I've seen a nice one with high spec, low insurance and 89k with full Citroen service history. Its £1100 and on a 51Y plate. Its sold at a garage with warranty. Is this a good potential buy? What do I need to look out for? i dfo about 2-3k a year so the engine really only needs to last another 20k or something.
The car is ideal for me as its cheap to insure yet large enough for my computer work.
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Very strong money, maybe £850 but not a penny more. Its an old Citroen!
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But then I have seen other things such as Toyota Corollas this age for £2k, it seems even more silly money.
I don't want another Fiesta due to my experience with my current one, I am a big fan of 306's so the Xsara seemed ideal as its basicaly the same car. Does an old Citroen have to be unreliable by default?
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>>But then I have seen other things such as Toyota Corollas this age for £2k, it seems even more silly money. <<
Perhaps but whether thats what they get is an altogether different thing. A Xsara, good or bad, does not have the residuals of a Corolla. It is infact quite bad for residuals, which does make them attractive used buys.
At the end of the day its more than 8 years old, its not a diesel, nor is it anything special, so its just wheels.
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I bought a 2 year old one and kept it for 2 years, and i loved it ! It was reliable, economical, had a lovely smooth "revvy" engine, nice gearbox, was comfortable and handled very well.
Just make sure the air con works (if fitted), as it's not unknown for it to fail !
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Whilst I am very anti-Citroen at the moment due to rubbish experiences with two of their main dealers, one of whom managed to cause a reliable car to go wrong, and another who need at least three goes to fix any fault, I think the Xsara 1.4 is a good car.
It's been a while since I've driven a Xsara, but from memory, the ride quality is as good as you'll get in a car of this size. Performance is OK, with reasonable fuel economy. Handling is safe enough, but the steering is not as "fun" as a Focus, or even a Fiat Brava. I found the seats soft and comfortable, but other people find them unsupportive.
Reliability surveys generally rate the Xsara quite highly - it doesn't have the multiplex wiring or complex hydraulics that can ruin other Citroens. The coolant needs to be replaced every couple of years with the correct (Total?) coolant, and the cooling system needs to be bled properly afterwards, otherwise you could end up with a failed heater matrix or head gasket.
The car also has an excellent driver survival rate, should you crash it.
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Yep I am aware they are quite safe cars one of the reasons I liked the look of it. It has has full dealer history so I assume the coolant has been done etc. It sounds like its well worth a visit providing the history is up to date and the dreaded cambelt has been changed.
I am not into all this avoid FIATs, avoid Citroens etc, as pointed out a few times one of my friends as a Renault Clio and its been the most reliable car I have ever known.
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Tell ya what, buy what you fancy, then report back and let us know how many faults you find and decide to fix :-)
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Well if its reliable I will keep it for a few years anyway so I am not bothered about how well it will keep its value, its £1100 now, I am sure I can get £100 off, so if its worth £500 in two years time its not too bad.
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The cambelt should have been changed at 75,000 miles or when it was 5 years old, whichever came first ! If there is any doubt as to if its been done, then i would get it replaced anyway, its an easy, therefore cheap job on this model
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Yeah thanks well if it needs doing it has to be done in the price or I won't buy it :) it does have a 3 month warranty which I realise may have exclusions but its handy to sort out niggles such as a door lock you may find a fault with or something.
I won't buy it unless the service history is proper and the coolant has been replaced :). I have not even seen the car yet, all I was doing here was asking if the car is even worth a visit and on the experience of people who have owned the said car it probably is. I have a few friends with 'unreliable' PSAs and they have all been fine.
Its not like I am looking at some HDI model with 150k and no service history.
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We have had a Xsara 2.0 5 door for a few years now and been very pleased. Ride quality is good- interior trim not great but OK.
When we were looking for one we tried several with the 1.4 and they were nippy enough, the problem we found though was that the clutch was very heavy- experienced the same with a Peugeot 307 1.4. The clutches apparantly had a different clutch plate (?) to those with the 1.6/1.8/2.0 engines of that era and the clutches were much better on those.
Something to bear in mind- you may find it OK. My wife couldn't get on with the clutch and I found it very difficult. We would have preferd going for the 1.6, but they were difficult to come by. The 2.0 is very quick, and good fun- handling I think is good too, although not as good as the ZX that came before. Ours has been great, but there are better cars out there for the money.
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Yeah its just finding them at a good garage (I want a bit of warranty this time, no longer have the confidence to buy privately) the clutch might well be a problem but a test drive would let me know that but thanks for pointing it out :).
I can only afford the 1.4 due to insurance reasons.
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Yes, the clutch was quite stiff/heavy on mine and i was told that it was normal, once i got used to it though, i didn't think anymore about it, and in the 40,000 miles i covered in it, it never gave any trouble or got any worse. Strangely, the 1.4 ZX i owned, (exactly the same engine/gearbox) didn't suffer from the same affliction.
