1997 Citroen Xantia LX Estate from UK and Ireland - Comments

Clutch Cable retaining Clip broke at 86K, cost £95 at a Citroen specialist, then £65 at another Garage to have done properly.

Cam Belt Tensioner broke at 88K, lucky not to cause valve-train damage. Cost £180 including new Belt.

Rear wiper failed at 93k. Not prepared to pay the quoted £130 to repair it.

Michelin Energy Tyres on rear "Bulged" within a few weeks of each other, still had 3mm of Tread. I was told it was old age! could they be the originals at 90K?

Drivers Seat height adjuster broke, fixed by myself in an hour, as were two of the Courtesy light switches.

The Alarm has never worked properly and the Tailgate central locking is intermitent.

Glow-plugs all replaced at 95K for £110, I believe that is long as they are expected to last.

Engine is now a bit smokey, doesn't use any oil so it might be the injectors (£150?) but I'll try injector cleaner first.

We needed a spacious cheap to run car with air-conditioning, and it has delivered, we paid £4K for a 3year old car. My wife hates driving it and I dislike the constant niggling problems.

However at 8p/mile to fuel and an overall running cost including depreciation of 18p/mile it fulfils our needs.

Michelin Energy tires are very resistant. On a Xantia my rear tires lasted 95000 miles and still looked perfect. I changed them only because I decided that they are getting too old, enough is enough. My front tires lasted 60000 miles, but they had to be changed at that mileage.

Reviewers additional comments. At 103K I've now had to replace the rear suspension spheres as the ride suddenly deteriorated (£85). The fronts had been replaced when we bought the car. I had the garage look at smoke problem, they thought it was normal for the mileage, but put some injector cleaner in it anyway (a commercial product called Forte). It seems to have helped the smoke a

bit, but contrary to other reviewers comments it has not improved fuel consumption which remains steady at 42 mpg.