It was Citroen’s big motorsport revolution in a compact-coupe form that led to a highly competitive rally-car.
Unfortunately, the Xsara VTS was way too underrated for its abilities.

Citroen introduced the Xsara lineup in 1997, and it facelifted it four years later. Along with the rest of the range, the carmaker changed the Coupe version. In 1999, a 2WS Xsara kit-car rocked the all-wheel-drive vehicle supremacy in two rallies, and the car became notorious. Its 2.0-liter naturally aspirated engine was a masterpiece, and, most of all, it was quicker and faster than the Golf IV GTI.

While the non-facelifted version featured horizontal, small headlights, Citroen installed new headlights swept-back over the fenders to improve the night-time driving. The designers made room for a wider grille in the front bumper to enhance both the cooling and the car’s look. From its sides, the car retained the same coupe profile with body-colored moldings.

Inside, the Xsara VTS kept the same interior with either wood or aluminum trims. The front seats were high bolstered with good grip on the sides to keep its occupants in place during hard cornering. In the back, the split-folding bench helped increase the trunk size. The car’s profile was closer to a coupe, but it featured a tailgate in the back, so it was between a coupe and a hot-hatch.

Under the hood, the Xsara Coupe featured a choice of three engines, both diesel, and gasoline. Citroen fitted the sportiest version with a 2.0-liter, 16-valves engine paired as standard to a 5-speed manual gearbox.