Test drive Citroen Xantia 1998 - 2001 hatchback

Fell - squeezed out

Each automobile company has its own horse. One is famous for the high level of safety of machines, the other - their honed controllability, the third - extravagant design. Citroen has a unique hydropneumatic suspension. They say that with her any road will seem smooth. Very valuable quality for us! But finding a suitable car of the second freshness was not easy. After all, C5 is too young for the secondary market, and therefore roads; VX - relatively cheap, but too old. Stopped at Xantia. The car, the class of the 41st Muscovite, produced in 1993-2000, perhaps arranged us in all respects.
The desired copy was not found right away. The fact is that Russian distillery prefer to take trusted Germans. Citroen is an exotic car for Russia, has not yet been in particular demand. But there is no demand - there is no offer. Familiar Lithuanians helped out, offering the 1999 Xantius of the 1999 release with a two -liter gasoline engine.
The car was in a coma state: a wrinkled door, a mutilated threshold. But the main thing is that the damaged middle stand pulled the roof and the floor. They bargained at seven thousand dollars, including the cost of upcoming repairs. Given the customs, $ 9 thousand came out. It seemed profitable, because the price of a new, judging by the first owner discovered in the glove compartment, is 21 thousand euros.
To - to it - back
Looking at the Sitroen suspension from below, you will not find the usual elastic elements in it - springs, springs or torsiones. They are replaced by the famous spheres - metal balls, separated in two elastic membrane. In one part of the closed nitrogen. It provides the suspension with a progressive characteristic. Another is connected to a shock absorber filled with high -tendent LHM mineral oil (Liquide Huile Minerale). The hydraulic system is common for all four wheels. In addition, it includes a hydraulic brake drive and steering amplifier. That is, the entire hydraulics accounts for one tank and one high pressure pump. This scheme opens up great opportunities, and Citroen designers did not miss them. By changing, for example, the position of the valves and the supply of fluids in the shock absorbers, you can adjust the road clearance. Four levels are provided. If the pressure is minimal, and the valves are open, then the car lies on the belly. The mode is intended for long -term storage.
The next option is the main worker. The shock absorber works like in a regular car. The third level is for off -road. The valves are closed, the pressure is above average. The stems of shock absorbers are advanced, lifting the body over the road. Go tough, but there is no desire to abuse speed. And the last position - the valves are closed at maximum pressure. The diaphragms of spheres are completely curved into the gas cavity. The suspension is turned off, the body is at the highest mark. Of course, it is impossible to ride like that. The level is intended to change the wheels (twist the jack handle, stretching the suspension, no longer needs. The task is only to tear the wheel from the road). Having added electronics to hydraulics, the car was forced to hold a constant road clearance and not to roll in corners.
Another advantage of the scheme was implemented in the brake drive. There is no main cylinder and amplifier. They are useless - because the pressure in the system creates a pump. Instead, the distribution valve under the brake pedal. Dose slowing down, without making efforts, much more convenient. True, not immediately - when you get used to it. An interesting detail: the handbrake acts on the front wheels.
Alas, in the advantages of Citroen there are its disadvantages. The main one is the abundance of details. A single hydraulic system, for example, is very vulnerable: a leak in one node immediately affects the work of others. And if so, I had to take security measures. One (third) area was added to each bridge - to the reserve. Exactly the same - a spare energy accumulator - put on the brakes. Total seven pieces. Will, for example, the outlandish design of our severe frosts? And around - numerous sensors, regulators and valves. If something happened, for any detail will have to lay out a considerable amount.
Whether these fears are justified, time will tell. In the meantime, there is nothing to worry about-after all, we acquired a worthy copy: a 135-horsepower sixteen-valve engine, 15-inch wheels, ABS, climate control, electric package and airbags. All this is almost inexpressible, pristine state! Yes, even in the performance of an exclusive, which implies luxury elements - a leather steering wheel and inserts under a tree in the cabin.
Medical board
Citroen is the original in terms of diagnostics. Universal equipment with interchangeable cartridges is not suitable here - there are simply no such modules in nature. Special, branded equipment is necessary. Multimee services do not hold it - unprofitable. If the trouble happened - you need to look for help only in the Citroenovsky center. So we, in order to comprehensively evaluate the purchase, turned to the Exis -car LLC - the official dealer of the brand. There, of course, everything necessary was found. In addition, we were offered to conduct the so -called zero that. It is specially designed for cars without the past - like those bought in the market.
The Lithuanian repair of the body was appreciated by Trochka. The middle rack was not low, and the door was crookedly stuck into the opening: in some places through the cracks you can see the street. It is impossible to eliminate a skew without a chisel and welding - door loops are not adjusted. In order not to muzzle, it will be necessary to glue strips of rubber.
The power frame of the body during the accident was almost not injured - it means that the iron will work out its resource without fatigue destruction. But the reinforcement, slapped on a living thread, will not last long. Not wanting to spend money on the purchase of fasteners, something was fixed almost chewing. So, the moldings of the bat side rattles on the bumps, and the restored mirror bends in the wind.
But the conclusions of the security system were most disappointed. The fact that the pillow in the back of the passenger chair worked during the accident, we knew. But the other three remained intact and, as we believed, patiently waited for their turn. Alas! It turned out that passive security is a thin matter. You can’t save here. With any triggering, Citroen requires replacing the used element and central control unit (calculator that determines the direction, impact force and activating the corresponding pillow). Our device, judging by the testimony of the scanner, is conditionally intact. That is, it responds to signals, although it does not give firm confirmation of combat readiness. Will the remaining work?
The rest is not a car - candy. The master did not find any mistakes in memory, failures and traces of wear. They say that ten thousand on the speedometer correspond to the truth. It was already bent, so it was!
Prevention was reduced to the replacement of oil, filters (without air and fuel - they do not get old from time to time), the entire working fluid of LHM and checking the state of spheres. And finally, they advised to acquire a Russian package ... From one option - Kevlar protection of the Carter of the St. Petersburg company LLC ex. Dear, of course, a thing, but useful. Light, well -shaped and very durable. Without thinking twice, we agreed.
Silk Road
The French were not in vain over the hydracture: to compare the smoothness of the course of Xantia with classmates is simply embarrassing. If you transfer everyone to Citroen, the roads can not be improved. After all, even on cobblestones (there are a lot of such coatings in the Kaliningrad region), trembling is felt only on the steering wheel. The multi -stage suspension allows you to climb the curb in the city and defeat the track in nature. The lower level is good as an anti -angle. If you lower the car with a belly, say, a brick, you just won’t move it from a place!
However, ours will not have to lie down. It is necessary to accumulate operating experience. There is nothing to be done, service!

The scheme of hydropneumatic suspension.

The suspension control crane has four provisions.

Exotic device - an indicator of oil temperature in the engine.

Exclusive means a leather steering wheel and wooden inserts.

The abundance of electronic blocks involves repairs on the corporate service.

LHM - a working fluid of a single hydraulic system.

Protection from dirt does not exist excess.

Front stand: a shock absorber and an elastic element.

Evgeny Borisenkov

Source: The magazine "Driving"