Xantia Replacement - RESOLVED

[Magnificent Rustbucket]

I have back problems too, so I do sympathise. I have never been in an XM, but have travelled quite a bit in a Xantia. They seem very comfortable at first, then after a while, less so...

 

The cars with the best seats for my back at least, are the Volvo 740/940 series and the late XJ40 Jaguar, providing it had no sunroof. Both are perfect for me and can I sit in them for hours without a problem.

 

BMWs are reasonable, but not good. They're too hard and not quite the right shape. The wooden spoon goes to the Nissan 200SX. The seats in that were so dreadful that pain was almost immediate and I physically couldn't sit in it longer than an hour - the pain was unbearable, and I am used to it.

 

Almost as bad is the Mercedes W140 S Class. The seats offered utmost misery in an almost infinitely adjustable number of positions. I was once so crippled by the big Merc when I arrived at my destination that I couldn't get out of it and had to return home. What a day that was.

 

 

Please tell me that you will get someone to help you swap the seats! They're heavy and unwieldy and perfect for seriously hurting your back. You could end up with the most perfect seats - and unable to sit on them because fitting them has crippled you!

[UltraWomble]

Oddly I knows where you are coming from. I always found the TZ trim in the BX far more comfortable than the Xantia LX/SX trim.

[dugong]

Sorry, XMs are a liability at the sort of money you've got to play with. They're like Saab 9000s - reliable only if you throw bundles of notes at them constantly.

 

Why are you making this so complicated? J_dyane's suggestion of 406 seats sounds the best compromise if (as you rightly state) the Xantia has so much going for it. 
I'd happily run a Xantia - it has so many idiotic Citroen flaws massaged out and is 'normal' enough that garages will tackle it if you can't be arsed sorting something. 

 

[Station]

Without turning this into 'which is the comfiest car' thread:

XM seats are easily the comfiest seats I've sat in. You want something to hold you so you're not tensing muscles around corners, or keeping your arse from sliding down in the footwell. They cover every surface of your back.

I had rock hard seats in my Nissan Z31, but they were completely adjustable and had air bolsters - same with Starion and CRX, rock hard leather but no back pains, because thought was put into ergonomics of the shape of the human body.

Either buy one or don't - but you'll be complaining in a couple of months that the cheap vacuum packed seat you're sitting in is giving you back pain again.

[The Moog]

If you want I have got a set of 405 seats you can have for nowt.

 

I am scrapping the blue one in next week so you are more than welcome to have them. They are squishy comfy. I prefer them to the ones in the red 405 but they are in better condition and are bit more bucket type. 

 

Stitching on drivers one has come undone and could do with a proper clean, but yours for the price of free .. 

 

Know what you mean about the xantia, sadly I found it a bit white goodish. Capable &competent but wont set your trousers on fire with lust. 

[vulgalour]

I'd happily run a Xantia - it has so many idiotic Citroen flaws massaged out and is 'normal' enough that garages will tackle it if you can't be arsed sorting something.

Agreed, they are more normal. I wish it had a single wiper, I wish it had a single spoke steering wheel that was also bigger, I wish it had softer seats, I wish it didn't weigh so much. On the plus side, the radio is almost impossible to use at night without crashing because all the buttons feel the same as I found out on my way home yesterday.

[vulgalour]

If you want I have got a set of 405 seats you can have for nowt.

YES. You mentioned my favourite price! Stitching and cleaning is well within my abilities.

[dugong]

I don't get why XMs are so highly regarded. The phase 2s had a Euro-generic dashboard and weren't particularly 'Citroen' other than their use of hydropneumatic suspension. 
I struggle to understand why they're worshipped as something 'different'. The diesel estates were useful tools, the rest of them (even the V6 24V which is probably crap by Autoshite logic) were sensor-riddled pains in the arse. 

[Bobthebeard]

I don't get why XMs are so highly regarded. The phase 2s had a Euro-generic dashboard and weren't particularly 'Citroen' other than their use of hydropneumatic suspension. 

I struggle to understand why they're worshipped as something 'different'. The diesel estates were useful tools, the rest of them (even the V6 24V which is probably crap by Autoshite logic) were sensor-riddled pains in the arse.

 

Highly regarded in my case as owned a few... Supremely comfortable and quirky. Pain in the arse? Yes, at times. But what a car! When running they are fantastic . IMHO of course..

[skattrd]

I wasn't blown away by the XM I had, and found the Volvo S80 I had previously more comfy and a nicer car to drive.

[Inspector Morose]

Cough cough, BX estate cough. What mileage do you want it to show?

Ruffgeezer is trying go get rid of a 22000 airfix BX diesel too

[The Moog]

YES. You mentioned my favourite price! Stitching and cleaning is well within my abilities.

