependent on the suspension pressure - although the `anti-sink` sphere supposedly rectified that. Front brakes ought to be up long before that.

No it's not BS, thats why I said you may need to wait a little longer than 20-30 seconds, if you pull off from start, the brakes wont function unless you brake hard