Sunday 13th October 2019

Citroen Xsara VTS | Spotted

The Saxo VTS wasn't the only good fast Citroen of the 1990s - here's your chance to buy the other one

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With the benefit of hindsight, it's clear that the Citroen Xsara VTS was fairly doomed from the start. Even with Claudia Schiffer in the advert. Here was a car that, in 1997, was uglier and slower than the Peugeot 306 GTI-6 with which it shared so much. It was lighter and cheaper, yes, but that wasn't enough - Peugeot had a USP with six gears in a hatchback, as well as those pert good looks, and Citroen did not. Especially so given the feisty, flighty Saxo VTS was also available at the same time, which was fast, cheap and hilarious fun. By the end of 2000, Peugeot had sold 3,896 GTI-6s and Citroen 5,200 VTS Saxos to fervent teenagers; 670 Xsaras had found buyers in the same time.

In some ways, that's rather a shame, because you could give an orangutan the vital parts of a 306 GTI-6 (albeit with a five-speed gearbox) and end up with a good car; handed to Citroen in the 1990s, with the AX and BX recent enough to be fondly remembered, the end result was really rather good. The Xsara was praised for its punchy, tuneful engine, excellent ride/handling balance and well-sorted steering. It's just that the 306 was better...

The Xsara's plight was exacerbated further by every built-not-bought vulture seizing that sweet XU10 engine for their latest track project. In 2012 absolute minters were £1,000, roadworthy cars half that, and the 2.0-litre worked wonders in cars like the 205 GTI. Given nobody cared especially about the Xsara, for all the reasons listed above, it's little wonder that precious few survive today.

But despite its niche appeal, the demise of the Xsara VTS should be considered a shame; firstly, because it was a thoroughly decent hot hatch, and secondly because variety and diversity should be celebrated. It's an alternative, a valid one at that, so why wouldn't you be interested in a Xsara VTS?

The disappearing act has been pretty drastic, with just 11 pre-facelift cars now registered on our roads. What you're looking at here, then, is very nearly 10 per cent of all such Xsaras in the UK right now. Conveniently for this story, the VTS in question is a fine specimen, with just one owner and 70,000 miles recorded since new. The brief ad details published thus far - we keep an eager eye out for Xsaras, so would guess this ad is pretty new - also state a full service history is present, which is obviously a welcome sign. Be sure to check that the cambelt and water pump have been changed recently, as they need them regularly.

While it will take a committed Francophile to spend £4,000 on what is, to many, a forgettable 90s hatchback, it's easy to understand why they might. Far worse cars have been saved by committed parties than the VTS, for starters. In addition, the Xsara is a pleasant reminder of when Citroen made genuinely good hot hatches, a commitment they seem to have abandoned in the 20 years following, and will surely appeal to those after a worthy hot hatch curio. The renewed appreciation for, and corresponding rise in value of, the 306 equivalent should ensure a steady supply of parts, and chances to buy Xsaras like this don't come up all that often - trust us. Best move quickly...

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SPECIFICATION - CITROEN XSARA VTS
Engine: 1,998cc 4-cyl
Transmission: 5-speed manual, front-wheel drive
Power (hp): 170@6,500rpm
Torque (lb ft): 142@5,500rpm
MPG: 30.1
CO2: N/A
First registered: 2001
Recorded mileage: 70,000
Price new: £16,395
Yours for: £4,360

See the original advert here.

 

 

[ianwayne]

Nice find but £2k ish surely? Rarity does not always equal desirability.

[S100HP]

I posted this car in the seriously overpriced car thread last week.

Reckon it's 2k overpriced.

Paid £650 for my last one in 2014. Traded it against my first XC70 but it still lives on. I tried to buy it back this week, for the second time.

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Edited by S100HP on Sunday 13th October 07:45

[spikyone]

Probably overpriced, as already said, but I think criticism of the looks compared to the Peugeot is a little harsh. It's not exactly ugly, to my eyes. Although I remember it fondly for the rather lovely Xsara Kit Car that preceded their WRC entry:



Not only did it look great in tarmac spec, it was driven by a young Sebastien Loeb before he spent a decade making everyone else in the WRC look a bit silly. A shame Citroen didn't take advantage of that with a roadgoing widebody version!

