Davie's french attraction.

[elma]

The vsx and activata cloth are very different to the standard offerings. Very soft and lovely, like stroking a puppy.

[ekjdm14]

Good job "Grey" isn't a VSX then or I'd be stuffed well and truly! (oh yegads, I appear to have named the car already even if it only followed the logic of the other 2! )

[xantia_v6]

Having owned Xantias, 5 with electric leather seats, I think that the comfort level depends a lot on the shape of the previous driver. The seats when new are quite snug, but if they get stretched by a larger occupant, they are never quite the same afterwards.

[daviemck2006]

Having had mk1 activa cloth and now mk1 manual leather my vote goes to the leather. She is comfier than bigpug. That's official from the knackered back judging panel! By the way if I paint her yellow I shall make a better job than this local car is

[CitroJim]

Fundamentally, that Picasso looks good in yellow Davie I guess it's known locally as the 'lumbering banana'...

[daviemck2006]

I like the colour, it's just the poorest paint job I have ever seen!

[CitroJim]

Brush painted with finest Dulux was it Dave?

[daviemck2006]

Certainly looks like that, and perhaps under the influnce of something lol

[daviemck2006]

I have came to a bit of a descision. I was intending to run Gabby on a mix of veg and diesel. Imfack i was going to go quite a high proportion of veg, working in a chippy means i would get veg at a reasonable price. However i have decided that if I were to do it I wouldnt go more than 50/50. Then with further reading up on it and knowing what happened to two vehicles I drove at work years ago I have decided not to go down this route. It will be diesel from the pump only. The old girl drives so well, and the savings are not that great, it would be a shame to risk any engine or injector problems which could conceivably cost so much it could writs the old dear off. Anyone who has seen her or been in her are gobsmacked by the condition inside, and how she drives, so looking after her is what counts. I never used the activa for deliveries, but have decided after 2 evenings working that a xantia is near a perfect vechile for the job. The only minor criticism is the steering lock isnt quite tight enough, but thats comparing it to the 107! Theres obviously no contest there! Ive done deliveries in a few different cars now, the 107 is the king of delivery cars, the xantia is the best of the rest and in some respects better than the 107. Good car.

[CitroJim]

Davie, that's brilliant Gabby has definitely ended up in the best possible ownership and I'm delighted!

I shall be eating a smokie in a bit and it will be even sweeter after reading this

[daviemck2006]

Glad you are enjoying the smokies Jim. Ive now to come to a descision what to do about Gabbys paint. The options seem to be leave the patina to keep developing as long as its not to rust, do the roof and bonnet black and leave the rest just now, do the whole body wrap thing in lairy colours, full respray in the original colour (probably too expensive for me). If it gets a colour change I wouldnt be against the yellow and white stripe of the above picasso but would need to be a better job lol. Only time will tell. A quick black wrap on the bonnet and roof will tidy her up a bit for little money just now untill my mind gets made up. The roof is actually not too bad thanks to Zels previous work on it but its just something I want to try doing, and a wrap will come off easily enough if i either make a bad job or dont like it.

[Zelandeth]

The roof really needs flatting back and a few more coats - just ran out of time that year before the weather changed.

Wrap the roof and bonnet black could work great I think!

[CitroJim]

Davie, I'm going to watch what you do with Gabby's paint as it could well lead me toward the best way of dealing with my Activa... I can't afford a respray but I might be able to stretch to a wrap...

I agree with Zel that a black-wrapped roof and bonnet would look good

[daviemck2006]

I think thats the way im going to go, and im going to try it diy, but i will need help. Sort of a satin black wrap, I dont want the carbon fibre look as its just wrong in my opinion and dont want it shiny as I think it will just show up the imperfections underneath. I think a couple of rolls of duck tape will remove the lacquer on the bonnet effectively!

[Zelandeth]

I started that way with the roof - it worked but took forever.

Best solution I found was a pressure washer - especially if it's got a rotary jet attachment. That just cleared it in seconds - and I'm still finding bits of clearcoat!

Got a video showing the process somewhere...will see if I can dig it out and show you. Was quite a satisfying process!