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At least they tend to rust very little.
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Yeah and that sort of stamina is quite important! Learnt my lesson there.
Like most cars I seem to get to these garages to find it sold so will phone before I view. I was reading on a competitive site that the steering is a little vague and the cornering has a bit of body roll but all that makes them cheap its the cheapest spacious 5 door car with a 3 star NCAP (and the 2001 model is improved a lot since the 3 star test but never retested). Its 5 years newer than my current car.
Somebody is coming to view my existing car tomorrow sold with 4 months MOT but I have explained about the MOT failure and the rust.
I just hope its not sold but I have thought about Xsara's before this was just the first one I have seen with a warranty and FDSH.
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Several people swear by them (rather than at them) do a forum search.
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I have owned 2 Xsaras
1 T Reg 1.8 S, only owned 6 mths.
In that time had a new exhaust and aircon pipes fixed along with new condenser (these were not cheap but done by a local aircon specialist so not that bad either can't remember how much. The exhaust had to come from main dealer but a local exhaust fitter actualy fitted it (not a problem now thow on patent market as car was 3 years old at time.
I then crashed the car one evening. (wont go into why) Anyway it rolled over once landed on its wheels and was then hit from the front as had spun round the opposite way. The drivers cage was fully intact and i climbed out the back after being checking by paramedic. An amazing escape and much thanks to the car NCAP rating. I only had 1 bruise !
My 2nd Xsara a 1.8 sx exclusive V reg was a great car. Owned from 45k to 105k. In that time had servicing, air con re gas and pipe work. New exhaust. Front suspension drop links (common problem on xsara but only cost £15 each if you do yourself) Also front bushes and suspension arms at the end.
I got rid mainly due to family reasons and seat was lacking support due to old age. With airbags etc too hard to get new seat and too expensive.
Car was mechnically sound and did not use any oil at all.
Perfomance and handling was great !
I now own a C5 2.0 petrol and it has been reliable so far.
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Thanks Teddybear
A general question if my aircon developed a fault could I just leave it? For past 26 years I have been using something called a window winder so if the aircon was to fail I would not miss it, or would this cause other problems with the engine?
Actually I think the one I am looking at might not have aircon and I am kind of hoping it dosn't for reasons of simplicity.
It sounds like in general the people that have owned them have enjoyed them, and perhaps they are an underated car which means a cheap buy. A lot of the underated cars tend to be very bad in terms of safety so the Xsara is a breath of fresh air.
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Aircon if it breaks it is just warm. Won't do any harm. Normally just runs out of gas. If compressor or condensers fail just don't use the aircon and all will be fine i think. I kept the aircon running as car went to france mid summer over 4 times. Had no issues with car on long journeys to south of France and never let us down.
Car is very underated and is generally cheap to maintain. The lamba sensor went at the end as well about £80. Common problem on all cars.
Parts were okay and most garages able to work on them as not real citroens like my C5 !
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Hi Rats,
I still service a 1.4 for an old customer of mine. Nice car, I think his is a 53 reg in dark red. Easy to service, parts same cost as most similar cars. He usually leaves it with me once a year for MOT and service, it hasn't had a comment from Ian yet. I don't like the driving position but then I'm a sit up and beg man so that's just personal. Some scrote pinched his spare wheel last year so that's worth checking and locking in it's frame.
Ted
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Thansk Ted, I took my Fiesta to Karl the other day and he seemed honest but said the rust was too bad to be worth repairing but quoted £130 for the welding, £80 for the brake pipes and £80 for a mid and rear exhuast - just was not worth it.
I just have a horrible feeling the car has been sold now, it keeps happening to me! The driving position and clutch could be a problem I will have to test drive it :)>
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Why not give the BR a postcode for the area you are looking and ask them to come up with Autotrader suggestions? Maybe Ebay aswell. Just a thought.
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I think the car was probably ok but it was not for me, mainly due to what other people have said here.
1) I found the clutch far too heavy I just prefer the Fiesta in every way to drive
2) The gear change was notchy which is just typical of french cars
3) There was several scratches and dents
4) The cambelt was last changed in 2005, which means its due again next year
5) One of the tyres had cracks in the side wall
6) There was a slight blow on the rear box
7) Probably just condensation but there was a lot of water pouring out the back of exhaust.
8) Visiability was very poor at the back. Maybe getting a better driving position would solve that
I am sure there are much better cars out there for the money, I expect that things like a back box or tyres may need changing but even if it did not have the above problems that clutch would just annoy me.
Its a shame as size wise it was ideal. Got a man coming from Birimingham to view my fiesta he seems quite excited by it.
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My 1.4 XS estate survived a broken water pump (replaced) and a dodgy head gasket (a litre of water per few hundred miles) with grace and decent mpg. Sold it a year later due to emigration, but I'm sure it would've carried on with tlc. not sure about the XU but XS was nicely equipped, comfortable cloth seats, sunroof. lovely car....
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