Citroen XM

The replacement for the CX, which had been produced from 1974 to 1989, was the XM. Perhaps ominously, the XM shared its floor, engines and transmissions with the Peugeot 605, but Citroenists needn’t have worried; the XM, with its distinctive and futuristic styling by Bertone and the famous Citroen hydraulics, was a world away from the 605, or indeed, anything else. It was the first car fitted with Citroen’s new Hydractive suspension, a major advance over the classic oleopnumatic suspension that had served so well for decades. It uses the power and speed of the computer to turn oleopnumatics into an almost active suspension system. It works by adding an extra sphere on each of the axles which can be switched in and out of circuit by the computer in 0.05 seconds. The microprocessor based control system has inputs from five different sensors, three that anticipate the car’s movement and two that monitor the result of the computer’s decisions and help the computer to determine the overall sensitivity of the system. The effect of switching the extra spheres out of circuit is to firm up the suspension considerably. The basic suspension set up can be made quite soft and comfortable for normal driving, with the computer automatically switching to firm mode when conditions require, giving owners the best of both worlds: a wonderful ride and great handling. Clever Citroen!

The XM has a particularly aerodynamic shape. The low front, steeply raked windscreen and double curvature flush fitting glass contribute to a Cd figure of just 0.28 to 0.3, depending on the model. In spite of the aerodynamic shape, the interior is very large, with bags of room for the driver and passengers and a huge boot space to boot. A clever touch, typical of Citroen, is the provision of a glass panel behind the rear passengers to keep the cabin warm and dry which stays in place when the hatch is opened. Of course, if required, it can be removed or made to open with the hatch, giving the owner the choice. Another clever little touch is a third sun visor in-between the two main sun visors, which makes being blinded by the sun less likely than with lesser machinery. The inside of the B pillars are fitted with fresh air vents so that rear passengers can enjoy fresh air firsthand and ducting below the front seats heats their feet.

Major improvements over the CX included much improved build quality, almost to German standards with galvanised bodies, making a rusty XM a rare sight. The heating and ventilation system was a vast improvement, but this was a particular weakness of the CX. The XM also offered both semi and full climate control with air conditioning which took care of both temperature and airflow if you ask it to. The conventional handbrake was replaced by a Mercedes Benz style parking brake to increase storage space between the seats.

The XM was initially available in 5 door hatchback form, with estates arriving in 1992. It originally had 5 engine options (including a six cylinder in a Citroën saloon for the first time since the Traction in the 50s): 2 litre 115 bhp carburettor, 2 litre 130 bhp injection, V6 3 litre 170 bhp injection, 2.1 litre 83 bhp diesel - 2.1 litre 110 bhp turbo diesel - and three different levels of trim. In 1993 the CT (Constant Torque) petrol Turbo was introduced. This used a Garrett T25 turbocharger with intercooler which runs at a modest boost pressure of 0.7 bar for increased torque low down in the rev range, giving the CT great pulling power and increasing refinement, especially when mated with the new ZF four speed automatic gearbox. This is an approach also used by Saab. In 1994 Citroen introduced a new 2.5 litre turbocharged diesel engine which gives 217 ft. lb of torque as low as 2000 rpm. V6 models were offered with a ZF auto adaptive automatic gearbox, whose computer looks at your driving style and selects one of six different gearchange programs to suit your driving style. The wonderful speed sensitive power steering from the SM and CX (DIRAVI) was dropped for UK cars and replaced by a conventional system. Shame. For the XM, Valeo made headlights which blended into the cars sleek styling. They were called “complex surface” headlights and used a computer to improve performance over conventional designs and in a rectangular shape. The performance proved to be controversial and Series 2 cars had improved performance, but only for left hand drive markets; sales in the UK were judged too poor to justify making a right hand drive version. Pity.

The original Hydractive system was upgraded in 1993 to Hydractive 2, in which the system was refined further. In 1994, a re-style of the body produced the Series 2 which lasted until production ceased in 1999. Unfortunately, under the guise of the introduction of airbags, the classic Citroen single spoke steering wheel had to be ditched.