Hi Activa owners [:D]
Still in search of a reasonably high spec'ed MANUAL Xantia, and its beginning to look like over here in NZ that nearly all high spec'ed (VSX and up) Xantia's are automatic's, and that the only way I might be able to find a Manual with good performance and good spec would be to get an Activa, as there WERE Activa's sold in NZ and they were all Manual's.
But I'm a little bit wary due to the two extra maintainance items - the turbo, and the activa part of the suspension..
So, how does the reliability of the turbo compare to turbo's in general ? (eg any known design flaws ?) I have had a turbo before (a 3 cyl 993cc Dihatsu Charade [:D]) so I'm aware of the potential issues and repair costs, in fact in that car I had to get the turbo reconditioned in the time I had it. [:(]
Does it come with an automatic turbo cooldown timer ?
As for the suspension, I hear whisperings on this forum that sphere availability is now difficult ? Is this only the UK or everywhere ?
For the spheres that are in common with the Hydractive 2 system, are they the same pressures and damper hole settings or different ? Does the "activa" sphere at each end have a damper valve, or is it like a regulator or hydractive sphere with no damper ?
How reliable is the rollbar ram ? Is it something that "might" go if you're unlucky, or is it something that "will" go eventually ? (like the rear suspension arm bearings)
I hear that they can take a while to lift up compared to a hydractive 2 model - do they not have anti-sink valves ? Or is it just the extra complexity and higher demand for oil that causes it ?
Do they have a better pump than the 6+2 pump that only has 2 pistons for suspension ? (I'd hope so [:)])
Is the "roll corrector" a mechanical device or electrical ? Where does it connect to ?
How about the ride compared to a plain Hydropneumatic Xantia, and also compared to a Hydractive 2 Xantia ? (I've driven both)
For gentle around town driving is it still reasonably comfortable or is it quite a lot firmer than a Hydractive 2 or about the same ?
I actually prefer damping to be on the slightly firm but not harsh side - I don't like the floaty damping that some Citroen's have, and on my Dad's SX (plain hydropneumatic) we actually firmed the damping up a little bit by reducing the bypass holes in the spheres. (Something we've done to other models too, including the CX...)
The Hydractive 2 VSX that I drove recently had an almost ideal balance between slow speed ride and high speed damping control, so I'd be interested to know how the Activa compares to that. (Ignoring for the moment the roll differences) If I could have found a manual VSX the handling of the Hydractive 2 felt quite satisfactory to me...with hardly any roll, although it no doubt rolls more than an Activa [:D]
For the record I'm pretty comfortable with Citroen suspension in general (as some of my posts will show) and can do all my own maintainance on the suspension, however I am currently unfamiliar with the additional Activa systems, apart from studying diagrams of operation and reading as much info as I can about them...(which is not a lot) but no practical experience, as they are a rare car over here.
Finally some questions about the spec - what trim level is the Activa equivilent to ? VSX ? Exclusive ? Do they all come with Electric seat adjustment, ABS, Air bags etc ?
Lots of questions I know [:)] Thanks...
Regards,
Simon
Activa questions
Moderator: RichardW
Hi. I'm afraid I am unable to answer many of your tech questions, but can add that I owned an Activa as a company car (dealer maintained) for a short time and found the performance to be almost as good as my 3.0 but with the advantage of a manual box plus it seemed to run the same as any 'normal' Xantia until you went round corners and boy does it go round corners it took about two months of driving for the novelty of finding 'nice corners' to go round to wear off. Oh I should point out that in the first week I had the car it 'lost' 3rd gear and had to go to the dealer for a week to be fixed, but no other problems at all... brilliant car wish I still had it.
