Citroen Xantia Activa (2000)

[Kidders]

Here is my old car. I sold it back in Feb and the Mondeo replaced it. It had a bit of a chequered past, was once an MOD car, was neglected both bodywork and mechanically. The previous owner had spent a lot of time sorting the suspension out how it should of been, and then i took over with the bodywork, refurbishing the wheels, painting the front and back bumpers and full paintwork correction.

I also tweaked it a bit, adding my own spec turbo, basically a Rover 220 Turbo compressor side matched to the Xantia exhaust, and running around 13psi boost max, standard is 9psi. It went quite well in the end.

Here's the pictures.








Now it seems i may be getting another. The fact i have no space for it, or very little time, is irrelevant.

[Kidders]

Mr Dave said:

Awesome car. Hard to run?

Not anymore! It went in Feb.

Had it around 18 months, no major issues except the exhaust manifold gasket went, which was an engine out job. Nothing is really simple on them, french engineering but when its all in harmony, its a lovely drive, then throw it into a corner and no word of a lie, its 1430kg kerbweight suddenly drops to a ton and goes round like its dancing, at the same time retaining its comfort. Genius.

[Kidders]

Old Gregg said:

Fantastic left-field choice of car. Pretty damn rare too, does anyone know roughly how many of these were sold? I've only ever seen a couple.

What kind of power increase did the turbo upgrade bring?

This was was a S2, very few were registered (Citroen never pushed the sales), just over 200 i think. More of the S1 though, about 1500.

I never had it rolling roaded. As standard, they are about 150bhp and 171lb ft, the boost is modulated to keep the torque curve flat and when i fitted a manual boost controller, even setting it to around standard boost it made it much perkier mid range, when the hybrid was fitted, boost between 12-13psi, i would estimate the power to be around 180bhp, the torque getting on for 215lb ft.

[Kidders]

Old Gregg said:

Kidders said:

This was was a S2, very few were registered (Citroen never pushed the sales), just over 200 i think. More of the S1 though, about 1500.

I never had it rolling roaded. As standard, they are about 150bhp and 171lb ft, the boost is modulated to keep the torque curve flat and when i fitted a manual boost controller, even setting it to around standard boost it made it much perkier mid range, when the hybrid was fitted, boost between 12-13psi, i would estimate the power to be around 180bhp, the torque getting on for 215lb ft.

Interesting. I've never seen a facelift one, only a couple of the pre facelifts in that dark red colour.

I always found the Activa intriguing because my parents had a couple of Xantias from new when i was a growing up, an M-plate 1.9TD and an R-reg 1.8i 16v. I remember sitting in the showroom looking at the Activa booklet.

Cool car, with interesting tech underneath.

I always liked them when i was a kid, they always looked good compared to the Cavalier and Mondeo at the time, something different. I used to wash one down the road every week when i was 12, bit of pocket money. It was a solid red 1.9TD VSX model, did LOTS of miles too and didnt miss a beat. Then a few years later my Dad had a 1.8 16v LX for a company car, the ride quality was remarkable, it was like it floated. It took me a few years to catch on though, i got my first Xantia in 2007, it was in the 'Activa red' as i call it,a lovely red/orange flip. Here it is.



I dressed it up a bit like an Activa, because i was poor at the time i found out it could run on veg oil, miss that smell! It was a good car, always remember it lifting a back wheel when i was rushing home to pick up my wife who went into labour 3 weeks early.

Edited by Kidders on Monday 1st November 07:24

[Kidders]

Just confirmed that i will be getting another Activa.



Should go nicely with a silver ST220.

[Kidders]

Waugh-terfall said:

Kidders, is this you
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09-C33SrJi8

Recall reading somewhere about a fairly common fault with the Activa's Hydractive suspension where some sensor or something could fail and leave the car dancing about.

Always wanted to drive one of these

The Activa shuffle was caused by wear in the control linkages attached to the lower arms. My old car only had the odd occasion where it would level itself out at traffic lights.

[Kidders]

joe_90 said:

I almost died in one of these when they first came out, don't they take a few 100 meters to calibrate correctly?

No.

[Kidders]

When i finished playing with the boost and bigger turbo i could get a sub 8 second 0-60, which was much improved from the original mid 9 second, not all that impressive.

I did run it at Santa Pod, pre-turbo mod just higher boost but otherwise standard and got a 16.3 @ 84mph, 2.42 60 ft. Could just about get that a 15.9 with a 2.2 60 ft i reckon. Problem i had was the ECU threw a code just 20 miles before Pod and didnt have time to adapt, it was getting faster and faster the more i ran it despite the 60ft time being virtually the same.

