Oh Dear...i Seem To Have Bought Another One..., Couldn't help myself..

Evening guys.

Well, I've been busy this past weekend trying to fix alternators and windows in the 2.1TD, doing my back in while cutting down trees, and finally, picking up a new (to me) XM.

I am now the proud owner of an almost immaculate 1990 2.0 SEI in grey, with 80k miles, full leather, aircon, etc.
The car was owned by a fellow forum member, Danny (reddan956), and before that was ran from new by a Chinese guy from somewhere near north London. The condition its in is a real tribute to it's former owner.

Danny had entitled the car 'Gandalf the grey', which I think is rather fitting! I'm not normally one for naming cars, but its rather apt in this case

I've always wanted another grey series 1 since I had to get rid of the last one, so when this came along, needing a good home, I jumped at the chance.
Obviously with a car thats 17 years old, I was concerned about rust, wear, the usual issues. However, you could eat your dinner off this car, it really is so clean, and is in better condition than my well looked after '95 S2 2.1TD.

There are one or two very minor issues with it, which I'll address over the coming weeks, but I'm very pleased with it overall.

Some pics:



The alloys have been refurbished and really suit the car IMO, I was originally thinking of changing them for the Mk1 V6 wheels, but not so sure now, they've cleaned up very nicely...



'Interesting' last 3 digits on the original numberplate, bet anyone who I happen to cut up in traffic will have fun imaging what those letters stand for


The team. Am fast running out of drive space. That Xantias going to have to go methinks. I'm sure we're really popular with the neighbours now!


Of course, what XM would be complete without the occasional display of this?


As I can't bear to part with the S2 either, I'll be keeping both. This is an ideal opportunity to do all the little jobs that have built up on it too.

I must say, I didn't realise how much I missed the S1 dash and steering wheel, and the sound of the 2.0 petrol engine, until I got into this! Really loving the looks and layout of things at the moment. I've been driving rather more sedately than I do in the diesel, to see what kind of MPG its going to get on the daily drive to work. It seems pretty good so far in that department, I was expecting it to be much thirstier than it is.

The only thing its lacking really, is the trip computer, and the radio station display on the dot matrix, I do use that heavily on the S2, but hey, you can't have everything!

Sorry for the long post, just thought someone might be interested

Cheers!

Ciarán

This post has been edited by Ciaran on May 09, 2007 12:39 am

Looks nice.

I think we'd all be XM hoarders....given the space to store them, especially at the low prices they fetch over here.

Try looking at ebay.fr if you're bored and notice the high mileages and the strong prices XM's still make in France.

Hi Ciaran

It does indeed look very smart, better than my '96's! I now have two but dont think I will be buying any more, although I didn't intend to have two!, but both of mine are in use as I have converted my son (a free car might have something to do with it).

Peter.N.

Hi Ciaran,

beautiful car indeed, and I love S1s sooo much, dash, exterior, everything! I recently also fitted an S1 steering wheel instead of the wood/leather on my signature photo, what a pleasure to see all the buttons again! BTW, those alloys *are* the original S1 12v V6 alloys, 24v are different, and later -92?- they fitted those other more curvy alloys to the 12v V6, the 24v keeping the same design till the end of its carreer. I find them great, please keep them! That's a rare car, there must no be many 2lts with leather+aircon, I would guess.

enjoy
George

Your neighbours are just jealous mate, at least you've got proper cars in your drive

Hi,

My old one is giving more abs warning more than ever:-(. Does go off eventually. Needs driving.

I too prefer S1 interior, my Prestiege has a 2 yoke wheel without airbag, it is much thicker than the S2 one with airbag, which I don't really like at all (apart from its potential life saving capability I guess). Just can't grip it quite right. It also has the cute little graphic display of the car with little lights when doors are open or brake lights have probs, rather than alphanumeric readout, which I also like! OK the radio doesn't have traffic warnings (when it works, I WILL fix it :-)). The leather seats are more comfortable than the cloth in the VSX. OK its missing pockets in front doors and electric seats, got a few dings and needs work, you are very lucky to get such a low mileage well looked after one:-).

I guess if you can afford to tax and insure them all...

Hi Ciarán.

Next time you do an 'inventory' you'll realise they've multiplied in the night!!

Your wheels are genuine unmolested all silver ones that were fitted on all the SEi's
although these are actually rarer to see than the all grey variety! That said I've only
really concentrated on S1 V6's and these have always been the grey type although
there doesn't appear to be any pattern to it. I think the greyer type edges it in my
preference although the wheels in your pics look very smart & nice!

