2003 Citroen Xsara Coupe VTR HDi from UK and Ireland - Comments

Absolutely nothing.

By far and away the best car I have owned. Brisk, economical, sporty, reliable and very comfortable.

As with all cars little niggles appear, but are easily fixed. Eg airbag light came on because a connector came loose under the driver's seat.

Why everyone says the Xsara is unreliable is beyond me, it's no worse or better than any other mainstream manufacturer. I've owned 14 different marques, and the most unreliable was a BMW 3 Series, the best a Diahatsu Avanzato TRXX. Several Volkswagens, which had faults in welding for the mounts to the exhaust to seats self destructing.

I'd recommend a Xsara to anyone, especially if you place it next to the 306, which has the same build, but a far higher price.

I have also had no problems at all with my Xsara Coupe HDi. I find it a great alternative to the fords, vauxhalls etc being more comfortable, cheaper and better spec.

I wouldn't want to buy new however as the money you lose is huge.

I wrote the first review - here's an update

What a difference a couple of years makes. Things that went wrong with my Xsara - Flywheel self destructing, heater fan disabling, shock absorbers failing, drivers seat squeaking, locks failing to engage, STOP warning coming on intermittently.

What I will say though is that apart from when the flywheel fell off, my Xsara has always started on the button, the fuel economy is excellent and the paintwork is still good. Performance is also great. I have put 40k on her now of mixed town and motorway driving.

When buying a Citroen it's a compromise - we would all be driving VW's, BMW's and AUDI's if we had the money - an equivalent car from either of those marques would have cost me at least £2000 more. Have I spent £2000 on repairs? Nope.

Then again you would expect to get a better return at resale with a more expensive make. So it's probably very close at the end of the day.

And of course Mercedes, BMW, Audi and the 'more expensive makes' as you put it never go wrong, never need servicing and keep on running for perpetuity.

Get real folks, the truth is more expensive cars will more often be more expensive to run and cost a fortune for basic oil and filter services, let alone the repair costs. In the long run the Citroen invariably is much cheaper.

Just search this site to see how much the luxury brands cost to run. Citroen offer excellent value for money and as long as basic maintenance is done (like all cars) should prove dependable. A lot of people keep their old Citroen because they refuse to pay £100 per hour at a shiny dealership for an oik to put a plug a computer into a car and respond with ‘computer says no’ syndrome.