Citroën Xantia vs Rover 600 - 1990s Rep Cars Battle! (1999 HDi Exclusive & 623GSi Road Test)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 19 มิ.ย. 2024
- The 1990s was undoubtedly the peak era for sales reps, with all manner of company cars available to them. Most went for the conventional Ford Mondeo or Vauxhall Vectra, but if you wanted something left-field and a bit of a cut above, would the gallic character of the Citroën Xantia outweigh the British charm of the Rover 600? Sam and Jack decided to find out...
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Chapters
0:00 Intro
1:13 Rover 600
4:11 Citroen Xantia
6:33 Which Is Best? - ยานยนต์และพาหนะ
The Rover is for sale! classicsworld.co.uk/news/for-sale-our-rover-623gsi-project-car/
I have been driving Xantia for the past 10 years (a part from a very brief and forgettable period in a Peugeot 307). Love the styling, the ride comfort, the ride comfort and the ride comfort :D
Even though my current Xantia is a daily driver (low annual milage though) I am doing my best to keep this one running for as long as possible ;)
i have a Xantia HDi exclusive and a 180hp 307 2.0 HDi 6 speed - a very nice pair of cars to own
The Xantia you're showing here is an exceptionally nice one. Leather was a pretty rare option in those cars and it's pretty difficult to find a minter like this one nowadays.
But I agree that the ones that survived look pretty timeless nowadays
you can but its 4000€ from 8k and activa 12K€
I've always believed the 90s was peak car, since way before that term existed. Never really liked the styling of the 600 back then, but it's really grown on me and I miss seeing them now.
Bought a Xantia X1 two years ago with the 101 hp 1.8i 8 valver. Great car. Sits at 67000km now and it's been charming. What a ride. Personally, I like the X1 styling more than the X2 seen here.
The Citroen and Peugeot diesels are brilliant cars to drive on British A-roads and B-roads.
We had a 405 in our family for 13 years.
As a Xantia enthusiast but more importantly a car enthusiast as a whole, I really appreciated that video, was very nice to watch, thank you !
I think you are a bit mean suggesting that Rover only did the interiors - they brought a fair bit of other expertise to the Honda partnership - for example suspension design and tuning on some (but not all) of the collaborations. Main problem with Rover was always lack of cash for investment in new models and marketing - they'd also trashed most of the other brands in their portfolio with lack of investment. Rover was about the only untarnished badge they had left....
I had two Xantia 2.0 VSX during the 90's, great cars with no problems...
I had the Xantia Diesel VSX - my one and only company car. Great car, but I went back to buying used XJ6s when time came for a change... The Citroen was almost as comfortable as the XJ6 and used half the fuel - only problem, it wasn't a Jaguar :-)
i had a xantia estate. fab motor, pulled my caravan all over europe for 7 years, not 1 problem
HDI was so advanced for the time. Remember it in the 2001 top-spec 306 we had, and thinking it was really special. Xantia undoubtedly the better car but at the time, I would have choose the 600. It's different and beautifully styled, and that's all that matters to me. Drive is decent enough too. Same with modern day rep-mobiles. A 2007 Mondeo is a much better car than a 2007 C Class but the C-Class Avantgardge makes you feel good, and you're proud to turn up it in. Just the way cars are. Being objectively good has nothing to do with it.
I'm a mega Rover fan so for me the 600 over the xantia...but....i do like left field stuff
My first car was a rover 600 reg s159pfl really good car was given to me by someone I new who was moving back to the country he orignally come from the missconseption of rover being unreliable is total crap
The 600 does it for me I think the styling has aged really well plus Rover had a trick up it's sleeve with the 620Ti
True, the Rover aged very well.
My ex's dad had a Xantia Activa as a company car in the 90's and happily managed a 240 mile commute most days - says it all. I owned one ( with a knackered gearbox ) briefly, I've owned countless Saab's and Volvo's since and the ride in the Xantia surpasses them all.
Having had both PSA (Citroen & Peugeot) cars and had a Rover 620SLi, the Rover is far
Far superior on reliability over its french competitors. Had a 600 until reached 22 years old when I sold in 2020 I had it 14 years it never missed a beat.
The Xantia is often called the French Toyota because it is a very solid and extreme reliable car. Especially the Diesels can easily do over 300.000 miles without major problems.
My dad drove a Xantia for over 10 years. Never had anything major and was very well used by that time. Amazing car.
