A day spent with a French 13 year old

! Word of warning for new Citroen owners: *don't* and this is a *big* DON'T, raise the suspension to its high setting while fiddling about with levers etc at about 90mph. Yes I did this in a BXGTi on the M3 late one night having never driven one before. The seat felt wrong so I tried to adjust it! Bad move. Bloody car gets right up on tippytoes, wind gets underneath and across 3 lanes we go before control is restored. (underpants sadly neede more work). Take care Peter, and please, please keep us posted. cheers, JB

Have you done any inadvertent emergency stops yet ? ;-)

You're not actually supposed to drive the car with it on this setting !

They are very wallowy, loads of body roll, but they do grip very well so can be chucked round corners fast when you get used to it.

The best I ever got from mine was 43mpg on a long run at about 50 mph, it averaged mid-low 30's with a mixture of driving, (dropping to 18 mpg when the auto-choke stuck!), so these figures sound about right.

Yes, change the belt, or pray it doesn't break in the next couple of weeks...

Nick

Brilliant fun cars these tin foil citroens ... bags more character than my bmw 730i, which is about as boring as a nissan bluebird. If only they had fitted the air suspension to the ax!!!

Apparantly everyone thinks the suspension on citroens is expensive to fix .... like anything on old bmw's. In reality they are quite cheap.

Just fitted a pair of OEM rear discs to my bmw for less than 30 ukp!!!

-- Regards..... Steve.

Know what you mean. My E34 520iT has now 323,787 miles on it and it still drives like a new one. Total maintenance this last year (only 28k though):

1 set of pads, 1 handbrake cable, 1 top radiator hose, 3 genuine oil filters and circa 16L of synthetic. Breezed the recent MOT. My old 728i got to 492,000 with only one cam/rockers change and the valves lapped in twice and one s/h auto box. (I only used it for 38k, but I had the full history from the previous owners). I *do* like decent engineering. JB

FEo2 Welder was seen penning the following ode to ... whatever:

Not *quite* true. If for example the 'spider pipe' lets go, it's going to get expensive. DAMHIKIJK, OK?

But in general, you're right.

funny little French car.

The brakes are a little sudden, aren't they. I got quite a shock when I changed to a Pug 306 from my BX...

knuckle ride quality) of the lowest suspension

Depends if you want to remove the exhaust or not. Just driving over mouse ought to do it on that setting. :-)

Especially the GTi - I'd imagine that the 1.6 is just as forgiving if you accidentally make a cockup.

With the Gti, my average was about the same - 33-35mpg, but on a long run and driving sensibly, I managed 42.

I'd love to know what's holding it together at the moment! If it's on the original belt, I wonder what the rest of the servicing record is like. Then again, maybe not.

Tom.

I was going to reply via mail, but I get the feeling that your email address isn't quite valid. :-) Anyway, IIRC, you're not too far from a very reputable (and cheap) Citroen garage which I'd be happy to pass on the details of - If you're after one.

Tom.

I learned to drive in my mum's A reg BX and an instructor's F reg VW Polo, there really couldn't be a bigger contrast between two cars in terms of brakes. Polos of that age didn't have a servo, the car was relatively new but I had to more or less stand on the pedal to get it to stop. The BX on the other hand just needed a foot gently rested on the pedal. I lost count of the times I locked the wheels of the BX after having been used to the Polo, then getting back in the Polo again after the BX I almost ran into the back of numerous cars at traffic lights etc !

Its surprising how much different the various versions of the BX are to drive, but all seem to handle pretty well. I had an '84 14E (inherited from my family), then an '86 16 RS, followed by an '88 19RD and finally an '89 TGD Turbo, I also used to drive a friends GTi 16V quite often. The smaller engined versions had a lot softer suspension, but the skinnier tyres seemed to make the handling more precise in my opinion. The narrower tyred versions were noticeably better in the snow too.

The carb on my 1.6 RS was getting very knackered by the end, so I don't think that helped the economy much.

Nick

My friends E34 530i is running at 410000 miles, and there isn't anything in the 2 folders worth of service notes about internal engine work!!! We >think< it might have had a timing chain, apart from that, there is a little bit of small end noise at high revs, but shes still going strong!!!

I somehow think my modified citroen axgt will die before the wiper blades wear out on my 730i !!!

-- Regards..... Steve.

I love the Hydro suspension cits...Pity the BX is so blocky though, I much prefer the CX....

Probably, an old autocar roadtest states 30mpg so pretty good...

I get around 48 in the 1.0 AX - even when flooring it! (you need to in an AX....)

BUT, I manage around 33-35mpg (mainly A-roads) in the '89 2.0 Saab 9000 - pretty good for a big car with 200K under it's belt..

S'trewth! And I keep worrying about the 33mpg I get from a 2.5 litre straight six.

You're not supposed to drive it like that :P Intermediate is good for

15mph tops, lowest and highest settings are for workshop use only.

If you want a laugh, set it to full - Workshop - height, and drive down a motorway at 50 plus. When someone's fished you out of the verge, tell us what it was like ;)

Remember, if the hydraulics fail, use the handbrake - it works on the front wheels. Likewise, don't try doing handbrake turns in it.

And yes, I think the engine is an interference design. It's also a wet liner unit, so horrid to fix if it goes wrong, and because it has thin alloy walls, always sounds like the big ends are knocking.

33mpg is a bit low, but I'm assuming it's a carbed one. Should get 40+ from it, and they're pretty quick cars for a 1.6 on account of weighing very little. Once you're used to the handling (you do have Michelins on it, don't you), you'll find they're remarkably good cars.

Richard

funny little French car.

Just the one!!! North Circular, approaching Hanger Lane (from the 'proper' NCR to the North of Hanger Lane), and I get in the left lane of the two that head to the Westbound A40 - usually more traffic than the other lane (which splits into two) but less merging so can be quicker, especially as traffic was light. Anyway, traffic came to a halt a bit quicker than I'd have liked. A little bit of skidding, but I wasn't going anywhere near fast enough to have done any damage (luckily!!).

knuckle ride quality) of the lowest suspension

Yeah - I wasn't sure if it was sensible to adjust it back up on the move on the motorway, so I bounced along the M40 from J10 to J8a on the M40 (from one service station to the next), and stopped and adjusted them just after I'd grounded out on the first speed hump coming into the services!!!

Well on a return trip to Stoke on Trent in mine, not going much below 80 (but never above 85), I averaged 36mpg, which I'd consider reasonable.

The service records seem to be quite good - the bloke I bought it off was selling it on behalf of his mate, whose family it had been in since early

1999 (his wife had it, then he did). Before them, and old bloke had it (and judging by the addresses of the MOT stations, he'd had it since 3 years old). At 3 years old it had about 14k on the clock (and possibly hadn't had a service), but the old guy had it about 5 years and had it serviced every year, some years only doing about 600 miles! Ok so that means a fair few short journeys, but it was a good runner, with reasonably clean oil (indicating that the current owner had probably had the oil changed at some point), and no mayo in the filler cap etc etc.

But yes, the belt should have been done at a time interval!! I would have liked to check it, but the French, in their infinite wisdom, make half of the panels from plastic, and the cambelt cover from metal, held on with about 8 or so bolts, so I never got around to it!!

Anyway, sold that to a mate of a guy at work for what I paid for it, without having to spend a penny on it, and 'upgraded' to a Daewoo Leganza now, which isn't actually all that bad at all.

Peter

Is that the one in Ash Vale (near Farnborough) ??

I know that one - a housemate of mine took her ZX there for a minor repair and they seemed very good, and cheap (only £25 / hour labour!)

Peter