I owned three XM Estates between, between 1994 and 2003 and they were, until very recently, the best cars that I've very been lucky enough to own! A few things to add to what you've said: 1. The fixed quarter lights are there because the side window glass needs to start to curve around to meet the curved windscreen. the front window / quarter light has a continuous curve reminiscent of looking out of a goldfish bowl! 2. The light up display on the far right of the instrument panel dips the oil on start up every time, displaying the oil level for a few seconds when the engine starts. It's brilliant and every car should have it. 3. The suspension is a (rudimentary) computer controlled Hydractive system (Hydractive 2 in the case of this car). There is a gas filled sphere at each corner of the car. These are connected to the suspension via a network of hydraulic pipes, which use the gas as a spring and the narrow entry of the fluid into the sphere as a damper. There are two additional spheres in the middle of the car that are set up with much softer spring and damper rates. In a straight line, all six spheres are in use. But, when the car needs to corner, the two softy sprung spheres are instantaneously isolated from the system, effectively stiffening both the spring and damper rates. This gives the best of both worlds - soft in a straight line and firm in the corners. When you activate "sports mode", the computer simply permanently locks out the two centre spheres. 4. The rear seat not only has huge legroom, but it's in a "stadium" arrangement, with the rear seat sitting much higher than the front one - giving a superb view out. 5. The car was a VSX, rather than a "VSM". 6. These cars were never a common sight in the UK. They were a sales flop of magnificent proportions, only bettering the catastrophic sales flop of the C6 that followed. Only the French (typically) bought them in any significant numbers. 7. This car was missing a centre key pad, where the driver used to have to enter a 4 digit code to start the car. I can't understand why it didn't have one. 8. The brake pedal on the Phase 1 XM's had no travel at all - they simply worked on the amount of pressure applied. This gave a huge shock to anyone not used to it! Later Phase 2's (like this), had a deformable section built into the brake pipe to simulate brake travel. The brakes on the car that you had were Phase 2 and should have felt relatively normal. 9. Never release the "handbrake" without first covering the pedal with your foot. If you let the pedal snap back up into place, the cables in the mechanism spring off their mounting and the pedal falls to the floor and you've no "handbrake". 10. As a matter of interest, the 2.1 TD was deleted in France for the Phase 2, being replaced by a 2.5 litre 4 cylinder unit. Unfortunately, it was impossible to fit the 2.5 TD into a RHD car along with an auto. So the UK got the 2.1 as an auto and the 2.5 as a manual! 11. The car had a terrible reputation for unreliability, mostly undeserved. The early versions had a cheap and nasty electrical earthing system that used to cause fires!! These were nearly all modified, by Citroen, at very great expense. They aren't as complex as people fear (as you pointed out), but a good one can be wrecked by anyone that doesn't know what they are doing. Including most dealers, back in the day! Find a specialist that knows what they are doing. Travel many, many miles to use them! 12. By changing some of the fuses around, the car will communicate, via the dot matrix screen, in French. This is an essential modification ;)

5:11 the display was programmed to do this so the driver can ensure all the pixels are in fact working, so it's not showing, say, a P when it should be an R.

what a fabulous car, I didn't appreciate these Citroens when I was younger living in the UK, now I adore them..

Great cars, I used to drive a Xantia, loved raising the suspension to get through floods and lowering it to pay less getting on a ferry to France ;-)

Citroen are my favourite make of car, I've had 5 of them ax csa and 3bx. I also worked for the Citroen dealership in Dundee between 1969 to 1974 a great time for old cars. The cx familial is a very large car ,when you look in the rear view mirror not only can you see out the rear window but the two side windows as well.

The oil indicator is the oil level indicator. The BX's had the same thing on them. The ride height wasn't anything to do with off roading or lowering it, at the bottom it was a default as over night the suspension would sink then re-pressurise when the engine was started which apparently made it impossible to fit a wheel clamp to. The top "ride height" was mainly for ease of changing wheels, take the ride height to the top, put an axel stand under it then lower the suspension and the wheel would lift off the ground. The XM was a decent car and really good for those long hauls across Europe.

My employers let me loose in a manual version, they had 10 XMs as company cars. I had some computers to install around Shropshire and spent two weeks driving the XM around Shropshire. Fantastic to drive, comfortable and the suspension is exactly what you want. I bought a BX based on the experience.

