Found your forum through a link from the CCC web site while trying to find out a bit about my new car.

I saw a 1990 1 owner XMsei manual with 47,000 miles in my local paper & bought it. It seemed like a good idea at the time as the car was pretty much immaculate, had clearly been loved and seemed like a lot of car for the money. Metallic Gold with black leather, AC - the usual sei stuff.

I've never owned, no, never even BEEN in a big Citroen before but so far, so good. I've had older Merc's - 190Es in particular, for the last few years & this seems more comfortable. Whether it'll be as completely bulletproof, time will tell. 190Es are v. good cars.

A very kind man by the name of Chris from Marlow Bottom who knows his Citroens had a look at it & said it was a good one, so I'll keep it for a while and see how we get on.

I'm located between Maidenhead & Reading in Berks., off J8/9 of the M4. I was wondering if anybody could suggest a good independent Citroen specialist reasonably close by?

Many thanks.

P.S. I've yet to see another XM on the road. How many were sold in the UK & how many are left? I've seen more Lamborghinis than XMs since I've started looking!

Ahhh neilxmsei...

I shall say a RARE find

I have also a Black XM V6 SEi, 12valve, which has been coverted to manual

Its bloody brisk no, quick and fast too. This is my second V6, my first being an auto on Gas LPG.

I have converted this one too LPG Gas too, so it makes it DIESEL cheap to run, infact cheaper then a diesel to run.. I love it..

UNFORTUNALLY though, my gearbox has packed up..

Happy V6 motoring.. keep in touch.

Regards

citroenxm

Hello Nielxmsei

Welcome to the club. I have tried many other cars but have yet to find one that is more comfortable, has a better ride , more space and is more economical than my '96 2.1 td estate. We have just returned from a 2k+ mile trip around the North of Scotland with my wife and I plus luggage and a German shepherd dog with an avereage fuel consumption of 50+ mpg.

Rare? according to the figures they sold 61 '96 2.1 td manual estates in this country and I have had 2 of them! I have been looking all over the country for a later one, for a year or more but have not been able to find one.

They are not the most reliable of cars but the best I have driven.

Peter.N.

Hi Neil,

Ref your request for local Citroen specialists. When I used to live in Newbury (I moved to Lincolnshire five years ago) there was an excellent independent at Wokingham, called Citromech. They did some good work on my then 2.0SEi at reasonable cost and include among their customers a famous TV actor with his DS. You should find them in the telephone directory.

Cheers,
DerekW

Thanks Derek,

I've been over to talk to the man at Citroemech and another independent called PTS Developments just outside W'ham. The PTS guy used to work for Citroemech then branched out. His labour rate is lower, £38 vs £45ph.

Interesting to see the different facilities & hear what they say.

C'mech wanted the car to come in for an hour's evaluation (£45 +VAT) but priced various different jobs it MIGHT need, costiing up to £625 total. PTS actually looked at the car there & then (for free), said nearly everything was new or newish Citroen parts & said do an oil change, coolant flush & if I can't verify the cam belt's been changed, do that.

Haven't done anything to the car yet, waitng to sell something else, get it serviced & then it'll be my everyday car.

Selling this if anyone's after cheap reliable transport.

http://cars.uk.freeads.net/-173811.htm

That was me as a guest in the above post - forgot to log in.