Rating The Citroens

To be fair, the C5 DOES have the proper suspension, just not the rest of the package.

Hi

The XM of course was galvinised.

Although "rating the citroens" game could get even more complex. Specific models within ranges!

A late 24v XM is near the top of my list (although obviously I have one so I'm biased) and a 1.9 non turbo-charged XM would probably be very near the bottom!

Cheers

Tony

Did they make a 1.9?

No. They made a 2.2 though - non turbo diesel - but not in this country.

My favourite model is the 2.1 manual estate - as if you didn't know!.

I've seen 2.1 Xm's with a converted whatever was handy 1.9 td probably out of a Xantia
but for true sloth abilities isn't the rare carb 2.0 the worst?

Surely the best 24v is a s1 with it's manual box and dash!?
And s1's don't rust so readily!!!

Andrew

This post has been edited by Andmcit on January 11, 2009 05:59 pm

Wait, are you saying S1s are less prone to rust than S2s? Or did I miss a trick

Yep, I may add, purely from personal experience mind before
the heavy artilliary bombardment starts...

I can show anyone a G plater v6 with no rust and know two M and T plated cars an MOT away
from the breakers!

Andrew

This post has been edited by Andmcit on January 11, 2009 03:27 pm

Hi

Not sure how many normally aspirated 1.9 XM's they made but a friends father that had one. It was just the standard 1.9 XUD - probably for tax reasons in europe under 2.0 used to attract alot less tax. It was RHD but bought in Belgium.

It was a complete sloth. I was following them back from a bike race and overtook the 1.9 XM on a slip road onto the A23. They were doing about 30mph and I was at merging into the fast lane speed.

Cheers

Tony

I can accept that plastics will not be popular in Australia, I had an ID19 in Aden and its fibreglass roof used to grow minute glass strands in the perpetual heat. Leaning on it would bring you out in a rash.

But I don't understand Shane's complaint about the brakes, if you push a spring with x pounds you'll get x pounds out the other end - simple physics. So the effort on the brake selector valve is the same, all you've done is introduce movement into the pedal so that the brakes become movement sensitive instead of pressure sensitive. The brakes are as efficient as ever, you just get a pedal feel that conforms to what the general public is used to. Incidentally, without aerodynamic assistance, the maximum braking effort you will ever get is 1G which equates to stopping in about 32 feet from 30mph and they were achieving that 60 years ago.

Similarly the writing off of the ZX. Eight years ago at my wife's insistence I left the XM fold and bought a 406 V6. The steering was speed sensitive and was splendid in corners, but its directional stability was very poor, so much so that it was the most tiring car I've ever driven. You just couldn't relax at the wheel.

After three years I rebelled, sold it and bought my XM V6. It was the exact opposite to the 406, hands-off stable in a straight line but lifeless in corners. No doubt Diravi steering will give perfection but we can't have that.

However my dear frau's ZX comes close to it, stable in a straight line and a delight in corners, pointy and absolutely controllable. The ride isn't bad either, not up to hydro standards (what is?) but not bad. Probably not the best car to cross the Mullabar Plain, but pretty good for tonking around the English countryside.

Horses for courses.

Derek

The braking with the spring unit isn't linear (if that makes sense), very gentle braking was possible, full blown crash stop possible ....................... Anything in between NOT. You would go from pushing the pedal lightly, little bit more, little bit more ... No extra braking .... little bit more ... to the point where you suddenly DID need a crash stop 'cos you so damn close to what your "trying" to slow for, so you'd stand on the damn pedal and compress the spring fully. The worst brakes I have EVER used.

However after removing the spring and replacing it with a solid tube, they are the BEST brakes I have ever used, even better than an early DS with a dimmer switch sized button, they are incredibly light and sensitive. Infact one of the best aspects of the car.

seeya,
Shane L.
PS: I have disabled the spring unit on the XM too.

This post has been edited by DoubleChevron on January 12, 2009 12:21 am

If you had bought a proper xm Shane you wouldn't of had to , but i suppose there aren't many about where you are?

D

If you had bought a proper xm Shane you wouldn't of had to , but i suppose there aren't many about where you are?

D

The XM's spring is much, much harder than the Xantias, and doesn't impact brake feel much either way

Now DARAVI ..... THAT is something I'd kill for that LHD XM's have (even if it pointless as they have geared down to the point where I'd just bitterly complain how they managed to screw up the perfect SM/CX steering ).

The XM feels like such a bloody big land barge with that pathetically undergeared steering. The CX feels like a small nimble car in comparison.

I even scratched the bumper on the XM a few weeks ago.... I haven't scratched a car since I was 16years old ! I still can't figure out exactly how I did it... I blame the steering, the damn car just didn't turn when I moved the steering wheel, I'd never have scratched the bumper if I was driving my CX .... sigh....).

seeya,
Shane L.

This post has been edited by DoubleChevron on January 12, 2009 02:16 am

You are living in the past, Shane. Dump the unnecessary loads, man

What was that ? Sell the XM and get my wife a nice CX wagon.... Now THERE is an excellent idea ... I don't think she'll like it though

Hi Shane, it would seem that whichever junior designer was given the job of "normalising" the brakes on the Xantia chose a very low rate spring to do the job, this would fit your symptoms exactly. You of course went to the other extreme with an infinitely (almost!) high spring rate - a solid tube.

I can't understand why our junior designer's effort got through to the production stage, don't they test things at Citroen?

Derek

PS Have a look at the dunny in the joke section