Citroenmads Citroen blog.

[Citroenmad]

Hi Tim,

Its certainly difficult getting them all together, they are usually squashed within an each of each other at home, so finding somewhere nice but local for taking a few pictures is a tricky one.

A few years ago we had them lined right up our road to some pictures, i dont think the neighbours were all too happy though!

I really liked your blue BX at last months National CCC event, really looked stunning. 8)

Xms are really not too bad to work on now, well not when compared to modern cars anyway. I remember stories of when the S1 Xm was still quite new, a lot of garages turned them away as they didnt want to work on them. Now a lot of their owners have them for their simplicity and ease or repairing them.

Our white one is extremely reliable, its needed the odd small thing over the years, namely the electric window motors, but its never let us down. It could do with a little bit of tidying around its arches at the moment, buts its hardly noticeable and its mechanically sound. Its not as nippy or economical as the manual Xm is, however it really suits the nature of an Xm being automatic. The white Xm is my favourite of our cars. Just need to sell some others so its easier to get to and it can be used more often.

S1s tend to have more electrical problems than the S2 cars, mainly down to bad earthing points i think. Still, they are all bargain cars, there is very little like them in my opinion, the C5s dont come close to how an Xm feels to drive. Although i do prefer an Automatic Xm, much easier to drive, as you could really do with an extra leg for the manuals

I hope to be there at the Stratford event, although a family Christening is that weekend too, hopefully i can get out of that

Chris.

[tim leech]

Hi Chris

If you make stratford please come and say hi, Im mechanically a bit backward so will stick to simple citroens (if there is such a car asides a 2cv) for now.

Tim.

[Citroenmad]

Will do Tim, thanks

Small update, the estate C5 has found its new owner today, so thats one less to worry about, maintain and park. Very quick sale, typical after paying £50 for 6 weeks with autotrader

The traction ran for a few seconds for the first time in over 3 years today too after its engine rebuild, only a few seconds as the radiator is not yet on. So its getting closer to being back on the road. I cant remember it sounding so nice and smooth before either. Not long now!

Its been a very good day today

Chris.

[tim leech]

Well done that man keep it up!

[Citroenmad]

I did make Stratford but only on the Saturday and only for a couple of hours as i went to another event on the Sunday. Id got VIP tickets to watch the BTCC at Silverstone so it was too good an opportunity to turn down. Although i would have liked to have been there.

Well the silver Xm sold yesterday, sad to see it go but its gone to a good home.

Would have been great to keep it, and its the better of the two Xms, however we are so attatched to the white one that it only left the silver one to go. As the Xms are spare cars and rarely used it was hard to justify having two of them, so thats that. Back down to 7 cars again now.

However we need an estate car, as at the moment there is nothing handy to use when taking our two dogs out. That was the C5 estates job but i wasnt fond of that car too much. So might be on the look out for a nice Xantia Estate, preferably S1 2.1TD or a good S2 HDi. Or an Xm estate, but good ones are few and far between, whatever it is it must have air con. Another C5 estate would be the obvious choice, but they dont have the character that the slightly earlier Citroens have.

The white Xm and C15 both sailed through their MOTs last weekend, the Xm is due a couple of suspension pipes soon as they were advisory. But other than that it was fine. It also got me out of a close call the same day as a stolen car almost wrote the Xm off, isnt ABS a wonderful thing!

Chris.

[Citroenmad]

Well i didnt expect it to happen so quickly but we now have an estate.

Couldnt really resist it as its quite a good find i think. Its a 1995 N reg 2.1TD Manual Xm estate in metallic red with only 58,000 miles and a full service history. I think its quite rare being a 2.1 estate with a manual box, most 2.1s which were brought to the country were automatics i believe, i think only a small number of manuals came here, as the normal choice is the 2.5. You do get more hatchbacks with a 2.1 manual but not many estates. Its also really nice it has such a low mileage, there cant be that many Xm estates with such low mileage, let alone a diesel one.

