Thinking Of second Car

[Timmy69]

Hi guys

I am thinking of getting a second car,and not being a major fan of modern cars and being quite fond of Citroens .I was seriously looking at getting a XM..Can you give me a few opinions and help me out a bit with this decision.Things like the right price to pay for one,common faults,and expense for the common faults ofc..Diesel or petrol etc.Just vent your spleens guys because i have seen one i have fallen in love with.
Thanks as always
Timmy

[Peter.N.]

I have been running XMs for about 15 years and they are a brilliant car but likely to be expensive to maintain unless you can DIY. My car of choice has been the 2.1 manual diesel estate, they have more room than just about any estate on the road and give a superb ride, driven gently they will exceed 50 mpg, there are very few about now though, once you have them sorted they can be very reliable. If you do a lot of miles avoid the auto, gearbox failure can write the car off.

Alternatively, there are a lot of very cheap C5s about now, I have two, one cost me £300.00 and the other £550, the cheapest one is best but its a 2.2 Hdi which is not very economical, the 2.0 Hdi I subsequently bought needed a lot of work but it will do 60 mpg

The other alternative is a Peugeot 406, same running gear in the Hdi version and a very reliable car, also cheap but not as cheap as the C5.

Peter

[citroenxm]

C5 are modern rubbish.. and Im not a fan of them at all..

Xm is a tricky one there's lots who don't like them lots of us who LOVE them but you Do need some mechanical knowledge etc to keep on top of them..dodgy electrics is a lot of rubbish these days idealy have a look around http://www.club-xm.co.UK" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and see how we get on
there's a lot to look out for but a good one can be very desirable the ride in the xm IS something else and the xantia does Not touch it..

strut tops need checking under the wings in the wheel archs ..
s1 cars to around 1992 have early hydractive which is not reliable .. usually over come by fitting xantia sx soft spheres.
s1.5 models from 1992 to 1994 early M reg cars are the BEST in terms of original dash with reliable electrics and 9.8 times out of ten working hydractive... they also seem to have the better body work under neath .. that's not to say they won't be rusty.. check sills closely also under the rear check around rear Subframe mount points... these are the most common weak areas..

go for condition rather then spec.. then engines... well the tct turbo is ok rather thirsty and in the ones ive had a bit noisy .. v6 12v are nice give nice engine noise but again like the fuel.. the 2.1 td engines are a cracker but a bit slow with the auto box... manuals are complete

[Timmy69]

Thanks for that guys and thanks for the link mate...don't want a c5 want a nice classic citroen

Timmy

[citroenxm]

Sorry carrying on... manual 2.1 tds are completely different in performance and go rather well..

early td have Lucas mechanical fuel system then from around 1992 to 1996 they switched to Bosch mechanical then from 1996/7 they switched to Lucas epic ah al xantias ..

auto boxs are fine provided they have been looked after and had many fluid changes every 6 to 8k or so..if its good then keep ontop of it.. ive a mate with a 2.1 td auto at 225k on from what we know the original box with no issues..

Lh dot matrix displays always work in series one cars.. the lcd on the right one can and does run and damage the read out.. right hand display is common psa item but the display colour may be an issue from other cars..

so that's a light run down... rust is the main thing to look for.. then strut tops

the 2.5 td is a beast.. its powerfull and manual only.. but its a big lump and is not particularly economical... they are all drive by wire too.. Oil coolers can be an issue on these.. and the 2.5 was only fitted to series two cars from 1996 onwards

[Deanxm]

Best thing you can do Timmy is tell us which model you have fallen in love with and we can tell you what to look out for, any faults are well known now. Price depends on a lot of things tbh.

D

[Timmy69]

Hi Deanxm
As Citroenxm has been putting me in the picture about xm's i have decided to look for a manual 2,1 td..The one i was looking at was a petrol one,but i have had a change of heart

Timmy

[Peter.N.]

Petrol is OK if you don't do many miles but the 2.1 diesel is probably the best IDI diesel ever made.

Peter

[Northern_Mike]

I love the way CitroenXM has stated that C5s are "modern rubbish", then gone on to list a load of expensive faults with the XM

C5s are, IMO, simply a better car all round, though not as large. The build quality and paint finish is much better - my 110k miler hasn't a mark on it, other than some rubbing on the (rubber) bumper corners.

They are quite dull, and not what some would term a "real" Citroen... but as long as you avoid the early 2.2HDi, then they're a great car.

[Peter.N.]

I didn't like C5s until I bought one - I now have two. I don't think there are as nice as the XM but I do like them, the first one has been utterly reliable the second one has a few faults but nothing I can't fix. I don't like the interiors much or the look of the car but it does everything very well.

The first one I bought was a 2.2 and once I had repaired the initial faults it has been no trouble since, the 2.0L I bought as a replacement on account of the 2.2s diabolical fuel consumption is very economical but needs quite a bit of work but I bought them both very cheap.

Peter

[Citroenmad]

In fact the C5 is just a tiny bit shorter than the Xm hatch, the C5II (facelift) is the same length as the XM hatch. Very little in it, the C5 is quite a bit wider. The C5 has less rear legroom but the boot is perhaps slightly longer. XM estate is in a different legue.

I would rather own a C5 than XM for daily duties for a good few reasons, but I do like XMs more. If that makes any sense!

As has been said, XMs are great cars and if you can do a bit of DIY, then it should be a very enjoyable and cheap to own car.

[Northern_Mike]

I agree Chris. XMs are lovely old beasts, but as a sensible daily car? No, not any more - I've had 3, and used them all as daily motors, but there are better, newer alternatives now. They're a car to be polished and enjoyed at weekends now IMO.

[Deanxm]

yep, there are those that do run them all the time but on the whole they are starting to get too old for that sort of use now, when you can pick a nice top spec hdi C51 up for well under £1500 easily there is no point messing about, ok they dont look good but they are much easier to work on than a xant or xm, bags of space under the bonnet, plenty at the scappers and easy to find cheap parts in plentifull supply it should be a no brainer which you pick for a daily car imo.

i have decided to look for a manual 2,1 td

If your doing over 10k a year get the derv, if not i personaly wouldnt bother as its not worth it, and good luck finding a half decent 2.1 manual XM now , that will be a long and mostly fruitless search, my advise is buy on condition not spec, if you go out set on a specific model you will either never find it or end up with a pup.

D

[Peter.N.]

I used to do quite high mileages in mine and they were pretty reliable, but in those days there were plenty of cheap ones about so if one developed ax expensive fault I would just buy another. The C5 is now in that same category, its hardly worth doing a difficult or expensive repair because you can probably by a replacement cheaper. Look out for ones that have just had a clutch/DMF.

Peter

[Northern_Mike]

I used to do quite high mileages in mine and they were pretty reliable, but in those days there were plenty of cheap ones about so if one developed ax expensive fault I would just buy another.

This is the approach I took. My first had a headgasket failure then it developed a bottom-end knock, so we sold it and bought another with 210,000 on it, and a load of little faults. It continued for another 40k before I sold it and bought a newer Turbo Estate, which my wife couldn't park for love or money (I couldn't park her Mondeo either for some reason!) so we bought a 1.8 Xantia instead, which apart from my Punto, was the most unreliable POS known to man.