My well travelled XM...

[jorgy]

THIS

[David Hallworth]

Somebody asked me yesterday how many miles I do in my XM and Activa every year and it got me thinking... I wasn't sure so I dug out the old MOT's this evening and had a look.

I've actually done a lot less then I thought I had...

XM Mileage:



I took the XM out for a run today whilst Simon was visiting and fell in love with it again. It really is a cracking car to be in, everything is nice and tight, it drives like new and makes me smile every time I drive it. That's one reason I'm glad I don't use it very often as it makes it a very special car every time I do use it. Last year it only did 323 miles!

Activa Mileage:



I bought the Activa from Southampton in December 2007. It was MOT'd in May 2008 and that summer I used it to commute weekly from Glasgow - Leeds and back so it did about 6000 miles that summer. At this point I decided I was going to wreck it using it daily and I didn't want to use it through the winter so I parked it up that September and later that year I bought the R32. In 2011 I decided to get it MOT'd, it then came home from that and went straight back into the garage under it's cover. Last year when I was looking at buying a 207 GTi my dad reminded me that the Activa was in the garage so I dug it out and started to use it. This summer I've spent somewhere between £2500 and £3000 on it doing the V6 conversion... It's totally transformed the car and has made it a complete joy to drive. It still hasn't passed 52,500 miles though which means it's covered less then 400 miles since it's MOT. I really need to start making more time to use these cars

And to carry on with that statement above, the XM will be making an appearance at the 25th Birthday Bash in a fortnights time

David.

[David Hallworth]

I had the XM out for a run a while back, just 10 miles going round the lanes at home. Got some lovely pictures of it with the sun setting.

[citsncycles]

I don't think I could use a car as little as that while it's road legal - I think I've almost done that much since buying mine in June, and have had to switch back to the BX to stop me running out of miles on the insurance! Lovely motor though!

[Jan-hendrik]

My XM is my daily transport but I've done only about 33,000 km in the past 7 years. The odometer now shows 69k km, which is about 43k miles
I don't keep it wrapped in cotton wool. Little scratches and dents appear from time to time. It's a car meant to be driven. My grandchildren crawl over the leather seats with their shoes and boots on. I got used to that The nose is being repaired right now after I parked it into the fence opposite my garage. The damage was not too bad, but the coolant radiator sprung leaks almost from top to bottom on the right side. Miraculously the importer still had a new replacement, so that was a quick fix. They haven't started getting rid of their stocked parts yet, it seems, even though the ES9J4 is a rare beast in this country. Insurance covers 100% of repair to the vehicle and the neigbour's fence. The vehicle itself is insured for 1.3 million yen and there is no arguing about what the car is worth in today's market. There is no pay out limit on the fence repair. I'll have to pay a higher insurance premium next year though, from 70,000 to 110,000 yen per year. These premiums coming down again each year if no claims are made. I was given a Toyota Corolla Hybrid on loan, which came out just this year, and I was astonished about its mileage: average on 200 km, 30.1 km/ltr! My XM returns 12.5 km/ltr. Guess I don't need to go into the details as to why.
When the XM bored itself into the fence I had visions of the end of my Citroen driving experience and reverting to a Hybrid something, but NO, not just yet. I'll hold out a bit longer, see if I can get the suspension to work as it was meant to when new . . .

[citsncycles]

I have a 9 mile each way commute to work, plus most of my days off are currently spent at the barn I rent 50 miles away! Total annual mileage is usually around 15,000, split between a 125cc Honda bike and whatever cars or vans I have on the road at the time. Currently I have the XM and BX Estate on the road and hope to have the Visa on the road soon. Both BX and XM are on limited mileage policies, but the Visa will be on a standard policy as it's best suited to local running round and commuting.

Other than when I was driving 40 miles a day for a commute between 1999 and 2002, I've always run vehicles that were either old, unusual or both, and have rarely driven something less than 20 years old - quite often they've been at least twice that age! The XM is the most modern car I've ever owned!

[David Hallworth]

Just a short update tonight... I got sent a link to this earlier from Ian Seabrook, a motoring journalist, and Citroen enthusiast.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wu-Sxjssg48" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

He drove my XM at the XM 25th gathering and has managed to put a video together. It's a shame my exhaust started to blow on the way to that event as you can hear it in the video

David.

[dollywobbler]

It still sounds fabulous. Thanks very much for letting me borrow your car for that. As you can see by me being here, it was responsible for tipping me into XM ownership! (Will's red turbo diesel starting the process back in February 2014).

[David Hallworth]

Not a problem Glad it convinced you to venture over to the dark side!

David.

[Eddie nuff]

Only moan I can have about the video is a minor one. When waxing lyrical about the design of the car back in 89 it would have been better if a S1 car had been used to show this, as the original lines of the car show up much better with the black/grey plastics.

Other than that a very impressive sounding motor. I do like the sound of the V6, and would certainly like to have one, but it isn't at the top of my list.