User Reviews

1.6 16v LX 5dr hatchback

G. Thomas

Overall Rating

My Xsara was heavy on the steering - a real nuisance to park and pull away on roads with camber, generally heavy when pulling off. Maybe I was unlucky and got the one with the dud steering but I found the steering on a fully loaded Ford Transit felt as light as a feather after driving my Xsara. Foot/pedal space is poor - my size 10s kept kicking the fuse box plastics when I got out and my head had no option but to bump the ceiling going over bumps. Quite cramped. Acceleration poor from first, slow to get away. Felt crashy, accelerating and braking. Faulty fuel gauge. ECU reset itself to 0 for service warning all by itself. Car was good on motorways - responsive and quick, but heck, I usually drove in town where there was a noticeable roll going at normal speed around corners. I always had the feeling that this Xsara tried hard to be a grown-up car without actually achieving it. It was reliable, though it should have been as it was still only 3 years old when I got rid of it. It felt like an well-groomed horse that you want to run better but simply won't. It also had a constant whining from a rear wheel. had this checked by Citroen and a Renault garage - the brakes were OK; the whining was something I just had to live with... Which reminds me, the mother-in-law said it wasn't very comfortable sitting in the back either! But they are cheap used!

1.4 SX Coupé

Roy Sanders

Overall Rating

Competent all round. One of the best in class for reliability, and comfort allied to roadholding is superb. Design is simple and neat.

1.9D X 5dr Hatchback

Simon

Overall Rating

We bought a 1999 Xsara 1.9D X at the end of summer '06. Although the car is the base model, we wanted a car that didn't have electric windows that would fail after a year or so. The car has proved to be very reliable and has very good handling in the corners (and Wales has plenty!) It does a 90-mile round trip twice a week and returns around 60mpg, with 45mpg around town. It's a little sluggish pulling away, but soon winds up and is a great cruiser both on the motorway and on rural roads. Make sure you buy one that has had the cam belt (timing belt) done as they are not cheap to replace. Parts are cheap if you buy from GSF car parts or similar. We assume that interior parts are expensive, because ours was broken into and many switches etc were stolen, along with the spare wheel and jack! Not for the 'boy/girl racer' but a very good practical all rounder that gives very good handling, torque & mpg.