New member from Finland

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fin-Xm-Y4
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Joined: Sun Jul 01, 2018 5:40 pm

New member from Finland

Post by fin-Xm-Y4 » Sun Jul 01, 2018 6:26 pm

Hello! I'm a new member here, I live in Finland and I've been driving many different Citroen's from late 80's (2CV's, AX, BX, Xantia's, C5..). I bought my first Xm 2.0i Berline (Saloon) 1995 (Y4) last year, it has been imported from Holland around 10 years ago by a local Citroen parts seller, and it has been serviced at the time quite totally. It has stainless steel exhaustion pipes and it has been protected against corrotion (importand issue here in north, since during the winter the roads are sprayed with salt liquid to prevent ice on the road). So fortunatelly my Xm is in pretty good condition what comes to rust. Some electrical issues are though, for example the central locking system works depending on humidity, moon phase or something paranormal phenomenon :D

When I bought this Xm, there was a hydraulic pipe broken from the rear, and we changed most of the pipes at the rear, and disassembled, cleaned and changeg new seals and assembled the height adjustment valve at the rear. A few weeks after this there was a leak in the right hand hydraulic cylinder at the rear, I got a second hand cylinder with new seals and a rubber bag, and we changed these. During the disassembling of the pipe coming to cylinder, we had to use guite much force (this is common issue here in north, the corrotion isn't a nice matter..) so the pipe itself got some injuries. This was a tricky thing, there aren't any new parts to get, so I got some advices from fellow Citroen enthusisast's, and went to a local shop and they made me a new flexible hose with correct connectors.

Xm has been driven totally around 280 000 kilometers now, and I use it daily. We had a decent winter, temperature was from minus 10 to minus 25 degrees C, and all I did I installed the cover on the air intake panel below front bumber and a aluminium sheet under the engine to prevent the cold air to cool the oil pan. This is quite important to prevent the engine ventilation pipes freezing (and when this happens, the engine spills out part of the oil from the oil checking stic tube). I drive around 200 km to my work and back, and there were'nt any problems at all in the winter, in most days (even in coldest days) I had to adjust the heating to around 70 % of maximum, otherwise it would had been too hot in the cabin :) Xm is a fine car to drive in winter, it drives like a train in snowy roads and the height adjustment is a great feature if there has been snowing a lot. In those days it is fun to watch German cars to stuck in snow, get in Xm, lift the height and just drive easily away 8-)

I decided to register in this forum to get information and advices to technical issues.
Xm 2.0i Berline 1995

Julianw
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Re: New member from Finland

Post by Julianw » Sun Jul 01, 2018 8:13 pm

Welcome to the forum! You have made some good repairs and even modifications to your XM to cope with the extreme cold and it has rewarded you with lots of trouble free mileage. Really good to hear that it works so well for you as a daily driver. It would be good to see some pictures of it doing what it does best in the snow, if you can!

Julian

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White Exec
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1996 2.5TD saloon, Exclusive, Polar White
1992 BX19D Millesime, Sable Phenicien
Location: ex-Ealing, Cheshire, W.Sussex & Surrey. Now living in Sayalonga (Malaga, Spain)

Re: New member from Finland

Post by White Exec » Sun Jul 01, 2018 9:19 pm

One more welcome to you. Always found XM really sure-footed and reassuring in snow and cold, and good traction with all that weight over the front wheels. Interesting to learn what you've done to keep the icy blasts away from coolant pipework and sump. Does the car still have its large plastic 'under-tray', or has that been removed?

XM's heating and AC system was apparently designed to deliver comfortable cabin temperatures with outside temp anywhere between -50C and +50C. Sounds as if you're giving that a good work-out!

