talk to me about Xantia's

[maxxo]

so yeah

i'm thinking of getting a friend for the C5

xantia seems to tick all the boxes

i just fancy having 2 hydropneumatic citroen's

anyway, what are they like?

ideally a max price of around £800, don't mind a project just ideally not rotten

[barrett]

£800 should buy you a really nice one. Phase one looks much nicer, but Phase two gives you the option of HDI engines.

Obviously a rattly old XUD turbo is a great daily driver, but if you're less worried about being a fuel miser the petrol ones are incredibly refined and manuals aren't horrendously thirsty. They drive about a million times better than a C5, are more comfortable and they actually fit in parking places. They're also more likely to be rusty or have knackered bits, but I guess that's the same with any car 'of a certain age'.

Dream Xant specs: very early 'sinker' SX XUDT with tweed seats, or a green VSX hatch with the green carpets and snazzy green-highlighted seats. They're all nice, though.

[sierraman]

I’d have thought the spec would be immaterial for £800, the fact you’d found one that was still a going concern would be a bonus. I don’t think I’ve seen one on the road for about 10 years. 

[Dr_Slow]

2 minutes ago, sierraman said:

I’d have thought the spec would be immaterial for £800, the fact you’d found one that was still a going concern would be a bonus. I don’t think I’ve seen one on the road for about 10 years. 

There's an auto for sale in the North East (nothing to do with me, though) for a bag, so maybe within haggling distance of your price @maxxo since it looks a bit rough round the edges?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/265357806498?hash=item3dc88ecba2:g:jbsAAOSwGr1gtg1l

 

[sierraman]

I’d be fairly certain if you turned up with £800 cash it would be yours. 

[Bren]

They can look spotless until up on a ramp - the sills may look like weetabix.

Hinges pull out of the body on estates. Cooling fan motors burn out and take the wiring with them.

The higher the spec the more to go wrong. I loved mine.

[Fumbler]

12 minutes ago, sierraman said:

I’d be fairly certain if you turned up with £800 cash it would be yours. 

This. Turn up with cash in hand and see what happens. Just be sure to check anything metallic, the strut tops and anything hydraulic for leaks first.

[sutty2006]

I had one. 
 

It was shit. 
 

couldn’t wait to get rid and buy an equally miserable 1.7na diesel cavalier. Which was much better. 
 

get one bought. 

[beko1987]

Rust. 

Specifically the rear lower door shuts, especially so on an estate. 

The clutch clip going on mine has put me off ever owning another one* as it was terrifying but it was lovely! Granted mine was a well used and loved example, but their fairly easy to work on, everything's well documented but finding little critical seals and such is becoming difficult. 

When I had mine I punched the number into the autoglass insurance portal when the meriva got a huge rock chip and it said to call them for a quote.. And that was 4 years ago now. 

I'd love an honest td auto hatch I think... But their pretty rare and out of my range nowadays. 

Mine had Peugeot 405 seats in too which were fucking divine and probably helped my overall feel with the thing as I sunk into them nicely 👌

You almost want an unloved one that's had a few big bills... A cambelt change is easy, you want to be the one to flush all the mud out of the hydraulic lines and strip and refurb the height correctors but you don't want to do a clutch or deal with rust... 

[Zelandeth]

Most of the common issues I can think of off the top of my head:

Rear of the sills is the most common serious rot spot that's a sod to fix.  Estates rust worse.

The other big killer is the strut top assembly which attaches the suspension strut itself to the body can come apart, leading to the strut going up through the bonnet.  There's a company in Poland(?) who can rebuild them so long as they're not rotten.

Spares availability is getting increasingly patchy, PSA have a poor history where legacy support is poor, secondhand is the only route for some things these days.

If the carpets are soggy or you can smell coolant in the cabin it will be the O-rings on the heater matrix having failed.  Unfortunately sorting this requires removal of the entire dash, which is the best part of a whole days worth of work.

Cooling fan issues can arise when damp gets into the switchover relays (it runs them in series for low, parallel for high speed) and the wiring loom to them can cause issues too where it passes underneath the radiator.

