C6 Theory, C6 Relaunch as an XM?

i was playing hard to get, told him i was gonig away for a month.

but he insisted on the test drive when i got home

Ahwell.... I'll report back afterwards.

David.

So he WAS actually trying to sell it to you?

George

yea, he was trying quite hard, said he had his regional manager coming over the next week.

Obviously wanted something to show on paper.

David.

I remember people saying XMs were too expensive and not a real Citroen when tey came out. My old 90 V6 - now gone the way of most cost a fair bit more than an average house. I suspect the main sales will be as company execs and I'm looking forward to buying one for a grand in ten years time.

Rather interesting to read all this.

I'm from Holland and I must say it's a bit different here.
And yes the sales here is also low for the C6, for now.

And it will most likely be lower than the XM (be it an estate or not).
I must say the dutch do like estates of every brand (EU or east Asia).
So also the XM estate.

The dutch do like the Citroen's, and the top models even more than
the french.
It's even today very common to see 1 or 2 DS's on the highway in a day.
For the XM is a bit more but declining by the year.
CX's you can see here now once a week on the road.

I visited France this summer, and I think I saw during that 3 weeks 3 to 4
XM's at the most. I saw 1 Traction Avant.
And I saw 2 CX's driving in a group with other classics, so a show I presume.

The C6... I didn't see one in whole france during that period.

But at home in Holland I see them once or twice a month.
I read somewhere that the sales is up around 280 C6's up to now.

So in general the Citroen is doing good in Holland, as it always was.
We love the DS the most I think, I myself the CX.

Here in Holland you pay a bit more than 70K euro for the most exclusive
C6 and the cheapest might be around 55K eruo.
This is due to our tax system.

Just some info from Holland.

I drive an XM Turbo CT leader from november '96.

But still in love with the CX (Prestige) but also with the Austin Glider 1300 and
the Rover 3500 Van den Plas.

KlaasBaas

Hello everybody, first post!

I test drove a C6 a few weeks ago, it has a rather "normal" interior which S1 owners probably won't like, but the ride quality was very good, closer to a CX than an XM. I test drove the C6 a week or so after having a Jaguar XJ6D as a lone car while my Jaguar XJ8 was being serviced.

Firstly the Jag felt *much* faster despite sharing the same V6 2.7 turbo diesel engine, the 3 or 4 hundred kilogram weight advantage over the C6 was most evident. However the Jag had rather a most un-jaguar-like jiggly ride at low speeds, all of the Bosch air-suspension cars suffer from this - except the S-Class Merc, as the (excessive) weight of the S-class overcomes the rubber bladder stiction that causes the poor ride. The C6 was quieter than my S2 XM at speed – comparable to the Jag - the steering felt better than the XMs too. The low-speed ride still isn't as good as a CX, but not as bad as the press would have you believe, the body composure and high-speed ride are excellent - people used to spine-jarring German cars may find it soft at speed – but I thought it was spot on. The sport mode was less obvious and intrusive than the sport mode on my XM.

All in all I think the C6 is an outstanding car – one of the best motorway cars I’ve ever driven, it doesn’t feel as quirky as a BX or S1 XM, but it certainly still feels like a Citroën and will go to the top of my list when it becomes affordable as a second-hand buy. The quality of the leather was no match for my Jag (what is?) but was certainly good enough, the sat nav is intuitive, the HUD display is superb. The thing that pleased me most about the C6 was looking at it, it looked great in the flesh from any angle – I haven’t lusted after a Citroën for its looks alone since my CX Turbo2 in black. I like my XM immensely, which has been utterly reliable, rust-free and very comfortable – but I know I would love the C6, like I did my CX. It is a car that touches the heart - like the XM does for many - but never did to this ex-CX owner.

At last, a fitting replacement for the excellent XM, no need to buy a C5 and secretly wish you still had an XM! Big Citroëns are back!

Steve.

Hi Steve

Welcome to the club, shortly to include the C6? I looked at a couple when they first came out and was impressed with the space in the front particularly, but as they dont make an estate or a manual, not really my car.

I think that the last 'real' Citroen was the CX, it gave a drive that I had never experienced before, my last one, a CX25 DTR Safari, I had for seven years and covered over 150k miles in it. It had a useless heater and needed a new head gasket about every 15K but it was such a superb car to drive that I forgave it all that.

All the Citroens since have only really inherited the hydropnumatic suspension, the rest of the design is pretty common to most cars. The CX had that beautiful steering knuckle assembly of the CX replaced with Macpherson struts and the Diravi steering with an ordinary rack and pinion. They still have the comfort but not the sheer driving pleasure.

Peter.N.

Hi Peter,

The ventilation system was always the weak point of the CX, air-con (if fitted) helped with the steamed up glass - when it worked! Head gaskets were weak on some CXs, my petrol CX safari 2400 C-Matic went through them fairly regularly, although the Turbo2 (you'd expect to be harder on head-gaskets) was fine! I think you'd be pleasantly surprised by the way the C6 drives, shame they don't do an estate, maybe you could win the lottery and get a coach builder to build one for you! I'm looking forward to using the XM again after some scroat decided to smash the windscreen a while back. The resulting steamed up interior reminds me of my CX though! - Sigh...

Steve.

Hi Steve

I did hear of an air sccop that you could fit to the bonnet to increase the air supply to the heater but never came across one until I saw a CX in a French film, and there it was.

The one that gave me all the problems with the head gaskets was the first turbo, without the intercooler and I have lost count of the number I fitted, plus three heads, I eventually took the engine out and had the block machined, still the same. I learnt later that the blocks were made from recycled metal and were pourous. By the time of the Turbo 2, I think they had resolved the problem. But at least they were relatively easy to get the head off.

Sorry to hear about your damage, where we live we rarely see anybody, let alone vandals.

Peter.N.

have just come back from 3 days in paris. Saw 4 C6's (or maybe the same one being driven round in circles).

They look great in traffic - and yes, more CX-like than XM-like. Quite neat, in fact, as if they're smaller than they really are.

JamieB

Hehe, the black C6 at the Glasgow Citroen dealer I'm looking at (off Argyle street, West End) is now labelled "SOLD" !! £35k I think, don't know which model is though. Somebody will be haaaaappy!!

George

George - Probably a misprint!

Steve - Having said I had never seen one of those CX air scoops, there was one on Ebay last week!

Peter.N.

lol

You think it could be the ultimate marketing trick they came up with to attract attention??? hehe

This is at least the 2nd this shop shifts though -I m pretty sure about it as interiors were totally different colors-.

G

Interesting, this talk of the archetypal crap Cit dealer.

WR Davies in Stafford must be the exception that proves the rule. That said, they do share a site - and management - with a Toyota operation, so...

Hi all.

Have actually seen one (C6) today --- on the road (M5, Stroud). Thought I was hallucinating. Although thinking about it, that's one more than the number of other XMs I saw today ! Much more reminiscent of the CX -- just daft that there's no estate.

Mike.