AS a glutton for punishment on any out-of-the-ordinary oldies, I am intrigued by a Xantia Activa at £850 ono in today's free local paper. As there appear to be lots of Xantia enthusiasts on this site, can I ask if the Activa is simply an expensive box of trouble or will a decent service record have kept on top of potential problems? I already run a BX 4x4 estate so the risk of expensive part replacements is already something I live with.
David
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Hi David,
Sorry, I'm not a technical expert by any means (I'm sure that nice Mr Woolard will be along shortly!).
But I know that the Xantia VSX goes for less money than the SX because of it's extra electronic gizmos on the suspension. The Activa will take those to new heights of comedy-style main dealer part pricing and so I guess that's what makes the car such a bargain second hand.
IIRC this car has the 2.0 light pressure turbo and having driven it only the once, I'd say the performance is more than enough to get you either extra points on the licence or on first name terms with several local taxi drivers.
How good to drive? Excellent. How easy to live with? Very. How cheap to keep on the road? Roll the dice....
I did once see one parked up in Huddersfield that was level on three out of the four corners, the final one sagging all by itself. Looked very expensive.
Lee.
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David,
Yes this is something of the normal Citroen gamble but magnified several times over.
A quick judgement.......if the system works now how can you go wrong at this price, even if it only lasts a year??
Not sure about taking it on though if the system is already u/s.
As you say running a BX 4x4 gives a taste of the nerves reqd to maintain such a car.
Good luck.
David W
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Thanks for the input, guys. The lady vendor of the Activa turned out to have a very deep voice, a mobile phone, a professional sales manner and to be selling it for a 'desperate sister-in-law'. Service history for this 140K miler 'didn't seem to be among the papers to hand'.
I may be a glutton for punishment on oddball cars but I am also cynical . The 'history' is supposed to be faxed through to me but I'm not holding my breath.
Maybe those delivery mileage Honda Insights at £12K are worth a punt! Or, maybe therapy is the answer.
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>>maybe therapy is the answer.
Or a BX 4x4GTi to complement the Estate you already have???
David W
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If you're looking for a quick, exciting and smooth drive and have a financial spirit of adventure why not find a good condition Citroen SM? Can't be too many Maseratis around your neighbourhood....
And if it's still working, chances are it's been well looked after! :-)
Lee.
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Nope he meant the SM, the Citroen DS with the Maserati engine. A truly frightening combination of engine unreliability and ahead of time technology. Must be an absolute wonder to drive one that works.
Matthew Kelly
No, not that one.
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Back to your original query, one of the car magazines ran one as a test car. I remember their comment being that tyres didn't last long if you took advantage of the flat physics defying handling too often. I suppose the suspension usually take some of the strain on tyre wear, on this car, the tyres get a full caning at the expense of having a car that nearly does the impossible.
No personal experience though.
Cheers
Jon S
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I have driven one of these, not hard, but it's quite a car.
Stays unnervingly flat on roundabouts and you really do have to resist the temptation to go too fast round tight corners, because you can.
The combination of phenomenal suspension and the 2.0 turbo really is quite fun!
Downside is that there's an extra set of quirky citroen technology.
Like most citroens it's not really very complicated (apart from the ECU) but you do need to understand it, and these cars are quite rare so most independents, and even dealers, won't have experience of fixing them.
If you can find someone who knows the system, then they really are something quite special and once you've driven one, you won't want a 'normal' car again. I didn't
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