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.

Faults:

Right wing mirror's mechanism was broken on delivery. (Quality check??)

This was replaced after 1st service.

After 2 weeks the central locking opened and closed by itself whilst driving.

After 7 months the car was recalled to change faulty fuel gauge. This caused the interior of the car to smell of diesel for about 2 months afterwards. I wrote a complaints letter to Citroen in Slough.

Several months after fuel gauge was changed I had to take car back as they had not calibrated the gauge properly (taken to different dealer).

General Comments:

The car is sluggish for a 2L injection motor, or this because it's a diesel?

Interior is comfortable.

Only a small thing, but I like to see the time on the digital display which disappears when the temperature drops below 4 Degrees. Surely they could show the time and the temp separately?

It went for it's service at 35K and I was charged about £240.00 for basically an oil-change and they told me to bring it back for it's 37,500 service... I don't think so!

At 39,000 I haven't had any major problems.. but there again I should hope not!

Faults:

Clutch worn out after 19,000miles faulty pressure plate fixed under warranty.

Other than that the car has been fine.

General Comments:

The cars reliability cant be faulted, other than the clutch wearing quickly the car has never been back to the dealer for anything other than a service. Dealer service has been exceptional, I bought the car for an extremely low price and when the clutch went I was offered a free courtesy car there and then to use until the part for mine arrived.

The engine is fantastic, loads of torque on tap in any gear. I regularly overtake traffic in 5th gear with no problems. As with most diesels 1st gear is very short, but after that the car is forcing you back in your seat in every gear. Even with all this power I get a return of about 48-50mpg, which means I can drive quick without the cost.

Interior is showing its age now, but is functional and sporty (with the white sports dials).

The handling on the car is also brilliant, I can throw the car round corners and its like its on rails, and with all the torque on offer the car can pull you out of a corner with tremendous pace.

This car is a fantastic performer for very little money, 5 stars.