one for all you XANTIA owners out there!

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Jon

one for all you XANTIA owners out there!

Post by Jon »

Just came across this site, even having dealt with the Forum for a year I've never heard of so many Xantia problems
http://www.citroendont.fsnet.co.uk/
What do you reckon? <img src=icon_smile_question.gif border=0 align=middle>
Cheers
Jon
Jon Wood
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hardmanm
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Post by hardmanm »

It is hardly surprising in a forum dedicated to Citroen problems to have a number of people posting with regards to such a widely-sold model.
I have had a few niggly problems with my Xantia but I would still recommend to someone willing to fiddle with it a bit because :
1) The build quality is not as good as a VW for example but it was far cheaper than an older and much lower specified VW
2) It has proven mechanically robust
3) It has a fantastic TD engine (2.1TD is great)
If you want a car that never goes wrong buy a Mercedes! You takes your money and makes your choice
Mark
<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote><font size=1 face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>
Just came across this site, even having dealt with the Forum for a year I've never heard of so many Xantia problems
http://www.citroendont.fsnet.co.uk/
What do you reckon? <img src=icon_smile_question.gif border=0 align=middle>
Cheers
Jon
Jon Wood
IT Supervisor
GSF t/as Andyspares
<hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size=2 id=quote>
Jon

Post by Jon »

Mark,
What I was trying to say when I came across the bloke's website and made the posting was that I'd never heard of so many problems on lates Xantia's. You'll agree that most of the postings and replies on this forum relating to Xantia seem to concern suspension problems (which we seem to solve in the end, cheers Dave!) and electrical problems such as faulty heater fans and ignition locks.
I'd also suspect that the majority of people using our forum drive older cars and are not afraid to get their hands dirty now and again, we expect to have the odd problem if your cars done a few miles and getting on a bit, we're not all driving round in new Mercs or BMW's! I cover 700 miles every week in a K reg ZX TD, and to be honest, nothing comes close in trems of reliability, economy and (occasional) enjoyment for a car thats worth about £1200 quid! Incidentally, we also own a 4 month old Berlingo Multispace and thats been back to the dealer twice already. That another story.
I suppose you pays your money, you makes your choice.
Jon
Jon Wood
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hardmanm
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Post by hardmanm »

Hi Jon,
Yes I agree completely, sorry if I seemed to be disagreeing with you,
My Xantia is now 4 years old but has suffered electrical troubles (alarm mainly - I don't use it anymore) since it was 2. I think the problem is that the quality of the electrics has never been great but they keep making the cars more and more complicated. I deliberately chose this model (2.1TD SX) because it doesn't have hydractive, I had this on an old XM and it was a disaster. I have also had trouble with sticking height correctors (fixed with WD40 thanks to this site).
Anecdotal evidence on the C5 is not looking good either, I've never met a happy owner yet!
However I'm prepared to put up with a bit of fiddling as it's an otherwise sound car
Shame they don't sort out problems that seem to have been re-occuring for a decade, like the trailing arms (went on 1984 CX), sticking height correctors, etc etc.
Mark
What I was trying to say when I came across the bloke's website and made the posting was that I'd never heard of so many problems on lates Xantia's. You'll agree that most of the postings and replies on this forum relating to Xantia seem to concern suspension problems (which we seem to solve in the end, cheers Dave!) and electrical problems such as faulty heater fans and ignition locks.
I'd also suspect that the majority of people using our forum drive older cars and are not afraid to get their hands dirty now and again, we expect to have the odd problem if your cars done a few miles and getting on a bit, we're not all driving round in new Mercs or BMW's! I cover 700 miles every week in a K reg ZX TD, and to be honest, nothing comes close in trems of reliability, economy and (occasional) enjoyment for a car thats worth about £1200 quid! Incidentally, we also own a 4 month old Berlingo Multispace and thats been back to the dealer twice already. That another story.
I suppose you pays your money, you makes your choice.
Jon
Jon Wood
IT Supervisor
GSF t/as Andyspares
[/quote]
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Post by caeclyd »

Jon,
Dispite of a few niggles I would buy a Xantia tommorow if mine blew up or whatever. It has done 196000miles & used to be a taxi.
My brother in law,who has the taxi firm, has today purched another Xantia for his fleet. His 5th. I will probably end up buying another from him. I have to buy his cast off's as my wife has run off with our 306TD! We end up using the Xantia on long journeys for1)Comfort & 2) Economy
Don't be put off by the Forum .
If FORD had a site the problem pages would be infinate!
Rory.
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Post by alan s »

I think we are looking at a couple of issues here though. You have to wonder what if any general maintenance these cars have had. I've had doors on my CX's over the years get tight & clicky & I've geased & oiled them and problem solved. Maybe it's just my mentality or something stemming back to the days when I was involved in motor sport but in that sport you soon learn that if something feels as though it's going to fall off it usually does at the wrong time; I can't come to grips with (as quoted by this guy) someone having a door seizing and just ignore the signs until it either jams shut or falls off<img src=icon_smile_clown.gif border=0 align=middle>
I have always maintained that people make big issues of things that happen to Citroens based on urban myths, that would go unnoticed on other makes. For example, my sons girlfriend has a Ford Capri which has just had the engine rebuilt for the second time; it's now done 170K klms. Another has a Mitsubishi Lancer with a knock in the front end that has turned out to be a lower control arm not fitted correctly at the factory which could have easily broken or fallen out and the mechanic doing the job tells me he has a Mitsu.. Magna with 100K klms on the clock which has a totally worn out steering.
I used to own a driving school and purchased a new Holden Torana (cross between an Opel & Vauxhall) In the first week it went back to the dealer on a daily basis. Steering pulled to the right, diff howled, motor constantly stalled & overheated, brakes would bind up so hard that I had to take the controls to be able to get it off the road, if the learner backed off the accelerator going downhill even, the car would grind to a stop and the gears were so hard to engage & change that you had to ride the clutch in second gear and double shuffle into first just to be able to start off.
It should have been a mobile advert for GM Holden with kids learning to drive in it & many coming from wealthy families. Instead it went onto the top of the "remind me never to buy one of these" list. When taken to two separate dealers I was told that it was a terrible thing to drive and in fact almost impossible for any learner driver to cope with but that "it was within General Motors acceptable standards." With a friend I shut down the business for a few days & sorted this mongrel thing out.
I subsequently sold the driving school & to cover myself I took the car to the equivalent of your AA for a pre warranty expiry check as the car had done 20K klms by then. When asked (off the record) of his honest opinion of the vehicle, the guy doing the inspection responded by saying "if it was a second hand car I would advise you not to buy it" That's GM's acceptable standards.<img src=icon_smile_shock.gif border=0 align=middle>
So if this guys a bit peed off, imagine how he'd go in that situation. Methinks it's way past time that this guy started to face up to reality; cars don't look after themselves & they'll look after you as well as you look after them. He's certainly got a lot to learn
Alan S
Edited by - alans on 06 Apr 2002 11:30:55
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