1998 Citroen Xsara VTR 2.0 from UK and Ireland

Summary:

Best motor I've had out of 5 since 1988

Faults:

Started to stutter and hesitate during acceleration. (This problem is only recent and has got a bit better since it's 10000 mile service).

General Comments:

Corners at speed brilliantly and still surprises me in a good way!

Excellent CD System.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 22nd July, 2004

1998 Citroen Xsara 1.8L 1.8L - 16v from Estonia

Summary:

You'll feel like the organic part of the car

Faults:

Nothing much.

On our salty roads, the bottom part of the engine (where the oil is) corroded. It was fixed and a protection was welded over it after that.

Something in the steering mechanism got "tired" and was swapped (cost ~$40).

The previous owner swapped the exhaust (one part of it, anyway).

The car has been kept fairly well - needed services have been made when designated in the manual.

General Comments:

Don't like the way the front suspension handles when accelerating. The suspension is fairly soft, so when accelerating harder, the front end tends to rise a bit higher and when shifting gears, it "falls back down". On the flip side of the coin - the ride is comfy (both on highways, in town and in the countryside)... very comfy, indeed.

Brakes are very good (the ABS works well too - not too intrusive, but kicks in when needed on slippery conditions).

Handling is very goods (except the hard accelerating part and going into tight curves with speed - it again tends to roll to the outside due to the soft suspension).

Seats are comfortable (good space in front and back seats are OK for anything except the longer of drives), the heating system is adequate (even in this climate), the seat heating has three heating levels, electric mirror heating is good.

Trunk space is OK and you can put the back seats down, but that won't give you very much extra space (not as much, as you'd expect). Still, it's enough and easily comparable to other cars of its class (probably even beats many of them).

Some people have said that rear mirror visibility is bad due to the car being a hatchback, but I found that the visibility was good.

The driving experience is very good - you feel like the organic part of the car. The 1.8L version has enough oomph to make the drive rather fun and that power (85KW for that relatively light car - 1100kg) is useful in town, where you sometimes have to make maneuvers.

A couple of days ago, my precious was "ran over" by a large Volvo FH truck near a zebra crossing (conditions were slippery in some parts, but the other driver didn't pay very much attention to the road at that particular moment neither). Insurance thinks that it will be too expensive to repair, so they'll probably pay me the market value for it.

The accident happened at low speeds (30kmph), but the other car was very heavy, so it pushed my car some twelve meters from where I was standing. Everybody in the car walked away without injury, but there is good damage to the rear end of the car (it swallowed much of the impact energy, so that's part of the reason we didn't get hurt).

I miss the car... was jolly good fun to drive.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 27th February, 2004

1998 Citroen Xsara Coupe 1.4i from Cyprus

Summary:

A nice Citroen example

Faults:

The driver seat has started to wear badly. Although the trim is OK, you can hear a lot of cracks and noises from it.

The power steering pump broke down, but this was created by small stones, that got into it when the car was driven with high speed in a flood street.

When the car was new, the Airbag light was coming on very often, and after a few visits to the Citroen dealer, I was informed that at that time there was an update of the the electrical connection plugs below the driver's seat. After this update being performed, the problem disappeared.

General Comments:

A very safe, comfortable car as all Citroen, the 1.4 engine lack a lot of power, especially when you use the climate control.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know

Review Date: 25th September, 2003