Xantias - a dying breed...

Post by **Peter.N.** » 15 Jul 2010, 17:59

They will be a great deal cheaper to maintain than a new car, and you can do it yourself, saving even more money. The quality and durability of most cars had declined seriously since the end of the '90s, wheras the XUD powered vehicles can be good for 300,000 miles, at lot of modern ones are being scrapped at less than 100k because of the cost of repairs.

Peter.

andmcit · Post by **andmcit** » 15 Jul 2010, 18:09

One possible word of explanation for the lower numbers of these great
'older' Citroens including Xantiae;

scrappage...

There seems to have been a massive cull of them off the roads in my area
and yet none in the breakers. Plenty appear on eBay still but this won't last.

Guess now would be the best time to try and get that Exclusive/VSX/Activa
or estate etc that you've always fancied!

Andrew

the_weaver · Post by **the_weaver** » 15 Jul 2010, 20:36

It's amazing that we've made a step backwards from cars that can do 300,000 miles to cars that can only do 100,000 miles. It's a bit like getting rid of Concorde and going back to a Boeing 747.

My "newest" car is a 1993 ZX with XUD on 217K miles, so luckily, I haven't encountered the problems with servicing more modern cars. I don't think computer control and cars are a good combination really and I'm saying this as an Electronics Engineer too. I always believe in keeping things simple and I like my accelerator and brakes to be connected up mechanically rather than through software. I think the high cost of repairs is a designed-in feature which the main dealers are making a lot of money from.

As for scrappage, I thought it was a bad idea from the word go. I wonder why the cars are not appearing in the scrap yards. There must be some special mechanism to ensure that the cars are crushed immediately.

Paul

andmcit · Post by **andmcit** » 15 Jul 2010, 20:54

Remember this:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... APPED.html

Funnily enough, a near mint recent generation Laguna (the one with the
silver moustache - shows what I car about them really!) was sitting in the
locxal yard yesterday and there wasn't a mark on it - I was shocked to see
such a recent car in amongst the banana'd Corsa's - cherry metallic estate
with alloys and leather too (in fact fully kitted out) - the world has gone stupid.

Probably has a destruction order on it due to the 'brilliance' of the scrappage
scheme - which incidentally did very nice things for the bank balance of the
Asian car market's manufacturers rather than anywhere remotely local. Grrrr

Andrew

KP · Post by KP » 15 Jul 2010, 20:55

I believe the conditions of the scheme meant that even parts were not meant to be used again

Check out cash for clunkers and see how bad it could have been!!

Some xantias were kinda saved as IIRC ther was a silver v6 exclusive that had parts offered...

KP · Post by KP » 15 Jul 2010, 21:06

i nearly cried at this....

the_weaver · Post by **the_weaver** » 15 Jul 2010, 22:37

I think the problem is that people haven't got any common sense anymore. Nobody thinks for themselves. Everybody does what they're told and never questions it. I'm glad I managed to stockpile lightbulbs before they got banned. I just wish I'd stockpiled cellulose paint as well.

Paul

XantiaDaveEire · Post by **XantiaDaveEire** » 16 Jul 2010, 20:44

I dont look forward to the day where my Xantia will eventually die and if i want another one it will undoubtably have very high miles

andmcit · Post by **andmcit** » 16 Jul 2010, 20:54

the_weaver wrote:I think the problem is that people haven't got any common sense anymore

I've been saying this for years. H&S and Political correctness has numbed
big institutions into confounding common sense and the Scrappage from
the last mob in Govt is a perfect example.

Xantiae I have recently scrapped all died due to mechanical maladies NOT
body/rust issues...

if the will is there stick at it!!

I've been exclusively using my 1987 vintage Cx for the past month and
plan to do so for a good while yet so old doesn't mean unusable.

Andrew

the_weaver · Post by **the_weaver** » 16 Jul 2010, 21:16

I'm going to keep my ZX going for as long as possible. Then, when it's finished, I'll get something similar for as little money as possible. I don't want a car that I can't work on myself. The cost of garage repairs changes the whole equation and makes cars too expensive to keep after only a few years. I wonder if it would be a good idea to stockpile cars from the 90's now, before it's too late. Maybe some company could make money doing that and re-selling them in the future.

Paul

Post by **CitroJim** » 17 Jul 2010, 07:03

I've noticed our locality is absolutely full of 10 plate cars (i.e. brand new ones) so there is evidently, despite what is claimed, no shortage of money. It would appear cheap and easy to replace a failing car with a brand new one and it seems this is the route most now take.

It goes along nicely with the consumerist throw-away society we now live in where it is assumed (correctly often) that a device is irrepairable once it fails.

andmcit wrote: Xantiae I have recently scrapped all died due to mechanical maladies NOT
body/rust issues...

Most people have neither the will or skill to fix things nowadays Andrew. The culture is just not there. Those of us of a certain age learned our car fixing skills from our dads as kids when cars were a lot simpler, straightforward and could be repaired happily with little skill and a bent fork nicked from the kitchen. Things are not so these days. Compare and contrast a 1970s Ford Cortina under the bonnet with what we think is a straightforward enough 1.9TD. Most of the population can get their heads around the 'Tina but looking at even simple repairs to a modern car puts the willies up them. Bonnet is rapidly closed and cheque book is waved at the nice Kia salesman as a quick and easy solution. Lads no longer learn the fundamental skills. And it's not just cars either; most kids are floored by the simple job of putting a chain back on their bikes nowadays...

People won't start fixing cars again until money really gets tight and so far, money still seems readily available.

XantiaDaveEire · Post by **XantiaDaveEire** » 17 Jul 2010, 10:26

Funnily enough Jim a young fella came up to me the other day and asked me to put the chain back on his bike for him

Post by **xantia_v6** » 17 Jul 2010, 18:14

It is not just Xantia that are kept longer in France, last week I saw an original (i.e unrestored) and still driven Austin 1300 estate (or whatever BL called them). I don't remember seeing one of those outside a museum or car show in the UK in the last 10 years.

BTW I am sure the French attitude to cars is catching up with the UK and the rest of the world, the average age of cars seems to be dropping year on year.

MikeT · Post by **MikeT** » 17 Jul 2010, 19:35

Since moving here, I've come to notice more and more classic cars being kept in roadworthy condition which I suspect also has a lot to do with Road Fund License expense. It's great to see what appear as mint condition Ford, Singer, Triumph, Austin, Wolseley, VW, Citroen's, etc etc.

I'm reminded of visions of Cuba where it's a necessity to keep their old cars going due to the spiteful foreign policies of our so-called first world leaders. My neighbours recently holidayed there and it sounds too idillic to be true making me think this capitlistic world just isn't right for me.

Post by **CitroJim** » 17 Jul 2010, 20:04

xantia_v6 wrote: week I saw an original (i.e unrestored) and still driven Austin 1300 estate (or whatever BL called them).

I believe they were known as a Countryman. Most of the BMC estates took on that moniker back in the 60s... Even the A40 Farina that had an embryonic hatchnack.

Te half-timbered Mini and Minor were the exceptions, being known as Travellers.