Do post some photos when you can. Are there any other XMs in your area?
Chris
1996 XM 2.5TD Exclusive RP7165 Polar White
1992 BX19D Millesime RP5800 Sable
1989 BX19RD Delage Red Deceased; 1998 ZX 1.9D Avantage auto Triton Green Company car 1998..2001; 2001 Xantia 1.8i auto Wicked Red Company car 2001..2003

fin-Xm-Y4
XM newbie
Posts: 8
Joined: Sun Jul 01, 2018 5:40 pm

Re: New member from Finland

Post by fin-Xm-Y4 » Mon Jul 02, 2018 10:19 pm

Hi, it's nice to be here. In May 2018 there was only 43 XM's (registered and in use) in whole Finland, so these are quite rare here. Of course, there are dozens of XM's so that they are registered but not driven and also dozens in use for spare parts. Total number (more or less sophisticated quess) could be around 150-200.

You have to remember that XM's were at the top of range in the 90's, and we had enormous taxes in the prices of new cars in those days. So they weren't so many imported after all, mostly they were bought by companies, especially the high-end modells. At 90's, Finland was mostly a land of grey Toyotas :/

For example, the Xantia was a success here at the same time. It was even chosen here in Finland as a "Winter Car of the Year" when it came in to markets. In May 2018 there were 610 Xantia's left, compared to 43 XM's...

In my area, there are 5-10 XM's, and they are very rarely seen in traffic. You can see, for example, Citroën C6:s more often than XM's.
Last edited by fin-Xm-Y4 on Tue Jul 03, 2018 11:52 am, edited 1 time in total.
Xm 2.0i Berline 1995

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MTXM
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Re: New member from Finland

Post by MTXM » Tue Jul 03, 2018 7:28 am

That is a fascinating insight and well done you for keeping an XM on the road! With regards, Matthew T.
1989 V6 Exclusive (Poland car) - Now living in a local Motor Museum!
1990 V6sei auto (grey auto)
1990 V6sei manual (gold car)
1990 V6.24 Pallas (Germany car)
1990 V6.24v (Scotland car)
Other previous XM sold and broken too many to mention!

Julianw
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Joined: Tue Dec 30, 2014 3:45 pm
Orga / RP numbers: 4937

Re: New member from Finland

Post by Julianw » Tue Jul 03, 2018 1:04 pm

Interesting, esp. that C6s are more common there!

fin-Xm-Y4
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Joined: Sun Jul 01, 2018 5:40 pm

Re: New member from Finland

Post by fin-Xm-Y4 » Tue Jul 03, 2018 9:08 pm

Did some studying about the prices of XMs here in Finland. In August 1996 prices (£ exchange currency from same date) were:

XM 2.0i 16V SX Berline > FIM 219,800.00 > £ 30,844.30
XM 2.0i 16V SX Break > FIM 229.800.00 > £ 32,247.61
XM 3.0i V6 Exclusive > FIM 338,800.00 > £ 47,543.47
(Toyota Corolla FX 1.4 Eco 5 door was around FIM 100,000.00 > £ 14,032.90)

The car tax was at the time at lowest 50% of the assessed value of the car.

The average wage in 1996 in Finland was FIM 140,000.00 > £ 19,646.06 So this explains a bit of why there were so few XMs imported here.

Don't know what the prices of XMs were in UK in 1996, but I believe that they were lower...
Xm 2.0i Berline 1995

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White Exec
Citroen God!
Posts: 6642
Joined: Fri Mar 11, 2011 7:38 pm
Orga / RP numbers: RP7165
1996 2.5TD saloon, Exclusive, Polar White
1992 BX19D Millesime, Sable Phenicien
Location: ex-Ealing, Cheshire, W.Sussex & Surrey. Now living in Sayalonga (Malaga, Spain)

Re: New member from Finland

Post by White Exec » Wed Jul 04, 2018 6:54 am

Our 2.5TD Exclusive berline was just over £29,000 list price new at the end of 1997.
Chris
1996 XM 2.5TD Exclusive RP7165 Polar White
1992 BX19D Millesime RP5800 Sable
1989 BX19RD Delage Red Deceased; 1998 ZX 1.9D Avantage auto Triton Green Company car 1998..2001; 2001 Xantia 1.8i auto Wicked Red Company car 2001..2003

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