It's time to present my cars now...
So... as said, I've been crazy about cars for as long as I can remember. One year ago, after my graduation, the question was : what would my first car be ?
I wanted it to be recent enough to be able to drive it on a daily basis (without being afraid of missing an essential part for months), I wanted to be able to drive it in Paris (so : gasoline & after mid-1997).
2 cars were on my shortlist :
- A 2.5 20V Safrane
- A 2.0 TCT or V6 Xantia
I first saw a nice grey V6 Activa in Marseille. Booked a ticket to get it the following week - and unfortunately, the car was sold during the week.
Then, a second one. A quite uncommon X2 TCT, produced on April 23rd, 1999, and sold on June 28th, 2000. This engine was sold in France on X1 (4246 X1 produced, of which 952 RHD; 1092 X2, of which 270 RHD).
Well - that one was for me, and I got it on January 16th, 2016, @153000km. It now has almost 171'000, and it's a pleasure to drive !
Config : Mauritius Blue, with basic manual black leather and a retrofitted cruise control.
I have done quite a lot of things on it :
- 10 multilayer spheres (got almost the last rear wheel ones... now they are NFP)
- Leather cleaning & driver seat cushion replacement
- A few sensors, feeding pump & idle compensator
- Brake control unit,
- Heater matrix,
- Tyres, engine drain, filters, spark plugs & ignition wires... nothing but classic maintenance...
- And recently : a bit of paintwork on the car (bonnet, spoiler, one of the doors which whas scratched...) and the roof headliner
Now the car is quite clean, I still have to investigate why the engine sometimes stalls when going back to idle after a long downhill.
Other things on the todolist : timing belt (soon) & rear ram pipes (leaking when the temperature gets below 0°C, I have them brand new at home).
A few photos... taken yesterday.
Most importantly... this car has always been reliable and has never let me aside. For that, and because it's now looking very nice, I really like it.
In July, I saw a dirty 2.0 16V, 118000km, for €1,000. Too expensive,... I didn't need it - but I was driving far too much with my dear Activa, so the idea was not bad... and one week later, the same car was worth €300 !
A young guy had bought the car without checking he could take an insurance with it - in France people with a recent driving license can't get an insurance for a car with more than 100bhp. He had to sell it quickly, otherwise he had to register the car.
It happened that I took the car the last day he could sell it before making the official registration. The exterior was not very nice, the interior neither, and there was a huge leak on the back of the car.
Well :
- 3 rear spheres were dead (wheels & hydractive) - the car was shaking so much that a return pipe went off. Paid a restaurant to a friend, he filled me 2 old spheres and let's go.
- Changed a door, a front wing, added a spoiler
- Changed some return pipes too... broke when doing the engine & LHM drains
- Changed the interior alcantara
- Changed all tyres (2 were dry... they had 12 years and more than 90'000km... the others were older but still okay, but I had punctured one...
- Found an XM...
I sold this car after only 4 months and 10,000km. Enjoyable, reliable, but I couldn't park 3 cars...
In September, I found an XM. Mauritius Blue again, V6 ES9 + auto gearbox 4HP20, 110'500km, in Germany. With (heating) Savane leather interior, sunroof,...
Well... 110'500km, that's what I thought, and now I have some doubts about it.
Lots of recent work after 3 years stopped outside. Engine matrix, spark plugs, timing belt, gearbox was freshly checked and drained... and so on... well... I couldn't resist - I took it.
Well... I'm not so happy with it.
First I had a heater matrix issue, and the matrix had already been replaced.
The seller (a pseudo professional guy) was working terribly bad, screws were missing everywhere inside and outside the car...
Had a gearbox relay issue preventing the car start, I opened the starter, found it was quite tired. Replaced it... and after only 6,000km, the gearbox was broken : usual issue on the 4HP20 with the ring between the pump and the torque converter.
I will have to change part of the exhaust too...
The car is currently parked at my parents' place, (at least it broke somewhere I could park it). The seller should send me a new gearbox soon, I hope I will be able to fix the car soon and drive again.
Indeed, a very lovely collection!
Only today my dentist complimented me on what a wonderful job I do of brushing my teeth!