 

 

Cool. I need to get bits off the car as it is in the garage and will take the seats out. Should be available to collect after the weekend.  Do you go past KruJoes at all on way home? 

[alf892]

Change the seat or buy a cushion if that is it's only fault.

 

A Note on Fitting.

If the desired seat physically fits into the car......then it can be fitted.

 

Man up ffs!

[vulgalour]

@Moog:  I need reminding of address, PM them?  Then I can find out for you... I suspect I don't but I'm not sure.  Probably bring Mike to help with the driving if it's gonna be a mahoosive trek.

 

@Alf:  Yeah... I'm defo being soft, but only in the head department for thinking the best reason to get rid of a car is the seats which are one of the easiest things to change.  Herpaderp.

[dugong]

If I end up KNOB_VANNING bits to shitpeas from Lincolnshire, there may be a space for your bits. 

[vulgalour]

You have remembered I'm Oop Norf now haven't you?  I'm not in Derbyshite anymore.

[alf892]

If I end up KNOB_VANNING bits to shitpeas from Lincolnshire, there may be a space for your bits.

Is Cyclops allowed to drive already?

[dugong]

No, not yet - within a fortnight. 

VG lives roughly on the way [M'boro] to Shitpeas, does he not? 

Basically the A1M plus a couple of shite and shit tip stops. Do able, even in a vehicle that gets holeshot by tectonic drift. 

[beko1987]

Non volcane zxs are quite comfy, from an 18st 6ft2 fatty

 

The seats in the volcane less so, but mine is slightly broken...

 

Fit an xm drivers seat in the xantia then crochet up a matching set of covers?

[overrun]

*HE HAS ONLY READ PAGE 1*

 

Mk1 Mondeo 1.8 TD estate?

[burraston2006]

How about a Vauxhallshite Ashtray estate? I'm borrowing on at the moment and my back isn't playing up in it at the minute.

[Chas4545]

To the O.P - FWIW there is a thing called a backfriend (google it)  which makes every seat, car or otherwise give good posture and support, for about £50, I use mine everywhere and had it years. Much more comfy than they look and you can use it in your favourite chair as well. This is not a plug, they are just lifesavers for back sufferers like me so I want to pass it on.

Or any volvo/saab seat of course.

[DVee8]

What is going on with you lot this is the only way

 

 

[messerschmitt owner]

An XM with leather seats is an even more comfy place to be than the velour!

 

Speaking from experience, like!

 

However, you may not like this idea but I have traded down from an XM to a Merc and its seats are multi adjustable and supremely and effortlessly comfortable over long mileages too. A tidy estate can be bought for around a grand - I know - I nearly bought one for £900 but missed out as it was sold.

 

Lots of sensors but you can find one owner fsh cars out there thqt don't need fortunes spent on them. There's even some with no rust ...

[Andrew353w]

I have a Xantia and find it superbly comfortable at all speeds. I'm sorry that you're having problems with yours. The seating and the suspension set up gives me an amazingly smooth and comfortable ride and I cannot fault it. Could it be yours is a rogue car in some way? 

[Lacquer Peel]

The seats in my Xantias were not as comfy as I expected, but the driving position and ride were fine. I find it hard to get comfy in cars as well.

Have you considered a van? I was surprised at how comfy my Vanette was in terms of driving position.

[messerschmitt owner]

nah, it's his back. What seats did your BX have, VG. I found the  ordinary ones were so so but the GTi ones fabulous. And that's after some 400,000 miles in BXs.

[vulgalour]

It was the ex-Dollywobbler tiger bus, so whatever the seats are that are grey tweed.  I think it was a TZD?  I can't remember.  The GTi ones look comfy, but never quite as comfy, they look like they have a bit less squish to them than I like.

[vulgalour]

Actually, I'm going to ignore everything in this thread so far and just do this.

 

 

WCPGW?

[forddeliveryboy]

^^ It's what I'd expect! In case you don't ignore, then...

 

Try and find a seat from an old Saab 900 or 99. Your back probs may disappear.

 

Are you sure it's not the jarring ride many a Xantia gives on English roads? Sphere design isn't what it was so ripples are vibrations instead of a distant tyre noise (easily modded, though) and the blown diesels have fairly harsh springing. Add in the usual modern rock-roll caused by stiff anti-roll bars and there massive potential for back pain if there are existing problems in that dept, even if not. Alternative spheres with larger volume improves matters no end.

 

2cvs and other older Cits. old Mercs, Saabs and old Volvos are good for bad backs. I once knew someone with a damaged back (years of neglect, our doctors do little more than prescribe pain killers and cross their fingers) who couldn't ride in anything with much of an anti-roll bar fitted. He had Saab 900 turbos, the 8v variety..