New member maybe selling maybe not

[CJS]

Hello. First step outside XM-L which I joined in 2002 but it is very quiet there now. I got my first XM in 1994, previous car was a BX 1.9 diesel and I remember the day I picked up that 1990 SED wondering what on earth I had bought. Such a big car and now I get in anything smaller and wonder why the windscreen is so close.

When that first SED head gasket went in 2001 I bought a V6 Exclusive Estate but then repaired and kept the SED. I've taken the mileage of the V6 from about 100k miles to 155k, but living in London suburbs and working from home my main need for a car is 800 mile return trips to our work-in-progress second home in Normandy. The V6 does this brilliantly, but anyone who travels that route knows it is very hilly either side of Rouen and the V6 does not deliver the near 30mpg it can return on a flat motorway. There was some debate on XM-L at one point, with the usual claims of 40mpg at 90mph from a PRV V6, 60mpg from a diesel. Even diesels, and we now have a mummy wagon C4 Grand Picasso, give lower returns on that run to Normandy. As I noted on XM-L, one issue with taking the V6 to France is when I get there I refuse to put petrol into the old Porsche 928 (nothing special, 200k+ miles) that I have garaged there so the 928 has only done a couple of hundred miles in the past four years which is a waste. In recent years we have had near parity sterling/euro making petrol in France very expensive at times and diesel is cheaper there, although not as much as it was. The lower petrol price is confusing my plans for which car to keep, but I guess it will be expensive again by the summer when we want to drive somewhere.

I had stopped using the SED for the France run as two or three years ago after repiping the rear an intermittent coolant leak developed (just a hose I think) and i didn't have time to look, poor thing has sat in the drive since and its lacquer is shot. I should have just repaired the SED but I make great use of the estate space on long runs so bought a 2.5 diesel estate, my first cloth seat XM, that had a bulging file of receipts from a specialist. Based on paper vs. state of the car evidence I'm pleased I do my own maintenance. I love the V6, by comparison the 2.5 is just an interesting car with a leaking sunroof. I then kept the V6 because it is so much sounder and nicer than the 2.5.

For a long time I have known disccussions about XMs are really about different cars. The 2.1 diesel manual pulls like a train at 70mph, turbo singing just right, while a V6 auto is sublime around town and effortless in any situation. The V6 top spec estate is a truly special car but at the end of March the tax and insurance are due and as a family man (came to it late) do I really need five cars insured (XM,XM,C4GP,928,Z3)?

So I might post later about selling a V6 based in Twickenham. Or I might keep it. Took it to Asda last night when it was quiet, only a couple of miles but includes a 40 mph dual carriageway and a couple of big roundabouts designed for the auto box, the V6 still feels as fun/presidential as the day I went to buy it in 2001.

Anyway that's me. Or rather my cars.

Chris
(would drive that V6 until the end of time but diesel makes more sense in France)

[White Exec]

Welcome, Chris!

Decisions, decisions...
One more possible contestant for the melting pot: our 2.5 is Superchipped, done back in 1999. Pulls like a steam train at 50, 70, 90 and beyond. Averages 34mpg, 38-39 motorway and transcontinental runs, with now 97k on the clock.
Gave up on petrol years ago (a 19RD for us too) and couldn't contemplate it now, in retirement.

[rustytractor]

Hello. First step outside XM-L which I joined in 2002 but it is very quiet there now. I got my first XM in 1994, previous car was a BX 1.9 diesel and I remember the day I picked up that 1990 SED wondering what on earth I had bought. Such a big car and now I get in anything smaller and wonder why the windscreen is so close.

When that first SED head gasket went in 2001 I bought a V6 Exclusive Estate but then repaired and kept the SED. I've taken the mileage of the V6 from about 100k miles to 155k, but living in London suburbs and working from home my main need for a car is 800 mile return trips to our work-in-progress second home in Normandy. The V6 does this brilliantly, but anyone who travels that route knows it is very hilly either side of Rouen and the V6 does not deliver the near 30mpg it can return on a flat motorway. There was some debate on XM-L at one point, with the usual claims of 40mpg at 90mph from a PRV V6, 60mpg from a diesel. Even diesels, and we now have a mummy wagon C4 Grand Picasso, give lower returns on that run to Normandy. As I noted on XM-L, one issue with taking the V6 to France is when I get there I refuse to put petrol into the old Porsche 928 (nothing special, 200k+ miles) that I have garaged there so the 928 has only done a couple of hundred miles in the past four years which is a waste. In recent years we have had near parity sterling/euro making petrol in France very expensive at times and diesel is cheaper there, although not as much as it was. The lower petrol price is confusing my plans for which car to keep, but I guess it will be expensive again by the summer when we want to drive somewhere.