When i was in Paris 89/90 these were everywhere. Beautiful cars like most big Citroens. They were known as the French Rolls Royce

little info: suspension height has 4 positions: 1. very low = service position (better not drive in that one!) 2. normal position (for driving) 3. mid-high position : when driving on dirt tracks, with little rocks - but the suspension will be rather hard and 4. upper service position (for changing a wheel, when punctured) you can drive in that position, but very slowly, because you wont have any suspension at all, you will hop around ;-)

I remember seeing an XM for the first time and been blown away by its styling, that it has aged so well is a testament to Citroen's ability to create timeless, beautiful and unique car designs. It's a shame that consumers no longer appreciate the traditional Citroen approach which lead to the creation of some of the greatest cars of all time. The C6, the last great Citroen, is among the most under rated cars of all time and marked the sad end of the marques bravery.

Those angles, sharp edges somehow still make this XM more attractive. Current era design on some makes, recalling the civic and c-hr, can't even make angles and solid lines a beauty other than looking over complicated and can't even stand the test of time like this XM can.

Some remarks from an XM owner - mine is a V6 hatchback btw: First of all styling, ride and brakes are very well explained indeed, especially since it was the tester's first drive in one. Spot on. Remarks: - Yes the centre console slider would stiffen the suspension, not the gearbox. Auto gearbox should have it's own slider for that. Mine is a V6 manual and it still has that centre console slider switch, so for suspension only. One interesting note: the sister model Peugeot 605 could also stiffen the suspension, but the 605 being on coil springs it would be a push button electric adjustment that kept breaking down. On the XM the adjustment is by locking 2 of the spheres and is more distinct and more reliable. - The thick black top window frames are because the estate has a much higher roof line. It must be one of the biggest and most functional estates ever built. - Finally the quarter lights/glass according to Citroen was designed to keep the wind from your face when driving with open window, and I can confirm it does! Though partially it was probably still a design feature, seeing that an XM has altogether 12 windows!

The suspension settings just raise or lower the ride height. They're self leveling anyway, so no matter the load in the rear (or Caravan/trailer) you're always the same ride height. It made headlight adjusters redundant as the car would always be the same level. Seriously clever system.

I so desperately wanted one of these but could never afford one, had 2 BXs and a Xantia though and they were extremely brilliant and utterly reliable cars.

Nice video. The cigarette lighter has never been used because it is really difficult to light one’s pipe up with a car cigarette lighter.

One of the most beautiful cars ever made and when Citroen made their presence known on the road with it's uniqueness. I don't know what happened to Citroen. Their styling ruled the 50's through the 80's. In America I've seen several Citroen CX models. Your passion for design is exactly how me and my friends feel about cars here across the pond. We're in the minority in appreciating beauty. You're lucky to have come across this car and you should not have sold it. I'll never understand selling it. Glad I found your channel though! Excellent camera and attention to detail.

I love the 'ordinary' car videos.....more!

Timeless design by Bertone ..

this are the kind of recomendations that i love

My wife had one of these for six years. It was big. BIG!! Not so big on the outside.... Easy to park and get through gaps. But BIG inside. Hers was a diesel manual SD turbo (series 1) and the only issue was the parking brake... Not designed for use with a clutch pedal. Otherwise, it was wonderful. The dash was different... But the rest of the interior was largely the same.

"Like new... apart from the remote central locking" - To be fair that is like new for Citroen. Be interesting if you ever get hold of a Citroen BX GTi.

My dad had one of these, just not the estate he would love this video. The hydraulic suspension is amazing.

Travelled in a citroen XM taxi once over cobblestoned road, the ride was so smooth.

I have had a xm. Now I have C5 mk1. Love it. The comfort is fantastic

Back in those days, I've drove one of these as a taxi. A sedan Series I and the same engine and automatic transmission. It had 80 liters tank, and it used in our terms 7 liters for 100 km. In a comparison, a MB 250D used about 10 liters. About the suspension. MB had the Citroen suspension on the top model. The 560 SEL, and the Rolls.

"Automatic and Diesel... a marriage made in hell" EPIC!!!

13:00 - stress balls! I love old Citroens like this. Wished that PSA let Citroen carry on building such leftfield cars. Agree with you about modern SUVs.

