The new arrival is here, it was quite a long day yesterday to go over and get it, however i feel its more than worth it.

Ive spent most of the day cleaning it, having stood outside for the last 7 months it was getting a little green, so a good clean was in order. I started by cleaning out all of the wheel arches, which were quite full of mud but i could not believe the condition of the paintwork in the wheel arches, not a hint of rust anywhere, its still all shiny silver paint.

A good wash and polish brought up the paintwork nicely, it looks to be original, although there are a couple of little scuffs. One on the back N/S wing and a crease on the sill and also scuffs on both mirror backs. Thats about it for bodywork, the rest is very nice and clean. The front bumper has been used a few times, so its a little scuffed - all things which can be sorted out over time, the main thing is getting it ready for an MOT.

Here are a couple of pictures from today, after its clean:















Im really pleased with how it has cleaned up, i was not expecting it to look as fresh and immaculate as it does. It is like a new Xm, everything inside feels tight and fresh, i doubt if the back seats have even been sat in.

Everything works, sunroof, windows, remote locking and alarm, electric mirrors etc.

.....

Here are a few pictures of the interior, it was getting dusk by this time, but its very clean inside not a mark to be seen anywhere:







It is missing a few things which the P reg has though, it doesnt have a passeneger air bag - so its got a bigger glove box, which is still damped! It doesnt have pockets in the backs of the front seats or a built in sunblind in the rear parcel shelf. Although it does seem the same in every other respect.

The wheel arches are in fantastic condition, not a hint of rust or corrosion to be seen:





Im pleased to say with a Forte engine flush the engine has no more knocking, although it was slight it was a concern. So thats now gone. It needs a good service although the engine appears to be in good condition, it sounds nice too.

Although firstly its getting a cambelt kit and water pump, i dont want to do anything else with it before then, every time i start it i worry the 15 year old belt will give in. Just need to get it to the garage now Possibly ill tow it with the white Xm, its less than 2 miles away.

I just need get get on with the jobs to get through its MOT, i cant wait to have it on the road and usable.

Chris.

Very nice and tidy. I love these unused cars. A real rareity.

I'm sure you'll look after it and keep it tidy, as a low mileage SX is rare at the moment, it will be even rarer in the future.

Very nice, and I do like silver, not only does it show the car off to good effect but it doesn't show the mud, which we have plenty of here.

Thanks guys, im very happy with it

Silver is a very nice colour (we now have 5 silvery cars ) its more of a grey/silver on the Xm, very nice i think. We did have a silver T reg VSX, again a 2.0 16v, which was a nice car, it had the optional climate and cruise, but that was short lived as it turned out to be a bit iffy. However it still gets serviced at a local Citroen specialist, the owner is very happy with it.

It will be very well looked after, hopefully after all of the jobs are done it will be a very nice car to drive.

Sx Xms dont seem that popular, i rarely see them for sale, we now have two, what are the chances of that? They dont need many toys though, nice to have on an everyday car but our white xm has never been a daily driver and i doubt that this one will be either.

Our white auto has 86K miles, so still quite low for its age, although 31K for a 15 year old example is quite remarkable.

Today we removed the front spheres, the two sports ones were still at the right pressure - triple diaphragm ones on the front. The acc. regassed and the soft one will be replaced with a BX rear sphere to make it a bit more magic carpet like, as will the rear one.

The rear spheres were totally shot, filled with fluid, those have now been changed for 2 new Citroen triple diaphragm spheres. It needs a new exhaust, so i went and got that today (a bosal one), however its too dark to fit that now. When its fitted the rear soft sphere and anti sink will be replaced too. The anti sink seems to have popped, it stood in the normal height for 7 months but since yesterday its been sinking down at the rear quite quickly.

Even the screws which hold up the rear exhaust heat shield are like new, they can often stick and round off when trying to remove. It keeps getting better and better!

The headlamps were a bit fogged up in the above pictures, i have now dried those out. The lights are still clear rather than the yellow effect the filters can go over time.

My main worry is the cambelt, not something i want to do, it will have to be towed to the garage we use. Its not far away so it should be ok, as long as it holds out that long, at least the spheres will be good

Chris.

Is our forum slowing down? I haven't seem much activity among the various topic threads lately.

Anyway, along with my picture thread. (You can never have enough pictures!)

The Xm has now had a good service, spark plugs, all filters etc, a new Set of Pirelli P6000 tyres, two new rear back boxes, brakes checked and cleaned up, Spheres checked for pressure, regassed where possible or replaced with new Citroen items when not.

Next thing is its going for a cambelt kit and water pump on wednesday, then off for an MOT. All being well that should be it, back on the road.

Then the cosmetic things can be put right, scuffed front bumper, mirrors, new drivers headlight as it has a chip etc. Another set of wobby webs would go nicely too. Only very slight things need doing though. Other wise its in excellent condition, ill post pictures of the underside another time.

Dont they look good together:















Chris.

Superb!

A rare sight indeed - TWO Xm's with working sunroofs!!



Andrew

Hi Chris

Ive noticed its been a bit quiet here of late.
Nice addition by the way, it just goes to show that if you take your time there are near mint ones about still, its a good colour too

D

In the interest of keeping this up to date, though ive already got this on the xm.co.uk forum, ill fill in the gaps ... and since this is readers rides ill stick im my C5 and Xantia too.

Some time has passed since I was last on this xm.com forum. The low mileage silver Xm 16v above was sold on in August 2009 to someone who was wanting it to use infrequently and it would be dry stored, so that was ideal.

A week after that Xm sold I spotted a 1995 2.1TD Manual Xm estate with full Citroen service history and only 58K miles. It needed a few things doing but its now about as good as it will get and now on 62K miles. As usual with our Xms its not a daily driver, just an occasional car which we enjoy. However, it has had an unusually busy week having done over 650 miles in the past week, its been excellent though.

Here are a few pictures of it from a few weeks ago:




The white Xm which we had owned for around 8 years was sold mid last year. Its now for sale again. Before we sold it I removed the wobbly web wheels to put them on the 2.1 estate.

Last weekend I got my current project, a 1998 series 1 Xantia activa 2.0 TCT. Its quite a late registered S1 being an S, its of standard spec with air con, passenger air bag etc but no options. Its on 116K miles with long tax and test and its in fine condition too. No leaking Activa rams which im pleased about. It has jobs which ill be working through and ive already started on it. However its perfectly usable as is. Already done 440 miles in it within a week and its going excellently, never driven a car which handles quite like it. Another occasional car and not a daily.




And lastly, I still have a C5 as my daily driver, im onto my thrid now. I have passed the C5, which is on the previous page, I then bought an 04 2.0HDi 110 VTR C5 and ran that for a year. I now have this one: a 56 plate 2.0HDi 138bhp 16v hatchback in silver/blue with 16K miles. Ive had this one 4 months now, its perfect for what I want from a daily car.


Current car count in our household = 8 ... Current Citroen count = 8

Looking back at the previous page we had 5 citroens, so it has improved!

We still have the C15 and the traction, which is now back on the road. We also have a 05 C5 estate in the same spec as mine, a 10reg C1 Splash 5 door and the 52reg C5 still, which is now on 130K and going very nicely.