Rear brakes can cause issues because corrosion forms between the steel axle beam and the ally calipers causing them to sit at an angle.  A very narrow wear patch on the disc is a clear giveaway there.  It's *simple* enough to sort, so long as the retaining bolts don't snap...

Heater fans and the controllers are prone to failure, *especially* if the plastic scuttle at the base of the windscreen has been damage or not properly bonded to the bottom of the screen as it allows rainwater to then drop into the air intake.

Ignition switches on Series 1 cars can fail as too much current is pulled through it - Series 2 cars had a relay fitted to resolve this, and quite a few owners have done this to the earlier cars too.

They can be frustrating cars to work on sometimes as there are quite a few jobs which require removing a dozen things to be taken off first.  Nothing compared to a lot of moderns though!

They're no worse to live with than any other 90s car I reckon, and do drive really well.  They are fantastically competent cars...I never found anything which the two I've owned didn't do with ease. 

[beko1987]

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/2546817215463912/?ref=facebook_story_share

This looks quite nice, but I can't work out if he's just put it on low to pose for the photos or if the ride height really is that 🤢🤮

[beko1987]

Or you could haggle down the red devil 😈

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/358662879034569/?ref=facebook_story_share

 

[wesacosa]

bit higher price than you are looking at, but looks good

 

[Broadsword]

I think people have covered all the major points here as regards what to look out for. I had a white HDi hatchback for a couple years and I got lucky as it was totally reliable. Really fantastic cars to drive. I would go for a HDi 110, they are just as frugal as the other diesels but get a good shift on. They are at this age really borderline on being a viable daily. Think old hydraulic lines on the brink of snapping etc and unobtainium parts.

They are pretty unloved going by the prices they command. I couldn’t get more than £500 odd for mine when it came time to sell.

[artdjones]

I had one for three years and 60000 miles. Only sold because the road tax was over €700 pa. I saw it up for sale 2 years later with another 55000 on, still looking immaculate.

As said above, the main thing to look for is rust around the back end of the sills. Make sure the suspension goes up and down, as the linkage the height correctors mount to can size up.

If you want an HDi, make sure to go for the 110hp. The 90 is fine to drive, but the bigger, vacuum controlled turbo on the 110 has an overboost facility which gives really good mid range torque, and several more mpg. The ideal is an Exclusive estate, but they are worth a lot more than £800 unless you strike lucky. 

[Zelandeth]

Oh, and regarding the XUDs two points I was made aware of.

[] Beware of overheating.  The heads really don't like it and once they've been overheated often will never work properly again.

[] Timing belt changes.  The camshaft is directly above the valves so if the belt snaps it snaps the camshaft carriers straight out of the head.

As a couple of people have said, parts availability is probably the single biggest headache.  Knowing it was only getting worse was one of the reasons I decided to call time on using mine as a daily.

The one irritation I found with the S1 cars is that there's a distinct lack of oddment storage in the cabin.  You have pretty small door pockets and a tiny glove box, that's basically it.  Something they definitely improved on with the S2.

[maxxo]

thanks for all the replies

really good advice and it's very much appreciated!

shall have to keep my eye out for the right car

[Zelandeth]

32 minutes ago, maxxo said:

thanks for all the replies

really good advice and it's very much appreciated!

shall have to keep my eye out for the right car

Keep us up to date!

Find a good one and stay on top of maintenance and they're absolutely cracking cars. 

[maxxo]

9 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

Keep us up to date!

Find a good one and stay on top of maintenance and they're absolutely cracking cars. 

need to see how much i get paid from sainsbury's, if my calculations are correct then i can get a xantia and move house which would be superb

obviously, moving is more important as i have a fully functional hydraulic citroen as it is, but doing both will be superb

yes it will be maintained to my usual standard and won't be used as a main car (again C5 is the main car cos it's so bloody good)

xantia wise, again, ideally an auto cos i'm lazy and i like them

[Daviemck2006]

