1998 Citroen Xantia LX from UK and Ireland - Comments

Absolutely nothing has gone wrong with the car, except natural wear and tear. Only the other week I had to change both windscreen wipers because they had worn down, but then and again, that's something that can't be avoided.

Definitely the most reliable car I've ever had. The only thing I dislike about it is the spare wheel tray under the car, as 3 months ago it was stolen and serious damage was left. This is a Xantia Mk2, and not many people know how much different they are to the original Xantia's. The dimensions are slightly bigger, and the cabin is like a completely different car. The styling is unique, and very modern looking. The interior uses quality plastics, which have a soft feel to them, instead of hard grey plastics used in many other cars. Performance is great, and the benefits of the turbo unit really show when overtaking or going up hills; it just flies up them in 5th gear. It's ideal for long journeys. I'm not going to say too much about the suspension, because I don't really need to: it's perfect (later Xantia's, like mine, use Hydractive 2 suspension). Great if you're buying second hand, because when I bought mine, it was almost 50% of the original price when it was just a year old. This was because it was an ex-rep car. Original price: £19000, second hand: £10000.

1st : the tray for the spare wheel is ideal when you have a full boot and need to get to the spare

2nd : from 1993 the xantias have hydractive 2 on higher spec models, base models have a non electronic adjusted suspension

3rd : there is no difference in size between series I & II.

As far as I am aware, Hydractive II suspension is only used on VSX and Exclusive models. You can tell if you have Hydractive suspension there is a switch by the handbrake.

I have had 3 BX's and 2 Turbo Diesel Xantia's. All were very reliable covering 100,000 miles in the 3 years I keep my cars for. However I had to replace the engine on the last Xantia due to a simple error of mine --- I put too much oil in the engine. The problem is not widely known by the general public but is known within the Citroen trade.

If too much oil is in the engine and then you use engine braking (changing down approaching an island in my case) causing the engine to rev rapidly, the turbo sucks oil droplets from the crankcase via the crankcase breather and uses it as fuel. Switching off the ignition or pulling the stop lever on the injection pump has no effect. The engine just runs away and over-revs, the only way of stopping it is to engage a gear and stall it. Fortunately I managed to get round the island but it scared me! Then 2 months latter, after replacing the burnt out pre-heaters, a con rod snapped and came out of the side of the engine.

I now have a Picasso, a very nice car, and have noticed that the hand book makes quite a point about not over filling the engine with oil.

Vic.

The later Xantias do indeed have a wider wheelbase, a scant read of the literature would tell you that?

You either love them or you hate them, but please get the facts right. They're the eight wonder of the world after all.