I will never have a Citroën XM!

Updated: 09 Dec 2024

I found it on a Facebook group, 400 kilometers away from my place. Looked beautiful, fitted with the great 2.0 TCT engine.

… and very nicely equipped! Including automatic air condition, automatic transmission, the second rear window and an electric adjustable armrest!

I posted a pic of the engine compartment in a Facebook group. People told me, she needed new mount struts, 270€ each. I was willing to pay the money. So we made an appointment for tomorrow.

But this morning I found the car offered on another platform including this picture of a ton of rust! I’m so glad I found the pic and didn’t drive all the way to buy a car with a rotten wheel arch.

Comments

On “corrosion protection” page of the advertising brochure, they say:
“the threshold of resistance to corrosion has been set very high since a perfect fit is required for a 500 hours exposure in salt spray”.
This said, although anti-corrosive guarantee was 5 years long, PSA models of this era started to rust far more earlier.

Now you know why TCTs engines have mostly ended up in other cars.
Great engines with lot of potential though.

„PSA models of this era started to rust far more earlier.“
Nope, that’s not true at all. I have my third Peugeot from the 90s now and only my Volvo has had less rust than these. The bodies have been partially treated with zinc since some point in the 80s. It’s on a comparable level to Volvo and Audi.

The XM has probably had a badly fixed accident where the rust is. That would explain a really good looking car with one rotten spot. My 1989 Mercedes 260E and my 1997 Mercedes C200 were rotten everywhere…