Back in the 60s Citroens were imported into the US by heavens knows who
(surely the poor Distributor ended up on public welfare). My girlfriend's
Dad got her one to use at College. I refused to be seen in the thing unless
I was wearing a Nixon mask or other timely disguise.

Someone she loaned it to (who must have been desperate to get somewhere)
drove it into a wall or something because it's brake pedal was shaped like a
mushroom and couldn't be found by the unsuspecting driver. That was the end
of the Citroen and our relationship was back to normal.

We particularly liked the hydraulic "active suspension" that raised &
lowered the car.. Decades before its time, it was more likely to do it by
itself when you least expected it, or to lift one wheel off the ground for
no apparent reason. When it did that I expected it to relieve itself on a
tree like any other dog!

I bought it almost 4 weeks ago (signed the contract), but I picked it up
just one week ago, because the dealer was 60 miles away and I had a
friend drive me there. Befor that the dealer had two weeks of coroprate
holiday (which did not bother me too much, because I bought the car
mainly for bad weather and long range trips, so I do not need it in the
summer time).

Okay, I got the papers and the license plates, and I finally got the car
last saturday. It is a '94 Citroen Xantia 2.0i VSX with a 2 litre 4
cylinder engine made by Peugeot. The engine has 121 HP, the performance
figures are approx 11 sec acceleration from 0-60 mph and approx 120 mph
top speed. The VXS version has a lot of features which may seem
completely ordinary to nowadays US sedans, but were quite rare back then
with a smaller middle class car: Power Steering/Windows/Mirrors/Seats,
power locks with remote control, 4 speed auto gearbox, alloy wheels, ABS,
a/c with automatic temperature control and a nice fm stereo with cassette
and remote control buttons in the steering wheel (it even has an Aux
input socket, so I can plug in my MP3 player). The condition of the car
is very good (almost like new), it has only 85.000 km (some 52.000 miles)
on the clock and is one owner from new. The owner is 76 years old, and
the service history is flawless. I got the car together with one year of
warranty for all major technical components and a set of winter tires on
steel rims for 4.300 Euro (4.800 $).

Driving the Xantia is totally different to my BMW E30. The Citroen offers
far more room in the cockpit, it has some kind of cab-forward design.
Compared to my BMW, the engine is quite rough and not very impressive -
you clearly notice the missing 50 HP. OTOH the ride is extremely smooth.
The body has a drag coefficient of 0.30, and during travel at 100 mph you
do not hear much wind noise. But the best thing with this car is its
hydropmeumatic suspension.

DEAR MERCEDES ENTHUSIASTS, PLEASE START READING HERE AS IT STARTS TO
BECOME ON TOPIC HERE (thank you for your patience).

The HP suspension, which was invented by Citroen and introduced to market
in 1955, has been used also by Mercedes (under Citroen license). AFAIK it
was available with the Mercedes W108 300 SEL 6.3, with the W116 450 SEL
6.9 and the W126 560 SEL. The system uses bowls, which are half-filled
with nitrogen and half filled with hydraulic oil. An oil pump carries as
much oil to every bowl as it is needed to hold the car in an upright
position. The susension quality really is outstanding! Besides this you
can choose the ground clearance after your needs. I had my old mother in
the car, and in order to make it easier for her to enter the car, I
simply pushed the car up by five inches (looks funny). Early HP systems
(including those used by Mercedes) had the strange effect, that the car
sunk to the ground as soon as you switched off the engine. This is the
reason why an old 560 SEL often looks like both axles are broken. My
Xantia has some valves which prevent the car from sinking too far without
engine. My Xantia also has the Hydractive II system, which has more
suspension bowls than the usual 4 (for each wheel). This system is able
to adjust the damping according to the actual dynamic status of the body.
The system is the same as it was used in the bigger Citroen XM. To
illustrate the outstanding suspension quality of these cars, this story
may be helpful: When the development of the Mercedes W140 S-class entered
final stage, Mr. Breitschwerdt, the head of passenger car development,
showed up in a Citroen XM. He showed this car to his coworkers and made
clear that its quality of ride was the standard to be met by the new S-
Class Mercedes. So currently I drive a car with one of the best
suspensions of the entire world for less than 5 grand!

Drawbacks? Well, the seat rails are too short and the headrests are also
(french drivers are small drivers). I bought some additional upholstery
for the headrests, and currently a mechanic is building some longer rails
for me. To get them street legal may be a problem, but the fantastic
citroen community in Germany provided me with a copy of a certificate,
which explains that these rails are legal...  

Well, compared to a 1980 Mercedes 240 D, any Citroen of that time is just
a pile of junk. But from what I've heard, nowadays Mercedes cars aren't
built like tanks anymore, and the Xantia has quite a high reputation of
being a reliable car, at least compared to oter Citroens. Well, my new
redwine red Xantia has made its first 450 kilometers without any
breakdown. I think this definitely is a good start;-)

Frank