My old boss had one of these, and his son had a Peugeot 605. Both cars were far from common back in the 90s. My dad had a BX estate as a company car and it was a great car. Well said about SUVs, definitely THE most pointless vehicles on our roads!!!

Sound, glad you mentioned the seats. I have had 2 Citroen BX and a 2cv. Loved them all.

It's a delight to see you so passionate and enthusiastic! Thanks for this pure moment of joy!

Hubnut would enjoy this I think

I have had five or six of them. The first one being a two litre monopoint injection that I bought brand new. During the three years that I owned it, the car spend about six months with the dealership because countless bad earth connections were causing countless engine failures. The best one that I had was a 2.1 TD VSX that I bought with 200K miles on the clock. It was still in great condition when I sold it with 300k miles. Among the fifty odd cars that I owned, this XM was without a doubt the best luxury cruiser that my money could buy.

Very good review of a great car. One thing though, the XM is in the same era as the Renault Safrane not the 25. I still remember the first time I ever saw an XM on the road, it was a white hatchback, the hidden top rear lights looked awesome to an 8 year old in 1991

And .. great personality, excellent filming angles that shows the dash board. That's important. Gives the impression the viewer is driving the car. This and hubnut and believe it or not Cereal Marshmallows videos from 2010-2013 are the best test drives on KZfaq

enjoyed that. informative, and good camera angles too. love reviews of cars of this age but havent found many channels. that was a good review. subscribed.

I owned an early one back in the early 90s. The suspension isn't just hydropneumatic but hydractive too which meant it had an additional suspension sphere. When the on board computer detected a corner or rapid acceleration, it shut the extra sphere off, increasing the pressure of the system and therefore making the suspension firmer. It could do this quicker than the human brain could detect. The sport slider simply put the suspension permanently in firm mode which was a waste of time as it just made the ride jittery. The height adjustment could be used in the low position for hooking up to a trailer and in the high position for tyre changing as well as clearing obstacles (I once drove a BX several miles along a very rocky goat track in Spain in this position; the only other vehicles I saw were Nissan Patrols). Thanks for another entertaining road test.

Nice review on this Citroen,low mileage as well,with some extras inside the interior, awesome video.

9:39 - my 2010 audi has the glow plug light too also what an awesome car. i love the seats, they look super comfortable.

My first car was a 405 estate in the same white colour, loved it, had a huge boot space and was the most comfortable car i've ever been in, apart from a Merc SL.

I use my XM on a daily basis, and I've been all over Europe in it towing a large twin axle caravan and has never broken down once.

“I hate SUV’s”. Immediately subscribed

Always thought these were pretty damn cool! You're finding all the interesting 90's stuff at the moment :)

Beautiful looking car. I've heard of the Citroen XM, but I've never seen one.

“Shame there are not more of these left” you say...probably a good reason is that they were plagued with problems mostly electrical. I was head of operations for a global electronics company during this period and one of my roles was company fleet manager. We had the Xantia diesel on the fleet which was a pile of junk, statistically it spent more time off the road in the repair shop than any other car on the fleet for a whole range of issues. Speaking with fellow executives in the industry who mistakenly opted for the XM just counted down the time for their contract to end to move on to a more reliable and well made car. I love watching these type of videos but there always seem to be an element of rose tinted glasses with anything from the past. Keep up the great work though

What a great car! I am a Range Rover Classic fan but love citroens aswell. The distinctive shape is beautiful. Many thanks for this review.

Totally enjoyable! A note: brakes are classic Citroën HP with ABS. For the second gen they build in some pedal travel using a coil spring between pedal and the good old 1/1000” travel brake valve! Prevents a potential buyer testing the seat belts at the first attempt to stop. Ultimately with the same excellent stopping power and refinement as ever. Sport mode is indeed suspension, but the button is more or less a gimmick, you don’t need it, ever. It switches automatically into stiff mode, based on steering input, brake usage, throttle, speed, and body movement.

Last car but one that I owned in the UK. Beautiful cars. Can’t believe so few left. Nice review. These are a comfortable tool. Far more environmentally friendly and comfortable than horrible SUV’s. These are a real SUV. superb. Yes there’s ABS. The brake warning light may sometimes come on in an annoying way. It’s just an ABS sensor being a PITA.

Great styling for an estate , great review yet again.

