The Xantia magic

[ecohouse1]

I did love my Xantia too - when it worked, its great solid car, lovely to drive and frugal on the "go juice" but the electrics in it are terrible, cooling fans had a life of their own, fog lamp earths going, now temp gauge not working, speedo has died and the immobiliser is permanently engaged so the engine wont start. Reckon the loom is in a right mess. Shame as its been maintained lovingly from a mechanical point of view. I am looking at other motors to potentially replace it, but not seen anything wonderful yet on my local gumtree.
Drove a nice Rover 75 2 litre touring yesterday - lovely opulent cabin and feel to it - very smooth ride but felt like it weighed twice what the Xant does and took an age to get up to speed. Its the BMW unit in these. Also looking at Honda Accord diesel estates and Volvos. A bit suspiscious of the C5 and 407, mainly from the electrics side.
Still have my 206 and 2CV in the PSA camp!!

[CitroJim]

The 407 is a good one to consider. A very under-rated car and something of a well-kept secret, especially in estate (SW) form. Yesterday we loaded an ES9 V6 engine into the back of one and barely needed to fold the rear seats..

That 407 has done over 200K and very reliably too... The only painful job we've done on it is to replace the heater flaps which is a well-known fault with them... Not difficult, just laborious like a Xantia heater matrix...

[Xantianut]

I did like my Xantia but always preferred the BX. Comfier, lighter, better handling.

The C5 is brilliant at straight lines but less good at the corners. Comfier than the Xantia but not as comfy or as good as the BX.

[BenC5HDi]

I think the C5 is better than either the BX or the Xantia. It's certainly got quite a lot more grip. I think it feels more ponderous because it's bigger, but it's more neutral and better handling than both IMO.

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[myglaren]

I am somewhat in agreement here although it is so long since I owned either a BX or Xantia that it is not anywhere near a scientific comparison but I find the ability of the C5 to leave 'better' cars standing on bends and roundabouts is more than satisfying.

[Xantianut]

Oh, it does,that, MyGlaren, to be sure.

Best cornering car I have ever driven was the early BX14 with the horizontal Douvrin engine. Nice light alloy motor, low down under the,lid and absolutely central, I never had any under steer in that baby! And it was some time before I learned about the lift off oversteer that the BX was supposedly notorious for! The only way I could provoke it was to let the pedal bounce back on its stop.

Oddly enough, the worst car I have had was also a BX. Take the nice alloy engine out and stick in a hoofing great lump of cast iron and it's under steer city!!!!