Had 3 Xantia hatchbacks absolutely superb car's to travel Europe in 👍
I had Xantia HDi as company car in 97 loved it except seats on long journey, then had 600 Turbo in 98 when got promoted, it felt very quick and upmarket interior
I had a Xantia HDi. The engine was bomb proof but fussy ancillaries and rust eventually killed it. Failed wipers required that the windscreen had to be taken out (?!) and the labour for that was ludicrous for an otherwise very cheap reliable and remarkably capacious run-about.
Much as I like the 600, to me, the Xantia is a superior car. I’d go so far as to say that the Xantia HDi was (until we were all told that diesels are evil) possibly ‘peak car’………in IC terms at least!
I missed a chance to buy a Xantia and I'm still sad about it. 2001, HDi, all the toys. I did hessitate because I hate diesels, would much rather have the 3 litre V6 or even 2.2 litre at least, but it sold almost immediately. Ended up with a Peugeot 306 sedan from 1995, not the end of the world but I want to get into a hydraulic Citroen one of these days, maybe a BX?
I'd take the Citroën Xantia
My uncle had a lovely Xantia SX 2.1, he loved it. But after EuroNCAP tested it, my aunt quickly ordered it gone, and he bought a Passat 110. It didn't purr like the Citroen, however it was much easier to work on, and more economical. It was just the way the Xantia's cockpit completely collapsed😮
The Xantia just tickes something for me. It's like the BX, but for an average man.
Citroen every time..
Especially in estate form.
How can anyone say Rover 600 is better car than Citroen Xantia? Some things just do not make sense in this universe, or any alternative either.
"Just a Peugeot" :)). Rover rebadged a Honda, Citroen were busy developing things Rols Royce were keen on using.. just a Peugeot ;))
i know right
Rover for me...
Church.
The sharply styled Xantia does it for me. I actually prefer the earlier versions with neater grille and headlights. Pleasing shape that's aged really rather well.
A rather handsome car, isn’t it?
I own both and agree with you, the early cars are prettier. But the HDi and the spec of my late one make it far more usable.
My Xantia (93L 1.8 LX) was wonderfully comfortable and probably the best car Ive ever driven in terms of stability in cross winds. Silly as it sounds & for all its faults, I miss the 90 G Montego 1.6LX it replaced much more to this day !
I had a 600 GSDi, Pretty car. It was an Accord in a Saville Row suit. It had the typical problem of a Rover which was to constantly need new bulbs.
Yes, but no. I will qualify, in the late 90's I had both a Xantia HDi estate and a 620i Rover - the 623GSi was well beyond the average Company car allocation. The Rover was "posher yet the Citroen was more practical, more reliable and a better drive for when I was averaging >35k miles a year.
My local Rover dealership were constantly making the car more reliable in both respect of the build quality and reliability where the Xantia simply went in for service at the suggested intervals and only had one issue when one of the suspension balls failed - yet I was living in the Scottish Highlands.
Now in an anaemic, by comparison, Audi Q5 tdi (my own) - great car yet the ride quality couldn't match the Xantia!
BX then when they weren't offered to me I chose the Pug 405 - sublime machines. I love hearing people who weren't there talk about those times - Happy Eaters? Expenses were limited and scrutinised lads and there was no time for all that. A sarnie or pork pie with a can of Coke ( no cup holders for hot drinks ) so you could eat on the move. Your pay and your longevity in post depended on your productivity. No point in having 5 Little Chef lunches a day whilst your colleague out performed you in the sales charts. That was when your exe's were really under the microscope
That xantia is beautiful example 😍
Thank you.
I had 2 x Peugeot 405s&3 x 406s. It was Citroën's Complicated Suspension that put me off the BX&Xantia.
The Xantia 1.9 Turbo Diesel is soooo gooddd for a dash across the Aussie Outback - comfort and chuckabilty on stylish steroids...
I used to drive a lot of repmobiles in the mid to late 90s from C class Mercs down and the Xantia was one of the best, I used to really hate driving the Rover 600, wasn't keen on the 800 either, the smaller 214 was good though.
Xantia 👍👍
I had the Honda Accord 2.0 in Pirates Black sister car to Rover 600.
At least the 90s salesman got a choice, they are all better now though. Fluid suspension won't go away. It makes more sense.
After 100k miles my Citroen was in pieces. My Rover was still going at 230k miles.
