1999 Citroen Xsara VTS review from UK and Ireland

On two occasions I left the ignition in the '1' position after stopping for a minute or so and turning the engine off. On restarting the car the engine backfired and literally blew apart the inlet manifold. The engine would just run with the revs rising and falling and it limped a mile or so home. The dealer repaired the car both times, but never gave a reason for the fault. I guess the fuel pump was still delivering fuel and this collected in the induction side of the engine?

After 70,000 miles the drivers seat started to squeak and become difficult to tilt forward for rear seat access. At around 140,000 miles the seat became so bad that the metal frame broke and the mounting welded to the floor broke off. The main dealer would not repair the seat as they said it was not fair wear and tear! The car was my company lease vehicle and went back after 3 years with a loose drivers seat. I wonder if it passed it's first MOT like that?

Apart from the faults above the car was a fantastic drive.

Its cornering ability was superb probably due in part to the passive rear wheel steering.

The non-turbo engine delivered power throughout the rev range and without the lag associated with turbo engines.

The interior was very well designed and with optional leather was very attractive.

The automatic wipers were very useful, switching on when rain was detected.

I liked the fact that the car looked fairly bland and nondescript, some drivers had a shock when they ignored the subtle VTS badge.