Praise!

[Eddie Nuff]

I do miss my old Xantia, it suited me down to the ground. What I don't miss is being underneath it every weekend fettling one problem after another!

[Eddie Nuff]

. . . and much enjoyment can be had in sado masochistic pottering

I seldom uptick posts as I feel it's just pandering to the needy but, on this occasion, that quote alone says all there is to say about keeping an old motor on the road.

[Quackers]

Having had 5 Xantia's i think they are my favourite car. One of my house mates drove my Xantia for the first time last week having had a go of my C5's and C6, plus he drives an Audi A6 and said the Xantia was the best car he had driven so far in his life. He loved the way he felt in control of the car with non of this hill assist and other things you get on very modern cars and said everything was just so smooth and comfortable.

Not sure if its still available but if anybody is after a bargain V reg red Xantia Activa there was one posted during the week on the Citroen Car Club facebook page, just needs a new radiator. Hoping somebody saves it . If i had the room and money i would be after a 5th car and it would be the V6 Xantia, only owned one for 6 months but really enjoyed it.

[Eddie Nuff]

V6 Xantia would be interesting, or even a late V6 XM. Certainly not your average daily.

[Stickyfinger]

was delivering 3 cast Iron radiators in my v.6 Xantia today ....make the bugger work daily I say !

[Richard_C]

Once upon a very long time ago.....

I flew to Marseilles for a business meeting. The flight was horrid, turbulent and very late. Took a taxi off the rank, by random chance a Xantia. it was over 20 miles to the factory I was visiting. I said "trente minutes?" in a questioning sort of way. "C'est possible" he replied and said no more. Off we went, comme une rocket, with me in the back. I was astonished how smooth and comfortable it was, I could read my notes for the meeting while he hurtled round the ring road. Even compared to my 2 former BXs it was spectacularly calm.

Soon after, my wife gave up work to care for newborn, handing back her directorial Ford Scorpio. There was only one answer - a Xantia 1.8i auto SX in white bought from the good people at C&T in Widnes. I know there was a 2.0 which was faster, but that 1.8 was a very 'sweet' engine, bowled along in great comfort and calm for mile after mile. Poorly parents and 2 children sent us in search of 6 seats 3 years later, otherwise we might still have it. It should have outsold the contemporary Cavalier and Mondeo easily on merit, but hey its a Citroen - not on company car lists* and seen as a risky purchase.

* by way of a minor triumph, as a former Dyane/2CV/Visa/BX/Xantia owner I managed to sneak the XM onto the senior managers car list alongside the usual Scorpio/Carlton/Rover 800 options when I was head of HR. Few people chose it but one I knew quite well chose and loved his.

[white exec]

. . . It should have outsold the contemporary Cavalier and Mondeo easily on merit, but hey its a Citroen - not on company car lists* and seen as a risky purchase.

* I was lucky (at Agfa) where company car choice was dictated principally by (a) being within a budget figure, and (b) the car being built in Europe. After Sierra, Cavalier and Vectra - and with a BX, then XM, at home - Citroen was an obvious choice. First was a ZX (company went Diesel Only), and hence a 1.9D NA Auto, one of the few auto diesels to be had. Great fun, but hardly luxury. But then something far better: like yours, Richard, a Xantia 1.8i auto SX, in Wicked Red (Dante), complete with cruise, CD6, A/C . . .

There had been, at management level, six or seven XMs, and a 605. All S1, all 2.1TD, from around 1990. Not a good time to take one of these on (the electrical issues), and depreciation in year one up to 65%. After a couple of years, these all disappeared, along with a couple of S1 Xantias too. I was lucky in being able to land the red S2, which came just at the right time. It was my last and very best company car, and I left it behind (with 60k on the clock) when I retired.

[Gibbo2286]

A fleet manager acquaintance told me he kept an old Lada in his fleet, any of the staff who disrespected/damaged their company car was relegated to driving the Lada for a month

[Peter.N.]

I considered a Xantia but for the same or similar technology with extra space and comfort I plumped for the XM. Ran them for about 15 years until the last one rusted away. Then I bought a C5, rubbish by comparison so I now run 406 Hdi estates - best cars in the world - well I think so

Peter