Citroen XM Forum

"Hydractive Suspension was available as an Option only, cars had BX type suspension as standard."
This must have made these cars extraordinarily comfortable to drive, even at the price of a certain amount of body roll.
Look forward to seeing some photos, Terrence, and some more details about the car.

I have checked out some later evolutions.

XM 0 No 14 dated 28th Feburary 1992 - XM estate.

All 2 ltr estates were injection from start of production.
Interested to see that some NON Hydractive estates were made but not for UK.
Two "VARBIL" versions available in NORWAY (no rear seat, steel side) : one V6, the other Turbo Diesel.

XM 0 No 15 dated 29th January 1993 - Facelift models.
The only XM using the R2A engine is type Y3AB CV9 available in France only.
These were made in Trim level 1 only and again Hydractive was an option not standard.
Rear spoiler now got fitted to Trim level 1 cars.

This suggests that a lot more non hydractive XM's were made that I had thought and for much longer.
Explains perhaps why so many non hydractive strut tops have turned up in the NOS.
Check out European ones carefully before you bid.

John

xmexclusive wrote:Two "VARBIL" versions available in NORWAY (no rear seat, steel side) : one V6, the other Turbo Diesel.

A "varebil" was probably cheaper to bye and to tax for. Up to a couple of years ago there was some interest from norwegians to bye rear XM seats and door trims. Now days the "lack" of rear seats in Norway has been satisfied I think.

xmexclusive wrote:This suggests that a lot more non hydractive XM's were made that I had thought and for much longer.
Explains perhaps why so many non hydractive strut tops have turned up in the NOS.
Check out European ones carefully before you bid.

The non-hydractive XMs was quite common here. The "monopoint" petrol engine 110 hp, some of the 122 hp and, at least in the beginning, also the 135 hp and the turbo diesel.

I've seen non-hydractive XM in France. As said, it was reasonably common.

My mechanic was the manager of a dealership back then. He was involved in the export of many such basic XMs to Kazakhstan (if I remember correctly). They were very basic, carburetted, non-Hydractive, without extras like electric windows and stuff, to make it possible to service them there.

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I´ve got a document for the 1994 model range, and it seems that the UK was the only country in europe to import only hydractive XM.

It was much the same with BX's too - models not seen over here include BX14 estates and (except for a couple of special orders) base model hatchbacks that had manual locks and windows, and lacked a rear wiper. Even the specs of some of the models we had differed to the continent, with features as standard that were options in the home market (such as rear electric windows on some TRS models). Citroen in the 80's and early 90's seem to have decided that the demands of the UK buyer were greater than that of the rest of Europe.

Citroen aren't alone in this either - I believe that there are curently low spec vehicles from Renault and Dacia that aren't available over here.

Different markets have always had different specifications, from all manufacturers.

How about a BX 1.1 litre petrol...

Yep, they did 1.1's for Portugal and both 1.1's and 1.0's for Greece - there's a Greek member of the BX Club who believes 1.0 BX's are now extinct. There were also BX 15's in some markets that were actually detuned 1.6's.

Back to XM's, before I bought mine I was tempted by a MK1 base model estate in France that had a 2.1 NA Diesel engine fitted - it would have probably been the only one over here if I'd bought it, but probably not as entertaining to drive as my Turbo SD!