I had stopped using the SED for the France run as two or three years ago after repiping the rear an intermittent coolant leak developed (just a hose I think) and i didn't have time to look, poor thing has sat in the drive since and its lacquer is shot. I should have just repaired the SED but I make great use of the estate space on long runs so bought a 2.5 diesel estate, my first cloth seat XM, that had a bulging file of receipts from a specialist. Based on paper vs. state of the car evidence I'm pleased I do my own maintenance. I love the V6, by comparison the 2.5 is just an interesting car with a leaking sunroof. I then kept the V6 because it is so much sounder and nicer than the 2.5.

For a long time I have known disccussions about XMs are really about different cars. The 2.1 diesel manual pulls like a train at 70mph, turbo singing just right, while a V6 auto is sublime around town and effortless in any situation. The V6 top spec estate is a truly special car but at the end of March the tax and insurance are due and as a family man (came to it late) do I really need five cars insured (XM,XM,C4GP,928,Z3)?

So I might post later about selling a V6 based in Twickenham. Or I might keep it. Took it to Asda last night when it was quiet, only a couple of miles but includes a 40 mph dual carriageway and a couple of big roundabouts designed for the auto box, the V6 still feels as fun/presidential as the day I went to buy it in 2001.

Anyway that's me. Or rather my cars.

Chris
(would drive that V6 until the end of time but diesel makes more sense in France)

Simple solution - keep the V6, sell the place in France and buy another house 400 yards from where you live.

When you want to go to your holiday home (which is now only 400 yards away) take the long, 20 mile round the houses route just for the hell of it.

These V6 engines make the compromise well worthwhile !

[Dean]

I am loving the logic if not the practicality of your argument rusty, gave me a chuckle.

D

[captainhaddock]

Yes good idea rustytractor but I would not follow it up CJS I do longer trips than you to France, and I agree with the petrol issue. I'd sell the German cars but hey, that's me. And the C4 too. That will give you some petrol money But Chris's idea of super chipping is probably best but don't know about guarantee above 100K ??

I'll try and stick to the slow 2.1 for now. But good luck with the decision making, not easy surely!

[rustytractor]

I was never exactly known for being sensible with my decisions or solutions to problems but it keeps my other half on her toes that's for sure !

In general I get around 18mpg in my V6 used every day around town. On a run with 4 people and luggage get around 30mpg.

Considering most of my other cars do around 8mpg in town and max 20 on a run the V6 is positively frugal.

[CJS]

Thank you all for your quick comments, apologies for my slow return to the forum after first posting. It's the old being self employed I get to choose which 100 hours a week I work. As some of you will no doubt be quite techy, I have been trying to get round how an existing electronic design of mine is to be installed in what they call overvoltage category iii. This means designing for 4kV lightning transients rather than 2.5kV for something plugged into the wall.

White Exec, Captain Haddpck and I suffer the diesel being cheaper abroad problem, so although the V6 estate has travelled to Normandy countless times it isn't the best car for that trip. Rustytractor is right, the V6 is worth the sacrifice but I have a small person now and need to be a bit more sensible. For anyone commuting say 10 miles to work in traffic that moves, plus some other trips around the UK, and doesn't have lots of other cars taxed and insured, the V6 is the one to have.

I can't get rid of the German cars because I had a poster of a 928 on my wall when it launched and I was 12 years old. I had to have one. Just like I sat in an XM when they launched, I had to have one. But I bought my first XM in 1994 and now have three. I don't need three. The Z3 was a gift to her indoors, ironically at a time when we didn't think a small person would be along. Then for the first time in years she got a GP who actually knew stuff, one visit to the keyhole laser beam surgeon lady, two months later small person on way with Z3 barely driven so some fun still to be had with it. I hate the thing, like driving a toddler's toy car. So much scuttle shake. Low roof. Travelled as the passenger from Normandy via Calais once, head tilted, neck hurt for weeks. Once got out and banged my head so hard on the roof frame that I collapsed on the floor in swearing pain. But it means a lot to the better half.

