I've gone over to the dark side.

.. and I'm not impressed with myself, still I've stuck to my laurels and gone for one of the few diesels I'd actually own.

Still, I'm waiting for the pisstaking to begin...

Hey ho, £440, 12 months MOT, 2 months tax, 88k miles, immaculate inside and out, only things I've found wrong with it are the remote locking battery is flat and it needs a new clamp on the battery.

Reply to
Pete M
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You were not sober when looking: didn't you notice "Citroën"?

Anyway: if it drives, you earn money. Well: not exactly "earning" but more "not spending"!

Good luck with it, it beats walking by more than a mile :-)

Tom De Moor

Reply to
Tom De Moor

In news: snipped-for-privacy@news.telenet.be, Tom De Moor wittered on forthwith;

Xackly.

It's a 97, the aircon works and it's comfy.

The whole plan of action for today was to sell the Range Rover, pay some bills, go to the auction and buy a car. Anything tidy with an MOT would do, the Xantia is near mint, has loads of MOT and Tax, and was the second car to go through. It'll do for now.

Reply to
Pete M

Heh.

If I didn't have the job and Passat, I'd be driving one of them now. I nearly bought an Estate, VSX spec., as I recall.

Big, comfy, reliable. Not even the funny suspension put me off.

Reply to
SteveH

Rangie or Landie?

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Reply to
Elder

The clue is in his signature, YTC. :-p

Reply to
SteveH

Citroen Xantia

That's all I'm gonna say. For now.

Reply to
Tim S Kemp

Ah missed the frogshit first time round. ;)

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Reply to
Elder

"Pete M" wrote in message news:svhMg.15889$ snipped-for-privacy@text.news.blueyonder.co.uk...

Good choice my man.

Starting to think about a Xantia myself. The 2.0CT one seems like a good buy and the handling is suppose to be pretty amazing because of the Activa suspension. Out corners everything in it's class, and plenty of more exotic cars too. Apparently

Reply to
Carl Gibbs

In news: snipped-for-privacy@individual.net, Carl Gibbs wittered on forthwith;

Check the dash lights work. Mine bleedin' don't.

Just had a quick GooglefestT and discovered they're allegedly a pig of a job. Doesn't look too bad though.

Reply to
Pete M

"Pete M" wrote in message news:EGhMg.15895$ snipped-for-privacy@text.news.blueyonder.co.uk...

Ding, then. What else do you need?

The Xantia was always a comfortable machine for me with one (huge) caveat: the seats in the lesser models. Too short a squab, or *something*, and I used to get backache... pity because it nullified the great ride.

Reply to
DervMan

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Table at end gives cornering in g's : Honda NSX - 0.93 BMW 325 - 0.82 BMW M3 - 0.86 SAAB 900 - 0.81 Ferrari 512TR - 0.92 Xantia Activa - 0.97 Ferrari F40 - 1.01

Not bad, given that the Xantia was on stock 205 tyres. It did really well on the slalom test too. There is almost no roll, almost no roll-inertia and shedloads of grip, but I've no idea about the handling or how much fun they are to chuck about.

Reply to
Albert T Cone

IIRC the Activa is a special active suspension model. As banned from F1...

Reply to
Doki

I've driven a few, and they're pretty weird things to chuck about. You need to be /really/ precise with them as they do what you tell them to. There's no slush or dullness about the steering, unlike a Passat for example, but because they barely lean at all it can be a weird experience, people tend to be used to a cars suspension leaning when you turn into a corner whereas the Xantia Activa stays level.

The general consensus between myself and the other people that drove them (they were part of a car hire fleet) was that if you adjusted your driving style to suit they were brilliant, but if you just want to get in and hoon one then people didn't like them. If you lose it in an Activa (by waiting for the car to give traditional warning of impending doom) it tends to be the beginning of a big accident. The steering feel is excellent but it doesn't "load up" much at all, it's the steering going lighter that is the signal to cease muppetry.

They're *very* tyre sensitive as well, they need to have tyres with stiff sidewalls to work properly, the Michelin Pilot SX (I think) were the ideal for them. They were the only cars on fleet that would always get the right tyres, as opposed to the cheapest alternatives.

Reply to
Pete M

Yep, that's right. hydraulic ram acting on the anti-roll bar to keep the car level. Apparently quite effective too...

Reply to
Albert T Cone

Interesting. I wonder if it's as weird going back from an activa to a normal car?

That makes sense, I suppose.

Any idea how expensive activa-only bits are? The basic Xantia suspension was nowhere near as complex as recieved wisdom seemed to suggest, and bits were mostly cheap pretty cheap.

Reply to
Albert T Cone

No idea how much the Activa bits cost, but IIRC it's only another couple of spheres and a couple of hydraulic rams.

Spheres average about £20 each.

Reply to
Pete M

"Pete M" wrote in message news:ImgNg.17277$ snipped-for-privacy@text.news.blueyonder.co.uk...

Yes. There's a large element of blind faith in the car; the normal Xantia has a certain "faith" factor, but the Activa takes it a step further.

Yes, because under ideal conditions you're going at some speed indeed.

Yes. It's that absence of feel at the steering end and with the body lean end too. I figured it needed a lateral-g warning. :)

Interesting. The two I drove were on the OEM tyres. The salesman was prattling on about it wore normal tyres but handled like a sports car. Well, no, I said, it grips like a sports car, that's not the same as handling...

Reply to
DervMan

In news:4506eb07$0$1393$ snipped-for-privacy@news.zen.co.uk, DervMan wittered on forthwith;

The OEM tyres were Pilot SXs, whereas the non-active ones wore, I think, Pilot HXs. Might have been the other way round, but the Activa used the stiffer "sportier" one of the two.

Something to do with the geometry where the Activa sidewalls are nearly always at a 90 degree angle to the road because they don't lean.

Reply to
Pete M

"Pete M" wrote in message news:j1CNg.17937$ snipped-for-privacy@text.news.blueyonder.co.uk...

Aie. I'm sure he meant normal as in a normal size rather than 335/20/22s or something. :) I'm *sure* it wasn't sales patter... ;)

We didn't get any for the fleet 'cos they weren't diesel but I still tried a couple.

Kinda fun in a curious "I'd have one of these one day, maybe" way...

Reply to
DervMan

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