Wednesday 29th October 2014

Citroen AX GT: PH Ad Break

Only Citroen could compare the AX to a heavyweight boxer!

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When was the last time you heard power-to-weight mentioned in a car advert? Probably a very long time ago now. But this old AX GT commercial proudly states that the little Citroen has 120bhp (122hp) per ton, a figure that would still be worth promoting today for a small car when you consider the latest Mini Cooper has 127hp per ton.

And though the advert is old (the comment about unleaded petrol proves that), the meaning behind it remains relevant. Cars built small and light can comfortably compete with physically bigger, lardier, more powerful cars. They go down as 'giant-killers' in the motoring journalist's little red book of car categories.

Obviously we're not suggesting cars should be built like the AX again; they must pass proper crash tests now so there's no point on harking about that. But the latest C1 has a kerbweight of 840kg thanks to modern construction techniques. A 1.2-litre, 110hp three-cylinder turbo was introduced with the C4 Cactus recently. Using those figures you get 130hp per ton. If 'GT' doesn't suit, how about VTS? Come on Citroen, make it happen...

See the video here.

 

[clubsportguy]

Brings back memories of working back in the day at a Citroen dealership valeting dept. Valeted and drove lots of them and loved them. Go kart handling and great fuel economy. I remember having to take one to our Oldham dealership on a thumb full of petrol. Sadly not many left on the roads as they were a bit fragile after 3/4 years.

[Emeye]

I had the insurance friendly 1.4i Forte which replaced the GT - it was pretty much the same thing. It was amazing to drive over the cat and fiddle and the surrounding roads, which I did regularly as I worked in Macclesfield - it was a real pleasure always taking the long way home from work.

Had to get rid of it after 6 months as the offset seat, steering wheel and pedals and dodgy seat killed my back on my 1 hour each way commute.

[NGK210]

Is that Anthony Hopkins doin' the voiceover?

[ManiacGT]

The issue about power is one thing... but would you rather be in a crash while in a flimsy old AX or a new more modern albeit heavier car.

[ecsrobin]

I remember giving it the welly in a mates civic TypeR 2 up on one of lincolnshires long straight roads only to be overtaken by an AX GT 4 up!!! Clearly not standard!

[hornetrider]

My old AX GT was absolutely brilliant. Especially after Demon Tweeks lowered it and stuck some sticky Yokos on it. It cornered like the proverbial and loved lifting it's inside rear wheel.

[skyrover]

It's successor, the saxo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3FdnWU5ecg

God knows what the AX would have been like.

[Turbobanana]

I wondered how long it would before the first "You'll die if you hit anything" post - not long, it seems, just like the Metro SOTW a few days back.

In comparison with today's Sherman Tanks, yes - this has the build quality of a McDonalds Happy Meal carton but so did everything else back then (barring real "heavyweight" stuff) and yet we, who drove them, are still here.

These, and their like (205XS, Metro GTA/i, 106 XSi, other cheap light performance cars) were cracking things to drive, sadly missing from today's model lineups.

[SeanyD]

skyrover said:

It's successor, the saxo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3FdnWU5ecg

God knows what the AX would have been like.

I was one of the first in the queue to get a Saxo VTS, absolutely brilliant car at the time, much more capable than the near identical VTR, which never felt particularly quick.

[anonymous-user]

When Citroen made decent cars...I'd almost forgotten. Fantastic little cars.

[ecsrobin]

SeanyD said:

I was one of the first in the queue to get a Saxo VTS, absolutely brilliant car at the time, much more capable than the near identical VTR, which never felt particularly quick.

I had a xsara VTR 1.8 16v as my first car, was great fun seein saxo VTS drivers looking at my VTR badge when I slowed to let them past thinking how has he just walked over me, they always did a double take of the grandad car.

[Emeye]

Purity14 said:

I remember my friend slammed the boot down so hard on his AXGT the glasswork hinges broke and the remainder of the boot landed on the floor.

Someone put a brick through the rear window of my AX and ran off with the parcel shelf which I'd just days before fitted 6x9s to! I came back to find the boot on the floor hanging from the wires.

[SeanyD]

ecsrobin said:

SeanyD said:

I was one of the first in the queue to get a Saxo VTS, absolutely brilliant car at the time, much more capable than the near identical VTR, which never felt particularly quick.

I had a xsara VTR 1.8 16v as my first car, was great fun seein saxo VTS drivers looking at my VTR badge when I slowed to let them past thinking how has he just walked over me, they always did a double take of the grandad car.

Never realised the xsara vtr was a 16v'er!

[StarmistBlue400]

Back in the day when insurance wasn't stupid I learnt to drive in my mums AX GT. It was almost new and after passing my test she still let me use it

I had a lot of fun in that car, god knows how I didn't kill myself, someone else or get nicked in it.

Also had a 1.0 spree as my first new car. Totally under powered but still good fun.

Wouldn't want to have a smash in one though.

[Captain Muppet]

ManiacGT said:

The issue about power is one thing... but would you rather be in a crash while in a flimsy old AX or a new more modern albeit heavier car.

My personal data is that approximately 1 in 18000 drives includes an impact.

Which is why I happily drive something that weighs about the same as an AX GT and has no airbags.

Your maths may vary. My brother has a 1 in 3000 chance of a crash, and bought his last car based on crash test data.

I loved my AX GT, when it worked. It also got through 4 rear windows, 2 of which exploded while it was parked.

[danlowe42]

I had one of these as my first car... Went for a test drive, which went something like, foot to floor, head to headrest, SOLD... still miss it. Not many about now. Proper pocket rocket, always very conscious of just how thin the metal was surrounding you, but that was half the fun.

[rallycross]

Great handling little things.

I'm just re-building one of these at the moment for circuit race use, aiming for 200 bhp per ton, current spec gives me 135 bhp (188 bhp/ton) so with some weight loss and extra power will achieve 200.

Spec is twin dellorto 40' downdraft carbs /big valves / skimmed head, 4 brand manifold, uprated pistons, 1385 cc catcam camshaft, quaiffe diff, yoko ao48' tyres, adjustable suspension, black diamond disks, VTR rear ARB, OMP cage, compomotive alloys.

[mooseracer]

I've owned 2 GTs, a GTI and finally one with a turbocharged VTS engine in it.

As far as I know I never died in any of them, despite their poor crash performance.

[Blown2CV]

My Mum had one! However back to the topic of the actual story, which is would a turbo'd C1 make a good replacement for the AX GT? Why not the engine bay is pretty tiny though, and just about every other bit of a C1 would need uprating to cope, brakes particularly...

[ruff'n'smov]

Citroens were very underrated cars in the early 90's. My ZX 2.0 16v was unbeatable by any 2.0 hatch of the period. My daily commute along the A18 to Shorpe (snigger at the censor) was always a pleasure