Xantia Clone!

Post by **CitroJim** » 20 Feb 2010, 20:50

Looking in Wikipedia, I found this paragraph in connection with the Xantia:

Penned by Bertone, the exterior styling of the Xantia was also used on the Daewoo Espero.

Well, here is the Espero...

And yes, the resemblence is clear enough....

Only at the front though. It's a saloon at the back...

Now there's a surprise.

andmcit · Post by **andmcit** » 20 Feb 2010, 20:53

It's the offspring of a liaison between a Xantia and a Sierra...

brmartyn · Post by **brmartyn** » 20 Feb 2010, 20:55

The Daewoo is hideous

Post by **CitroJim** » 20 Feb 2010, 21:02

andmcit wrote:It's the offspring of a liaison between a Xantia and a Sierra...

You really do have Fords on your mind this evening Andrew. Firstly speaking of Ghias and now Sierras... You're not changing allegiances are you?

brmartyn wrote:The Daewoo is hideous

I quite agree

An exercise in how to turn a graceful swan into an ugly duckling. Mind you, Daewoo managed to make the Nexia look rather hideous too and that was based on the Astra.

Xaccers · Post by **Xaccers** » 20 Feb 2010, 21:05

There used to be one around Kents Hill Jim, emerald green if memory serves.

Citroenmad · Post by **Citroenmad** » 20 Feb 2010, 22:50

Well that is a surprise, though it looks nothing like. To say the exterior styling is the same is a little bit of a lie. Not to mention the rear and side profile, it was saloon with an odd window layout. Nothing at all like the good looking Xantia.

The Daewoo nexia was another hideous creation. The old astra was not a bad looking car, but it was ancient when Daewoo took the design and they just made it worse.

Did Daewoo even make a good car? I cant think of one. Even the later Kalos is awful, which still lives on as a Chevrolet Aveo, who in their right mind would buy one of those.

I think they have just killed off the Tacoma too, a wanna-be Scenic. It sounds more like a diesease than a car.

Its no wonder Daewoo is no longer around

Sl4yer · Post by **Sl4yer** » 21 Feb 2010, 00:26

Citroenmad wrote:Its no wonder Daewoo is no longer around

It's still the same organisation though, but with a more marketable name...

Like many far-eastern manufacturers nowadays, they specialise in cars for people with no interest in driving, whose only use for a car is to get them from A to B in what they perceive to be as cheap a way as possible. I thought Proton might have been going somewhere years ago when they launched the Lotus-tuned Satria, but they never continued that line. Maybe the F1 project will encourage them.

James

Citroenmad · Post by **Citroenmad** » 21 Feb 2010, 09:47

Ah yes, but its not really doing it any good, i hardly see a Chevrolet, and then its usually a rental Aveo.

The problem with that idea, is that most people appreciate cars depreciate. Most people who buy a car would like to know they are not going to have to give it away when they need rid, thats if they can even give it away!

I hope they do improve as a company, but to do that they need to update their car range, they are donkeys years old now.

Kia and Hyundai have improved a lot lately, i hope Daewoo/Chevrolet do the same.

andmcit · Post by **andmcit** » 21 Feb 2010, 09:57

I 'only' really care about Citroen being a one marque man and the press are
loving the DS3 at the moment - Citroen is looking like it's onto a winner. Sure
I like Astons but don't thtink I'm going to get one but would still be upset if
they closed up shop...

Andrew

Citroenmad · Post by **Citroenmad** » 21 Feb 2010, 10:05

I like a few different marques, nothing Japanese and nothing Korean. They dont do anything for me at all. Mainly like VW group cars and French cars.

Citroen is doing very well at the moment, lots of new cars and they are selling well. I really like the new C5 saloons, very good looking car. C1s sell like hot cakes, C2 is not made now, C3 is a brand new car and will probably sell well, C4 is another very nice car which sells reasonably well. The little C3 Picasso seems to be selling quite well too.

Post by **CitroJim** » 21 Feb 2010, 10:20

andmcit wrote: I like Astons but don't thtink I'm going to get one but would still be upset if they closed up shop...

We residents of Newport Pagnell were very upset (and still are) when they closed the factory here in the town and moved production to Gaydon.

The old factory site is a wasteland now and just a spheres' lob from my house. Tesco want to build a supermarket on the site and own the land so they will, once the NIMBYs have been placated. Tesco is the less er of the two evils as far as we're concerned. The other proposal is for several hundred rabbit hutches that would be fraudulently sold as homes for several hundred people our town infrastructure cannot support

All that's left in Newport now is their Heritage Workshops.

makes a mockery of our town signs that still says "Newport Pagnell - Home of Aston Martin"

No longer do we see prototypes and new cars on test runs around the town

Not as sad perhaps as the former PSA factory site in Ryton-on-Dunsmore. It now houses

Citroenmad · Post by **Citroenmad** » 21 Feb 2010, 10:24

Very sad, i bet it was quite a sight to see new astons before others.

Unfortunately up here we get to odd Nissan

before it is released. Before the latest Micra came out a local driving school had a debadged one to use. Not quite as exciting as seeing an aston mind! Though tha factory tour is good.

You do see prototypes near Gaydon. I saw the Discovery 3 disguised driving around there. We set of after it in the Xm taking photos

citroenesque · Post by **citroenesque** » 21 Feb 2010, 11:46

The old Proton MPI looks like they tried to copy aspects of the BX. A wholly unsuccessful enterprise!

Citroenmad · Post by **Citroenmad** » 21 Feb 2010, 11:50

Proton did market a model based on the AX, as far as i can tell it was an AX with a different badge. Dont think we got it in this country though, but there is one in the Citroen conservatoire!

The Proton Tiara

Slightly different boot lid and lights, but the rest looks very familiar.

evilally · Post by **evilally** » 22 Feb 2010, 00:04

We used to have a Proton, the one based on the old Mitsubishi Lancer. Apart from the dreadul interior, it was actually not bad. Strong torquey engine, and we did 80,000 miles in it and it never missed a beat.

I also fancied getting a Satria GTI at some point. What you get is a Mitsubishi Colt, with Lotus suspension and an engine from a Mitsubishi Evo (albeit without the turbo). A common conversion is to drop in the turbo lump from an Evo to give you a 300hp hot hatch that looks like a grandad mobile