Low(!) Mileage Xm On Ebay

Looks interesting:-
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1990-CITROEN-XM-SI-G...1QQcmdZViewItem

Not far from me actually, but I'm not getting all excited!

If it's SO perfect, it already needs a new glove box catch!!
(and that's just from looking at the poor pics)

Ok, seriously the seats/armrest look scruffy too for a car that's supposed to have done
such low miles - do these facts say it's been looked after in those 17k miles and 17 years?

One of the most temperamental Citroens I ever bought was an old but low mileage car
- every damned thing still needed renewal due it being seized up. And what if it IS
bought? It gets used and the mileage racks up and you're left with another Xm with
100-150k miles on it which will probably be worth less than other second hand ones
which will be younger. If you don't use it why get the lowest mileage oldest Xm in the
first place unless it's for a museum or concours shows where it gets trailered
everywhere

It would mean a lot more if it was a V6 or even a 24v V6 - or even an SEi - least they're
desirable, unusual and in the case of the V6's very rare.

Frankly, the ONLY reason to buy it is to try and keep a low miles auto box in full health;
AND if it does pack in you've had 100k miles out of it!

It HAS been on before and didn't pass its reserve - I'm guessing that they'll be
expecting £££'sk.

Wouldn't see it anywhere other than ebay mind. There's been a few timewarp cars
recently such as a Rover SD1 V8 and that Hillman Avenger a short while back that
both went for massive amounts. Japanese collectors love this sort of thing and have
more money than they know what to do with, so I reckon it'll go east!

Andrew

This post has been edited by Andmcit on July 01, 2007 12:51 pm

Hi Andrew
Not too far from me either, but not interested....agree with all your points above.
Wonder how much it goes for.
Cheers, Carl

Loving Citroens as we do, not much would persuade us to even look at a petrol XM unless it was somewhat remarkable (like some points which have already been raised above )

In my experience with XMs (we have five) they like being driven - an XM will think nothing of 200,000 miles - we have seen BXs with 500,000 on the clock and more in them!

Remy's XM TD has 177,000 on the clock, and she is our second best XM - and we know she could easily do that and more again.

Mmmm....how do you spell.....oi...as in oil without the L....i exaggerated!

I bought a petrol head recently, and its perfectly ok.....well, not quite a CX.... and boring.
Petrols arn't all bad are they? Do all you Diesel heads sit around pints of real ale and compare fuel consumption?

PS Mine is a lowish mileage 2.0 8V slushbox, hated it at first...but it really is getting better with some miles on it...and a bit of tweeking here and there.



HB

This post has been edited by harryburgundy on July 07, 2007 07:25 am

Hi Folks

Time for an introduction. I am Robert, and I bought that low mileage XM in summer. She has left Wales and now resides in Northern Ireland.

I use it as my daily transport and have had no bother from the old dear. She now has now covered 23k. She joins my 1980 CX Athena, and my 1997 Xantia TD sx (which the Xm replaces).

I bought the car for £1,400. The main issues with the car were a blocked sunroof drainage pipe, leading to wet carpets, and the requirement for a new front height corrector. The car was fitted with a new Bosal exhaust prior to it being sold, but the exhaust manifold has a crack in it. I am in the process of sourcing a replacement.

The interior is immaculate, it just needed a hoover, and the drivers seat and armrest a rub with a damp cloth, (after it was removed to dry the carpets). The annoying broken glovebox catch is on my to do list, but not a priority.

Overall I am very happy with my purchase, it was a bargain, considering how much good Xms are going for these days when sold by specialists such as Wolsey House Motors or Paul Johnston. This car has a world of driving left in her. How much driving she gets depends on how long it takes for C6 prices to fall to an affordable level.

I was very interested to read your comments about the car when it was for sale, and am interested to receiving your comments now that some of your questions have been answered.

Regards Robert

Hi Robert. Interesting hearing from you; so the Xm actually went west, NOT east! I can see your aim of getting as young a car as possible to run til a C6 turns up as it should guarantee good miles from the potentially fragile Xm autobox! Whilst you've got a bit of a timewarp car, from my experience of a similar car, things will still require renewal even at indicated low miles. Something to keep an eye on at least. It would be interesting to see some nice pics of such a rarity! Happy Xm'ing, Andrew

Hi Robert,

So you're from this neck of the woods then, good to see, not many people from over here about on the forum. Where abouts are you?

So you have a low mileage tidy S1 in gray then, sounds rather like my own '90 S1 SEI!
I'm up and down the motorways all the time, I must keep an eye out for you. I've been seeing rather a lot of XMs here lately, but no one else is ever a member of this forum, and many seem oblivious to what they're driving!

You have a CX Athena too... been a long long time since I saw a C on the road here. I saw a silver one in Lisburn about two years ago, and a silver or white (can't remember which), EXI reg (may have been the same car as the first one), coming down the Shankill road in Belfast, they're the last I recall, either of them sound like yours?

A few months ago down with Willie Johnson and he had a silver CX 25 GTI Turbo II in the workshop, but it wasn't on the road, having just been brought over from England for a customer.

Anyway, good to see another local person on here, and glad the car is going well for you!

Cheers

Ciarán

Hi Andmcit & Ciaran,

My Xm is a 2.0 Si Manual so I thankfully don't have to worry about the eeevils of Xm Autos! I really wanted a series 1 Xm and thought that this car was too good an opportunity to miss when I saw it. I also find it interesting from a collectors point of view, these lower spec mid range cars, are the ones that there are least of, most of the surviving series 1 Xms tend to SEis etc, or are lower spec cars like mine with the addition of a leather interior and alloy wheels.

