Deanxm wrote:I do like my C5, alot more than the Xantia!
I was going to say you bloody should like it for what they cost but after looking at C5's today ive found you can get a rather new one for only the same cost as a tidy HDi Xantia:? not sure if it says more about the xants or C5?
D
I bought mine in Jan this year with 12K miles, one owner, full history etc for £5500, pretty cheap I thought and looking around at similar cars Im sure I would get somewhere near that even now with 24K miles. I dont plan on selling so im not really interested in its value, it was the car I wanted.
Higher mileage ones do drop quite a bit and there are bargains to be had in the right places. You do get very tatty ones, poorly looked after ones which I wouldnt buy but will be cheap.
Tidy HDi Xantia money will be anywhere from £1000-£2000, you can get a perfectly good C5 HDi for that, not a facelifted one unless its very high miles or needs tidying up. You could get anything from a 150K 2.0HDi SX to a 04 2.2HDi Exclusive with reasonable (around 80-100K) miles for that range.
I did look at Xantias before getting a C5 but finding a decent one was difficult. I viewed a few and was left un impressed. I almost bought a HDi Exclusive but it wasn't the best. Im glad I did go the C5 route as ive been very impressed with them and having the Xantia too does make me appreciate the C5 more actually. Obviously the drive of a HDi C5 and a Activa is rather different but the C5 is nearly always my weapon of choice.
My first C5, the 52 plate HDi SX, cost me little money really, it had 108K, one owner and immaculate. For the first few weeks all I was thinking was how many things there are to go wrong on the car (I was used to a VW group car - always backward in their going forward in terms of spec) and how much it might cost to put right. However my worrying soon stopped and now after 3 C5s and 2 family estate C5s im left impressed and nothing has gone wrong on them to speak of. I was offered £1200 for my 52 plate this year which I was very pleased with given it had done about 130K then and cost me virtually nothing to keep. Its too good a car to sell and will be here for a while yet.
I think a lot of people are put off the C5 for a few reasons, the main being the technology it has to potentiall go wrong. However in reality its not too complex and not unlike most other cars of a similar age. The engines are superb and very reliable. Electrical gremlins can appear but are not often life threatening or too costly to put right. A couple of people I have known with C5s and sold them was due to them finding the car too large after having a Xantia.
I love C5s, superb cars, very comfortable, hugely refined well equipped, spacious, safe, drive nicely, a good range of engines and trim levels, and yes, they are superv value for money if you get the right car. Oh, and I like the look of them too!
I always recommend C5s, however like every car there are good and bad examples.
As I was trying to wiggle the suspension arm out of the car I got stuck and did a quick google search. I came across a youtube vid which showed how its done - so much easier on a normal Xantia with a tiny ARB! 
So ill need to do that, or ill buy a Connects2 and have my Ipod in the car instead. 
Sounds like that 2CV was fully rust-free in all the places that filler had replaced metal!!!