Only Citroen woulf fit a plastic wheeltrim almost the whole diameter covering a top
of the range car's alloy wheel...

Think I like the look without the trims with nice chromed/anodised bolt heads and a
cap in the centre - I used GSA alloy wheel caps that fit perfectly BTW.

Buying a new 'steed' to play with and fix is great isn't it! Very addictive - I love
the 'thrill of the chase'...

Andrew

ps: S1's rule OK!

Hi Ciaran,

as you will get to drive them both in various conditions, I'd like to know your impression on the noise level that makes its way into the cabine. They've told me S2s are much better soundproofed than S1s. Do you see a difference??? I know it depends on tyres etc but, is there any great difference? In my S1 the tyre noise makes its presence felt at above 50-60mph, ie you need to raise your voice to maintain a dialogue.

regards
George

Hi everyone, cheers for the replies!

Wirdy, I had a look on the French Ebay and was quite taken aback by the prices very early cars are still fetching! It seems they still value them over there, quite reassuring really!

Peter, I know what you mean on the free car thing. Part of my ploy of keeping the S2 as well, is Leanne will be doing her test soon. She had hmmm'd and haaa'd about hanging on to that SX 1.9TD Xantia, saying she was attached to it etc. I let her drive the XMs, and now its Xantia?, what Xantia?!
So yes, perhaps a free XM has 'convinced' her. I'd like both cars to be in daily use, so I'll be using the S1 as my daily car, but still be insured on the S2 should I need it
BTW, did your son own a red BX with the letters 'BAH' in the registration?

George, that wheel in your avatar always intrigued me, it looks vaguely like a Porsche one? I must say I do prefer the S1 XM wheel though!
The alloys, I always thought the ones I had were fitted to SEIs, and the other type (not wobbly web), to V6s only. Are those actually V6 wheels on mine?

Ken - lets hope so . I certainly have had a few double-takes and knowing 'oh-god-he’s-bought-another-one' looks in the past few days. Still, at least my cars break up the dull rows of VWs, Fords and BMWs...

DrTim, regarding the ABS warning, I had a thought about this today. I noticed that Gandalf still has the original S1 earthing blocks under the bonnet. While these look relatively tidy for a car of this age, I'm still thinking of replacing them, especially as they're the well known source of so many S1 electrical foibles... including spurious ABS warnings caused by voltage drop. I've had a few other problems with it that makes me think they're definitely related. Does your Prestige have these original blocks?
Regarding the leather interior, I picked up a full set of seats and carpets for my S2 VSX for only 70 quid on fleabay, totally transformed it. I did run into a few minor issues changing over to S2 seat bases (all of which were documented and helped with on this forum), all in all well worth doing if you have a few hours spare, and the inclination.

Andrew, I too had only seen the darker grey wheels before I encountered this car. I do like those too, but the silver shade of these ones is starting to grow on me. Totally agree with you about the use of the plastic centre cap, utterly daft! I actually thought they were metal until I tapped one the other day. I'm very interested in your suggestion of using a GSA centre cap instead, as I have seen a few of those wheels with the bolts showing, and they do look quite nice. Do you happen to have a pic of one with the GSA caps? Might just have to do that!
As for having a new car to play with, you're quite right, its great, I love it. If my back wasn't so sore at the moment I'd be out tinkering with them for a lot longer!
And yes, S1s do indeed rule Ok, the 'WTF???' look I've had off many drivers in the past few days is testament to that!

George (again ), regarding the soundproofing and comparison of the two series of cars, funny you should mention that. When I originally went to see the car about a month ago, I handed the keys to my S2 to Danny, the previous owner, and said he could have a play around with it while I took Gandalf for a test drive. When I got back, he remarked that he thought the S2 seemed a bit more solid inside, that the doors had more padding, etc.
I actually said that I thought they had cheapened the S2 a bit, removing little functions such as the startup brake test, etc.
Because I've been immobile most of the week, I haven't actually had a chance to take the S1 on a long journey to see how it fares with noise etc. In general though, it is obviously quieter at idle than the 2.1TD, which may skew my perceptions a little. My S2 can get a bit noisy at speeds over 85ish, I'm unsure whether this is the diesel engine or the tyres though, as they're not standard wheels, and are quite a wide, fat size. The petrol engine is obviously less noisy driving along, but I haven't yet had the chance to compare them at various speeds. I will do though, whenever the S2 is behaving itself again (long story).