For comparison, a stock Activa 1/4 mile is 17.2, a V6 Auto Xantia is 16.9 and a manual V6 Activa (Euro only LHD) is 15.9. There is great potential in the engine but the stock turbo is tiny (it was only a low-blow set up designed with minimal lag) and the ECU really holds it back, plus a low 8-1 comp ratio.

[Kidders]

Kitchski said:

Kidders said:

When i finished playing with the boost and bigger turbo i could get a sub 8 second 0-60, which was much improved from the original mid 9 second, not all that impressive.

I did run it at Santa Pod, pre-turbo mod just higher boost but otherwise standard and got a 16.3 @ 84mph, 2.42 60 ft. Could just about get that a 15.9 with a 2.2 60 ft i reckon. Problem i had was the ECU threw a code just 20 miles before Pod and didnt have time to adapt, it was getting faster and faster the more i ran it despite the 60ft time being virtually the same.

For comparison, a stock Activa 1/4 mile is 17.2, a V6 Auto Xantia is 16.9 and a manual V6 Activa (Euro only LHD) is 15.9. There is great potential in the engine but the stock turbo is tiny (it was only a low-blow set up designed with minimal lag) and the ECU really holds it back, plus a low 8-1 comp ratio.

Sounds about right. My mate's Activa with tweaked boost and some Iridium plugs ran a 16.29sec 1/4 mile a few years back. IIRC it was the gear ratios and rev band which crippled it, being geared for cruising rather than sprinting (it is a diesel gearbox afterall). Plus the fact it takes quite a bit to get 1450kg shifting from a standstill. I was in a BX 16v and was expecting to have a close run, but the BX pulled a 15.7 on the first go and would have been quicker if I could launch it! It wasn't even close.

Problem as I understand it with the 2.0 8v is the restrictive valve area in the head. Even the highest tuned lumps struggle to better 220bhp. It's such a basic engine, it's the opposite of their hot 16v lumps.
Now fit a 16v head from a ZX 16v or Xsara VTS perhaps.....now that would be something. T16 spec Activa anyone? It'd be the engine it always should have had!

The gearbox does have different ratios to the 2.1 TD which shares the same gearbox and clutch.

The valve area is just fine on the head, some porting work would be good, but the main issue is the turbo and manifold, the low compression ratio and the ECU. Someone on FCF had no problems getting 260bhp out of one without touching the cylinder head, just a bigger turbo, intercooler, 2.5-3in exhaust bigger injectors, and aftermarket management. It was quite a high mileage lump too.

It just depends where you want to go with it. On my grey one, it was my only car and i didnt want to play with it too much in case something went wrong. Now, i have the Mondeo for that, so an Activa can be a toy.

If i had a bit of cash, i would be tidying the head up, fitting forged pistons with a higher compression ratio, taking it closer to 9-1. Full aftermarket management. T3 style turbo with a 60 trim wheel, decat, 3 inch exhaust, massive intercooler and around 18psi of boost. Done right, you could be knocking on the door of 300bhp and matching torque. An alternative to raising the compression could be skimming the head, keeping the original pistons as they are quite strong.

Too many people assume its a power engine because of the low output but it was never designed for bhp, it was meant for flat torque curve, ideal for a bigger car and towing. Its an 86x86mm square engine with a cast iron block and simple construction ready for some serious boost, regardless of how many valves it has, i quite like it as it remind me of my Maestro Turbo engine which had good bhp but also proper torque to match, which made a very fast road car.

[Kidders]

Kitchski said:

You learn something everyday! I'll take your word for it on that; the bulk of my research goes into the 16v N/A engines.

I did a lot of research myself. Found out that this tuned up CT was 266bhp and 312lb ft, ran a Volvo T5 turbo and 1.5 bar of boost.

[Kidders]

Here is the new one, will start a seperate thread once work commences.

[Kidders]

Lovely looking car, i had a green one for two weeks.



Very early car, no air con, dark headling, different stalks etc. I saved it that time round from the side of the road, gave it a quick spruce up and passed it onto an 'enthusiast', who has really stuggled to keep on top of it.

Progress on my new silver one has been slow, but getting there. Its a puig trying to remove the exhaust manifold with turbo insitu, just to replace a gasket. Not impossible though, only 4 more bolts to remove and a few swear words and its off!

[Kidders]

Could well be interested, depends where you are?