bargain buy.

[ex-em]

ive managed to buy a leather single spoke steering wheel with red badge, it came complete with steering column and stalks, it cost me the grand sum of £10 is that a bargain

[andmcit]

Nice!! Got the car to put it in yet as you can spend more on that with the dosh saved!?

Andrew

[ex-em]

ive seen quite a few cars but nothing of interest as yet, either they are too pricey for what they are or need too much work, theres one out there somewhere with my name on

[robert_e_smart]

Keep buying parts, and you'll soon be able to manufacture your own XM!

Good cheap steering wheel.

[xmexclusive]

The more XM's you look at the better.
Lot of pitfalls in sizing up the real state of an XM.
In cost terms the purchase price is now typically very cheap for a lot of car.
The sting is in the ongoing maintenance costs to get and keep the car in good order.
While the amount you can do yourself has a major bearing on cost control here, the need for a few Citroen only essential spare parts can easily go way past the purchase price in the first few months.
Sorting out the potential liability for these costs in a particular car is not at all easy.
Plenty of owners here will give you opinions and their experience from buying and running XM's.
Remember that the car seller has decided to give up on the car. Always amazed at the number of unrepaired, claimed cheap and easy fix faults listed in some adverts. Either the seller knows the real cost (what else is missrepresented) or just cannot be bothered with getting routine maintenance done.
The recent MOT history will usually tell more than any claimed full service history which IMHO often proves less reliable than the Haynes BOL.
There are also a few key items you will pick up from reading here.
For example with diesels any suggestion of head gasket problems then if it is a 2.5 walk away no matter how attractive the price.
The reason is that there is a high chance the head is scrap and servicable spares virtually impossible to find.
On the other hand if it is a 2.1 and you can do the work yourself it could be a real bargin price car.

John

[Dieselman]

The reason is that there is a high chance the head is scrap and servicable spares virtually impossible to find.
On the other hand if it is a 2.1 and you can do the work yourself it could be a real bargin price car.

John

I'm regretting not buying a S2 Exclusive with blown gasket now. I was put off due to a number of issues, including everyone on here saying what an 'orrible job doing the H/G is.

There was quite a lot wrong with it but it could've all been fixed and it had NO rust underneath.

Gone now....

[minijet]

.

I'm regretting not buying a S2 Exclusive with blown gasket now.

Which one was that?
Was it on ebay?

Paul

.

[Dieselman]

.

I'm regretting not buying a S2 Exclusive with blown gasket now.

Which one was that?
Was it on ebay?

Paul

.

No. I came across it a long while ago and it sat for ages but now it's gone. Bodywise it was very good with and light dent in osr door and the nsr arch pressed in down towards the dogleg. Needed both rear wings respraying and some surface rust on the inner side of the nsf door..??
osf door checkstrap broken, HG well gone, leaking oil, had some bodges on LHM return pipes, a/c not working, sport light not working (and susp seemed hard)...interior grotty but all in place..
The whole car was minging inside and out but that could've been sorted. What put me off was I was sure it had accident damage repaired and it was leaking water into the boot.

I reckon it needed £700 or more spending on it, with me doing the labour and maybe still having some problems.

At least the jacking points were straight...

[andmcit]

My God, if that's the one that got away, I think you did well avoiding that one...

Andrew

[Dieselman]

I agree, but the flip side was 115k miles and it was quiet mechanically. It would definitely have been a project car for some while...and still a Series 2 at the end of all that....