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2002 Citroen Xsara VTS - another old French bird!!

180K views 616 replies 65 participants last post by  Ben_W 
#1 · (Edited)
So, here we go!

To quote something musical which I've not done for a while, Ice Cube had it right. Today was a good day (ask your dad kids :D )

With the buggy sold and the bank swelled with funds, I did the right thing and pacified the wife by buying a new dining table and promising her a posh holiday next year, on the proviso I could buy myself a new, cheap(ish) toy. Agreement was forthcoming.

I considered several cars. A white Rallye (they are the hottest ticket in Rallye world with another selling in the last two weeks for £5k but I have a Rallye already), a Clio F1 (very nice but not the cheapest) and several other more recent hot hatches. Nothing really, really took my fancy. I then bought the Xsara to break and wondered.........what if? The Citroen half of the late 90's hot hatch pairing.....wouldn't look bad on the drive, would it?

So I began looking. And looking. And looking a bit more. Crap, these are a bit thin on the ground. I found more Rallyes for sale than I did Xsaras. Hmmmmm............and then.....an advert appears on Gumtree and nowhere else, advertising a 2002 MY, 51 plate Xsara VTS, with 57k on the clock and two previous owners, in silver. 57k.......!!!!!!! How many 16 year old sports hatches have that mileage. This is the ad........



It HAD to be worth a look at that mileage and that history. Original P6000's (ditchfinders? But period correct!) Older lady owner for a long time? Deffo not been thrashed then. Decent MOT history backing up the sellers story. Trouble was, I wasn't free until Sunday. At this point, I made the mistake of sharing the link and my plans with someone. That, along with a lesson well learned, is all I'm going to say publicly.

Details being what they are, I noticed the seller had reduced the price to £300 on Sunday night. Much frantic phonecalling, which resulted in me getting a voice mail message numerous times finally paid off with the seller picking up at 21:37 on a Sunday night.

I apologised profusely for the time of my call. It had to be right then otherwise I'd have lost it. I told the seller I knew what had transpired the day before (I apologise again for the cryptic sh!t but like the walls, the internet has ears) and had a lengthy discussion with him regarding the car, offering some advice after asking some questions. The £300 was a result of what he had been told (I'll share privately for those of you I know who ask). An agreement was made that he'd get some advice by lunchtime Monday and I'd go view Monday night after work as it's 50 miles from work. I remember thinking at this point this now turning into some Lincolndanny esque press car kinda chase :D

Mid afternoon, I text the seller as I've heard nothing. He replies, confirming some info I had been after, and crucially, what someone else had offered him and that he was considering accepting. Act cool Trig, act cool.......

I left work dead on time and hightailed it to where he was. I arrived at 17:40 and immediately knew I was onto something. This was my view parking up.





Seller met me at the door and was very keen to show me the car. It was as he said. Completely original, very, very clean (some stone chips etc but very clean) and, completely bog standard.

Having satisfied myself the major component was good, I got busy looking round, especially underneath.

Just wow. This thing is clean. I mean really clean.







.

Doesn't look like it's ever seen a jack, let alone one in the wrong place. The spare even seems to have an original Michelin.....



The rest of it, whilst a little dirty in places, is honest, rust free and just in need of a clean.











A time capsule car. Went for a drive, it drove well enough. Went back, looked through a mountain of history which again, matched the MOT history. I knew at this point I had to have it. Asked what it would take to buy it. Seller said make it an offer. £850 prompted a forthcoming handshake. Deposit immediately transferred (mobile app internet banking, bloody ace!)

In truth, I think I stole it. I've picked up what has to be one of the cleanest, low mileage Xsara VTS's left. Plans are to collect Friday, giving me a whole weekend to really get into/under it. I cannot wait.

Sorry to disappoint Mr Lincoln....I did have a chance at a Ph1 in that green/yellow but had been sat 18 months and the seller wanted £1k.....
 
