xsara owners

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xsaraowner
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xsara owners

Post by xsaraowner »

first of hi,
there are no owner clubs or anything for xsara's which suks, so i guess this is the closest there will be!
got a couple of probs with my xsara.
its a 1.6 8v, '98.
brakes are pants, drums on the back i want a rear disc conversion - anyone know of any leads/contacts?
also just had the air con recharged with gas, worked for a day, now, nothing?!
any xsara owners out there got any advise?
ItDontGo
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Post by ItDontGo »

Xsaras are S*it
Jon

Post by Jon »

Thank you for those constructive comments. Have you considered joining the Max Power forum where such replies are commonplace? [:)]
XsaraOwner:
You could uprate the rear brakes to the discs and calipers from another Xsara, I believe that the arms are already tapped to accept the caliper, but seem to recall that the stub axle is a different length. You'd also need of course the disc brake type handbrake cables and brake pipes. It may be easier to fit a complete rear axle beam with arms, brakes etc as one unit if you can locate a decent s/hand one. Firstly though, check the condition of your existing brakes, maybe theres a problem? Last drum braked Xsara I drove the brakes felt fine.
Don't know about the aircon problem, sorry.
VisaGTi16v
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Post by VisaGTi16v »

lol
rear brakes do very little on a car, 30% at most. Have you looked into other things first, ie ensuring your existing discs and pads are fine, calipers all working properly, no air in the brake system leading to spongyness etc? Would be better off fitting larger front brakes from other xsara models if needbe
ItDontGo
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Post by ItDontGo »

My pleasure.
There may be people thinking of buying one and not actually realising they are buying a car which makes the BX look reliable. Not only that its the most frustrating car in the world to drive with its high gain throttle, braking and steering responses.
Jon

Post by Jon »

ha ha ha. My Xsara was very reliable for the 2000 miles that I had it!!!
VisaGTi16v
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Post by VisaGTi16v »

Itdontgo: Your sig says youve only done 3040 miles in your bx, most cars are reliable for that amount of time :)
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uhn113x
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Post by uhn113x »

You did the right thing with it, Jon. Have you sorted a replacement yet?
xsaraowner - putting discs on the back will have a very high pratabout factor and will not do much to the braking effort - they may just become boxer shorts. [;)]
What, exactly, is wrong with the brakes, apart from the fact they have metamorphosed into underwear? Spongy, too much play, pulling?
Go back to whoever charged aircon?
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goose
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Post by goose »

nothing wrong with xsaras in my experience they share the same engines as the rest of the citroen's and peugeot's of this era.
about the only thing in the price margin that would tempt me away from my zx 16v (the xsara vts 167 that is)
Stuart McB
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Post by Stuart McB »

AHHHHH!!!!! [:(!][:(!][:(!] What is it with some people. I've now had two Xsara's both 1.6 VTR's. I've had little if no niggley problems with either. The first kept stalling problem solved for £1.20 after reading this site the other kept over reving again problem found and cured after reading and posting problem on this site [:D]. I think that the reply "Xsaras are S*it" is in bad taste [V]. Lets face it the ZX was never going to set the world on fire and the Xsara is the same vehicle in a new suit. Having owned both models and driven loads of Citroens I can safely say that for value for money and modern day comfort the Xsara is leaps ahead of the trusty old ZX. Rant now over. As for the brakes I have found that the hand brake and rear brake set up is more than adequate for the job as are the front brakes. Down side is as with many modern cars they have to be in spot on condition to function 100%. I sugest as Visa says check all the parts befor forking out for a disc conversion. Reply from a 100% satisfied XSARA owner.
Jon

Post by Jon »

Well said that man!
I was quite satisfied with mine until the Armaco ended its life, and was going to keep it. For a bit.
ItDontGo
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Post by ItDontGo »

How amusing - the little red face: [:(!]
Now there's a surprise. I said somebody's favourite little car wasn't up to much and I get the 'what is it with some people' lecture.
Our Xsara, in my opinion, is the worst car in our family of 4 cars. We have a Xsara, a Xantia, a BX and an AX and also my sisters Peugeot 106 is regularly driven by myself. It really is typical of a cheaply built modern car in that everything is made light by increasing the gain of all it's systems (throttle, brakes...). It develops electrical problems constantly and has even broken down on us in its first three years of ownership. Its what makes me think I should keep my AX.
On the surface it 'seems' better than my BX but underneath its all the same. There has been nothing new fundamentally in Mechanical Engineering since the early 1900s when LEFM (Fracture Mechanics) was considered apart from maybe the FEM (Finite Element Method) which is just an easier way of applying fundamental equations to a design.
What I'm saying is that, although manufacturing improves and customer expectation improves, you can do nothing about the fact that steel has an ultimate strength which is compromised by various factors, human impact injury criteria never changes, rubber and tarmac will always have the same friction co-efficient...
You can make a car look all fancy and 'modern' by making the controls super light and putting electric motors and microcontrollers in everywhere and giving the dash and exterior a really well finished look but underneath its still a mechanical system which is limited by the same physical laws that applied in the 50s. They knew how to design a car then just like they do now they just have more fancy tools to do the job with now. I suppose they know how to fool motorists better these days!
I kind of got off the point there but there is nothing really that good about a Xsara. Everybody laughs when I say this but my AX is almost perfect in MY opinion. It has fantastic visability (you can see all around you without looking anywhere other than dead ahead), it has light responsive controls because its a well designed light little car as opposed to the fact that the gain of everything is increased, it is economical, it's a little too fast for the roads I suppose (50HP), its very reliable (nothing every breaks as there is nothing to break) and it is environmentally friendly with its catalytic converter closed loop engine management and long life (meaning a whole load of energy is not required to build a new car from scratch as this one lasts forever). Compare than to a Xsara and the AX is far superior.
But the AX is unsafe I hear you cry... That is the fault of motorists not the car. I have never heard of a serious safety critical failure on an AX that has been appropriately maintained.
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Post by VisaGTi16v »

goose: the vts's are getting so cheap. Take a look on autotrader. Can get them for 3K with <70,000 miles. Even one on there for 3k with 43K miles and its a 2000 car!
ay? your 50hp ax is too fast for the open road? Not meaning to offend but are you in your elder years or was it a typo? My zx is way to slow and even my visa with its boxter S matching power/weight is not enough when you have to deal with people doing 40 in 60 limits and being generally incompetent :)
krsan
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Post by krsan »

sorry cant be any help but our xsara sports club will be up and running very soon. for the mean time we have set up temporary forums for xsara owners to discuss problems and general topics you can find us here http://www.getfreeforum.com/forums/?mforum=CitroenXsara
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uhn113x
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Post by uhn113x »

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">ay? your 50hp ax is too fast for the open road? <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
How can any car be 'too fast' for anything? [?] It is possible to drive any car at zero mph!
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">
My zx is way to slow and even my visa with its boxter S matching power/weight is not enough when you have to deal with people doing 40 in 60 limits and being generally incompetent :)<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Consideration and tolerance is a much better thing to have than a boyracermobile in such circumstances. 60 is a <b>limit</b>, not a mandatory speed to keep to. Before anyone throws one of Marty's spears at me here, I agree that it is dangerous to habitually do 40 in a 60 limit for <b>no reason</b>, but getting your knickers in a twist because someone is doing so is making the situation much more dangerous, and I would attach the sobriquet 'incompetent' to anyone who cannot keep their cool whilst propelling a ton of metal along the highway.
</rant> [}:)]
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