) of your XM collection, or perhaps searching for those elusive headlight washer covers? This is the place to do it.
I collected 'VCV' today and I am quite impressed with it so far - it goes very well and the engine bay is spotless, strut tops look brand new, interior is very tidy and (almost) everything works.
It is the same colour as my Xantia by coincidence, I think it looks superb in this blue. It appears to be a cherished car but not perfect.
I missed it last time it was on ebay as, like many on here, I was suspicious of the first seller so I just watched the auction. When it appeared on Car and Classic wanting £2500 I thought NO. But when it reappeared as a no reserve auction I expected the bidding to go way above £2K due to the apparent bidding the last time but with only a few minutes to go it was still sitting low so I couldn't let it go without a bid - initially, my thoughts were that I'd bid 1750 region absolute max but expected to be outbid, I even reduced the bid in the last minute to a sneaky 1401.99 and only went and won the thing. I really expected it to go higher to be honest and I would forget about it all. Sure, the seller only paid just over £1K for it but even at 1400 it isn't bad.
Anyway, the exterior is as good as it looks: well-preserved paint and has been waxed. Mechanically it's not bad but I'll be changing the timing belt as a precaution, there's something worn on the front axle, a slackness, possibly a lower balljoint as it only seems to show during a carpark speed manoeuvre, the slushbox seems healthy in that it changes up and down, the fluid is said to be clean but I'll be checking myself, there's a front tyre that's out of balance at 70, possibly due to the 'old man' spec of the car, it's not been up to motorway speeds in years.. Temp gauge barely rose above 70 on the motorway - not sure how accurate it is but the fans cut in ok. Oil is clean and recently changed, coolant level ok. I'll be keeping a close watch on everything. All electrics do actually appear to work including the sunroof. The driver's door window switches are not good though as they feel oddly loose and the illumination is inop though the window operates ok - other doors are fine though. There are quite a few blown bulbs on the dash including the speedo and heater dials. The heater works ok but the central distribution dial doesn't seem to do anything so I suspect it's broken. Temp dial works as do all fan speeds. The left hand display works fine but the right hand one is just black, the seller says he thinks it's just bulbs but I wonder as I've seen these 'bleed' before. Still, it is one of the bulbs that doesn't work anyway..
Known issues:
ABS light came on for a while while driving but has stayed out for the whole journey. Occasional "inop stop lamps" message.
Main problem though is that the hydractive certainly doesn't work properly. The front end ride is smooth until it meets a bit of an undulation where it bounces. It seems choppy but not actually hard like you'd expect on a flat sphere, I wonder about this. Selecting sport mode doesn't appear to make any large difference and if anything, oddly I reckon the ride is better with it selected. It seems unbearably underdamped on normal mode and just a bit choppy up front in sport with a tendency to be quite smooth. Either way, both modes are ounce at the front. I am unsure if this model has hydractive 1 or 2 with it being a 'phase 1.5' L reg. The owner's book says "your vehicle has hydractive II" but of course it would all depend on the ORGA number I suppose?
Aside from the dodgy front suspension, as an XM newbie I have a few remarks to make about the model:
The variable intermittent wiper is brilliant, with the light snow, drizzle and general road spray on the journey back it was great.
The seats are the most comfortable I've used.
The partially - obscured passenger side mirror doesn't look like it's of even remote concern - you have a bit of a useless upper corner cut off - no biggy.
Foot parking brake needs some learning
Diesel Automatic. Yes, I was wondering what I was thinking going for a diesel AUTO! but in fact it seems to be pretty responsive and apart from the change between 2nd and 3rd, where it seems to want it to rev right up to almost 3k rpms before changing, i found the revs to stay quite low with it cruising at 70 ish at an indicated 2.5K rpms which is fine by me. It's not too slow off the mark at all for a 2.1 TD auto so not the horrid set up I'd feared ( I once owned a Xantia NON-turbo diesel auto and it was slow but with 28K on the clock and going for free I couldn't say no..) so I can certainly live with it for now.
The XM Mk2 allows actually do look quite nice on it so I'm not fussed about this.
Anyway, I finally got back to Glasgow from near Nottingham at about 8pm and it's dark so things like ORGA numbers will have to follow but I'll need tips from XMers regarding things to check on the wonky suspension in due course.