Had one of these way back same spec but really didn't appreciate its quality's, see this video has sort of made me want another one,. Looking back at all these lovely cars of the nineties has just confirmed how far we haven't come in new cars. Great video Matt thank you for the upload.

"louvre" interior...i LOVE it.. (the pattern of the seat tissue)

Honest witty and reliable viewer! You should be the next topgear presenter.👍

Furious a bit late but what a great review ! I have owned an XM break V6 and what a great car it was. When I bought it, the problems started after 250 miles of driving. All kinds of elektronical problems, so I brought my car to a specialist who took a week to sort out all the eletronic cables and stuff. It costed me a small fortune but after that I drove many years like a french President with it without any problems. These cars where not cars but alien spaceships. The hydro pneumatic suspension was a absolutely great feature. At the moment I drive a Citroën C5 Aircross (yeah it is a SUV) and in my opinion it is a real quirky and polarising SUV fot the future. It has the new progressive hydraulic cushions suspension and works absolutely great. But sometimes I miss my XM Break. Keep up the good work with some more reviews of Citroëns.Vive La France vive La Citroën.

Greetings, I am from Ukraine, my Grandfather has exactly the same car, only the color is green and the steering wheel is on the left side, I drove such a car I liked it

Side note, Stone Cold Classics sell some incredible stuff. Super low-mileage, quirky and rare cars that most normal people wouldn't consider worth saving. I see their stuff come up on Autotrader a lot and they always leave an impression on me.

The xantia V6 activa was some track queen for a bulky heavy car, thanks to it genious suspension, The car could legitimately compete with a porshe or a McLaren. However the engine was quite reliable and full of potential but very underpowered, thanks to French taxes on horsepower. If the french unleash all is potential, or had a big after market, this would even be to this day the ultimate sleeper track car and would have been a more iconic car than the Nissan R34.

i note: you have completely assimilated the philosophy and spirit of the XM....it's all about cruising and relaxing... :-)

Nice review. When I was an office junior in an old job donkey's years ago, there was a guy we called "Bob The Beer Man" who came into the offices selling duty free booze on the industrial estates. He owned the top end version of this, in metallic green. He'd go on a trek abroad through the chunnel and to the UK all the time, didn't miss a beat. I got past one on the way to Billinge left rotting away outside someone's house. A shame really.

I lived in Portugal for over 20years, and 15 of those i spent driving one of these, past it's inspection every year, with the odd couple of quid spent here and there, it was the perfect work horse. Never let me down, easy to work on and economical. Mine was also white. Until one night i had finished work, and it was one of 4 other cars that had been wrecked by a drunk driver. It broke my heart to sell her for scrap.

What a beautiful car. I always loved the styling of the XM. My dad had a CX 2.5Td back in the day and we loved it. As in the UK, the XM is nowhere to be seen in Belgium. Hardly any decent 2nd hand offerings.

I had a 2.1td XM manual estate the same age as this. I bought it for £600 with 100,000 miles on the clock. I ran it up to 160,000 miles which included numerous jaunts from Scotland to the south of France. Super comfortable over long distances, in sport mode it handled brilliantly. There's a clip elsewhere on KZfaq where its handling compares to a Lotus Elise

Enjoyed that review 👍

I love that wafty magic carpet ride of the brilliant Citroes hydroneumatic suspension, so nice.

furiousdriving: The oil gauge is 2-function....when you turn the key to "run mode" it indicates the level of oil in the engine. When the engine is running....it switches to temp-mode only......just like Peugeots of the same period.

Lovely Jubbly. Keep them coming.

One of my favorite cars ever together with the DS, I would love to own an XM estate. Citroen has forgotten how to make cars these days, love the older stuff,distinctive, a godess out of time, love the XM.

Watch this one again, one of my favourite videos from you

Great car, my work mate in the 90s had 2 L turbo injection, that was quick and nice, id love one

Love it, but then I would say that because I own one 😂

nice car first few mins ok but in the end i was so grateful for fast forward tap function

I had a VSX 2.1 Auto diesel for 5 yrs, without a shadow of a doubt the most comfortable car I've ever had! Speed bumps what speed bumps lmao 🤣, never did less than 45mpg in my ownership and was totally reliable too, with just normal basic services. Would have another in a heart beat

Grace Jones comes to mind when i see the XM!

