RE: Citroen AX GT: PH Ad Break

[ecsrobin]

SeanyD said:

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

Not many people knew they did a limited run of 1.8 16v, the amount of arguments with Citroen fans ive had when saying I owned a 1.8 16v car.

They were normally a 1.6 8v the later shape was 1.8 8v and for about a year my old car was made (I think a final run of the old shape as it had VTS interior and wheels.)

That's why it confused so many saxo VTS owners as to why they couldn't keep up.

[mnx42]

I had a Saxo VTS which I loved AND drove (Im ashamed to say) sometimes like an idiot. I had a Xantia which I also liked but was only a 1.6 so was slow (the sunroof just exploded on a journey though which was somewhat off putting).
I currently own a C2 VTS which ,as far as I can tell, aren't that highly regarded but I think its great fun (and as you can probably tell Im not a baseball-cap-on-backwards teen).
I'd love to see a c1 like this, would be a lot of fun imo.

[otolith]

Turbobanana said:

yet we, who drove them, are still here.

Apart, of course, from those of us who aren't!

Fun little things, though. I liked the nearly new 1.0 petrol my kid sister had, and the very sheddy 1.5D I bought my wife as a learner car.

[Turbobanana]

mooseracer said:

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

Quite.

"This is the Self Preservation Society"

[f1nn]

I have very fond memories of the AX GT, Saxo VTR and VTS, including a circa 150-160bhp crammed and 220+ BHp supercharged version of the latter, and also s2 106 rallyes.

Great cars!

[TonyRPH]

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.

I had an AX 1.0 (or something..) and I once parked it on a grassy slope.
I opened the hatchback but it wouldn't close again until I moved to level ground, such was the chassis flex...

[RobM77]

I had a 1991 Citroen AX GT as my first car and absolutely loved it. I've since driven a handful of better handling FWD cars, but now I can look back having driven so many different cars I realise that the GT was right up there with the best - just so right in so many ways. Chassis flex isn't all bad - plenty of classic racing cars suffer from it to a huge degree. Provided you didn't crash (which I didn't), they were awesome little things

[Simes205]

"Build quality of an Airfix model" said Evo.
A friend of mine had one late nineties, what a laugh to drive, especially when the second choke kicked in.
Brilliant little car, always fancied putting in an Mi16 into one.

[coppice]

Hmm- rose tinted specs out in force perhaps. I had the misfortune of owning an AX GT(lots of good press reports from people who didn't have to live with one ) and it was one of worst cars I have ever owned . What was good ? Great ride and grip . And bad- everything else- ghastly thrashy engine , unbelievably dismal build quality , noisy , stupidly undergeared, near invisible instruments, gearshift which was fine until you drove down some muddy lanes and then it would feel like the box was full of gravel , rear brakes which stuck on - that was a laugh, seats designed for midgets etc. Bought a secondhand Mk 2 Golf Gti to replace it and my quality of life improved overnight.

[RobM77]

coppice said:

Hmm- rose tinted specs out in force perhaps. I had the misfortune of owning an AX GT(lots of good press reports from people who didn't have to live with one ) and it was one of worst cars I have ever owned . What was good ? Great ride and grip . And bad- everything else- ghastly thrashy engine , unbelievably dismal build quality , noisy , stupidly undergeared, near invisible instruments, gearshift which was fine until you drove down some muddy lanes and then it would feel like the box was full of gravel , rear brakes which stuck on - that was a laugh, seats designed for midgets etc. Bought a secondhand Mk 2 Golf Gti to replace it and my quality of life improved overnight.

Not at all - it just depends on your priorities. I've never really cared about build quality or reliability, I just like driving. By driving I mean driving round corners, so a car's engine has never bothered me much either. I tried a MkII Golf GTi at the time and found it dull. I appreciate the mkII GTi for what it is, but I've always been a fan of small manouverable cars over more stable high speed cars like the Golf. I realise the Golf wasn't exactly big, but I'm sure you'll agree it had a far more grown up feeling than, for example, a 205 GTi.

I like my hot hatches flimsy, flighty and french

[SeanyD]

My first reasonable car (after various £200 scrap jobs) was a '93 1.0 AX debut. No other manufacturer could give you a brand new car for £5995 on the road. Brilliant value at the time, and not one single issue with it in four years ownership.

[moffat]

I loved mine!!!

It was a red one and was my first car - F230 GTU. No doubt a pile of rust now haha

My big mistake was fitting a Piper X airfilter which made it go quicker but also filled the carb and fuel lines full of st boo...

Loved it while I had it though.

[Baz Tench]

Why do more and more people bring up crash testing on here when these old motors are featured? It was the same in the Metro SOTW thread.

Who cares?

I had great fun in cars like this! If you are constantly worried about crashing, you'd never leave home, surely!

It all seems very un-PH.

Edited by Baz Tench on Wednesday 29th October 16:18

[dapearson]

I was at a trackday at Donington about 10 yrs ago when one of these went down the pitlane with a wooden rollcage.

Ahh the good ol' days of Trackzone (aka Crashzone).

[Planter]

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.

He does highlight this point ''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. ''


I think the point of this thread, is just highlighting the car and the 'Power to weight' of an old car still being decent, not the safety aspect.

[SeanyD]

Ahh, the interior, fond memories and happy days (none GT model):

[9point2litres]

I had a red AX GT at Uni in my final year many years ago - it was a great little pocket rocket. Loved taking it out into the peak district - such great handling and so light. Wouldn't of liked to have a crash in one and don't think build quality was great but there wasn't much to go wrong. The only thing I recall was the end of the exhaust falling off and because of the design, exhaust hidden behind the bumper if I recall correctly, it melted a great big hole in the bumper! Happy motoring days though.....

[rustyabarth]

Loved my mk2 GTI. 100bhp, 8.7 0-62, 118mph in a car with a plastic boot! Was an absolute hoot to drive and regularly annoyed people with its surprising turn of speed.

Sadly is no longer with us (it was very rusty)

[iloveboost]

I agree with the article that it would be good to have a little turbo warm hatch but the Up! GT got cancelled at a late stage. I don't think a last generation warm Aygo/C1/108 was mentioned as a possibility. Not even by Auto Express.
I think the new Twingo will have a Renaultsport version at some point with a 1.2 Turbo and 120hp but they may not bother. I read that Peugeot have got a new three cylinder turbo engine so you never know they could stick that into the new Aygo/C1/108 and create three light, cheap, decent hatches with a hot 128hp. Amazingly the current generation are still light (no idea if it's the same chassis underneath) and they appear to be higher quality cars inside and out.
I think they could do it as three manufacturers making virtually the same car should make it should make it easier to get approval. I guess there's a higher chance of criticism but then there are a lot more potential customers.

Edited by iloveboost on Wednesday 29th October 21:06

[crostonian]

Don't get all this talk about safety, the Metro SOTW thread was full of it too. Don't know if it's a generation thing but I just get in a car and drive, how safe the car is never enters my mind.