I've always driven diesel cars, and more to the point French diesel predominantly from Citroen and Peugeot [ntably the same company, PSA Group].
Having traded in my 1.9D Citroen ZX Avantage with 150, 000 miles on the clock, I was really looking forward to my first ever brand new car. My main requirements were safety and economy, two qualities the Citroen Xsara SX 110HDi has plenty of.
The engine is great, really responsive and lacks the 'tractor sound and vibration' earlier incarnations of the common rail diesel had. Put your foot down, and it goes some, and more.
Road handling/suspension is fine, ride 'comfortable', but what irritated me the most were annoying rattles and problems from the day it was driven out of the showroom.
The worst was a widely inccurate fuel gauge [a common problem amoung Citroen Xsara owners] which would report one minute as having a quarter of a tank, later it jad jumped to 3/4 etc- in all highly erratic. The problem has only just been fixed 2 1/2 years later, after a total of 8 visits to 3 separate Citroen garages. Annoying rattles in front cockpit, and rear seat catches aside, it is fine, not great.
It as been a totally reliable car, never having broken down or any major problems [often associated with new cars] to complain of.
My major criticism is that of depreciation- if Citroen invested more resources and budget into manufacturing cars with top-build quality and reliability, rather than 'cheap', 'value' etc, the residual valuewould be greatly improved. Look what happened since VW's acquisition of SKODA- no longer the butt of all jokes. After all, to have lost about 60% of the ORR price in less than 3 years is far too high.
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