Looking for Xantia hdi

[Taffyrhys]

I have a 2.0 hdi Xantia estate that has 213k on the clock and is still going but rough around the edges. As you can imagine the kids always want to be dropped off in the dark or around the corner ha ha.

However for the last few months I have been looking on ebay, gum tree, autotrader for another Citroen Xantia HDI but there seem to be less of them around these days and I haven't seen one in a 30mile radius of where i live in Hertfordshire. The government new mot and scrappage scheme must be taking a lot of older cars off the road.

Happy Christmas to everyone but in the new year I may have to bite the bullet and start looking at a Pug 406 HDI or even the C5 but will keep looking until the old girl gives up.

All the best , Ade

[Trainman]

As if by magic......

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2000-CITROEN- ... 258714ca15" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Peter.N.]

I think that's a bit more than 30 miles away. When cars get rare you have to be prepared to travel for them, I went to Edinburgh to look at an XM - it was rubbish. Most of mine I have bought at around 200 miles away although my first C5 I got in Exeter, just down the road to me, you might get one locally but you will probably have to wait sometime.

Peter

[Northern_Mike]

I think it's time for all but the serious enthusiasts who can do their own work to start looking at C5s rather than Xantias. Even the youngest Xantia HDi, if it's done anything like an average mileage will have around 140-150k miles under it's wheels. This isn't a problem for an enthusiast with time and patience to do the necessary repairs, but for most other people it's becoming uneconomical. C5s can be had for the same, even less money, with far less miles and are an overall better car IMO if you get a good one. If people did this, the Xantias would stay on the road and be looked after, and all the rubbish C5s would end up scrapped

[rory_perrett]

Old models seem to disappear fast these days. Just a quick look on Autotrader shows only 13 Xantias of any flavour for sale nationally in the UK of which only 3 are HDis.

I’m sure the scrappage scheme had something to do with the premature demise of perfectly good cars with a considerable amount of life left in them but there are still a whole host of factors which mean that older models disappear off our roads. However I would suggest that discontinued models hang around longer than they used to. 30+ years ago many cars were on their last legs at 8 years old and 80,000 miles worn out mechanicals and rust ravaged bodies. That, (for UK readers) is the equivalent of a 55 plate car today.

In the late 70’s I had a VW Beetle and the VW magazine of the time used to run something called the 100,000 club for people whose car’s had managed over 100,000 miles as it was such sufficiently unusual to be worthy of note.

So a Christmas list of why Xantias will soon be very rare and some why they may fare better than some other models/makes.

Reasons for demise of Xantias.

Few people under 45 know how to (or want to) fix cars.
High value of scrap
Complex mechanicals that garages aren’t used to/ don’t like
Increased labour cost vers replacement car cost
Consumerism/ throwaway society
Environmental message that old cars are bad
Cost of parts/ labour for insurance repairs
Unavailability of some parts from traditional sources

Reasons for the survival of Xantias.

THE FANTASTIC AND ENTHUSIASTIC PEOPLE ON THIS FORUM.

Have a great Christmas everyone.

[Peter.N.]

I still repair my cars at 74 - can't afford to do otherwise.

Peter

[rory_perrett]

I hope I'm still up to fixing cars when I'm 74 - good on you.