New shite: 1998 Citroën Xsara 1.4 X

[stilo_active]

Well, my old faithful Punto 60 SX went for its MoT and came back with a whole host of stuff including some terminal crowvision so it was sold off to a mate. It's now keeping some other Puntos on the road, including an L plate Exploit Yellow 55 SX, and the engine and gearbox are making their way into a Cinquecento Sporting. 

So, as I needed another car, a mate in Cambridgeshire bombarded my inbox with pictures (not LIKE THAT) of car choices. The one that caught my eye was a poverty spec Citroën Xsara, complete with 1360cc TU engine and no equipment. Manual driver's mirror, electric passenger mirror, exercise windows, massive clock, tape deck and two speakers and not a lot else. It does have central locking, and 80% of it works 60% of the time.

What it lacks in equipment it makes up for in character, which is odd considering how bland these things were when they were launched. There's a whole folder worth of days out paraphernalia that was included with the car that emphasised the age of the previous owners (same family until it was thrown into We Buy Any Car last year and subsequently bought by my mate), tyre pressures written down on post it notes, hand written fuel economy logs and a excellent piece of protective household carpet in the back cut beautifully to shape for the rear foot wells. 

It had done 48k when I bought it in October, and it's now on 51k. It had a good shake down on its first road test from Cambridgeshire back home to Cornwall the day after I bought it and a few weeks later we took it to Liverpool and back over a weekend. Over Christmas, the Skoda Labia shat its alternator, and as my wife uses that as a daily and her work commute is a 43 mile round trip, I had to then drop her off and pick her up. The Xsara comfortably managed 86 miles a day for the best part of two weeks. It's a lovely wee thing.

[lesapandre]

That era is peak durability for Citroen cars. Congratulations.

[Stinkwheel]

Well bought sir, and thank goodness it’s a mk1 and not the uglier mk2 

[sdkrc]

Beautiful car + valuable 'ass to mouth' number plate. 

[grogee]

19 minutes ago, Stinkwheel said:

Well bought sir, and thank goodness it’s a mk1 and not the uglier mk2 

I agree, Mk1 looks nicer than the gawky Mk2. 

It looks basically brand new in the pictures, well bought. TU engine is great in this and the 306, plenty of torque and it's willing. 

Extra points for finding a bottom-rung bASe spec, nice colour too. 

[beko1987]

Fantastic! 

I loved that engine in the zx's I had, and I've loved my Xsara for the past 5 years, that's a great combo! Seems like you've got the same wheel they used on the xantia too, which is prettier than the Xsara airbag wheel they got in the phase 2! Best of all worlds, and your window switches aren't on the centre console 🤣

Yours is the far prettier phase 1 too! You on the Xsara Facebook group? Sure I've seen a green hatch on fb recently 🤔

[sierraman]

4 hours ago, stilo_active said:

Well, my old faithful Punto 60 SX went for its MoT and came back with a whole host of stuff including some terminal crowvision so it was sold off to a mate. It's now keeping some other Puntos on the road, including an L plate Exploit Yellow 55 SX, and the engine and gearbox are making their way into a Cinquecento Sporting. 

So, as I needed another car, a mate in Cambridgeshire bombarded my inbox with pictures (not LIKE THAT) of car choices. The one that caught my eye was a poverty spec Citroën Xsara, complete with 1360cc TU engine and no equipment. Manual driver's mirror, electric passenger mirror, exercise windows, massive clock, tape deck and two speakers and not a lot else. It does have central locking, and 80% of it works 60% of the time.

What it lacks in equipment it makes up for in character, which is odd considering how bland these things were when they were launched. There's a whole folder worth of days out paraphernalia that was included with the car that emphasised the age of the previous owners (same family until it was thrown into We Buy Any Car last year and subsequently bought by my mate), tyre pressures written down on post it notes, hand written fuel economy logs and a excellent piece of protective household carpet in the back cut beautifully to shape for the rear foot wells. 

It had done 48k when I bought it in October, and it's now on 51k. It had a good shake down on its first road test from Cambridgeshire back home to Cornwall the day after I bought it and a few weeks later we took it to Liverpool and back over a weekend. Over Christmas, the Skoda Labia shat its alternator, and as my wife uses that as a daily and her work commute is a 43 mile round trip, I had to then drop her off and pick her up. The Xsara comfortably managed 86 miles a day for the best part of two weeks. It's a lovely wee thing.

Noice! Haven’t seen a basic one like that for years. 

[Marshall2810]

RIP Punto

Long live the massive clock'd Xsara!

[stilo_active]

6 hours ago, sdkrc said:

Beautiful car + valuable 'ass to mouth' number plate. 

You're not the first to point that out 🤣

[stilo_active]

6 hours ago, Stinkwheel said:

Well bought sir, and thank goodness it’s a mk1 and not the uglier mk2 

Thank you! And yes, the Mk2 really is a bit of a minger isn't it?

[stilo_active]

6 hours ago, grogee said:

I agree, Mk1 looks nicer than the gawky Mk2. 

It looks basically brand new in the pictures, well bought. TU engine is great in this and the 306, plenty of torque and it's willing. 

Extra points for finding a bottom-rung bASe spec, nice colour too. 

Thanks! It does have some light old giffer scrapes on each corner, though.

[stuboy]

6 hours ago, sdkrc said:

Beautiful car + valuable 'ass to mouth' number plate. 

god i 1st thought was 'at the moment'........................ 

[meshking]

Oh that’s lovely - is it triton green? Excellent purchase!

[Squarepegroundhole]

S*** ATM Citroens were everywhere a few years back.

I owned this many years ago. Someone near me had a 1.8 Xantia on an ATM plate and I’ve seen so many others over the years

 

[High Jetter]

12 hours ago, stuboy said:

god i 1st thought was 'at the moment'........................ 

Cashpoint, for me. Just shows how filthy some minds are... 🤣