I'm glad i'm not the only one. 24 is too hot for me too! Great reveiw sir, thank you.

Definitely with you on the SUV thing. I may be a grumpy old man these days, but I see nothing an SUV can do that a decent estate car couldn't. We need to get back to more common sense days when people drove saloons and estates instead of unnecessarily bloated poser - mobiles.

Such a fun car. Unlike the new stuff. Love the weird badging too

This is beautiful, pure esthetic.

I’d buy it just be different 😊 the driver’s side wiper is upside down 👍🏼

What a beautiful car. I want to own one and drive it in Canada

The reason it rides like a Rolls is Rolls fitted Citroen hyropnuematic suspension under licence on the rear. Citroen the suspension kings.

I've owned a 1995 Xantia 1.8i (8 valve) for a bit over a year now. Got lucky, only has 56'000km. It's hard to describe just how awesome the ride is. Luxury levels of space and comfort for a fraction of the price. Plus it's something truly unique, which is becoming rare in the car world these days imo. The XM and Xantia are both awesome, and I guess way more accessible to the regular driver than the CX or the BX.

Very nice youtube suggestion. Have myself XM 2,1 TD Estate as a "workhorse" car. And C6 as a trip one. I just don`t imagine anytime soon switching to different brand because of that lovely suspension.

I have a 2.5 turbo diesel XM Exclusive - car - it is so comfy! Also got a CX DTR Safari estate, even more comfortable. Might not be fast but both wonderful to travel any distance. Putting the XM in “sport” makes the car ride flat around bends without affecting comfort.

I like the XM's rakish design penned by Bertone, the revised instrument binnacle, the four spoke steering wheel lifted off a Xantia and to put it mildly it's a timeless classic early to mid 90's Citroën estate.

Always loved these

Great cars. So long that the weather could be different at each end. I loved mine. Wish I had kept it.

Nice to see an XM getting some love! My daily driver is a '93 BX TZD Turbo with 263K (106K are my miles) haha keep up the good work!

There’s one of these in the driveway at a farm near me. I guess it must be ‘off the road’. Absolutely stunning car.

Big fan of the XM. Have owned two hatchbacks over the years but have always wanted an estate version. Handling is superb. Hydractive 2 really helps keep roll to a minimum. Only thing I hated about them was the foot operated parking brake.

I had 2 ZX’s an Aura and a Volcane both TD’s and 2 Xantia’s an SX and a VSX great cars overall, Xantia was so comfortable the engines were the best diesels at the time. The ZX Volcane was very sporty solid on the road and quick.

That’s an oil level gauge. Works ignition on before engine start. Four suspension positions. High service position, high driving position, normal driving position and low service position. Only two positions should be used for driving. There’s a reason it rides like a RR: Citroën licensed the hydropneumatic suspension system to RR.

The nearest I had to one of those was a 1990 Peugeot 405 diesel. Mega comfortable felt posh to drive after a fiat uno that I swapped for it. It was fairly clapped out when I had it and started up with a big cloud of smoke and clattery tickover. I attempted to change the radio and found that the wiring was all the same colour and live all the time so I fried the first radio and had to get another from the scrap yard.

I drive the older xm (Y3) with the old dashboard inside as my daily driver and love this car. Same engine with a stickshifter. Now nearly 280tkm on the clock. But you forgot the best feature... it's the secret space in everey doors armrest.

When we got married back in '93 our bridesmaids were transported in one of these. Lovely cars - shock how few are left

Your summer looks like it is improving.

The steering wheel was different on the early XM models: back then it had no airbag and was a single-spike wheel! And there is even more: it had buttons on the bottom of the spike to control the stereo! It's almost 20 years en advance!

All XM's were automatic as standard (apart from the van engine 2.5 diesel ) with an awful vague 5 speed manual as a no cost option. I have owned the hatchback version. You have sport mode on both suspension and gearbox. you don't need to twiddle with suspension carrying heavy loads, it self-levels. You need to drive one for a couple of weeks to discover all the strengths (many ) and weaknesses ( quite a few ). I liked mine and might still have it but someone nicked it!

I wish I had the space and money to buy and run that XM; lovely looking car......

I used to drive the 2.0i break. Loved that car!!!!

Top video, great channel.

had that engine in a 406. Flying machine.

A few years ago they where everywhere. We see on quite often because the same one goes up and down our road.