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Citroën Turbo Diesel
HOW
DO YOU TRAVEL FIVE-up, at speeds of up to 12Omph,
yet return 33mpg and
a range of at least 500 miles between fill-ups?
Answer: buy a new
Citroën XM Turbo Diesel and (preferably) take it to
Germany. A weekend
trip to Bavaria proved this latest addition to the
XM range to be a
very competent and economical long-hauler. At more
moderate British
road speeds, we have managed 43mpg in mixed running
with four people
aboard.
But the Turbo Diesel is no dour economy machine.
Its O-60 time of 1O.3sec may not be startling, but
it is still
sufficiently quick - aided by the strong peak torque
of 183lb ft at
2000rpm - to be entertaining. For comparison, the
petrol 2.0Si does
O-60 in a claimed 9.6sec.
The
110bhp maximum power
comes at 4300, but the abundance of torque low down
allows you to
change up at between 2500 and 3000rpm, and use the
beefy torquearound
2000 for accelerating, which compensates for the
restricted overall
engine range.
The
XM’s 2088cc turbocharged four-cylinder engine is a
development of the
existing XUD engine family. It’s the same unit as
powers the
turbodiesel Peugeot 605 (Newcomers, May), which will
not be sold in
Britain before September.
The engine uses a
cast-iron block and an aluminium cylinder head
carrying three valves
per cylinder -two inlet, one exhaust - to improve
breathing and supply
more air for combustion. The economy and performance
figures suggest
that this works well. The engine and five-speed ME
5TL gearbox are
mounted on hydraulic links to help isolate
vibrations from the body,
while a torsional vibration damper on the crankshaft
tackles the
problem at source.
Apart from the engine, the Turbo Diesel
is standard XM (CAR, June and December 1989), in
three levels of trim.
All models use Citroën's Hydractive suspension, in
which sensors
monitoring vehicle speed, body movement, the angle
of the steering
wheel etc, inform a central computer which adjusts
both spring and
damper rates in the hydropneumatic system.
The Hydractive
system adjusts automatically from soft to hard mode
very effectively,
but a switch allows the driver to choose the sport
setting manually.
Since the car automatically stiffens up when it
needs to, the selector
switch is best left as an ornament or, as we found,
a talking point for
impressionable juvenile passengers.
On our trip to Bavaria
(via Calais) the suspension scored noticeably on two
occasions. Early
in the trip the car was uncannily smooth over the
bumpy back roads
between Calais and Dunkirk. On German autobahns,
travelling at speeds
which turn bends into corners, the XM remained
impressively flat as the
suspension altered to cope with high cornering
loads. We made the trip
accompanied by a BMW 535i, which rolled appreciably
more through fast
bends, and passengers who tried both cars preferred
the XM.
Although
there is a naturally aspirated XM diesel in other
markets, only the
turbo will be offered in Britain. Here the basic
diesel model is the XM
Turbo D, which has a good level of equipment,
including remote central
locking, electric sunroof and front windows, and
height-adjustable
driver’s seat.
It’s not cheap: at £16,899 it’s £1820 more
expensive than the petrol-injected 2.0i in the same
trim.
The
SD has electrically adjustable front seats, electric
windows all round,
and automatic temperature control, among other
delights.
Its price is £18,449. Top diesel is the Turbo SED,
at £21,119, which has leather upholstery,
air~conditioning and ABS.
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