I live down in Poyntzpass, Ciaran (the sticks in other words), you're most likely to see her ladyship in and about Portadown or on the A1. I have only seen 1 Xm here since I bought mine. It was a green Series 2 parked up near St Annes Cathedral in Belfast.

I am in the Citroen Car Club as well, which is part the reason for my delay in joining this forum.

I'll attach some pictures for your viewing pleasure when I compress them, or if you are a CCC member, pics of the Xm are in their photogallery. You can also visit my online photogallery to see pics of my CX and Xantia, www.bobscx.co.uk

Merry Christmas Folks

Crumbs! Where did I get the idea it was an auto from then!? IIRC it wasn't the best auction description ever but I could just be losing my grip on things! An Si should still have abs, rear inner hatch screen and lecky windows though I'm actually not a big fan of the jersey cloth or high electric seats even though I own a few cars with it; see other right or wrong thread here! I actually like the big flat wheel trims mind- very Citroen!! BTW, Glove box handles go for around £15 on ebay... Andrew

Hi all.

C is for Christmas and -- controversy ! I just can't see the attraction of the S1 over the S2. Never had a V6 but I think I've had most of the rest of the engine types and to me, without a shadow of doubt the S2 cars are better put together, feel more 'solid' and generally seem less prone to glitches than the early ones. I think the only thing I miss off the S1 is the boost gauge, which would give you useful early indication of problems in the turbo department. Don't get me wrong, I'd sooner have a S1 than no XM, but after that -- S2 every time.
I still think the estates are the truly definitive XMs --- there is now nothing on the European market to come close; how truly sad they didn't do the business with the C6, instead of just making it a style wagon.

Mike.

Funny, I actually bought my series 1 off a mate who lives in Portadown, though I'm not down there often these days, I'd be on the A1 the odd time, will keep an eye out for you.

Aha yes, that green series 2. I know it well, it's mine
I work in North street, next one over from the cathedral, and am parked round there all the time. We now have work spaces in the cathedral carpark itself, so if you're ever up on a weekday, have a look around there, and you should see either it, or my grey S1 in the carpark somewhere.

There are several other XMs round Belfast. Most notably a doom maroon S2 2.5TD Exclusive hatch from up the Antrim road somewhere, which I see regularly, also from there a silver S2 hatch, TBZ something. There's a green S1 estate with an English reg (R38 RYN or something) I've been seeing lately, a navy S2 hatch of unknown location, a black S2 hatch, a strange light blue S2 SX hatch that looks a bit unloved, and a grey G reg S1 SEI that's almost identical to my own, also a green S1 hatch, which seems to have the same driver as the grey one. There's a few more, but I've not seen them in a while, those I mentioned are the 'regulars' anyway.

Pics would be great. I'll have to stick up some of mine too, then can keep an eye out for you on the roads. I'll check out your site when I get a chance later on, the CX really interests me!

Cheers, and yourself, hope it's a good one!

Ciarán

This post has been edited by Ciaran on December 25, 2007 12:10 pm

It's just as well we all like different things in Xm's or we'd all be fighting over the same
things on ebay!! This wasn't a thread to open up that old chestnut/running battle between
the North and the South or is it S1 or S2!?

But if you insist:

I can only go by personal experience and by far and away much prefer MY S1's over the
MY S2's. I hate the watered down centre console/central/dash and main bash binnacle of
the S2 and am not the biggest fan of airbags although have these on Xantiae, so this
particular gripe isn't a big deal. It does however bloat the appearance inside the car which
strays massively off course from the original concept made by the design team.

There are exceptions to every rule but as a designer I find that the first idea/creation into
reality from the mind's eye is by far and away the best/optimum choice and follow up
design(s) are usually simply variations on a theme. I'm not saying the final design of the Xm
was the optimum/initial idea and in fact from various books there's a chance it may have
been totally different but it was the one we we all offered new from Citroen and I quite like it!!

Historically the first is always better than the follow up/sequel, and if we just concentrate on
Citroens how about the GS>GSA, CX, BX, Xantia and I accept a tad more difficult to separate,
the frogeye to the shart Ds (I actually think it's a draw here) and don't try telling me new
versions of Golf or Pug Gti are better than the first...

Progress just means bigger/fatter/heavier and more complicated and out of the window
go subtleties like aesthetics!

Merry Christmas everyone!!
Andrew

Ok, thinking through the debate, one area of design I WILL accept new technology and progress
has made astounding leaps and bounds in progress is Computers/TV/Mobile phones/DVD-VHS
video/cameras etc but this area of consumer products never rests and is in constant upheaval.
I don't think car manufacturers can say their product has made such a technological leap in the
way these other technologies have reinvented themselves and radically changed from their
original concept/design...

maybe folk think I need to get out more!!
Yep, I am, I'm going!! HAVE A GREAT DAY EVERYONE!!

Andrew

This post has been edited by Andmcit on December 25, 2007 01:32 pm

Yes My Si has electric everything, on the original bill of sale the car had ABS added as an option, it also has the inner rear screen which is a classy addition. The only thing that I miss from my Xantia is the Aircon.

As for onthecut, I think that Series 1 is the way forward, especially when you consider that all big Citroens should have a single arm steering wheel, my CX has one, and I love it, and so did all the other pre-airbag Citroens bar some XMs, Xantias and BXs. I'm not so keen on the series 2 dash layout, althought it was something that needed to be done to try and please the car buying public at the time.

I totally agree with Andrew regarding the Series 1 design being what the Citroen designers wanted from the start, that's why I prefer the series 1 CX, series 1 BX, and series 1 Xantia to all their face lifted and tweaked incarnations, some how they seem to be less "Citroen" than they should be.

Ciaran, congratulations on having the only other XM that I have seen in NI, my Xm is also a G reg Meteor Grey with the classy Wheeltrims!