Freeserve Mail <mighty@snaks.freeserve.co.uk>
Bought a L reg Xantia from a local car dealer in Torbay. full service, M.O.T etc... 2 weeks later went shopping come back, 3 hours later I heard this crash, looked outside & the car had rolled down my drive, straight across the road & smashed my neighbour opposites front door. is this a common fault with these cars. the handbrake was on & all doors were dead locked.
ED: Yes the Xantia does have a handbrake problem. The discs when hot with handbrake applied work well BUT! as they cool and contract your Xantia will release it's handbrake and follow gravity without thought. Hope you are friendly still with your neighbour.
PS could be worse you may have lived in the hilly lake district.
Very cool car - diesel economy (55mpg), turbo grunt still good for 95mph
Autobahn cruising - and mine's done 153k miles. Gets a bit noisy over 100
mph but you hardly know you're moving up to then. Interior is holding up
(actually it is perfect) electrics, ABS all OK and the electrics all work
A1.
Handbrake system was subject of a re-call and they pulled half the teeth on
the ratchet so owners had to put the brake on harder. From a safety
aspect
this is good as it means you can apply as much braking pressure with the
handbrake as you can with the foot brake if the brakes ever fail (unlikely)
plus you don't loose control as you may with a rear hand braked car.
These cars are now at bargain prices because people think they are BXs - I
have owned three BX, a ZX and I now own two Xantias (plus an MG Midget as I
am a masochist). The Xantias are far, far better built than either BX or ZX.
Interiors are tough (fairly toddler proof), suspension is 100% reliable and
provided you service them correctly you don't get any problems of a
mechanical nature.
I know people who have spent many thousands of pounds on used Mercedes, BMW
and Audi cars only to find a ride in a Xantia more comfortable and even more
reliable (there's controversial for you!)
Get a Xantia 2.0 HDi Exclusive with leather and air con, take one captain of
industry, blindfold him and place him in the Xantia. Now drive him from
Stuttgart to Madrid. Wake him up when you get there and ask him to name the
make and model of limousine he has just spent 12 hours in. I bet he doesn't
say Citroen.
Richard
(Please don't publish my mail address - I don't fancy fending off the
outraged missives from the Panzer drivers!)
Mike Hussey <Mike.Hussey@tickford.co.uk>
Hi,
I just got myself a Xantia 1.9TD VSX on a M plate with a mere 53000 genuine
miles and a full Citroen service history.
Apart from the handbrake issue, I am having a hell of a time with the brakes
as you describe in your road test. It seems to be at slower speeds, I press
the pedal and after a second or two it is like I have released the pedal,
except that I haven't! I press a little harder to regain control and then
it happens again.. I press still harder and all occupants lurch forward as
the brake system realises my now desperate urgency of needing to stop. I have
spoken to the (non Citroen) garage where I purchased it and they say there
is no problem with the brakes as the car has just passed the MOT etc.
Whilst under firm braking they will stop the car on a sixpence, under gentle
braking and low speed I get the really irritating kangaroo situation. My
wife is getting a sore forehead, the kid's have whiplash and I fell like an
amateur. I have searched the web for info on this condition... there is
nothing apart from your mention.
I thought about taking it to a Citroen dealer, but would welcome your (or
any other Xantia drivers) view on this. Is it a trait to this model,
something to do with the hydraulics or something???
HELP!....Please.
Mikey
John Pennock <JPennock@bw-industries.co.uk>
After reading your review and several comments on the Xantias brakes I would
like to point out to your reviewer and your readers that Xantias/XM's use
different technology for the brakes to those of other cars. Is it no
wonder
that after years of driving with the terrible braking system of such cars
like Ford, that when the driver comes to use the far superior and higher
pressure system of the Xantia/XM that they have to change the way they
think. The average car uses a Vacuum system to assist the braking effect
of
a normal foot operated pump master cylinder system so when you touch the
brake pedal you open a pneumatics valve (remember we are playing with air
here which is compressible) which moves air from one side of a diaphragm to
assist your braking effort. Although it appears instant there is a small
delay in operation for this pressure to equalise and this is the delay you
will be used to.... i.e. press the pedal the pressure equalisers therefore
applying slightly more pressure to your brakes. In the Hydraulic world
there is no delay (as Oil or LHM is not compressible) and the brake pedal is
connected to a device called a "dossuer". Your foot pedal opens
a needle
valve inside the dossuer and allows a certain pressure to be controlled by
the amount of pedal movement. This dossuer is a very clever device on a
Citroen as the front brakes are pressure controlled by a spring and the
rear brakes are pressure controlled by the pressure on rear suspension. So
the amount of braking to the rear is proportional to the weight on the rear
axle.
Simply my advice is learn how to drive with Hydraulics instead of Pneumatics
and as for the hand brake release problem.... I was always told when
learning to drive was to put my car in gear with the wheels pointing into
the kerb when ever leaving the car in case of hand brake failure. Perhaps
this has been forgotten over time, after all what is Park for in Automatics.
John
Freeserve <rob@morcbay.freeserve.co.uk>
Xantia 1.9 sxd
"My last car was an L-reg Xantia. When I first bought the car I liked everything about it...the trim...the size...the economy from the diesel engine was excellent and the ride comfort was second to non. Ok the non- turbo diesel engine wasn't so quick and needed some pushing but when I got it on a motorway then great. Though after about eight months then the problems started arriving at my door. Firstly I was hit by electrical mystery with my central locking freaking out....I would actually walk away from the car and then it would just "unlock" itself. I had the handbrake fail on me when I was parked on a very steep hill, though luckily my two friends used themselves as human walls. But most of all was the suspension failure which cost me an arm and a leg to put right ( you can't really drive a Xantia when only the back end rises and the front kisses the ground)
Overall I liked the car especially the 55+ MPG........and now I have a Mondeo 16v engine I really miss the economy but Xantias are just to technical and trouble some for my pocket. Shame really, nice car.
The car my dad has was purchased to tow
a caravan ( BOOH) 2.1 estate
He took his data from Tow sure ,
Unfortunately the caravan and car match doesn't work. They have spent a
lot of time and money checking the van and car, the end result has been that
they are going to change the car ( with the assistance of your site....you need
to sell yourselves more )
I think we have got to the bottom of the problem by using the data form your
site it appears that the newer 2.1 Xantia is lighter than the old 2.0 diesel,
with the associated reduction in tow weight
Thanks great site, but where have you been !!!!!!!!
Steve Richardson
( please add some bikes to your site )