The Xantia in the video has done approximately 150000 miles.
This is extremely false, I have one with 180k on the clock and it held brillantly ( also seen dozens of Xantia and knowing them well, I can safely say this is 100% false ). The Xantia isn't just a citroen, it's a Xantia, you can't generalize. This car was built to last (from citroen themselves, this car was made to last, after the XM, they didn't want to sell a car with issues anymore, as it killed the reputation of the citroen XM, so a lot of efforts went into the Xantia to make it very solid, and it showed ), the only issues you could run into is changing hydraulic pipes really, other than that, brillantly built, engines are reliable and drivetrains have no issues neither.
And even if I love the Xantia I can swear that this is unbiased, if the car was known to be problematic, I would have no issues saying it, but the Xantia is a really solid car. The only point of concern I always tell to people is hydraulic leaks.
What a load of bollocks
the silly raised height of the 600 spoils the line, they did the same to the 800 facelift as well
I would have the Xantia but I prefer the estate version.
The rover 600 is much much better than an ordinairy citroen. I enjoyed my 620 si vert much in the 10 years i owned it. If it wasnt crashed i would still drive it.
Pushou 4ou5? That's Bx era car. They build Xantia on that?
Just as a comparison - at the time it would have been a Vauxhall Vectra and Peugeot 406, with the Cavalier and 405 you are comparing 80s cars to 90s cars, just saying.
At launch in 1993 the competition for both cars would have been Cavalier and 405. Vectra came out in 1995, 406 in 1996.
Xantia …Bomb proof - Apart from the clutch pedal 👍🏼
Said no-one before ever about a Citroen
@@stepheng8779 but is the truth thankfully, the xantia is kinda bomb proof. As I said to another comment, the xantia came after the XM and the XM had gotten a bad reputation due to early problems, so CITROEN had put all of its effort into making the xantia as good as it could be, and it showed.
What kind of issues did you run into with your clutch pedal ? And what version was it, the xantia came with an hydraulic clutch or clutch by cable, I never heard much issues about it so I'm intrigued
@@bttfsof The cable clip attached to the clutch pedal tends to break around 70,000 kms. I own a 1997 Xantia VSX sedan and a 2000 Xantia wagon (estate), both manual transmission :)
@@grant1352 Interesting, I've seen that issue happens but I didn't know it was a common point of failure on those.
Actually... being on the road in those days ..you would have demanded a 3 series or a Merc...
If you brought the numbers in...
Indeed.
If you were doing well on the road you got the e36 or C Class.
Albeit with a lower spec than you might get had you chosen a less desirable brand…. 🙂
@@monk3yboy69 once upon a time you could be arrogant and demanding and set your own package...times have changed for sure...now we choose a car on boot size...real mpg and road tax....
I had a Saab back in the day of being a road warrior..no back ache and it moved...glad it wasn't me putting the petrol in
In my life time there has never been a citroen that was in any way appealing to me, either to look at or as an ownership prospect. Yes there was the DS and SM but they were a long long time ago. I had a friend who had BX's back in the day and they broke constantly, the suspension leaked and the flimsy interiors fell apart. BL / rover products were usually not the best put together either which probably explains why fords and vauxhalls sold by the bucket load back then and rover went down the drain. I think the real nail in the coffin for these two was the bmw 3 series though, ok not as well equipped for the money but far more desirable. The thing is can either of them really be considered a classic? Just because a car is old doesn't mean its classic, not in my book anyway.
The Guy who goes off about the Xantia doesn’t know what he’s talking about. The Rover is the better car, comparing a 600 to a Xantia is like comparing a Land Rover Discovery to a Kia Sportage. As for Driver and enjoyment and satisfaction the Rover 600 is vastly superior over the dull Xantia, a Rover 400 is way better at that than a Xantia is. Xantia is probably the only remotely interesting car Citreon has made and that’s still rather dull especially in Pre-Facelift Form.
you dont know what your talking about at all.
Has go be the rover .Any french is trouble ask any a.a or rac petrol man
Speaking as the owner of 2 Xantias, an XM and a CX, never any trouble. And none has been mollycoddled, they all get use.
Helen’s deluded
@@Mr330d Your deluded, Mr Shitty BMW, French is bad enough but German is even worse.
@Mr330d as per message fench cars are pretty crap .peroid
@@matterofapinionlucky you found them troublesome
Xantia-🤮