[S100HP]

Oh it's also a really rubbish colour. Might be worth closer to asking price of it had been in Bora Bora green.

[Mike1990]

Quite a handsome looking car IMO.

Can’t recall the last time i saw one on the roads.

[Mexman]

Had one of these as a demo back in 1997, fantastic seats, as most Frenchy stuff has, but some very annoying details.
Why on earth place the electric window switches on the dash, where they are?
Used to drive me mad, and the steering wheel controls never seemed to do what you wanted them to.
But, great handling, quick turn of speed, although steering was very vague.
Agreed, about 2k overpriced though, but as has been said, find another one!

[Hub]

It had all the right ingredients, but I think suffered compared to the 306 because the 306 was a good looking and desirable car at all level, whereas the Xsara (in general) was one of the dullest and least desirable cars on the road!

[T-195]

Looks more like an attempt at a Coupe than a Hot Hatch. Not as cool as the ZX or BX 16 Valve (I owned both).

Didn't want one then or now.

[S100HP]

T-195 said:

Looks more like an attempt at a Coupe than a Hot Hatch. Not as cool as the ZX or BX 16 Valve (I owned both).

Didn't want one then or now.

They marketed them as Coupe, which is where they went wrong. I remember with my first getting genuine mats, which had Coupe stitched into them.

[samoht]

spikyone said:

I think criticism of the looks compared to the Peugeot is a little harsh. It's not exactly ugly, to my eyes. Although I remember it fondly for the rather lovely Xsara Kit Car that preceded their WRC entry

It's so boring to look at in roadgoing form, it's almost the epitome of inoffensive blandness. The idea of the soft 'aero'/'organic' school of styling is that you curve the metalwork consistently so as to create the impression of a single organic volume underneath. If you simply take a blocky shape from the 1980s etch-a-sketch school and then round off the edges, you've just taken something bland and made it even less memorable. Cap it off with an unpronounceable name, and it's no wonder it made little impact at the time and slipped into obscurity shortly afterwards.

For an example of doing it right, look at the original Megane Coupe, which took on the same styling challenge far more successfully, creating a car that people actually were interested in.

[anonymous-user]

Chris Harris tweeted recently about the classic car market and how the bubble might be due to pop. This car is a prime example. There seems to be a thinking that rare immediately means valuable. In this case it certainly isn't!

[Red 5]

I bought a 3month old VTS facelift way back when.

£16,395 was a fiction though. New pre-reg cars sold for £12,500 at main dealers.
I bought mine at 12weeks old and 1500miles privately for £8800!

It was bloody brilliant to drive, but spent most of the time at the dealers for endless warranty work.
Sadly mine had problems with the suspension, engine, brakes, ecu/s, gearbox, instruments, steering, interior trim and seats.

My ‘Yay new car’ honeymoon period only lasted a week, when the rear suspension passive steering totally failed....
After a year of pain, I traded it for £5700. (I know £3000pa loss is small change these days on new cars)

I was gutted, as it should have been so good! I still feel cheated I didn’t get chance to really enjoy the thing

Good luck buying this one, as imho it’s worth shed money at best.

[Tannedbaldhead]

Red 5 said:

I bought a 3month old VTS facelift way back when.

£16,395 was a fiction though. New pre-reg cars sold for £12,500 at main dealers.
I bought mine at 12weeks old and 1500miles privately for £8800!

It was bloody brilliant to drive, but spent most of the time at the dealers for endless warranty work.
Sadly mine had problems with the suspension, engine, brakes, ecu/s, gearbox, instruments, steering, interior trim and seats.

My ‘Yay new car’ honeymoon period only lasted a week, when the rear suspension passive steering totally failed....
After a year of pain, I traded it for £5700. (I know £3000pa loss is small change these days on new cars)

I was gutted, as it should have been so good! I still feel cheated I didn’t get chance to really enjoy the thing

Good luck buying this one, as imho it’s worth shed money at best.

Luck of the draw.
I had a fleet manager buy me one of the last Xantias as a company car (a dual fuel to beat the London Congestion Charge purchased at a huge discount as the C5 had just been introduced).
I had no choice in the matter not even able to choose the colour.
I expected to hate it and also expected a mass of trouble. The car surprised me as it turned out to be the best mile muncher I have ever owned and It managed to clock up 110k miles in three years in which it ran like a Swiss watch apart from periodic injector issues due to running on dirty LPG.
On one occasion rather than the usual Saxos I was given a very iffy looking yellowy coloured Xsara 2.0VTS demonstrator as a courtesy car. It turned out to be an absolute hoot of a car and I really enjoyed my time with it.
As I'm in a let's be positive mood about Citroen at the moment I'll not mention how I felt about the Xsara Picasso they gave me when the Xantia was in for a service.

