Faults:

Other than general wear and tear absolutely nothing has gone wrong in five years of ownership!! Very impressed.

General Comments:

When I passed my driving test five years ago I was sure exactly what car I wanted, a Citroen. My first choice was a BX, but having tested numerous examples decided I'd be buying trouble.

I bought a Peugeot 309 diesel. I hated it and within 6 weeks, sold it to my dad. I then set out to find a Citroen to replace it with. The local paper threw up two possibilities; a 1993 Xantia TD with 100,000 miles and a 1993 ZX with a full service history and only 38,000 miles. I convinced myself that the ZX would have gone already so rang up about the Xantia, but there was no answer despite ringing numerous times. I decided that I'd try the ZX number. It was still available.

I viewed the ZX that evening. It has obviously been cherished and was in showroom condition. It drove like a brand new car. I bought it for £2000, £200 off the advertised price which was already well under the book price.

This might not seem a bargain now, but bear in mind that this was five years ago!!

As I have owned the car for five years this November and clocked up just under 60,000 miles in it I can safely say I'm extremely impressed with it.

The styling of the ZX is aging very gracefully when compared to its contemporaries. Indeed the bodywork it holding up very well also, these are very well rustproofed (although mine has been washed, polished and hoovered nearly every week since purchase). Mine also looks great in it metallic light blue (ice blue).

The interior has lasted brilliantly, exhibiting no signs of wear and tear. The seats are comfortable (although not the best for massive journeys), its well styled, quite spacious with a reasonable boot. With its large glass area its both easy to park/place on the road and light and airy. It is also very refined/quiet for a car of this age. The pull up rear sun blind and security flap on stereo are excellent features.

This car has a great chassis set up including passive rear wheel steering.

The car really does handle like its on rails, with excellent feedback through the steering wheel. Couple this to a responsive, peppy, refined engine and great gear change and it makes for a fabulous drive.

When unveiled in 1991 the ZX was panned by some Citroen fans for ditching Hydro pneumatics. I have a 'hydro Citroen' also a would say the the ZX's ride comfort runs it pretty close. Theres not a huge amount in it.

Overall I would say that the ZX is one of the best cars of the 1990's. It's a car that has stood the test of time both stylistically and physically.

Faults:

Auxiliary serpentine belt snapped at 87,000 miles.

Front offside caliper seized at 80,000 miles.

Have uprated standard brake pads because under hard braking, the standard pads burn and give off a lot of smoke and smell unpleasant.

Many problems with the standard Citroen radio code resulting in the code being reset and finally replacing the radio.

Interior bulbs in heating controls and clock have blown. The lock bulb is easy to replace but the heating controls required me to take the dash apart.

Speedometer no longer returns to zero, but stays at about 3 Mph when the car is at rest.

General Comments:

The ZX Avantage Diesel is a great car with reasonable top speed (I have seen 112 Mph on the clock) and excellent fuel economy. 45 mpg is easily achievable when driving sensibly.

The colour scheme for the interior has a nice slate gray and red theme and seems to be holding up well after 89,000 hard miles.

The auxiliary belt failure was a surprise as I suddenly just lost all power steering and was lucky not to be traveling at high speed. Make sure when you buy that all belts are in good working order and not cracked or perished. They can be expected to last about 30,000 miles before you encounter problems.

Make sure you have good tires on this car! It is quite heavy and the soft French suspension doesn't help whilst cornering at speed. I recommend either Michelin Classic's or Yokohama A539's in size: 175/60 R13. Whichever tires you decide upon make sure they are at least 'T' rated, 112 Mph/180 Kph.