This is a problem. There aren’t too many French CCs to be found in Tokyo, so anything over the age of 20 bearing a double chevron badge should be fair game. And it is. But this particular XM, neat though it may appear, is suspicious for a number of reasons, which I will explain forthwith. That’s also why I refrained from assigning it a precise model year: it’s a bit of a bitza.
Made from 1989 to 2000, the XM belongs to the long tradition of big hydro Citroëns, and like its forebears, can be roughly split into two eras. The DS (1955-75) got a dramatic facelift after 12 years; the CX (1974-91) traded its chrome bumpers for plastic cladding after ten. The XM, or its part, was facelifted after only five years on the production line, mid-way through MY 1994. Perhaps that was a clue that the big Cit was in trouble.
I wrote up a full CC on a series 2 XM a couple years back. The front end’s tiny grill between the headlamps was revamped, with the double chevron logo placed at its centre. Series 1 cars had the logo on the side. Like this car. Same for the rear spoiler and “Citroën XM” script on the tail: those are very much series 1.
Those wheels are also a hallmark of an early model XM. They were on the car that (somewhat bafflingly) showed up for sale in Oklahoma in a CC post from a couple of years ago. It was about a rather special XM – a 1992 full-spec V6 car with those exact wheels. A cool design, I must admit.
But glancing inside, we are thrust forward in time to the second half of the ‘90s. That is a series 2 dash. Citroën completely changed the interior when the exterior facelift occurred, so you can’t really expect to have one without the other. Yet here we are.
Is this a JDM special, then? They did import a few XMs back in the day – for pretty much the model’s entire production life, in fact. Oddly enough, they were distributed via Mazda’s Eunos sub-brand, as well as the car importing arm of the Seibu corporation, who then also carried Saab and used to handle the likes of Peugeot, Ferrari and BMW.
But neither importer/distributor has left any sticker that I could find. They usually put them on the back window; this car has a Total and a Citroën logo there, as they would in Europe. All cars sold in Japan were fully-loaded and got the V6 with the ZF automatic – a rather poor transmission, apparently. Japanese customers could specify either RHD or LHD, so it’s anybody’s guess whether this one was sent here from new, though it does seem to fit some of the criteria.
That still doesn’t explain why the exterior is clearly pre-facelift, while the cabin is unequivocally post-1994. I’ve seen more CXs and C6s than XMs around Tokyo; the car’s reliability issues may have affected its survival rate. Perhaps someone found a series 1 with a dead transmission and put as much of it on a mechanically sound series 2 as they could. Whatever the case may be, it was great to see at least one on the road here. Life is more colourful with big hydro Citroëns, even if it is the red-headed step-child of the breed.
Related posts:
Curbside Classic: 1997 Citroën XM – The Spaghetti Incident, by T87
Cohort Classic: Citroën XM – Its Three Predecessors were Hard Acts to Follow, by PN
I don’t care what year it’s from; I think it’s beautiful. I see a lot of SM, but with 2 more doors and a bit of the “folded paper” design idiom of the late 80s.
I had a Series 1 – it had an unslakeable thirst for LHM fluid but nobody could find the leak.
This most definitely is a series 2 XM that had been converted to look like a series 1. The wheels are the original, optional alloys that were available until August 1991 (end of MY91) The colour seems to be very rare Brun Castor Brown, available during the first model years only (89 and 90). The ultimate give away is the plastic band that connects the rear view mirrors: it is never painted on series 1 models, except for the Exclusive trim, that was launched only after this specific colour was phased out. Conclusion: the car was adapted to the (good) taste of the owner, who apparently wanted series 2 reliability in a series 1 package!
Greetings from an XM owner (and big nerd…) from
Amsterdam!
Thank you for these details and for confirming what I thought this was. Late model reliability + early looks = best XM combination, perhaps (though the series 1 dash is more Citroën in spirit). Great colour, too – thank you for IDing that as well.
I remember these being described in the UK as having “crazy paving” windows – and yes, the ZF four-speed automatic was notorious for exploding at a relatively young age.
That is a really nice looking car. Odd, but still attractive. But I’d never desire to own one due to the lack of any reliability.
Compared with any other non-premium badged car in that class – 605, Scorpio, Senator, Renault Safrane, Rover 800 (not premium by then), Volvo 960, Fiat Croma or on eof several Japanese options, I’d still take this.
With a decent warranty.
I love big Citroens, actually all Citroens, I wish we had more of them in the US. French cars have a certain je ne sais quoi, and Citroen the most of all. Wonderful seats, amazing ride, and quirkiness like SAAB, but even more so. Basically pretty rugged too. Vive la France!
The off center badge is cool, the grille is not. Is the rear upper panel a different color?
Looking at those seats, I wonder why no one has made side bolsters that recede when the car is in park. It would save on wear, too.
Nice I dont see too many XMs they are quite rare here though I got offered a diesel one not long ago but with known injector pump issues that arent easy or cheap to fix.
4 speed autos in PSA cars are just junk they have an appetite for shift solenoids which arent terribly expensive to buy but fitting them cost more than the cars are worth the 6 speed in later models is bulletproof
That 4-speed gearbox was a j.v between PSA and Renault, and because we’re a market that buys mainly autos, most of their products sold here were – sadly – equipped with it.
It is utter, utter, junk – and that’s when it is working as intended! Solenoids, yes, but much else fails besides. Ridiculously poor effort from a major French industrial conglomerate.
I’m tempted to say the entire dashboard fritzed and smoked, thus the later installment (such is the rep of the early XM’s), but I actually get this car.
I love the earliest and plainest CX’s with no side trim, and steel wheels, but I don’t want only 2 carburettored litres, 4 speed manual and no power steering, so I’d backdate a later (still chrome) Pallas externally so as to have 5 speed, a/c, electric windows, ABS, and the 2.4 injection.
Spare sculpture outside, luxe within, and some speed beneath.
Nice to see being driven down the corner, not to be owned