Xantia going bye bye

[PicassoPigeon]

Due to not having a 3 point belt in the middle back seat and because we just want more space our Xantia will be leaving us soon . I do feel quite sad as we have had her for 7yrs and she has been over to Norway twice.

Not all bad news though, we are going to get a Picasso so that we have 3 proper seats in the rear and more space to fill with junk that you have to carry when you have 3 boys aged 3, 5 and 9yrs.
The one we have had a look at is a 52 reg with 92K on the clock, it was a smokers car so will need some cleaning and it does have a burn on the passenger seat.
What sort of problem areas should I be looking at?
Thanks Gav.

[Xaccers]

With the picasso, girders instead of suspension.

Why not snap up Jim's Dex, I'm pretty sure that has a 3 point centre belt being an estate, very reliable, and has a bigger boot than the picasso.
Oh and of course, it actually has suspension
Leather seats too, ideal for young kids and wiping off any spillages

[citroenxm]

Im sure the estates only have a centre lap belt in the rear too...

But im not certain..

Paul

[Old-Guy]

Nope, both our estates (SX) have 3 proper lap and diagonal belts in the back. With the huge child-seats for 2 small children (6 months and 2 years) in the back our daughter's estate, an adult can still squeeze in the middle. The estate boot has enough space for a (big) buggy plus a pram and baby paraphernalia and a month's supermarket shopping. With the cargo net in place, they can pack in a week's luggage (including buggy and pram!) for the 4 of them.

With all this lot on board plus a full tank, a Xantia still rides level thank to self-leveling suspension!

[KP]

Depends on the model and age of the car to be honest, the last 2 mk2 xantias i had all had 3 pointers but the last mk1 i had weas only a lap belt. maybe the leather does have the 3pointer on jims, go for it instead i'd say or find a good 1.9td estate instead and go with the veggie flow as the Picasso's are horrible to drive, fell far to top heavey for my liking. My ad looked at one of them, a 90bhp hdi and instead went for the same engined C5 as a lot less money and felt better for him

[ACTIVE8]

Depends on the model and age of the car to be honest, the last 2 mk2 xantias i had all had 3 pointers but the last mk1 i had weas only a lap belt. maybe the leather does have the 3pointer on jims, go for it instead i'd say or find a good 1.9td estate instead and go with the veggie flow as the Picasso's are horrible to drive, fell far to top heavey for my liking. My ad looked at one of them, a 90bhp hdi and instead went for the same engined C5 as a lot less money and felt better for him

The Picasso if it's the Xsara version we are talking about here, also on the one hand others extra height, and space, but then wastes space due to its styling while, by comparison a C4 Grand Picasso makes more sense (shape wise) by not having the which end is the front end styling, which graces the Xsara version, when looked at from the side.

Nope, both our estates (SX) have 3 proper lap and diagonal belts in the back. With the huge child-seats for 2 small children (6 months and 2 years) in the back our daughter's estate, an adult can still squeeze in the middle. The estate boot has enough space for a (big) buggy plus a pram and baby paraphernalia and a month's supermarket shopping. With the cargo net in place, they can pack in a week's luggage (including buggy and pram!) for the 4 of them.

With all this lot on board plus a full tank, a Xantia still rides level thank to self-leveling suspension!

Well Old-Guy on that basis the Xantia wins.

Also it wins on the basis of saving money!

[RichardW]

We've got both a Xant Est and a Picasso. Both have plus points. The ride and boot size win out in the Xantia, but the high seats in the Xsara win hands down for practicallity with small kids. What to look out for in a Xsara Pic? Well, there are billions of them about, so don't buy anything that is ropey. The ride and handling is OK - if you like roly poly! It will hang on though if pushed. The interiors are a bit flimsy for their intended purpose (ie kids!) so expect a few bits to be awry! The HDi 90 is adequate in the performance stakes - avoid the 1.6i, it would struggle to pull the skin off a rice pudding when loaded Ours does about 45mpg, which is not bad for a brick on stilts! LX does not have A/C but this is a must with all the glass, so go SX or above - but make sure it works! The HDi in tank lift pump is a tank out (read expensive) job when it goes. Ours is looking like needing a new CV joint at 60k miles - it has a history of MOT failures on the boots being loose, so check any you are looking at for this. The dash reflection in the windscreen is awful - especially if it's got a light coloured dash. If it's not been valeted tell the garage NOT to polish the dash with cockpit shine! We've got black felt stuck on ours now to make it bearable - not pretty, but it's better than crashing it - the reflection can be that bad. The A pillars are a bit intrusive but you get used to looking around them. Front door locks fail regularly - I've got one to fit somewhere! Cambelt is due at 100k on the HDi, so if you are looking at a 90k one - get it done in the price. Light bulbs fail in the display, but these are pretty easy to replace. Front window winders go ga ga same as Xantia ones,so factor that in if they're noisy or rough. The windscreen is prone to getting scratched by the (very long!) wipers, esp on the passenger side. Ours got a stone chip in it, so we got it replaced, and it is much better.

Having said all that, we have grown to like ours. It's not pretty, but it does exactly what it says on the tin, at a reasonable price - we'll probably 'upgrade' ours to a 110 HDI in a couple of years.

[Peter.N.]

If you do have an HDi engine its likely to be considerably more expensive to repair when it goes wrong.