I own a 2001 Xantia 110 HDI that has had poor handling characteristics since the day I bought it new.
It feels as if all 4 tyres have slow punctures in them.
The car has been back to the dealer 3 times and they've replaced the rear and front bushes and front track rod ends.
The handling is worse than ever now and it is scary to drive the car as it is impossible to predict how the car is going to react.
I bought the car on hp through my bank and still have 10 months payments to make and the warranty expires in march 2004
What should i do?
I am at my wits end, how do i force the dealer to fix this or give me my money back, and where do i stand re the hp
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its a tricky one.. the Citizens Advice Bureau should be your first port of call really.
The Supply of Goods and Services Act (last revised 1996 I think)states that goods must be of a satisfactory quality - that is
" they must be of a standard that a reasonable person
would consider satisfactory with regard to fitness
for purpose, appearance and finish, freedom from
defects, safety and durability "
If you buy a car that feels more like a racehorse on rollerskates and the garage seems unable to correct the faults then you could probably argue that point quite successfully.
As for the HP agreement, that might be difficult - you've already paid interest on your payments so far, and so you could argue that if the car was taken back and the outstanding balance returned, you'd still be out of pocket. To be honest, this isn't likely to happen though. I do know of a few cases, however, where the dealer has offered to replace the problem car with an equivalent one to try to sidestep any recurring faults. Maybe this is worth asking about?
Try this site for a bit more information about the relevant legislation in easily digestible form (the full version is a pig...)
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Your first point of call is to prove there is something wrong with the car. Handling is a very individual criteria and not as easily definable as something broken or stopped. Get yourself an independant auto engineers report drawn up. No Report on whats wrong, you will get nowt of of no-one - full stop.
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You need to get an unbiased experienced Xantia driver/specialist to look at this car. The Xantia usually has better handling than many mid-range hatches because it has less understeer than most.
A Xantia with iffy spheres, worn suspension bushes and tyres set 5psi low should still feel safe.
I wonder what you are comparing it to? Has this been the same since you bought it?? Does it suffer understeer, oversteer, poor steering feel??? What tyre model and size is it fitted with???? Can you explain a "slow puncture" feel?????
If this was bought to me I would look at tyre pressures, tyre type and tracking first.
Just a thought it couldn't have suffered an accident and be badly out of true?
M.M
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It has been the same since I bought it but it is much more pronounced now.
It only once felt as it should, (I had a Xantia previously and know how they should handle ie really well) and that was when the rear bushes were replaced as they were reportedly both split, surely unusual on a car that was not yet 2 years old
There is a very poor steering feel, It feels as if there is a flat tyre when being driven, ie poor control and handling
Its fitted with the correct size tyres but they are M&S wintergrips currently. I know Xantias are tyre specific, but can there really be so much difference? I'm going to get a new set of the recommended Michelins on it next week to try and rule tyres out of the equation
It really does feel as if its badly out of true but its never been in an accident as I bought it from new.
Thanks for your comments, they are very useful
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This may be at a tangent, but are you sure the ride height adjuster is set correctly? On a Xantia, the lever can be set in 4 positions but only the middle two should be used on the move. I found out the hard way during a test drive that the very high and very low settings give unpredictable handling on the move. As you've had a Xantia before, this is probably not the cause, but worth checking anyway.
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The car is still under warranty until March 2004.
Take it to another Citroen dealer.
Ring Citroen technical at Slough.
Make it very clear you are going to be a PITA until its fixed under warranty.
On the other hand, if its on M&S tyres, that's not going to help!
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Yep you're going to need a proper set of normal tyres before you can judge this.
Tyres make an enormous difference.
Look at my post
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=13078&...e
If you were an out and out "dry road on the edge guy" you would have said these Goodyears had ruined the steering feel and initial turn-in grip.
M.M
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The car is still under warranty until March 2004. Take it to another Citroen dealer. Ring Citroen technical at Slough. Make it very clear you are going to be a PITA until its fixed under warranty. On the other hand, if its on M&S tyres, that's not going to help!
Was posting to ask was PITA meant. I just worked it out!
;o)
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M & S Wintergrips. My word I thought they only sold ladies knickers!!!!!!!
Seriously I would put money on that being your problem. The tread pattern is designed to be tall to clear the debris and the compound to work best in low temps. You could find as summer progresses that the higher temps are really messing up the tyres grip.
Fullchat
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