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#4 ·
The only real things for me to look at sorting are a small crease in the passenger side door and some rough paint on the roof. Nothing else that bothers me on this one. The Aircon apparently needs a regas although I'm sceptical.....will see if it holds a vacuum first....
 
#8 ·
I think you have bought a cracker there. Those cars are vastly underrated. People are put off by their looks and the fact they are French but believe me they are very well put together. I have owned a basic Xsara for 8 years which was bought for only £1200. I have covered nearly 90k in that time and it has never let me down. I wish Citroen still made them now as their build quality is much better than on a C4.
 
#10 · (Edited)
I used to work for Citroen and at the time we had DS3s and new C3s as courtesy cars but we a couple of old Xsaras in reserve. I'd never driven one before, I sold a DS3 and needed the chaps PX in straight away as we had a trader who wanted it straight away for strong money, so to get the guy the right deal, we gave him the Xsara whilst he waited for his DS3 to be built, I was very surprised how comfy and smooth they felt to drive. I would be very happy using one on a daily basis.

So I'm sure yours is an absolute cracker!

That situation with someone you spoke with, that'd really boil my ****, no honour these days, I'm happy you got it in the end, you deserved it more.

Advert not bad either

 
#11 · (Edited)
Amazing find that is Ben! I was kinda hoping one line in that you'd go for a 309 [emoji6] but the Xsara is something different and despite the age, rarer!

Always amazed with these that they look so harmless, yet with 170bhp at your disposal it'll surprise a few.

Might have to pop over for a tea & a biscuit at some point (since you said that you've got plenty of biscuit bait in stock for Danny)

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#14 ·
Ben,

Absolute little stunner! The car, not you (although you are a nice chap).

Really looking forward to this thread. That wee car is definitely worth some attention.

Re the cider slip-up, it reminded me of a song by one of my Dad's favourite country singers, Tom T Hall.



Eeeeevrybody.... I like beer.....

Cooks

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#20 · (Edited)
So, the great parts hunt has begun .....

Well, not so great really as it doesn't need much. What it does need is the exhaust system replacing.

The seller was telling me about the me bits it had had. Told me it had a new exhaust and a new cat. I asked if the cat was replaced when it failed the MOT on emmissions? He looked me in the eye with a wry smile and said:

'You've done your homework, haven't you'? He knew at this point I think that I was deadly serious about buying and that I knew my stuff and a lot about the car.

So, the exhaust. It has an aftermarket cat on it (£120.....not sure how great that's going to be but it passed the emmissions test..) and clearly a pattern centre section and back box. It's got an odd raspy rattle, along with an odd deeper noise. The exhaust also sits well off centre of the bumper cut out, and about 3-4" too back back into the bumper. Its the only bit that looks rubbish and that i can't live with.

Now, given the engine is an XU10J4RS, I figured it would be the same cat as the 306.....so I could use my Rallye one. On the Ph1 cars, it was.....Ph2 was different. Different end on the manifold and cat, meaning different fittings. Bugger.

So the magic lamp that is Facebook messenger was rubbed and the parts genie appeared.......! VIN number handed over....and waited.

The centre section is still available from dealers but we suspect it's a special order part. £177. Hmmmmmm. Back box the news wasn't so good initially. NLA. Never three letters I want to see but, the genie being what he is, may have located one in Belgium at a dealers he's done lots with. RRP is circa £200. Waiting on news now on that one.

The cat is laughable. Not sure on availability, but RRP, for a catalytic converter for this car is.....(I'd advise sitting down).....

£2595. For a cat. WTF. I need to find a breaker.

Whilst investigating the centre section, I discovered there are a large number of centre sections for this engine/model combo. The really interesting part is they differ in length from 1390mm to 1500mm. That's a difference of up to 110mm, or just over 4" in old money. If I were a betting man, I'd wager that's why my exhaust sits as far back as it does. The centre section will be too short. Quite how you get a difference of 4" between original and pattern, I don't know.....

