What kind of mileages are XM's good for?

[casalingua]

I don´t think you can express it in miles or years. It depends on what parts cease becoming available as new or used spares. I face a supply problem with the Bendix ABS sensors and the pinion valve assembly on my 1990 car. The EMU is also out of production. Rust and wear are chronic but manageable problems in comparison. You can always drive less and keep the car dry but you can´t work around the difficulty of sourcing rare items.

[andmcit]

Mechanical bits and bobs may always be rare but still bought at a price
which may very well be more than is viable/justified. An often used saying
of mine when I part a spares car is you can always weld and fill metalwork
on the bodywork but you cannot weld glass.

[Dieselman]

Just one more thing! Don't let anyone tell you the handbrake is a big hassle on a manual car Vince!

It's all about getting the right sequence on controls which is intuitive and natural. You can have some
fun wading through this thread and it will spare me recounting my thoughts any further... lol

I have the ultimate solution to the parking brake and hill starts, I never use it other than when actually parking the car.

Foot on brake pedal, dip clutch, engage gear, clutch nearly to bite, foot off brake onto the Go pedal and drive off...

Simples...

[citroenmad]

Im not fussed on the size at all...ive driven all sorts.....what makes me nervous is you get to know your own car...what work has been done on it, its foibles, and generally how reliable and tempremental it is or can be. The XM will be driven back to Oldham from Anglesey and then pretty much sit around for a month until it gets insured and on the road. Then shortly after it will be driven down to St Leonards on the south coast, then a couple of days later, back up to London and back and then after touring around down there, all the way back up to Oldham again...thats a lot of miles in a short space of time....and all in a car that i dont know very well. Thats whats making me nervous.

Im sure everything will be fine, but i was the same with the Xantia when i bought that....and that worked out great

I was the same with my Prestige Vince, it had been used as a daily driver but only doing very small local miles and not every day use. After a quite looking over, a oil and filter service and some spheres, I completed 1200 miles in a week with it and 2000 miles in the first month. I was a bit on edge about it but it has proved to be a reliable thing and didn't really create any further problems other than the things I had known about, some of which are repaired now.

Its always the same with a new to you car, you'll soon get to know it

[Vince]

Just one more thing! Don't let anyone tell you the handbrake is a big hassle on a manual car Vince!

It's all about getting the right sequence on controls which is intuitive and natural. You can have some
fun wading through this thread and it will spare me recounting my thoughts any further... lol

http://club-xm.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.ph ... 763&p=7563

Ah, Chris mentioned having three feet comes in handy ...TBH i only use the handbrake when im parked up....its easier to use the footbrake and then jump straight to biting point...once im used to the biting point on the xm of course....a few hundred miles of touring should sort that out

[Dieselman]

iirc, Vince is getting a diesel, isn't He? If so, the low down torque make s the need to rev the engine at pull away, redundant.

[Vince]

Your right Chris im really looking forward to the xm now and having the time to really drive it!

On the spares front....i work in the trade so have great contacts for finding things, but forums like these will often provide access to hard to source parts.....isnt that part of the charm of running older cars?

[citroenmad]

I rarely use the handbrake on the manual XM while driving, only when its parked. Its very easy to do so though and you soon get into a habbit of applying it if you need to do steep hill starts. I don't like the bang which the handbrake makes when it comes off, so always have my foot on it anyway, unless on a steep hill of course!

Your right Chris im really looking forward to the xm now and having the time to really drive it!

On the spares front....i work in the trade so have great contacts for finding things, but forums like these will often provide access to hard to source parts.....isnt that part of the charm of running older cars?

Most parts are still available, if not new then you fill find them somewhere.

[steelcityuk]

The 2.5 estate I had was bought from London, drove to home to Sheffield and given a basic service (oil & filters). Then in the next 2 weeks driven to Bridlington and back followed by being loaded up to the roof and driven to Devon and back. All with no problems despite it having a crack in every head chamber - I didn't know until I rebuilt the engine. PSA diesels are pretty good. Fuel wise the TCT was terrible, especially on LPG (as low as 15mpg), the 2.5 TD was OK for such a large car (32mpg) and the 2.1 TDs are good (40+), all these figures on the same very short commute.

Steve.

[Vince]

Thanks for the confidence boost. I am confident in the xm I'm picking up being able to handle the trip. Paul has been ill unfortunately recently so it may be an extra week longer to wait.....I'm the worst guy for waiting when I'm buying something....it's been torture since I decided to buy it....luckily I'm mad busy at work so time is flying by each week.