It was owned by Citroen for what seems to be the first two years of its life, when it covered only 1000 miles in that time, it was then bought by a private owner who had it up until last year, they must have had a very low yearly mileage and then bought by the person who we got it from who covered 10,000 miles in the last year alone.

The 2.1 seems a very good engine and pulls very well, its also easier to work on than a 2.5TD, has more performance than i was expecting and great fuel economy, rivals a HDi. Manuals are generally more reliable too, so its a pretty nice combination in my opinion.

Although no mention of the cambelt ever beeing replaced in its service history, though it may well have been done its not worth chancing it. So ive parked the car up for now until monday when its getting a cambelt kit and water pump fitted - just to be on the safe side!

Unfortunately there is a down side, as it doesnt have air con, but thats not a huge problem at the moment, but might be next summer. Its odd for a large top end Estate in mid spec VSX trim not to have had it as standard in my opinion, it was optional on all VSX cars and standard on exclusives. But you cant have everything i guess!

Its body is very tidy, however its had two pannels painted on the drivers side, the front wing and door, which are not the exact same shade of red as the car, so that needs redoing.

The interior is great, not a mark on it, even the boot is untouched and everything seems to work electrically, even the dipping reverse mirror. It drove home really nicely, engine pulls well and hardly seemed to use any fuel either. Drivers very nice, nice to have 4 pedals again!

Another problem is it has an aftermarket switch under the dash which locks the suspension into sport mode, so when i collected it - before finding this switch - it was really stiff, really handled very well on the twisty roads home mind So ill get to the bottom of why thats there and remove it. As far as i can tell at the moment having the aftermarket switch in the normal position makes the car ride very very well, but it still seems to cut into sports when it needs to and using the proper sport switch sees it cut in as it should on H2 cars. So its a bit of an odd one at the moment, will investigate more this weekend.

All in all i really like it, will be nice when the cambelt is done and we can start using it.

Here it is:



Chris.

[Citroenmad]

The 2.1TD is going great, a real pleasure to drive. Ive done nearly 1000 miles in it already, since this isnt my daily car and only one of our spares i think that shows how much i like it

Since my last post in here its had its cambelt and water pump done, two new pirellis, full service, new driveshaft and a good clean and polish.

Here is a picture or two after its clean, certainly a nice colour in the sun:



Last weekend while i was doing something with the white Xm i thought id swap the Xm alloys onto the estate. They look smart on it but i dont think the white one is too happy to be back on steel wheels

Dont they make a nice couple!:



Wish i could find some fitted mudflaps for the estate though.

Im hoping to get rid of my Peugeot soon and get a nice Xantia HDi, so hopefully that will be the next car to appear in here. We will see how my search goes ....

Chris.

[CitroJim]

Chris, your red estate looks absolutely stunning Gorgeous colour! What is the exact colour? I really like it.

[red_dwarfers]

Both of those XMs look fantastic Chris!
When I get my XM I think its going to have to be black to complement the Xantia. I very much liked batam's (CXM) one!

[Citroenmad]

Thanks Jim, its a very nice colour actually, i think its official name is Magenta. Still got to get the other side all one colour yet, its mutlitone at the moment

Cheers Kev, i do my best to keep them looking as good as i can! Thats a nice idea you have, though ive never liked black Xms Kev, i dont think they suit it. Plus black usually hides details and design, something which is nice on a lot of modern (ugly) cars, but i dont think the Xm needs hiding 8)

White is a great colour for an Xm, in my opinion of course! It gets quite a few people looking on the road. Though ive not noticed this in either the silver hatch or the red estate, they blend in.

There are a lot of nice Xm colours though, my all time favourite is Balmoral blue i think it is. A light blue colour, also available in Xantias i believe. Rarely see a Xantia that colour let alone an Xm.

I know of a white xm which might be needing a new home soon ....

So your plan is to get a Xm to run along side your Xantia? By the way Kev, very good videos on youtube.

