RE: Citroen AX GT: PH Ad Break

RE: Citroen AX GT: PH Ad Break

Author
Discussion

s m

23,164 posts

202 months

Wednesday 29th October 2014
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Baz Tench said:
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
I must admit, after the SOTW thread, I was wondering who would survive in a head on crash between this and the Metro.......

Baz Tench

5,648 posts

189 months

Wednesday 29th October 2014
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s m said:
I must admit, after the SOTW thread, I was wondering who would survive in a head on crash between this and the Metro.......
When I saw your user name, I was hoping there was another period photo. They capture the times nicely! smile

otolith

55,899 posts

203 months

Wednesday 29th October 2014
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Comes down to whether the car is enough fun to justify the risk.

rallycross

12,746 posts

236 months

Wednesday 29th October 2014
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otolith said:
Comes down to whether the car is enough fun to justify the risk.
strange view, what about a caterham, or a mini, or any small sporty FUN car, just dont crash.

s m

23,164 posts

202 months

Wednesday 29th October 2014
quotequote all
Baz Tench said:
s m said:
I must admit, after the SOTW thread, I was wondering who would survive in a head on crash between this and the Metro.......
When I saw your user name, I was hoping there was another period photo. They capture the times nicely! smile
My friend barrel-rolled an MG Metro Turbo at over 60mph into a field ( managed to clear a 3foot high hedge without leaving any mark of passage through or over it ) landing on the roof and walked away with a few cuts and bruises. I can't think of anyone I know who crashed an AX ( although I knew a few who owned one and I had a Saxo VTS for 4+ years )

In fact I think quite a few people I knew had crashes in 70s/80s cars ....but all survived with no real problems.
Motorbikes on the other hand.........

Edited by s m on Wednesday 29th October 17:04

otolith

55,899 posts

203 months

Wednesday 29th October 2014
quotequote all
rallycross said:
otolith said:
Comes down to whether the car is enough fun to justify the risk.
strange view, what about a caterham, or a mini, or any small sporty FUN car,
Missing the point. If the car is enough fun, it's worth the risk. If it isn't, it's not.

rallycross said:
just dont crash.
Ah, that would be why so many people are killed or injured on the roads, it hasn't occurred to them just not to crash.

JonnyVTEC

3,001 posts

174 months

Wednesday 29th October 2014
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My first car was a black Citroen AX GT.

J833 REH I think ......if its still alive somewhere? Brilliant fun little thing, although i learnt about understeer when i folded the remains of the front wheel under the car after hitting a kerb.

Mellow7

219 posts

187 months

Wednesday 29th October 2014
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I had two; a red "F" Reg one on 13's and a white "H" reg one on 14's. Crashed both, both repaired no problem. Had the plastic panels coloured coded on the white one with 165/60 tyres and the rare 14x6" wide wheels as a replacement to the original 5.5" under warranty due to corrosion. Dead right about giant killer - used to worry Escort/Fiesta RS Turbos but always lost out on top speed to Swift GTi's - in the days you could drive fast on the M4...

ps01

218 posts

204 months

Wednesday 29th October 2014
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Had one of these as my first car - G389 LGF then followed by Peugeot 205 GTi and 306 GTi-6. Looking back now I realise how lucky I was that cars like that were so readily available in that era. The French hot hatches had all the things I value in a car that are so hard to find these days - small, light, analogue feel, no unnecessary equipment/driver aids, fluid handling, looks/style.

Paul

vrooom

3,763 posts

266 months

Wednesday 29th October 2014
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I had one of those, i bought one for £750 way back.... It doesnt have working brakes, that was after i found out on M6 nearly crashed onto bmw m5.... scary times. And this car is the first time i completly lost the rear end and went 180 to face the traffic i just came through.

rhysenna

689 posts

185 months

Wednesday 29th October 2014
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I had one in the mid 90's, I absolutely loved it.



The only picture I have left of it. Plenty of good memories.

Edmundo2

1,328 posts

209 months

Wednesday 29th October 2014
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Loved mine which was identical to the one in the ad. Really could drive the thing hard and handled great with quite a throaty noise too. You could drive right through the under steer when wet and plenty of lift off when dry. Heavy steering at low speed from memory. Shame there's nothing of that ilk around now but grateful that my kids will have to have their fun driving something more robust as looking back it was probably not wise for 18 year olds to be cutting their performance car teeth in tetra pack turbos etc

canucklehead

416 posts

145 months

Wednesday 29th October 2014
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Turbobanana said:
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.
Seconded.

