Rare Rides: A 1994 Citron XM From Right Next Door

Corey Lewis
by Corey Lewis

It has six cylinders, it’s front-wheel drive, and it carries cloth seats and an automatic transmission.

No, we’re not talking about your grandmother’s 1995 Buick LeSabre — today we’re discussing the stylish and French five-door liftback known as the Citroën XM.

I can recall the very first time I ever saw a Citroën XM. Sitting at a Parisian café, enjoying an espresso in front of the Zenith, watching Ronin on a VHS tape rented from Blockbuster (look how dated this memory is).

Zooming across my screen in one of the film’s several car chases, the XM looked sleek, fast, and expensive. The car of choice for the bald bad man, the XM took on a protagonist driving an Audi S8. The XM’s V6 and comparatively diminutive size fared well against the beastly V8, Quattro, and general heft of the D2 S8. More on this clip in a moment.

In addition to being a movie star, the XM served the general population of Europe. Introduced for model year 1990, the Bertone-designed XM ran all the way through 2000. The XM competed in Europe’s executive car class against offerings like BMW’s 5 Series and the Mercedes E-Class. Naturally, an estate version was offered alongside the liftback starting in 1991.


Today’s Rare Ride hails from 1994, which was a year of change for the XM. Citroën refreshed the design of cars built in June of 1994 onward, adding revised badging, ground effects, and other trim alterations to the updated styling. Above, one notices Ronin used an original and a facelifted car in that chase. In the beginning, an older XM is shown, with the Citroën chevron logo located on the driver’s side of the grille. Later, when the chase enters the city, the XM is now a newer version, its grille logo centered. (This OCD continuity note brought to you by Corey.)

“Too bad,” you’ve said to yourself “the XM was never imported into the United States.” Untrue! A very limited number of XMs were imported by CXA, a company which previously imported the CX25. That fastback was the successor to the DS and predecessor to the XM. The company imported inline-four and V6 XM versions from 1991 through 1997, when new emissions regulation shut down the operation. If you see one on the roads, you’re having a lucky day.

Our subject today is interestingly equipped. It features the very largest engine put into any XM — a 3.0-liter V6. I’m sorry to say that it’s the PRV V6 you’ll also find in an Eagle Premier or a DeLorean DMC-12. Parts availability!

Joining the big engine and standard hydropneumatic suspension are excellent looking aero wheel covers. The interior surrounds passengers in tile-patterned grey cloth. There’s plenty of leg and luggage room, as one would expect in a large and comfortable Citroën.

This XM, residing in downtown Canada, has just under 37,000 miles on the odometer and can be purchased by locals for $14,900 of their loonies. However, if it’s still on sale next year, an American can drive it right across the border.

[Images via seller]

Corey Lewis
Corey Lewis

Interested in lots of cars and their various historical contexts. Started writing articles for TTAC in late 2016, when my first posts were QOTDs. From there I started a few new series like Rare Rides, Buy/Drive/Burn, Abandoned History, and most recently Rare Rides Icons. Operating from a home base in Cincinnati, Ohio, a relative auto journalist dead zone. Many of my articles are prompted by something I'll see on social media that sparks my interest and causes me to research. Finding articles and information from the early days of the internet and beyond that covers the little details lost to time: trim packages, color and wheel choices, interior fabrics. Beyond those, I'm fascinated by automotive industry experiments, both failures and successes. Lately I've taken an interest in AI, and generating "what if" type images for car models long dead. Reincarnating a modern Toyota Paseo, Lincoln Mark IX, or Isuzu Trooper through a text prompt is fun. Fun to post them on Twitter too, and watch people overreact. To that end, the social media I use most is Twitter, @CoreyLewis86. I also contribute pieces for Forbes Wheels and Forbes Home.

More by Corey Lewis

Comments
Join the conversation
2 of 31 comments
  • Mikey Mikey on Mar 18, 2018

    15 K {CDN) with nearly 60 KLMS ? Add 13 percent HST , then dealer prep/admin fees. Maybe 17 K out the door? Right..wait a year, bring 9 K USD and a trailer it can be all yours.

  • HotPotato HotPotato on Mar 21, 2018

    No design house epitomizes the excesses of sharp, blocky 1980s design like Bertone. And this Bertone-designed Citroen has got to be the sharpest, blockiest, most 1980s car this side of a Maserati Biturbo. Except, of course, that the Citroen was sold in the ultra-aero-jellybean 1990s, when even full-size Ford pickups had every sharp edge rounded to a wind-caressing feminine curve. Citroen has always been for those who march to their own drummer!

  • Honda1 The FJB Inflation Reduction Act will end up causing more inflation down the road, fact! Go ahead and flame me libbies, get back to me in a few years!
  • Cprescott Fisker is another brand that Heir Yutz has killed.
  • Dwford Every country is allowed to have trade restrictions except the US.
  • 1995 SC Are there any mitigation systems that would have prevented this though? We had a ship hit a bridge in Jacksonville a few years back and it was basically dumb luck it didn't collapse. This looked like a direct hit.
  • Cprescott Oh, well.
Next