I've taken a bit of ribbing from friends and family a like for buying a French car that proceeded to spend around two months in the garage. And in fairness, that was always the way it was going to be. I'd have liked it to be back on the road a little sooner, but c'est la vie, and all that. And in fairness to Rich at
Southways
, he's done all he could to fit working on the BX in around his manic work schedule.
Free from the service ramp ... for a while
The good news is that I have had the car back - if only for a couple of weeks. With most of the work done, I picked it up to use it for a brief period while between other cars. The final job - the exhaust manifold leak - had yet to be sorted, but the misfire and starting issues (caused by a range of things including a dodgy starter motor, a knackered throttle position sensor and HT leads that were too short) had all been remedied, so the car was at last in a usable condition. Albeit with all the windows open to try and negate the disconcerting fumes wafting into the cockpit thanks to that dodgy manifold. Character touches, and all that...
Other delightful quirks that I've discovered include the driver's window, which goes down when you press 'up', and vice versa; the electric mirrors, which move simultaneously, making adjustment a case of balancing the best of both; and the aftermarket stereo, which doesn't want to pick up any stations and won't play CDs, making it useful as little more than a paperweight.
Mechanicals (almost) done time for a spruce up
But do you know what? All of those inadequacies simply add to my growing - probably misplaced - affection for the BX. Now that it's running right, the engine's a honey - swift and free-revving, and over about 3,500rpm, it lights up almost as though it were endowed with variable valve timing. Meanwhile, the gearbox slides sweetly between ratios, and the brakes pull the car up sharply, without any dive. And there's always that wonderful moment when you start it after a couple of days, and it struggles up off its bump stops like a middle-aged Labrador rising for the first time in the morning. That suspension gives a fantastic high-speed ride, and on niggly B-roads it damps the bumps beautifully, eliminating the scrabbling and tugging you might expect to find in some conventionally-sprung cars. Sure, there's plenty of body roll, but you get to grips with that quite easily. There is one bugbear, though, and that's the wheel itself - it's huge, and quite heavily canted, which does make it feel disconcertingly like it's a bus you're tipping in when making progress, rather than an old hot hatch. Many 16V owners replace it with a smaller item and say it's the best modification you can make to the car; I may yet follow their example.
Goes well, smells a bit of exhaust fumes
I was gutted to have to give the car back to Rich for the last bit of work to be finished off but, frankly, I'd rather drive it without the constant threat of carbon monoxide poisoning. Once that's done, it should be good to go mechanically, so while I will still have to tackle the old dear's cosmetics, I can at least start to enjoy that summer of very Gallic hot hatchery I've long been looking forward to.
FACT SHEET
Car: 1989 Citroen BX GTI 16V
Run by: Scrof
Bought: April 2013
Purchase price: £800
Last month at a glance: The BX is let out on day release, but we're told it'll be free to roam more permanently very soon.