Edited by Tannedbaldhead on Sunday 13th October 13:47

Edited by Tannedbaldhead on Monday 14th October 13:22

[Gavin0478]

I have one in Baby st yellow as its called, It was one of the first Uk cars to land and I have had it since it was 3 years old so nearly 18 years.

Its great fun, light and used to surprise many things throught the twisties etc.

They are lighter, handle better and their 0-60 was sandbagged because of the gti-6 so it was done fully loaded with a full tank, because it doesnt need a change to third to hit 60 like the gti-6.

[donkmeister]

I nearly bought one in the early 2000s, it was a pre-registered one and I seem to recall it was going for a bit under £10k.

It was surprisingly rapid for its class and time due to the light weight and 170bhp, and insurance-efficient for me as a young chap. The Focus ST170 and, I think, the Astra GSi didn't come until after the VTS so it looked powerful by comparison.

[MJ85]

The yellow is called Helios yellow. I had a phase 2 and the 0-60 was in the 6s. It was great fun but I had endless problems with it.

[mooseracer]

I actually think 4k for a good example of such a rare, decent hatch is quite reasonable.

[cj2013]

op said:

The disappearing act has been pretty drastic, with just 11 pre-facelift cars now registered on our roads. What you're looking at here, then, is very nearly 10 per cent of all such Xsaras in the UK right now.

This stuff does my head in. Lots of people do it, magazines, TV programs etc. I'm assuming that you don't need to be very analytical or good at reading to be such a journo.

https://www.howmanyleft.co.uk/vehicle/citroen_xsar... shows the following stats: 11 taxed, 58 SORN. That's 69 left of 'XSARA 2.0i VTS'.

As we can't see the reg of the aforementioned car, we don't know which category it fits in - I can hazard a guess that it's not going to be taxed at that price with that dealer though, so it's likely SORN.

Here's the other catch; that site does no aggregation, so it's as accurate as the person who filled out the original registration in the dealer.

as a result, there are a further 155 (48 + 107) registered as 'XSARA VTS 16v'.
https://www.howmanyleft.co.uk/vehicle/citroen_xsar...


So, with very minimal effort to read, we're not looking at 10 percent, we're likely to be looking at one of the 224 left. So less than half a percent.

Edited by cj2013 on Sunday 13th October 15:18

[Jon_S_Rally]

spikyone said:

Probably overpriced, as already said, but I think criticism of the looks compared to the Peugeot is a little harsh. It's not exactly ugly, to my eyes. Although I remember it fondly for the rather lovely Xsara Kit Car that preceded their WRC entry:



Not only did it look great in tarmac spec, it was driven by a young Sebastien Loeb before he spent a decade making everyone else in the WRC look a bit silly. A shame Citroen didn't take advantage of that with a roadgoing widebody version!

What a car that was. The most extreme of all the F2 Kit Cars and the last 2WD car to win a WRC round outright. Reportedly revved to 10k, made 300bhp from a 2.0 engine, traction control etc etc. Nothing like the road car of course, but what a thing.

T-195 said:

Looks more like an attempt at a Coupe than a Hot Hatch. Not as cool as the ZX or BX 16 Valve (I owned both).

Didn't want one then or now.

Not as cool as the ZX or BX? While I kind of get the ZX, the BX was one of the worst looking cars ever created. They're awful looking things.

[Augustus Windsock]

What we, at work, used to call ‘bank robbers cars’
Why?
Totally anonymous in its looks and difficult for anyone to describe who doesn’t ‘know’ cars.
Many years ago I bought a very light metallic blue one for SWMBO. It was surprisingly good and surprisingly competent. Build quality seemed streets ahead of a previous 306 gt6 I had for a short period but that’s damning it with faint praise.
I saw her old car a year later with some larger alloys and a small drop in suspension height and to be fair the look suited it better
Do I miss it though?
Yes. Like a dose of clap...