Of course the best way to survive an accident is not to have one in the first place. Trite, facetious? Yes, but true. I would much prefer that some of the energy being put into passive safety systems (lane departure warning???? wtf? you need a warning to tell you you are drifting out of your lane? why do you have a license?) were to be redirected into making people drive less like complete oafish unaware clods with no knowledge of road conditions, traffic, etc.

still, that likely won't happen. as for the AX, my sister had one for a while, very nice little car. suffered mightily from rust weevils, but nice while it lasted.

sawman

4,915 posts

229 months

Wednesday 29th October 2014
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I have had a few AXs two GTs, and my first car was a 1.1 brand new as the AX was launched in 1987. They were brilliant and the GTs were cracking hot hatches - plenty of twisty road fun and enough speed to gain points quickly, whilst getting 45mpg.

To all the hand wringing safety maniacs I can say that I survived a decent impact (front quarter) - the other car was written off whereas my AX was mended and my brother rolled an AX at dual carriageway speed and survived. so despite their lack of airbags they seem quite safe (or course even safer if you dont crash them)

sjabrown

1,910 posts

159 months

Wednesday 29th October 2014
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The AX - like the Metro SOTW a car with character. Friend had one with some interesting qualities: went quickly but braking had to be planned in advance. I once opened the sunroof and it disappeared behind us, never to be seen again. Fun cars, fun times.

carnival

8 posts

143 months

Wednesday 29th October 2014
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I had one of these in the early 90's and did 100,000 miles in it over the course of 7 years, pretty much flat out for most of those miles as we'll. Huge amount of fun without to many dramas (except for the bonnet catch giving way when I was doing 70 going round a bend). Quite capable of keeping up with many supposedly faster cars through the gears.

I bought another one 3 years ago just to make me smile when I take it out at weekends. It's only done 60,000 miles in 26 years and I'm adding 2,000 a year to that. It's the Sportif model and according to the howmanyleft website it's the only one still on the road in this country. It's been round Silverstone a couple of times and was on the grid at Goodwood recently for the hot hatch breakfast club.

I love the fact that pretty much all of the power is useable on standard roads, unlike many modern cars where you never get a chance to explore the limits in them.

Dan Friel

3,615 posts

277 months

Wednesday 29th October 2014
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carnival said:
I love the fact that pretty much all of the power is useable on standard roads, unlike many modern cars where you never get a chance to explore the limits in them.
And that's exactly why the Panda 100HP / Swift Sport / Twingo Renaultsport have been so popular.. and they won't rust..



Simes205

4,528 posts

227 months

Wednesday 29th October 2014
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carnival said:
I had one of these in the early 90's and did 100,000 miles in it over the course of 7 years, pretty much flat out for most of those miles as we'll. Huge amount of fun without to many dramas (except for the bonnet catch giving way when I was doing 70 going round a bend). Quite capable of keeping up with many supposedly faster cars through the gears.

I bought another one 3 years ago just to make me smile when I take it out at weekends. It's only done 60,000 miles in 26 years and I'm adding 2,000 a year to that. It's the Sportif model and according to the howmanyleft website it's the only one still on the road in this country. It's been round Silverstone a couple of times and was on the grid at Goodwood recently for the hot hatch breakfast club.

I love the fact that pretty much all of the power is useable on standard roads, unlike many modern cars where you never get a chance to explore the limits in them.
What's the reg? My mates was a sportif, on 13" 3 spokes.

Fl0pp3r

859 posts

202 months

Wednesday 29th October 2014
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hornetrider said:
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. cloud9
+1

My first car - lowered on some suitably cheap JAMEX coilovers =) great fun to drive, and felt genuinely quick when when that dual choke (carburetor) kicked in :-) So lightweight in fact one of my student mates took great delight in destabilising the car on the motorway by moving back and forth in the passenger seat....scary! :-o

dabber

129 posts

232 months

Wednesday 29th October 2014
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F144HND where are you now? Did 86,000 miles in it in 3 years. Great times.