In 1997 Citroën employed German super model Claudia Schiffer as the eye candy to attract potential customers to it’s new range of Xsara models, in the UK she used the strap line “why wear anything else ?” in the Xsara’s 1998 add campaign.

The Xsara shares the same platform as the earlier Citroën ZX and Peugeot 306 models with the fully independent rear suspension tracing it’s origins back to the 1977 Peugeot 305.

2000 saw the introduction of a face lifted Xsara with mildly altered body panels, a new steering wheel and a new wiring harness that came in for criticism when issues with unusable driver’s door window, central locking and interior lights became an issue due to the wiring being to thin.

In 2003 the top spec 2 litre / 122 cui engine was down graded from 164 hp to only 135hp when the EU series engines replaced the more powerful XU series engines, perversely this was just around the time that Rally Driver Sebastian Loeb was coming of age with the visually similar but mechanically quite different Xsara T4 WRC on the World Rally Championship stage.

Sebastian won 28 World Rally Championship events outright with the Xsara T4 WRC model including five consecutive ADAC Deutschland Rally’s, he narrowly missed the 2003 World Rally Drivers championship while Citroën claimed the 2003 World Rally Manufacturers Championship, from 2004 – 2006 Sebastian drove Xsara T4 WRC’s to his first three World Rally Drivers Championships.

Today’s featured 2003 Citroën Xsara Coupé VTR 2.0i, seen at last years Castle Combe Rally Day, has had some body panels replaced and paintwork added to make it look like a 2003 – 2005 era works Xsara T4 WRC, the ad offering the car for sale advised potential customers that the engine output had been raised to 220hp.

Thanks for joining me on this “Why Wear Anything Else” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be visiting Blackpool for some rally illuminations. Don’t forget to come back now !