1997 Citroen Xantia Temptation TD from UK and Ireland - Comments

The rear brake pads wore to the metal at around 40,000 miles.

The clutch clip snapped at 63,000 miles. The clip that connects the clutch cable to the pedal is, quite possibly, the most inaccessible part that I have ever seen on a car. Eventually the instrument pod had to be removed to allow access to the top of the pedal. I consider myself to be a competent DIY mechanic, but I would put the car into a dealership in future if this ever happened again.

Other than regular servicing every three months to take into account the high mileage I do, the car has been very reliable, and still looks and drives as fresh as when I first bought it.

If you are in the market for a no-nonsense, frugal, comfortable, individual, second hand car, then I would not hesitate to recommend a TD Xantia.

My car is a Temptation limited edition, which means that it comes with remote central locking and alarm, electric front windows, electric glass sunroof, remote control stereo (which mutes itself for no reason sometimes), power steering, and air conditioning, which I feel is a lot of kit for the money I have spent.

I have seen over 600 miles from a single tank of diesel before the warning light comes on, on more than one occasion, and the car is very quiet once the engine is warm.

I have a 16 valve Xantia and that plastic clip snapped on mine also. Like you, I'm a competent DIY mechanic also, but when I got the quote from a from the only Citroen repairer in my area of $2000AUD Just to remove the dash, I did it myself. This happened at 102,000 k's (about the same distance as yours) Now, eight months later there is a hot water leak in the inside of the firewall. I still love the car though, and I Smile every time I drive it.

Cheers from Oz.

David Harrison.

Sooner or later, somebody will make one of these clips from steel, and save us all a headache!

Gordon Inch

Scotland

That dreaded nylon clip has just cost me very dearly. Following failure of it I attempted to drive home with no clutch. I did not realise that there are inhibitors to prevent the gearbox being driven in a crash fashion. I have now burnt out the synchromesh cones and consequently have no synchro on third gear. This sounds expensive to me. The broken clip cost just under £7 but the labour charge to replace was around £100 - and that's before I was aware of the gearbox damage.

1998 Citroen Xantia GLX 2.0 16V BR - It is a reliable car, very comfortable, great space, quite perfect. 120.000 km runed and no problem. Despite an accident 1 year ago when a truck mounted tire appeared in front of me, I could not do anything to avoid the impact, but it did not happen, only my Xantia passed under the tired and wheel without problems. The license plate was lost both mile lights was broken and only.

An issue is the quality of service and its price in Brazil. From 50 to 120 thousand km I did not pay one cent to Dealer, I replaced basic items like filters, oil, etc, and I have no problem.

I have used Citroen since 1994 and I cannot change to another brand. I recommend Citroen to all. Despite some comments about some noise of the C5 suspension I will try it as soon as possible.

Ronaldo Brasil.

Xantia 2.0i at @ 65k miles - put my foot on the clutch one morning to drive away form my house and 'Snap...'

One of those quiet noises that makes you think of expensive error - in my case @£100.

The cheat, I'm told, is to reverse the bolt when the clip is changed, but Citroen don't advise it as the bolt may now possibly interfere with the brake lever assembly.

Here's to the metal clip!

NigeH, GB.

I have had 5 citroen's 1 BX Diesel and 4 Xantia diesels, The plastic clip broke on both my wifes and mine in the same week, My wifes P reg SX 88.000mls turbo diesel had never been changed and I had to cut the bolt off and replaced it with a new bolt and it took about 2 hours. My L reg VSX 196.000mls turbo diesel had been done before and had the bolt in the easy way and only took and hour. I took the drivers seat out to make it easier to get under the dash.

On all my citroen's I have had to change the spheres I now find this an easy job. The trick is to get the car as high as possible at the back and to use a monkey wrench on the suspension and a big pair of grips on the sphere.

Cam belts EASY. Head Gaskets EASY. Don't be afraid to have a go they are not hard cars to work on.

I have just purchased a P reg SX TDI with 66.000mls Black in colour with boot spoiler and C5 alloys and I am going to fit the black Leather interior from my VSX and spheres all round cos you know its going to need them soon.

Mark Percival

Ayrshire

Scotland.

A.