Tales of a C3, a Goddess and some BMW's.

vince · Unread post by **vince** » 18 Apr 2010, 22:06

DickieG wrote:I spent today up at the Rockingham Speedway circuit testing numerous cars to experience how ESP systems vary in their effectiveness according to model, older/newer systems, front/rear/4x4 drive, ESP on/off, play time
.

You do realise Richard that you have (in your best Jeremy Clarkson voice) "one of the best jobs.....in the world"

DS gathering sounded cool

DickieG · Unread post by **DickieG** » 18 Apr 2010, 22:16

vince wrote:
DickieG wrote:I spent today up at the Rockingham Speedway circuit testing numerous cars to experience how ESP systems vary in their effectiveness according to model, older/newer systems, front/rear/4x4 drive, ESP on/off, play time
.
You do realise Richard that you have (in your best Jeremy Clarkson voice) "one of the best jobs.....in the world"

Its not bad is it? Although it can be quite scary at times

vince · Unread post by **vince** » 18 Apr 2010, 22:35

So can working in Liverpool be too

KP · Unread post by KP » 19 Apr 2010, 08:16

Can i have your job DickieG

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 19 Apr 2010, 08:46

KP wrote:Can i have your job DickieG

Tell you what Will, you can have mine

DickieG · Unread post by **DickieG** » 19 Apr 2010, 21:42

KP wrote:Can i have your job DickieG

Not quite yet

DickieG · Unread post by **DickieG** » 23 May 2010, 21:58

A bit of catching up to do here

last weekend Dawn an I went lunch in a very nice country pub (Black Boy in Oving) in order to plan out the route for the DS Rally convoy drive in a couple of weeks, this year the drive will end up at a very nice country house.

At this time of year my life becomes quite busy just keeping up with MOT's being due on my fleet, having done the V6 it was now time for my VSX which involved bringing it out of hibernation (I keep it parked in the heated garage at work) then giving it a good once over prior to putting it in for the test. I changed the LHM and checked the pressure on all of its sphere's all of which were exactly as they were when new, not bad considering that most of them are dated 2004 which just goes to show that sphere's only lose pressure through use (whenever this car is left parked up I always drop the suspension onto its bump-stops). By comparison last weekend I also checked the pressure of the front strut sphere's of my estate and discovered that they had lost 13 bar of pressure in 17,000 miles/19 month's.

What did comes as a surprise is just how well my VSX drives, its now completed the grand total of 34732 miles (almost all Motorway) it still looks/drives/smells like a new car, tight, quiet and no bump thump noise, a real reminder as to how well Xantia's drove when they were new

anyway to preserve it like that I'm taking straight back into hibernation tomorrow morning.

As mentioned elsewhere on this forum I'm having a good rethink about the number of car's I'm running so I'm thinking of selling a couple and replacing them with one, yesterday morning I popped into Citorën's HQ and took a close look at the latest C5 Exclusive to compare it with the previous shape, I've got to say that I'm really rather struck with the new C5, its much nicer than the latest Audi A6 Quattro I drive at work, almost as nice a a BMW 5 series, tempting very tempting so I've now got a dilemma do I wait six months until I retire and buy a new shape one or go for a cheaper previous shape C5? Decision's decisions

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 23 May 2010, 22:18

I'm sure Goldie's MOT will be a mere formality Richard although the miles covered since the last MOT might raise a few eyebrows....

Looking forward to the DSM rally and I'll most likely bring the Silver Activa, at least on one of the days. Looking forward to the convoy too. I can guess the big house although there are a few to choose from down that way, all rather stately and nicely in keeping with the DS.

I used to work down that way many years ago, just up the road from Whitchurch and very near Oving... Lovely spot...

DickieG · Unread post by **DickieG** » 23 May 2010, 22:25

CitroJim wrote:I'm sure Goldie's MOT will be a mere formality Richard although the miles covered since the last MOT might raise a few eyebrows....

Doh

she did pass and yes the tester did have a chuckle on the lack of miles since the last test

KP · Unread post by KP » 24 May 2010, 08:00

Dickie, have you asked to have a 24hr test drive of one to ensure your happy with it and teh correct gearbox and engine combo you would want?

Myself, i would wait for the C5 Exclusive new shape. warranty at least means nothing major to worry about for a few years other than tyres and brakes

PS what engine are you thinking of? 2 or 2.7hdi ??

Xaccers · Unread post by **Xaccers** » 24 May 2010, 11:59

new exclusive estate with the V6 HDi engine....

KP · Unread post by KP » 24 May 2010, 12:28

isn't the tax for the V6 double what the 2.0 is?? I would hope if its brand new that cit would pay the first years tax as its over £400...

DickieG · Unread post by **DickieG** » 24 May 2010, 21:54

If I do go for the latest shape I'm tempted to push the boat out and go for a 3.0 V6 (240bhp), 38 extra bhp and lower emissions/consumption than the 2.7 V6. Its also in the same tax bracket as a 2.0 auto (£235) which produces a whopping 80 bhp less than the 3.0.

Any front wheel drive car with that sort of power will definitely require an extended test drive just to assess how the car feels under power, will it suffer torque steer like a Saab 9-5 Aero or have Audi's awful launch control which significantly reduces engine power until the car's doing 15mph, it results in crawling away from stationary then being launched forward, a dreadful system

Amazing how technology has moved on, my old BMW M3 had 200 bhp, now Citroën are producing and 240 bhp diesel estate

DickieG · Unread post by **DickieG** » 31 May 2010, 00:01

No further news on C5's either new or old, but I took SWIMBO's BMW for an MOT this morning which it passed with flying colours, I then did a job on the Goddess which I hadn't done on a car for several years, adjust the engine valves/tappets. Not the easiest to get to as the engine is located right at the back of the engine bay against the bulkhead and the thread to adjust the valve clearance's appeared to be rather coarse with just the slightest turn on the screw making quite a significant difference to the gap. Being an EFi, before I could get the rocker cover off I had to remove the inlet manifold together with numerous vacuum hoses and pull the clutch re-engagement tool away from the manifold, anyway job done and I'm now sporting a suntan on the back of my legs

. A quick test drive appears to show that a slight improvement has been made to smoothness, at idle the engine just purrs constantly with no hint of a pop.

One job/cost I've been putting off for a while is buying two new tyres for the front wheel's, normally I'd just pop out and buy them but being a DS she's obliged to have the correct Michelin's, the cost a not so cool £257 each plus another £16 each for inner-tubes, remember them?

Last year I replaced the rear ones but due to ageing/cracking of the rubber I'm going to have to splash out, hopefully I'll get them next Saturday with a run down to Beaulieu where Vintage Tyres are located, that's almost £1,100 for a set of 185x15 tyres 80% profile, shocking.

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 31 May 2010, 09:02

Ahh yes, I vaguely recall tappets

Do you remember the special tool you could get for setting them? it was made by Gunsons and called a Click Adjust.

Any good?

Those tyres are eyewateringly expensive

I guess they're the special XAS asymmetric jobs...

Still, at least you have a perfect excuse to pay a visit to the motor museum whilst at Beaulieu