Rustytractor, folk have second homes in France because they cost the same as a bag of frites. If I could afford a second home in London then likely I could afford to leave London for good, stop working and simply live in France all the time. However, last time I asked about XM insurance costs if I put French plates on one or three of them, the French class the XM as a luxury vehicle and insurance quotes were silly. So then I'd have to get a Peugeot 205 or one of those cars the French drive without a licence.

With small person now here, and it being unlikely we will get to France once a month like we used to, assuming it isn't better to just tow a trailer behind an XM, I may end up with a Grand Espace. Complete with modern, unreliable diesel engine. Which I will regret no doubt.

Anyway, nobody's piped up wanting a V6 estate. I may well tax and insure at the end of the month, again. Too good not to.

Chris

[CJS]

3XMs.jpg

Replying to self, but to conclude the V6 decision before posting proper questions elsewhere, I retaxed and reinsured on the 1st April. So £450 lighter to keep the insured UK fleet at four cars when I don't drive most days. Must be mad. V6 MOT expires in a couple of weeks, needs two tyres and a small sill weld. The rear tyres were on the car and not new when I bought in 2001 at 105k miles. Now at 155k, I never rotated the tyres as I was interested how long the rears would last but the tyre walls have cracked while there is still plenty of tread. One of the biggest estates ever made and you can't wear out tyres in 50k miles. Welding materials are going to cost more than they should, I'm fed up with the disposable MIG gas canisters so am going for Hobbyweld even though I only weld every couple of years and will need to weld less if the fleet is reduced.

Having kept the V6, I have continued to use it for all local trips. Looks, comfort, ceremony it is in a different league to the 'practical' 2.5 VSX estate. In due course I will likely try to sell the V6 here with hopefully a new MOT or if it is only worth £200 then I'll take ten years to move bits over and transform the 2.5 into Exclusive spec. Would be sad to do that.

I spent too long cleaning the part tatty, part shiny SED on Sunday. 1990G, owned since 1994. Over 200k miles and I'm stood there wondering about getting it back on the road. Inlaws think I'm an idiot, thankfully her indoors can see it's harmless enough. The SED was so early that it carries engine number 8, that alone means it shouldn't just be thrown away surely.

I forgot to reply to the helpful comment about chipping the 2.5, not really worth it at 185k miles but it recently did well on a quick 800 mile return to France where diesel is an acceptable 80p-ish a litre. Same could be said of LPG on the V6, never done because I feared it going wrong but now at 155k miles it is too much of an investment even if you trust the installers.

[Dean]

If the V6 is clean and trouble free I would say probably closer to 2k than 200, even dog eared XM go for 500 these days.

D

[CJS]

Thanks Dean. I had noticed ebay prices that used to be extremes of a few hundred pounds or Wolsey House £3k were now narrowing but didn't know whether people were actually buying at these higher prices. I have felt for a long time if I couldn't get £1500 for the V6 then the leather, alloys, black (not grey like the 2.5) interior, working displays (both duff in 2.5), original CD changer etc. etc. would make it difficult not to break the V6. Also if someone only wants to give me a small amount for it, what chances it will get the care that it deserves? I even waxoyl underneath all cars in the fleet before every MOT. One reason I still have one of the 30-ish XM V6 Exc Estates is I feel like a custodian.

Just pricing two tyres each for V6 and 2.5, Energy Saver H rather than V rated would save me £64 but I'll likely get V rated to be original. Have to admit some V6 toys don't work. AC condenser holed, cruise switch got kicked to death while I was leanng out of the left window to pay on a French motorway (I now get out of the car), ridiculously minor oil loss that doesn't show up on dipstick but does burn on outside of exhaust after being parked for weeks - simple cam cover reseal needed. However, always starts instantly - so much so that I am still surprised by it. When I did the head gaskets it took me months, put it together, started first turn. Would be a good car for someone, I just have too many cars and it doesn't help her indoors won't drive the XMs even though the C4 is more difficult to drive with its jumpy EGS clutch and poor rear visibility.

On your DIY signature, I bought a house 20 years ago with a marble bathroom floor, then it cracked, then I realised the bathroom had been two rooms knocked into one and they should have done something with the joists. Started the job and the bathroom floor has not been complete since...because I have too many cars!