Citroen Xsara HDI

[swansea v6]

I need a cheap runaround for the boss and our little one year old and have been offered a Xsara hdi but I know nothing about them, except that they are similar to the 306. So what are they like for running costs, reliability etc?? anything to particularly look out for?

[TheTurbonator]

The HDI engine is actually fairly bullet proof as long as it's been serviced and maintained. It's the last engine before Citroen and Peugeot started getting complicated with DPF's and having reliability problems with their Diesel's.

However as with all French cars the weakest link is the electrics. Make sure everything works and everything works at the same time especially the lights and rear light clusters.

A decent one which has been looked after and avoids the electrical gremlins will easily do more than 200,000 miles.

[swansea v6]

cheers for the reply, I think it is the most basic version, even has a cassette player!! will definitely check it out

[JAHetfield]

Electrics, electrics, electrics
Tend to go through wishbone bushes at an alarming rate unless you upgrade
Bearings in back axle fail, check for the top of the wheel leaning in towards the car
Low pressure pump in the tank fails
Pressure regulator on high pressure pump fails, generally indicating pump is on its way out
Also, don't think I've ever been in one that the heater vents haven't been broken in

Not a bad runaround but I wouldn't go spending a big fortune on one