I did mention the car had one or two minor issues, which I'll have to sort out when my back is better. Currently, its all I can do to sit in the thing and drive it for a few miles, and the 2.1TD is out of the question, its heavier clutch has me in agony!
The few observations I have made though, are the obvious ABS one, a chipped windscreen, one strut top still structurally sound, but starting to delaminate its rubber in the wheel arch, the tailgate release playing silly beggars, and an accumulator sphere in need of replacement. Nothing too major, all to be attended to in due course.

'Wants', well, the fact it has no alarm that I can see, and the IR central locking is a pain, I think I'm going to try and fit an S2 receiver to it if I can manage it.
In other news, I discovered earlier that it seems to have HID headlights! They did seem uncharacteristically bright for an XM!

Anyyyyyyyway, sorry for such a long post everyone... The reward for anyone whos managed to read this far without falling asleep, is in the post!

Hi Ciaran

The only way I could really justify buying the car was that Martin was 'in need' I wouldn't have liked it to be sitting about here doing nothing and it wouldn't have done it any good either, but I think he is really hooked now. He went to Cornwall today in a friends 320d BMW, and while he was in raptures about its performance, he had to admit that it didn't ride like the XM! His BX was a white estate, which he has now sold on ebay

My first two were Mk1s and although I thought they were terrific, apart from the much improved reliability of the Mk2, they do seem to be screwed together better, with far less rattles and squeaks. The only thing I really miss is the flat top to the instrument housing, you could stand a cup of tea on it! I think the noise levels are largely down to the type of engines, the two litres particularly are lower geared so sound a bit thrashy at high speed, the diesels are just the opposite so cruise at very low engine speeds.

The heavy clutch on the 2.1td can often be improved by the aplication of some oil to the clutch shaft where it enters the top of the bellhousing, and also the cable linkage where it goes throught the bulkhead, give it several soakings. The clutch on the red XM is the lightest I have ever had, it was replaced when the engine was done just before I bought it, but it is uncharacteristicly light, I wonder if they have modified them?

I do actually get to drive both of mine, any time the red one needs attention we swap cars, in fact I have had it most of this week.

Enjoy yours.

Peter.N.

Hi George.

Regarding the noise question, I've always found the S2 to be a quieter machine. I think the interiors are markedly better screwed together. Have to say, though, time moves on. Daughter just bought a newish 307 Pug 1.4 diesel. To my ears, unbelievably quiet at tickover. (and £35 a year road tax !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! )

Mike.

I'm interested in the noise issue S1/S2, because opposite to the majority I've been finding my S2 a little more noisy than the S1, more road noise mostly . Havn't done much motorway driving in the S2 yet though. My S1 is quite a late model.

Regarding the noise issue, I finally got the chance to take the S1 for a proper motorway drive this afternoon, after tootling around taking a trailer to the dump in the S2.

Peter, your point about the gearing of the 2Ls definately rings true. Doing ~80ish on the motorway, the S1 sits a tad over 3k. Now while thats not exactly revving the nuts of it, it does sound a bit thrashy compared to the diesel.
I don't know how many RPM the 2.1TD does at that speed, as the rev counter hasn't worked since I got it (something that was never completed during the engine conversion I suspect), and its on 'the list' of jobs...

Something odd I've noticed about the S1 steering wheel, it seems to give much sharper control. Now theres no play or anything like that in the S2 steering, but the S1 is extremely pin sharp when cornering. Perhaps its due to the larger circumfrence of the wheel and the small centre which transmits the rotation down the steering column, I don't know, but it almost had me steering into kerbs a few times before I got used to it!

This post has been edited by Ciaran on May 13, 2007 03:44 am

I think the 2.1 td is geared at about 28 mph per 1000 rpm, 70 comes up at about 2400. I would think that the 2.5 is even higher. Some of these common rail engines with a six speed box are about 36 mph per 1000 rpm! Quiet or what!

Peter.N.

Ciaran, although I've only driven an S2 2.5 for just 10 minutes once, I have to totally agree with the steering observation on the S1. My 1994 car has the sharpest steering from any car I've ever driven. Its response to changing direction is faster than a small hot-hatch. I love it, it's made to steer in full accuracy. You can follow the edge of a kerb by cms. To the point it's too nervous -for a cruiser- on the motorway. This effect though is counterbalanced by the DIRAVI (on my car) that really puts alot of centering force above 60mph on the wheel, so you don't need to correct all the time (there's no chance you'll change direction with your fingers). But as my DIRAVI does not work at the mo., it's a bit funny for such a barge! I would guess the centering DIRAVI-effect has given engineers the chance for an even more razor-cut steering than on a conventionaly assisted XM. Such a pitty they've discontinued it.....

regards
George