Chris.

[Citroenmad]

Well today we got another new addition to the car list in our household, 9 cars again, as my parents have a new car. I dont know how im going to park all these huge cars! Its another Citroen would you believe!

Its another C5 actually, we had the S1 C5 estate before, it was a good car but it wasnt great to drive, that one felt quite hammered actually and not as good as the C5 hatch we have, which still feels great to drive even at 118K miles. So that had to go the journey.

The plan is for my mum to have this C5, though my mum is a bit unsure of the size and thinks she will find it difficult to park. She has a small Seat now which she loves so going to this will be a bit of a change. Though all the Seat does it take her to work and back, about 2500 mile per year if its lucky! So this will be a far more usable car, with the dogs n all, than the tiny Seat. She has had big cars before so im sure she will soon adapt, i just hope its bumpers survive

So while me and my dad were out looking at some car dealers today, we spotted a very nice facelift C5 estate. We had a brief look at it and then went home. After we all had a think we decided to go and view it again and have a test drive. I drove it first and it felt fantasic, so much better to drive than ther S1s for some reason. It feels, looks and drives like a new car too, even smells new, its in fantastic condition. So we brought it back home with us.

The car is a mid 2005 05reg Citroen C5 Estate 2.0HDi 16v 138bhp VTR spec in Hurricane grey - the best colour in my opinion, that is what drew me to the car at first. Its done 45K miles and has a full service history, in great condition and its just had new tyres too.

I think its quite a big step up over the S1 cars, it drives really nicely. One thing i really didnt like about the S1 cars is they are so vague to drive, no steering feel and its quite num. This S2 feels so much better, feels tighter and there is also less body roll - though being a 2.0HDi its not a hydractive+. I really like the small changes to the interior on the facelift, the better computer disply which shows the temperature settings for the heatinhg and also various trip settings. The seats also have lumbar adjust, something i really miss on the S1.

So im very impressed with it, i thought the older C5s were good cars but not a drivers car, this one appears to be more of a drivers car, it feels very nice and quite upmarket, looks very handsome with the facelift too! Oh the bigger wheels also make it look better, the S1 is a bit under wheeled with 15" alloys. Though i cant totally compare as the S1 cars are obviously quite a big older now and done quite a few more miles too.

Its a VTR spec, which i think is one down from Exclusive. Still it seems to have a lot of toys, cruise control - which operates differently to the S1 cars, Dual zone climate though unlike the S1 cars you can adjust the vent levels side to side as well as the temperature, rain sensing wipers and auto lights as S1, though it has front bumper fog lights and lots of other goodies.

A few things are missing from the S1 SX cars though, like the double sunvisors, these let you block the sun fron infront and at the side, but the facelift (S2? S1.5?) doesnt have two sunvisors. Neither does it have a button on the key to close the windows if they are left open or open the winds a smidge for ventilation. Instead the facelifts key has a button which, when dusk/dark, turns the cars headlights on so you can see your car in the dark, i really like this idea.

Safety is always a big thing we take into account when getting a family car, so its very reasuring to know that this facelift model is a 5 star Euro Ncap car (S1 is a 4 star which is also brilliant), though this one must be a bit stronger, it also even has a drivers knee air bag! The front seems a little longer than the S1 cars and the front bumper is very soft, for pedestrians i suppose.

The 2.0HDi 138 seems a very good engine, over the last 800 miles on thr trip computer its showing 48MPG! Having quite a bit more power over the 2.0HDi 8v 110 it really pulls very nicely, and the 6 speed gearbox is great, every C5 ive driven has a very nice smooth gearchange, though this 6 speed makes the car even more refined at speed.

So i do like my parents new car, no doubt ill get to drive it lots! I might just look at getting a facelift version for myself.

Though this does mean we might have to rethink the Xm estate .... Anyone for a nice 2.1TD?

Its got a front sidelight bulb out, ive had a look and cant gain access easily to change the bulb, so im just going to have a search around here and see if anyone else has any tips. I hope the front doesnt have to come off just to change a side light bulb!

