Playing banger nomics for the missus –

Her dads found us a megane – pile of shite he was pressuring us to take it but its leaking like a sieve when hot and needs a timing belt in aboit 4k ……

Found a 98xsara with a 1.9d with fsh , slow but good for 200k plus – how ever where to look and listen for to avoid ending up to my elbows in green suspension fluid ?

Xsaras don’t have the funky Citroen suspension, so they’ll be fine. I had a 98-reg one, thought it was brilliant. Diesel was bombproof.

Sister crashed it three times before it was written off. Note that air intake is low; don’t drive through floods.

things to look at

directions to nearest scrappie……….

Same car as the Peugeot 306 so many of the same problems but non of the boy racer abused rubbish. Lots owned by older people.

Rear beams – the bearings in the trailing arms eventually go. New beam time normally. £80 to replace the bearings and seals if you are lucky parts).

Engines – great. Look for a bosch pump one or convert to bosch pump and injectors and you can run on veg oil. Citroen may be Bosch already.

Turbo could be worn out but easy to find a new one.

Air filter is also sometimes low down in a metal box so check for rust before winter as water can get in.

Gerboxes should be fine.

clutch may be heavy due to conversion to RHD takes the cable past the exhaust.

Rear beam is my only real concern tbh.

It should be a 1.9TD, shouldn’t it? I had the ZX (previous model of the Xsara) and it was pretty nippy, shade over 10seconds to 60.

They did do a non turbo d. My mate had one, painfully slow, didn’t have it for long

I have a Xsara Picasso 2.0 hdi 120k on the clock

To be fair its not a bad car but it will not set the world on fire

Issues only the rear beam suspension but it is exactly the same as the Peugoet 306/406, mine is still ok just had a mot no issues

Older berlingo with same engine?
Insurance might then be a shade cheaper.

You won’t kill the engine too easily, it’ll go on anything oily, even sunflower oil (my Pug has the same oil burner as I felt obliged to try it) from Lidl.

The engines with a Bosch pump will run on anything, mine had a Lucas pump which means anything except diesel is a big no no.

I’ve run a 1999 normally aspirated xsara diesel estate for the last five years and so far the only expenditure, apart from consumables like pads, tyres and exhaut, has been on a cam belt and new clutch. There’s no real acceleration to speak of but it flys along on motorways and averages 45mpg. Only servicing its had is new oil and filter every year.

Just check all the electronic items – the biggest issue with Frech cars!

We had a ZX, which is mechanically pretty similar – same as a 306 or Xsara. No hydraulic suspension.

Electrics were a bit ropey – only 5 fuses or so for the whole car, clocks worked as and when they felt like it. It was galvanised but failed it’s MOT on rust in the seam in front of the petrol tank, under the rear seats. Seam sealing seems pretty poor – brush on stuff rather than the thick squirted in stuff VW use. General build quality was poor – sunroof leaked, things rattled.

The old 1.9D (XUD I think) is steady but will last forever.

TBH I’d look for something else – I bought the ZX for naff all with full service history, an interor that stank of fags and dogs, and not a great deal of miles on the clock. We ended up scrapping it at something ridiculous like 85k because it wasn’t worth fixing.

I’d go for MK1 Focus or late MK3 Golf if you want something with a reasonable “image” for a grand. If you really don’t give a monkeys about image, you can get a Daewoo Lanos for bugger all with very few miles. Interior is typical far eastern economy car horror, but you tend to get aircon and the mechanicals are Vauxhall based.

Ah i was confusing it with a xantia my mate had – with hydropnumatics

Off to have a look see i think .

Has fsh and mot / tax for a year 450 quid . Same engine as me van – very slow but who cares 🙂