Faults:

The car seemed well built, had had an engine rebuild and chassis maintenance, and it was very cheap. My mechanic and later a Citroën dealer confirmed that the car was in a very good shape.

But, big BUT, the engine (1.6 109hp) was too weak to pull the car up my driveway as long as it was cold. People wouldn't believe me at first, but were stunned trying it themselves. Citroën says this is due to a long first gear, fuel saving electronics, and an engine in no way built as a Volvo engine (where I came from and intuitively went back to). A big letdown!

Apart from that, the newly maintained chassis made the car rock along its long axle, and the seats were cheapish.

Otherwise, the car was very likable in shape, space, design and function. But it had to go again fast, and people buy this stuff; I made a 20% surplus of my initial investment.

Faults:

The only thing that has gone wrong is the blower engine that was replaced under warranty.

The brake also squeals, but dealer says there is nothing to do about, it does not affect the operation anyhow.

General Comments:

This is my wife's car, but I also sometimes use it in the weekends, and we both like it. OK, it's not a luxury car, but for the money I think there are few cars out there that can match this one if you consider performance, space, reliability and equipment. My only comment is that the 110hp engine is a little gutless on low revs, and the wind/tyre noise above 100km/h is somewhat higher compared to say a Golf.

Some other commenter's on this site states that they have had reliability problems - that I don't understand. I personally know 2 other Xsara owners that are exceptionally happy with their cars, like me. One has done over 160.000 km with next to no problems. Also this car has a small number of emergency stops according to many sources.