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ActivaV6uk
- Posts: 650
- Joined: 20 Nov 2003, 16:51
- Location: United Kingdom
- My Cars: C5 X7 2.7 hdi
Past cars
Activa, silver MK1 (221bhp stock) stripped out with twin sparcos Evo seats. 95
Activa, light met red MK1 98
Activa, dark met red MK1 98
Activa, dark met blue MK1 (202bhp stock) 96
Xantia exclusive V6 auto 3l 98
Xantia 2l 8v auto
BX 4x4 GTi dark met silver
BX 4x4 GTi white
BX GTi 16v white fibre bumpers
BX GTi 16v black fibre bumpers
BX GTi 16v hurricane (doa)
BX DTR estate
go to www.activanet.co.uk and have a good read of the forum most if not all of your questions are answered. (sorry i have all the answeres fro the above but an getting sick of continuasly typing it all out when there is a technical resauce like activanet avalable).
Andy
Andy
Hi there,
The turbo is pretty reliable - in fact that engine is well tried and tested being the East /west Aluminium head/ cast iron block 8V. I've driven mine for almost 120K miles. Things to look out for are carry design bits from BX - so invariably you will have the dash lights go, the door locks, the suspension bearings, the exterior trim bits will fall off if not caught in time etc... all well known Citroen reliability quirks which they never bothered fixing.
On a positive note, the suspension system contains 10 spheres. I changed all mine recently and if replacing you must try to get the right parts via the correct part numbers. The anti sink spheres have tricky inlet pipes which need careful handling. You'll probably have to buy a special sphere removal tool too. Ignore people who tell you to hammer them off!
The heater matrix can be problematic.
Trim level is Xantia VSX equiv - with sportier side restraits - you'll definately need them as you hurtle through corners. Typically I tend to go around bends at a steady 70 to 80 MPH - never having to change gear - even in wet weather!
My suspension ram is just starting to creak, but they appear to be fairly straight forward to replace - usually it's just the bushes that go - classic for Activa - you'll probably find that most of the bushes for suspension items have failed - so there will be plenty of rattles.
you can find out more technical details on the web about how an activa actually works, but it is via actuator control.
You'll probably like the ride, slihtly firm, but in sprts mode it is amazingly sharp and you can if not careful easily over steer the car into corners. That's the biggest difference I found.
There won't be electric seat adj, but AIr con was standard plus twin air bags & ABS. The front vented discs will warp if placed under severe loading.
The turbo was designed to provide contant torque over the rev range so it's not working as a true performance turbo.
I stick fully synthetic oil and use top grade filter - you must use an engine flush before doing an oil change.
Tyres: I use Goodyear F1 - amazing!
hope this helps
Baz
The turbo is pretty reliable - in fact that engine is well tried and tested being the East /west Aluminium head/ cast iron block 8V. I've driven mine for almost 120K miles. Things to look out for are carry design bits from BX - so invariably you will have the dash lights go, the door locks, the suspension bearings, the exterior trim bits will fall off if not caught in time etc... all well known Citroen reliability quirks which they never bothered fixing.
On a positive note, the suspension system contains 10 spheres. I changed all mine recently and if replacing you must try to get the right parts via the correct part numbers. The anti sink spheres have tricky inlet pipes which need careful handling. You'll probably have to buy a special sphere removal tool too. Ignore people who tell you to hammer them off!
The heater matrix can be problematic.
Trim level is Xantia VSX equiv - with sportier side restraits - you'll definately need them as you hurtle through corners. Typically I tend to go around bends at a steady 70 to 80 MPH - never having to change gear - even in wet weather!
My suspension ram is just starting to creak, but they appear to be fairly straight forward to replace - usually it's just the bushes that go - classic for Activa - you'll probably find that most of the bushes for suspension items have failed - so there will be plenty of rattles.
you can find out more technical details on the web about how an activa actually works, but it is via actuator control.
You'll probably like the ride, slihtly firm, but in sprts mode it is amazingly sharp and you can if not careful easily over steer the car into corners. That's the biggest difference I found.
There won't be electric seat adj, but AIr con was standard plus twin air bags & ABS. The front vented discs will warp if placed under severe loading.
The turbo was designed to provide contant torque over the rev range so it's not working as a true performance turbo.
I stick fully synthetic oil and use top grade filter - you must use an engine flush before doing an oil change.
Tyres: I use Goodyear F1 - amazing!
hope this helps
Baz