Sorry for the delay in the progress report - I've been snowed under with uni work, missing courier parcels (and subsequently police..) - in short it's been a pretty rough time of late.
Anyway, on to the car, which finally arrived, perhaps somewhat ominously, on Friday 13th. Initial findings are good, in that it drove up the ramps at the sellers end, and reversed off them at my end with no evidence of any slip. I took it round the block, and it pulls very well, so it doesn't seem to need the (ex Xantia) gearbox doing for the MOT at least. The original box is in the boot as promised, together with an HP pump, so that can be looked at separately.
What's good:
============
Paint generally good, very few dings to the panels, and none serious
Leather is in good condition with no splits or tears, only minor wear cracks on the drivers seat
Starts easily and freely, and sounds happy enough. No evidence of mayo
Rises pretty quickly and evenly, steering is light and not jerky, so hydraulics seem good - no green puddles!
Brakes work, lights work, horn works, central locking works from the plip & door locks
What's not good:
================
Airbag warning light
ABS warning light
Front windows dead (probably fuse - see below)
Some fugly holes drilled in the lower dash, passenger side
Blower has been bypassed with an ugly toggle switch badly mounted in an uglier hole drilled in the passenger side lower dash (a screw-off part, thankfully)
Spare wheel carrier is toast
Headlining moist around the sun visors and sunroof doesn't tilt (but as I have to take the light and sunroof control console down anyway to fit some wires it's not such a disaster)
Steering wheel is ffff-airly well worn (luckily I have a replacement)
Drivers mirror adjustment works only vertically
Boy racer exhaust is too much for me, and seemingly welded by a constipated pigeon
Some other stuff I can't remember, probably
The seller wrote:
Hi Ray
Glad the XM got to you ok. Control panel in middle of dash faulty,blower fan currently on rocker switch. Abs wheel sensor faulty but need to identify which one. Air bag light not constant fault will go out if you open and close rear passenger door. Window motor in passenger door ok but cable seized. the gear box sticks in top gear under hard acceleration,only way to reset is to restart engine to reset ecu.
and
Both front windows were working the weekend before you collected it. As for the sun roof it never tilted from new. We were told by citroen it wasnt ment to!! Hope this helps
So there's a bit to be going on with, (and I haven't even mentioned transplanting the stereo system over with the one currently in my TCT...) and it looks like it might not be ready for Wetherby as planned. Still, anyone who thinks they can buy a 2000 24v for under £600 and not have any problems is clearly on another planet.
I'm sure it will be ok (he says with an air of confidence that's almost fooling himself
)
Because a picture speaks a thousand words, here's the first batch of photos taken when it arrived.
http://tinyurl.com/c9pd68h Yes, I should have taken ones of it on the trailer, and yes I should have used something better than my iPhone...
Anyway, that's the situation as it is. If it ever stops raining I might get to go do some more.
As usual, comments, suggestions etc are gratefully received.
Best wishes
Ray
There wasn't time to change them for the magazine but rest assured, the 
