XM - arrived this weekend!!

[mouseflakes]

I'd have bought that R25 TXE off ebay, had I not already shelled out for this...

 

 

70,000 miles with huge history and fastidious previous owner apparently. MOT until April (not great) tax until September - good value at £395 I reckon.

 

 

It's not really what I was after (2 litre petrol, non-tuberous and I really need an estate) but I think it'd be hard to find such a nice XM at such a low price. And the colour is fablious!

 

TBH my main concern was that someone with an eye for a profit would snap it up, stuff it on ebay with £1000 start price, it wouldn't sell, would be listed again when out of MOT, asking £850 with threats to scrap it if no-one wants to pay and so on - you know the kind of thing. Another nice old car lost.

 

So now it's mine.

 

 

It's in between Nottingham and Newark and it's a horrible and expensive train journey plus taxi ride from Bristol.

 

Just on the off-chance I wondered if anyone is going that way from this area over the weekend from whom I might cadge a lift / split fuel costs? Slim chance I know, but thought I'd ask.

[garycox]

Can't help, but that's lovely! I can't remember seeing one as early as that before...

[STUNO]

Surely the trip home in a good XM is worth all the bother and expense of going to get it. Jealousy..jealous I would love to helpBUT !!!!

[AnthonyG]

can't help but a great looking car and a good save. Nice early one too!

[r.welfare]

G-reg = 1st year of UK sales. Marvellous devices. I remember auditing a Cit dealer back in early '99, and overheard a salesman's surprise that a punter had just rung up asking about them - he (the salesman) didn't realise the XM was still in production. This dealership (a small one just outside Alton) had the MD doing a tax dodge by driving a late '80s XJS-R (the Walkinshaw tweaked job with the placca bodykit) to work every day, plonking it at the back of the forecourt, then sticking an optimistic pricetag in the 'screen - result was he could claim it wasn't his company car for Benefit In Kind, and the thing never sold 'cos of the high sticker so he could carry on driving it.IIRC up to '92MY the electrical connector quality of the XM was not GR8, so if everything electric still works on that one (or at least the critical stuff), it looks a cracking buy.

[mouseflakes]

IIRC up to '92MY the electrical connector quality of the XM was not GR8, so if everything electric still works on that one (or at least the critical stuff), it looks a cracking buy.

Apparently the last owner insisted on having it serviced 25 miles from home by an XM specialist - so I'm guessing that some of the foibles the earlier cars had are likely to have been sorted on this one.Well - I can live in hope!

[bigstraight6]

That looks nice, looking foward to seeing more pics

[Milford Cubicle]

Looks lovely, I've always fancied an early XM - I'm not keen on the bland front end of the facelift jobs.

[Baz]

That looks like a beauty!

[shite_meister]

Jeez I like that, have always liked these and WILL have one one day*

 

Well done, but as others have basically said-it might be a ball-ache to collect it but just imagine the comforting and probably soothing ride on the way home!

 

A proper Citroen that

 

*Goes to Google image search and looks at Citroen XMs

[andrew e]

Nice mota, can't help with the lift but if the rear calipers, starter or airflow mointor are shot let me know! Got a bag of electrical connectors too!

[chaseracer]

Nice motor, Tim! Don't forget I've got a lockup full of XM bits...

[j-j]

Absolutely awesome! and in a rare (IIRC) colour too! you say it's not turb but is a 2.0l - is it injection though? there were a small collection of curburetor base models at the very start - they're all but extinct now.The XM electrical probs was all about multi point earthings - it was meant to be a more modern way but they skimped on quality and it all went wrong. Most surviving S1s had the earth points replaced with the later type.I'm increasingly drawn to Xms by the day..

[mouseflakes]

Here's the car on the way down to Bristol this afternoon - £395 well spent I feel!

 

It's really very nice.

 

 

[25v6turbo]

That is lovely,cracking colour,looks great,nice findWhat was the 25 like??

[pogweasel]

What a honey!

 

I wish I had big enough cojones to buy one of those.

[mouseflakes]

What was the 25 like??

The TXE or the GTX I BINed before Christmas?

[mouseflakes]

What a honey!

 

I wish I had big enough cojones to buy one of those.

