Going to look at an XM tomorrow - any advice

[Citroenesque]

Best colour lol! Looks OK, but nothing gets past the fact it's been stationary for 5 years. It's worth £250 absolute tops to take away. If my experience with BXs is anything to go by, it'll cost about £600 to sort maybe more. Brakes, discs, possibly, pipes and rubber, tyre(s), and possibly a radiator/hoses.... the list goes on. Offer 15% more than scrap and offer to take it away for a resto.

[messerschmitt owner]

it isn't going to come out of that garage without starting up or being dragged out - and only then can you properly judge what it is like!

I was thinking in the region of £150 and pay someone from Shiply to get it home once the tyres are blown up and it is rolling! There's easily £150 of spares and it is 3 miles from home. I have the fear of another HG and that makes it a breaker ...

[andmcit]

To be fair it looks OK.

Question is, does the car offer anything to the mix for you were these costs and
jobs done - it's not viewed at it's best which is great for a massive arm twist on the
seller to help him grasp the reality of the car he has now compared to the one he
stopped using and parked in the garage 5 years back.

If he wants £600 for it tell him yes on condition of it running 100% with a full MOT!
As it currently stands £200 would be being generous as far as the things needed to
get it running properly again go especially items such as a battery, tyres and spheres.
Clearly he's now decided it's time to sell the car and some negotiation may buy you
a nice car.

OK, manual 2.1TD s2's are rare so if this feels right I'd aim to thrash out a deal...

Andrew

[messerschmitt owner]

Well, does it do anything for me - I don't know! I don't want the hassle of doing it up - and I feel it may really be a money pit - yes, I could MoT it by cheating - using my current tyres and utilising the battery from the motorhome for example, but it will need a small fortune spent on it to recommission - as it is sitting on the deck, one cannot see the exhaust - two years old in mid 2005!, nor the state of the bodywork properly. Door bottoms are great though, colour is great, manual is great, 5 years lay up is bad!

[andmcit]

Double post goddammit...

[andmcit]

To be fair, looking at the underbonnet shots, I'd say it looks very fresh and well cared for with little oxidation
and none of the general unkempt clues to it being allowed to go off - the garage may very well have been
kind to the car. My only reservation with the brakes wouldn't be the discs or pads but the actual lever on the
front caliper binding. Chances are you could run the current pads through the discs and just renew the pads
at a later date so long as there's no binding. The exhaust will likely have surface rust and moisture grot
trapped at the very lowest points of the rear boxes so if they're OK you could well be OK there. Tyres would
be the big question mark as they've probably not taken kindly to being stood and allowed to depressurise
although they've been in a dark garage so there'd be little UV deterioration on the sidewalls.

I'd say stick a big battery on it and hear it fire up. If it sounds good and runs out of the garage (hopefully
on repumped tyres from one of those cigar lighter jobbies) and offer him 150 and settle on 200 after haggling!

I'm sure were it not your thing once you've got it home you can sell it for more than you've paid simply due
to the fact it'd be out of that garage and scrubbed up moving and a more quantifiable proposition.

He who dares etc...

Andrew

do'h edit went loopy there!!

[kenhall]

That XM is exactly the same model and colour as mine and must be it's brother or sister! Even the mileage is similar.
My XM is R544HKV and was originally registered and run by Citroen UK. It looks well worth saving to me as long as you are not put off by Lucas EPIC diesel pump scare stories.

Ken

[Peter.N.]

Its certainly in well above average condition, well compared with mine anyway I would be a great shame to scrap it, especially in view of the rarity. I don't think its going to cost that much to put on the road. Why new tyres, are they bald? I wouldn't think two years of standing are going to do them any harm. I reckon if you fire it up it will probably run and drive quite reasonably. I would certainly give £200.00 for it. I'm sure if you don't want it someone else would take it on.

Peter

[messerschmitt owner]

Its certainly in well above average condition, well compared with mine anyway I would be a great shame to scrap it, especially in view of the rarity. I don't think its going to cost that much to put on the road. Why new tyres, are they bald? I wouldn't think two years of standing are going to do them any harm. I reckon if you fire it up it will probably run and drive quite reasonably. I would certainly give £200.00 for it. I'm sure if you don't want it someone else would take it on.

Peter

five years of standing - tax ran out aug 2005

[messerschmitt owner]

i think i will drop hints with she who must be obeyed!