'The Weapon' - My 1989 BX GTi 8v passed its MOT today.
Luckily it's French and not Italian so isn't rusty (1).
Broken handbrake cable brackets cured with judicious use of a welder.
I am delighted.
Douglas
(1) For the less astute, that comment was directed at SteveH.
Well done. I sold our 1992 BX GTi in 1997 believing it couldn't have much life left in it (120k miles). The current owner rings me from time to time to tell me about his latest exploit - he's driven all over Europe in it and does a daily commute. It's never let him down and hasn't needed any major fettling, ever. I regret selling the damn thing.
Yay! Future classic that.
Does plastic rust?
:)
A
People always say things like that about BXs. The bonnet, rear quarter panels and bootlid are plastic, the rest of the body seems to be made of relatively thin metal. It looks a lot like someone has been at it with waxoyl or somesuch in places under the bonnet though.
Its a lot less rusty than my '92 Clarton was, in fact its not rusty at all.
Douglas
Steady there... ;)
Ahead of its time - new BMWs have a similar range of bits in plastic.
My pal Bill has a diseasel automatic one - next to no rust either; front of rear wheel arches seems the only potential weak point.
Bill got it as another cheap disposable car but quickly recognised it as being a bit special - he intends to keep it running for ever...
ITYM merdeboit ;)
A
I always wonder why that's not much more common ? It's got to be about the cheapest and easiest way to save weight ? And you don't get parking dings in plastic !
Clio front wings are plastic Beetle's wings and bumpers are plastic. Early Cherokee tailgates are plastic or fibreglass.
IIRC the roof on the BX estate is plastic, too...
Richard
Some people say their BX hatch has a plastic roof, but I've never seen one. I've seen metal BX bonnets, but that's not normal. The estate we had had a metal roof.
(Galvanising is what keeps the metal bits together)
cheers, clive
The BX hatch has a metal roof for sure - it has plastic side rails though. Metal bonnets are fitted to certain diesel BXs I think - I've only owned petrol ones.
I thought the estate roof was plastic, but maybe only on specific models again - with or without sunroof, perhaps.
Richard
I had a long argument with a guy in Israel about this - he swears the actual roof on his car is plastic. I've never seen one like that.
I've had 3 diesel ones, and they were/are all plastic bonnets.
The estate has that bump in the roof half way back, which I reckon makes it less likely to be plastic (also roof rails). I think I'd need to see one in the flesh to be convinced.
cheers, clive
I did my work experience, many moons ago, at the local Citroen dealers.
They were doing their own special edition BX hatch at the time, and I helped fit one of the extras to one... a sunroof.
The roof I observed, as they cut the hole necessary for the sunroof, was plastic, and the cutting of it was generating lots of white (with this being a white car), plastic swarf etc
Was a 1988 model, fresh out the factory.
I suspect given the debate on this, that PSA probably did what PSA are famous for at the best of times; built cars out of what components happened to be laying about, at the time. :-)
-- JackH
No, the hatch is definitely metal. The roof is quite a structural bit ;)
There are three BX bonnets that I recall. There's the standard one, which has a flat front all the way to the bumper, a shortcut one, which has a small grille and I think that one was used on the turbo diesel models and maybe the sportier models (my 4x4 had this type). I've definitely seen metal bonnets, but in what context I forget. Perhaps the later models had them.
See, I think the bump makes it more likely - as the cars were converted by Heuliez (sp.) essentially, and the below-roof structure is intended to allow variants.
Jack's post has already confirmed the plastic nature of the roof, and I've a sneaking suspicion it's the same story in a different context which confirmed it for me which I had doubts.
Richard
See post by JackH, also the guy in Israel.
I've seen metal on an older one than my current one. I've had the longer and shorter plastic ones.
Er - JackH's story is about the hatch variant, not the estate.
I had an estate with a metal roof...
cheers, clive
Gah.
I had a hatch with a metal roof. With a sunroof fitted. I've also removed the factory sunroof from a BX hatch and it had a metal roof too...
Richard
Like I said... PSA group at its finest, honestly.
I had a ZX TD... I put it in to my mates garage for new front pads, and he had to, even taking into account the specific model and year, order in three different types, and send back the two that weren't applicable.
Or the 309 Diesel I had... it needed a new driveshaft (new, as in new to the car, not *new* new IYSWIM)... 'How many teeth are their on the gearbox end spline, Sir?'
It's a 309 Diesel ffs... why use one standard shaft, when you can f*ck about with different gearboxes, needing different shafts, in the same model, in the same model year...
And now a friend has acquired a s**te old Peugeot Expert 1.9D van, with a fecked gearbox - I did warn him!
-- JackH
My 306's gearbox was developing a rattle at 33,000 miles.
Much as I like some aspects of PSA group cars, I will never, ever buy one again. I let my dad try the Berlingo, but I figured he'd hate the way it looked anyway.
(I think the Berlingo Multispace Desire interior, with the overhead storage, 12v sockets, tables and stuff, is fantastic. Now, let's see someone put it in a car which won't fall apart whilst raping your budgie as the dealer repeatedly smashes your head in with a small wombat in lieu of 'customer service').
Richard
I will... the Berlingo I had recently, drove as nicely as a 12k mile one I drove back to back with it, and mine had done 124k - the full main dealer service history that came with it proved it had never had any major mechanical issues.
One of the places I used to work at, will be changing their fleet again in the next year or so, and I have first dibs on the 52 reg Berlingo HDi Multispace they have. :-)
-- JackH
I'm on my third now, and they've all been great (touches some wood) !
I recall your 306 probs were down to your dealer, and not the car ? Pininfarina seem to have done a fine job bolting my Coupe together. Nothing's bust yet, so it still looks exactly like
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