I loved my xantia td, which Zel used to own a few years ago. It unfortunately ended its life with me, but had covered nearly 260000 miles. I ran it for over a year and over 25k mostly on new veg oil, with only tyres and oil changes needed, along with one welded patch needed on the left rear door shut. Apart from that there was very little rust on it, although it had major lacquer peel. It was needing a clutch, heater matrix, and the fuel pump was leaking, and had developed a suspension leak, which is why I wasmt going to fix it. I sold it to a guy who told me he was going to transplant the drivetrain into a pig 205, so I was expecting some of it to live on. However he promptly sold it on to another guy who put it into a park race, where it died by severe contact then went to the scrappy. I was not really amused when I got sent a video of it dying. Oh well it was in banger territory when I bought it to be honest, and it did provide over a year of cheap, comfortable motoring. I must not be a typical xantia owner, as before the 1.9td I had an activa 2.0 turbo. If I am completely honest I preferred the 1.9td to the activa. It was more comfortable, much cheaper to run, and not that much slower at covering miles in the real world.
Get one bought!

Sent from my SM-T585 using Tapatalk

[robinmasters]

In my experience, a 2.1XUD is pretty comparable to an HDi in terms of driving, but the HDi is better on fuel. 

I've never had a hatch with significancant rear arch rust, but the estates I've had have been crispy. Very crispy. 

The heater/ignition switch thing? Don't worry about it. It's either already gone and been fixed, or already been modified. In the unlikely event you find an S1 with no relay, fit one, it's not hard. 

S1 clutch clips will make you lose the will to live. 

Front carpet dampness can also be caused by windscreen leaks. 

Usual hydrolastic stuff applies; lubricate the height correctors, clean the filters, exercise it regularly.

Get one. They won't stay this cheap forever, and parts availability is on the brink of being slightly problematic. 

[ProgRocker]

3 litre V6 going to auction this weekend

Xantia

[maxxo]

21 minutes ago, ProgRocker said:

3 litre V6 going to auction this weekend

Xantia

C4 wheels would have to go

i like those wheels, but not period correct

[Arthur Foxhake]

Here's my son, ripping the engine out of one here.

 

[artdjones]

On 10/30/2021 at 10:06 PM, maxxo said:

won't be used as a main car (again C5 is the main car cos it's so bloody good)

I've had two Xantias and one C5. The Xantias were much better to drive - I only moved to a C5 because the tax for older 2 litre cars in Ireland is  gigantic. If given the choice of which to drive I'd always take the Xantia. I wouldn't be surprised if you felt the same.

[maxxo]

57 minutes ago, artdjones said:

I've had two Xantias and one C5. The Xantias were much better to drive - I only moved to a C5 because the tax for older 2 litre cars in Ireland is  gigantic. If given the choice of which to drive I'd always take the Xantia. I wouldn't be surprised if you felt the same.

i like them for different reasons, C5 is quite simply the car i've always wanted, it's automotive perfection in my eyes and satisfies me 100%

Xantia, well, my dad had one when i was a kid, and whilst i must admit i don't really like the dash on the facelift models i feel one could be a fun thing to own as a second car, something to do local journeys and stuff in

i'd really want a CX or a C6 but, they're both too much for what i'm really wanting to pay, i mean if i was paying a few grand for a car i'd get a newish prius and have ultimate reliability

an early series 1 xantia auto would be a very nice thing to compliment the C5, a lovely pair to preserve

[artdjones]

Somehow, although the C5 is a good car, they lost a bit of interest by fitting conventional brakes and steering. And they wallow around the bends.

[maxxo]

9 minutes ago, artdjones said:

Somehow, although the C5 is a good car, they lost a bit of interest by fitting conventional brakes and steering. And they wallow around the bends.

but the wallowyness is what gives them that C5 feel, yeah it's a shame they fitted conventional brakes and steering, but regardless it's still a hydropneumatic citroen so like all of them, it's superb

shame they stopped using it. the LDS system was absolutely superb especially in the mk1 facelift and X7, really perfected it and sadly went to springs afterwards

a Xantia, is also absolutely excellent, i need a drive of one to see if it behaves how i'd expect it to before making any final decisions, but all being well i'm happy to go for one

[barrett]

Ultimate usable Xantia - TD estate, for a very reasonable sum https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C1403780

[Fumbler]

Dover's relatively close to me should you want viewage.

 

But obviously the right thing to do is to buy it sight unseen.