Another long post, you can always count on me for needlessly long write ups Chris.

[andmcit]

These new fangled C5's cannot be that good? For me, it's still a "challenging"
car to appreciate the lines of and personally will always be my least liked
Citroen! So I'm reading this correctly, the big red one needs to go to a
new home!??

Which sidelight can't be removed, the C5 or Xm's?

Andrew

[Citroenmad]

Well i really like the facelift version, though the S1 is a great car too and im not sure what else would interest me in the large car market at the moment. So yes, for a modern large hatch/estate they are pretty hard to beat. The only thing is they can be a little num to drive, mainly steering feel and input, though they are cruisers more than anything and the facelift seems much improved, i really enjoy driving it. The S1 does what i ask of it perfectly too, pretty hard to beat, and the value, its just fantastic.

Though its not an Xm, im not sure if it can be compared to an Xm as it was really more of a replacement for the Xantia than the Xm. The Xm feels special and drives superbly, if you want a cruiser than it loves motorways, but equally if you want some fun on B roads it turns into a fairly nimble thing.

Though ive not really given a hydractive+ C5 a proper drive, they might be a totally different thing, but still wont feel special like the Xms do. It will be intersting to see how this facelift compaers to the older version, given what seems like a more tought ride and handling and much wider wheels.

As a modern car which is safe, loves cruising, returns great MPG, very spacious, has loads of kit and its good value i cant really nock them. So yes they are not that crisp to drive, but its a big comfy saloon/estate, i guess you buy something more sporting orientated for that. Or maybe an XM!

As for looks i know where your coming from, the S1 looks alittle uncomfortable with itself, though it does look good from some angles, the side view is not its best i dont think. However the facelift version has always appealed to me for looks alone. It looks better proportioned, the side sill is much neater and not as chunky, the front is superb, the sidelights are very neatly placed, its very imposing but very smooth looking at the same time. I think the estates look better but the facelift hatch is still a good looking car. I really do like the look of the S1.5? S2 or whatever this facelift thing is called.

Ive grown to like the S1 shape a bit more, its a little bland maybe and neither can be called sleek or elegant like the Xm, but which modern car is!

As i said, safety is a big thing i look at when buying a car. I would urge Xantia owners not to go onto the euro ncap site, as their might be a big increase in the amount of cars on ebay! So i like the peace of mind of the C5s strength, welth of air bags and safety provisions. This one has ESP and traction control as standard too. Though i like to think im never going to need any of the air bags, nice to know it will do its bit in the event though.

Yes possibly, the estate Xm was mainly bought as we had nothing to get the dogs around in, plus we fancied an Estate Xm and trying a diesel one. Though with this new addition it may be on the look out for a new home. Though i doubt that will be too soon, will see how we get alone with this C5 first. Though we really need to settle down with our cars as they seem ever changing recently, so this C5 is probably a keeper.

I cant change the sidelight bulb in the C5, the older S1 is not a problem but this newer one is in a very diffuclt to get at place.

[davetherave]

9 cars!!
Impressive!

[Citroenmad]

Yes, its a little ott Need to thin them out a little again.

The current list goes:

Traction 6H - getting there, engine now runs again after rebuild but needs new seal - will never be sold!
C15 6 wheeler - always taxed and tested but gets very little use - Also wont ever be sold
Xm 2.1TD estate - might need rehoming
Xm 2.0 16v hatch - might need rehoming
C5 2.0HDi S1 - my daily - will be staying
Seat Arosa 1.0S - my mums drive
VW Caravelle 2.5TD Auto, remapped - my dads drive
Peugeot 206 2.0HDi 90 - another daily, might replace this with somehting bigger soon as its too small for me
C5 Estate 2.0HDi 138 facelift - the latest family car

Thats quite a few, especially as all but the traction are taxed, tested and insured. So we are planning on selling at least 2 of them.