Classic Car Weekly

Just a quick shamefull plug for this weeks Classic Car Weekly - theres a XM buyers guide in the middle written by my mate Kieth (who I have slapped for not mentioning club XM) that might or might not be of use.

Cheers Andrew

Good news for sellers! As soon as a car is featured in a magazine or some 'expert' says a car is a great buy as a useable classic then the prices climb.

Not so good if you're buying

So Shhhh.....keep quiet about XM's

I haven't seen the XM article you mention, but one thing that has often amused me about the classic car mags is their boundless optimism (and boundless repetition -- how many times can you rebuild an MG ???) Having some experience with other makes, I've seen articles blandly reassuring would be buyers that parts are plentiful, etc., when, in fact, key items just aren't to be had for love nor money ! I think my advice for prospective XM virgins would be to try out on a BX and see what you think. Another issue affecting XMs is their relatively high insurance group. Has anyone swung 'classic' insurance for them yet ?

Mike.

What makes you think you can find a BX Mike?

Peter.N.

Hello Peter.

I guess it's that brash city dwelling confidence coming to the fore !!

Joking aside, there seems to be a pretty constant stream of them on Ebay. Having said that, at the minute, there are over twice as many XMs listed !!! (If you want a chuckle have a look at the blurb for the basket case white estate someone has just listed) They must in any event be more plentiful than XMs -- I should think they outsold the XM by a significant ratio. Think I'll go and listen to my Perkins.


Mike.

I noticed the white XM estate ,it looks quite at home on the caravan site with its grey wing and black wheels. I was thinking of bidding on it for its unique beautifulness...

Hi Mike

My wife had a very nice BX TZD estate for many years, we passed it on to our son who ran it for a couple of years when it was written off by someone driving into the back of it when it was parked, he is still in dispute with the insurance company about a year later, partly because he cannot find another one to replace it with. He had been given a non turbo one by a friend, but its not the same!

The only place I have seen any ammount of BXs is in France but they are all hatchbacks. I was nearly hit in the side by one on my way home last time, and I wasn't on the wrong side of the road!

Yes, Iv'e just been looking on Ebay, the black one looks quite nice and only 105k? but I wouldn't have another Mk1.

Peter.N.

Hello Peter.

Looks like you have me on the BX issue. Just had a quick nose at Autotrader et al and you're quite right, there aren't any to speak of . I'm amazed -- where have they all gone ?? Perhaps we're at the stage where people are hanging on to good ones. I suppose unlike the XM where at least there was the Xantia (a sort of semi replacement) and now the C6, there was no corresponding hydraulic replacement for the BX.
My other half had the last BX in our house and now a good friend has it, still going very nicely at just coming up to 190k.

Mike.

Hi Mike

Yes, amazing isn't it when you consider how many there were, maybe when the guarantee on the galvanizing ran out they all collapsed into a little pile of rust! Seriously though, I think the TD BX was a revolution and they were vastly under rated, it was a serious 'hot hatch' in its time although not very well put together the mechanics were bomb proof, as long as you didn't run it out of water.

Its par for the course for Citroen, the CX DTR turbo 2 came out 20 years ago and could reach 60 in just over 10 secs and had a top speed of 120 mph and it was qoiet and refined. Where was the competition? I still reckon that was one of the best cars ever made, it was certainly the best one I ever had, although mine was the earlier one without the intercooler (with apologies to XM drivers everywhere)

Peter.N.

This post has been edited by Peter.N. on November 13, 2006 11:12 am

Well, here's a good one on Fleabay - take a look!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Citroen-XM-2-0i-Pres...1QQcmdZViewItem

Theres a turbo BX on the autotrader at the mo' peter