So, collection is planned for Friday morning (I have the day off, as does the wife). Hopefully get there for 11-11:30, do the deal and head home. It's 90 mile home so hoping to be home for 13:30. Then a detailed inspection can begin.

Properly excited at the mo! Howmanyleft.co.uk is a little confusing as to the results....



Not sure if the difference between the two is the difference in phase (Ph1 or 2) or engine size (Ireland markets had a 1.8 engined VTS) but clicking the engines tab for both results shows most are the 2.0 variety. More sleuthing required on that one but either way, there isn't a huge amount of them left!
 
#21 · (Edited)
Morning Ben,
Good to see the Genie working his magic again, if there's one thing he loves, it's a challenge [emoji1303]

Always amazing on the French cars just how many quirks there are and unnecessary changes across the parts range. Do other folk find this with other manufacturers?

With regard to the how many left, it may just be the way in which the original dealership has filled out and submitted the paperwork upon its first registration.

I found this out when I was collecting data of Mk1 Saxo VTS' for a register. I noticed when people were providing me with their details, that the majority showed up correctly as being Citroen Saxo VTS, yet some would only come up as Citroen Saxo. I knew from the VIN numbers provided that cars were all correct genuine VTS, so why the difference?

Well...

One lad had filled out the old V888 form for past owners & vehicle history which, on return DVLA did used to include a copy of the original form submitted by the dealership to register the car... and as suspected in handwritten writing the salesman had only written Citroen Saxo.

So in summary, how many left is a decent guide, BUT it's at the mercy of how the cars were originally registered and seemingly who was filling out the form. Which would be a tad annoying as that lads V5 just says Citroen Saxo without reference to VTS. (Would be pretty annoying if a Rallye was recorded just as a Peugeot 306, or a 309 GTI Goodwood being recorded simply as Peugeot 309 [emoji85])

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#22 ·
Morning Ben,
Do other folk find this with other manufacturers?

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Yes it does - had an ECU failure on my partners Fiat Panda 5 years ago - dealership ordered one based on the VIN plate, wrong one sent (completely different electrical connector, 24 pin versus 32 pin from recollection but could have the numbers wrong) - second one sent sorted the issue. Had wexactly the same problem on an ABS recall on that car too - wrong abs module sent initially. I started to think the car had been a parts bin special, but other than the ecu failure it was an absolutely faultless car in the 6 years we had it

Online parts places also get things wrong, even down to service items like oil filters where oem part numbers are not what the dealers/oem parts listings say. Probably fit, but thats not quite the point.
 
#28 ·
Patience gentlemen, patience. All good things etc :lol:

Rights, she's home. Wife had a docs appointment first so we left at 9:45. Got there for 11:30, did the deed, swapped the monies and jumped in and headed home.

Now, I never drove it on the test drive as I wasn't insured (company car blah blah blah etc). First thing I notice is the front end is a bit wallowy and the tracking, as I told Cookies, is so far out it's out out.....other than that, all good, apart from the square of black tape on the instrument binnacle covering the engine management light. I'm not sure how I missed that......still, the light isn't on other than when it should be at start up so suspect an earlier MOT budge, possibly around the emissions.

Stopped at a garage on the way, filled up with super unleaded and thought I'd check the tyre pressures. 24 & 27, when they should be 38. That will explain the feel of the front. Blew them all up and set off. Immediately felt much better. As said, the tracking needs doing and the wheels need balancing (both fronts and rears vibrate at different speeds)

The rest of the drive home was fairly uneventful. Classic XU10J4RS stuff. Fairly normal sub 4k rpm, wind it up and it comes alive!





This shows how off the exhaust is.....annoying the hell out of me!



So, she's home. I'll get busy this weekend!
 
#31 ·
Get her properly clean and keep it! Be worth sitting on this for a while I think and it gives me something else to do while the Rallye is ongoing.

Has a massive pile of history. Has every single MOT certificate bar one. An old V5 so I have the names and addresses now of all the owners.....a lot to go through!









Big clean planned for this weekend!
 
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