Fortunately the previous owners appear to have held their cojones aloft and have forked out for some fairly comprehensive servicing.

 

One thing I was concerned about was the life left in the clutch - but the records show it had a new one 7000 miles ago. Reconditioned hydraulic pump recently too.

 

It will need spheres as it rides a bit firmly - but serious XMers seem to change those like they change their underpants (every 12,000 miles or 12 months, whichever is sooner).

[Spottedlaurel]

Sounds like an excellent purchase. Always good to get a car off someone who's obviously looked after it.Do XM owners really only change their underpants at 12000 miles/12 months intervals though?

[retrogeezer]

Very nice indeed.

[mouseflakes]

Do XM owners really only change their underpants at 12000 miles/12 months intervals though?

I do - just assumed it was the same for the others. I carry a spare pair in a carrier bag in the boot in case the interval passes while I'm on holiday.I was just mucking about of course - I don't know what the intervals are for the spheres - but every car for sale always seems to need them.

[wuvvum]

Both my XMs needed spheres - my first one was almost undriveable on bumpy roads as the front spheres did a passable imitation of pogo sticks. The estate was just a little on the firm side. I also had a Xantia which had had its LHM replaced by 20W50 - that was very odd, the suspension did everything in slow motion. That XM looks like a kwolity buy, and pretty clean for a G-plater. Don't think I've seen one that colour either.

[j-j]

It will need spheres as it rides a bit firmly - but serious XMers seem to change those like they change their underpants (every 12,000 miles or 12 months, whichever is sooner)._________________

- for economy only change the XM 'center' spheres first as these are the ones that give the soft ride - the 'corner' spheres are the 'sports suspension' ones and can probably wait. Also , it's worth checking the suspension ECU is alive! if it dies, it defaults to hard suspension - apparently theres a way of checking it by tuning the radio into a certain LW frequency and listening to the buzzz of the solenoids switching in at a certain road speed. If there are probs with is there's also a special retro fit diode replacement kit that scotchlocks on to the connecting wires of the ECU available.

[AnthonyG]

Also , it's worth checking the suspension ECU is alive! if it dies, it defaults to hard suspension - apparently theres a way of checking it by tuning the radio into a certain LW frequency and listening to the buzzz of the solenoids switching in at a certain road speed.

That is so French !

[mouseflakes]

Couldn't resist posting this - still can't believe that when you allow for the tax on the car, I paid £295 for this!

 

I paid for it over the 'phone unseen - so it was one of those lucky gambles!

 

[dollywobbler]

Wow. That really is clean! Nice to see plenty of hydro-Citroen love here.

[j-j]

Wow. That really is clean! Nice to see plenty of hydro-Citroen love here._________________

- Hi Ian! it's Graeme here! you'd never know since I have different user names on various forums: j-j here (dunno why), Aerodynamica on BXClub and CX Club, Cit-79 on Citroen Car Club, Passe-Partout on 2CVGB, Aerodynamica on RR. Apologies to all on any of those shared forums...!

[andrew e]

I thought Aerodynamica was the landcrab and ado 16 bodied by pininfarina

[dollywobbler]

S'alright Graeme - I'd clocked that it was you!

[j-j]

I thought Aerodynamica was the landcrab and ado 16 bodied by pininfarina Laughing

- it was! the Pininfarina concept car named 'Berlina Aerodynamica' and was a proposal for the Landcrab replacement. The new Citroen GS in 1971 bore some resemblance to it and it was said that the design was bought by Citroen, however it was not the case as the GS was wholly designed in house but it's quite likely that the design swayed the pen somewhat. Then when the CX appeared in 1974 there was an even purer form of the same style - definite influence from the Pininfarina style as both the previous GS and CX early prototypes bore no resemblance to the Pinin prototype. I love the Pininfarina car because I love the CX ad GS and generally any old, big futurist spaceships!A year or so after the CX Rover launched the SD1 which bore a resemblance to the Aerodynamica style once more and indeed the SD1 was one of my favourite cars of the child years! ( I also had a bit of a thing for the 80s Opal Senator but that's another story!) I sometimes wonder if the SD1 would have looked like that had the GS and CX not previously looked that way.. The XM on the other hand is very Bertone - styled.