Australian Car Guide

2001 June 17: The Citroën Xsara Coupe of Philippe Bugalski and co-driver Jean-Paul Chiaroni finished 6th in the Acropolis Rally, Greece.

Citroen have only recently entered the World Rally Championship so were well pleased with the result. 1. Colin McRae and Nicky Grist Ford Focus, 2. P. Solberg, (Nor) & P. Mills (GB) Subaru Impreza, 3. H. Rovanperä (Fin) & R. Pietilainen (Fin) Peugeot 206.

2001 May: The Citroen Xsara Picasso MPV is being produced in Russia, Brazil and Iran and, shortly, in China [-Citroen]

2001 March: Citroen Xsara, part of a French push in Australia, at the motor show - 4wd.sofcom.com

2001 January: The Citroen Xsara 5-door goes on sale (in .au) in February at 25,490. The 2-door coupe (right) starts at 23,990 (). The 5-door is available here with a choice of 1.6 litre 83 or 2 litre 102 engines. The former comes with 5-speed manual or 4-speed automatic gearboxes, the latter has the automatic as standard. There are two versions of the coupe, the VTR with the 1.6 engine and the VTS which has a 124 version of the 2 litre engine and a close ratio gearbox.

ABS brakes with electronic brake force distribution are standard on the Coupe VTS and an option on other models. It is said to achieve the maximum braking for each wheel whatever surface that wheel is on.

A multiplex electrical system is used: a "bus" distributes electrical power to all devices and separate control signals determine which devices are on or off - switched locally and making for much simpler wiring looms.

2000 October: The Citroen Xsara Coupe T4, Citroen's World Rally Car for 2001, will enter four rounds in 2001 "before a full assault on the title in 2002."

The T4 won six out of six events in the French Championship in 2000 driven by Phillippe Bugalski and Jean-Paul Chiaroni.

The rally car's engine uses a Garrett turbocharger to achieve 300bhp from 2-litres. It drives through a 6-speed gearbox, and a four wheel drive system with a centre differential.

2001 model year Citroen Xsara - in .au at the November 2000 Sydney International Motor Show. The Xsara is updated for 2001 with a new grille, headlights, rear bumper and rear wings; the 5-door was launched c1997, and a coupe is new for 2001.

Engine options are a 1.6 litre (83), a 2.0 litre (104) and a high performance 2.0 litre (124). The front wheels are driven through a five speed manual or a four speed automatic gearbox.

Go to the Citroen pages