RE: Citroen AX 1.0 Jazz: Guilty Pleasures
Discussion
It's the joy of not being knocked off line by bumps and potholes mid-corner. That's what I remember about all the cheap French cars I had. That's why I drove W124's for so long. Something the youth of today just won't know. I also had a girlfriend with an AX. What an utterly wonderful car it was as well. I had Talbot Horizon once, a much mocked vehicle but it was the same deal. Pick a line and the car will hold that line, irrespective of the road surface. I drove a Cactus the other day and was infuriated. Even though it has the loose body control and horrific gearbox of the classic cheap French car, the massive wheels/tyres and bizarre damping meant that none of the benefits of soft suspension were present. It was truly awful. I hold out great hope for the hot Sandero in this regard. It's an open goal.
Anyone else reminded of this article;
http://www.pistonheads.com/news/ph-eurocars/citroe...
Very similar in sentiment.
http://www.pistonheads.com/news/ph-eurocars/citroe...
Very similar in sentiment.
Ah the AX and it's terrible special editions. I had a "Splash"
It fell apart and I blew the engine up. Someone rear ended me and shattered the plastic boot. The gear stick would come out of the floor with over exuberant changes.
Weirdly I think of it often and not in the kind of bad light you would imagine.
It fell apart and I blew the engine up. Someone rear ended me and shattered the plastic boot. The gear stick would come out of the floor with over exuberant changes.
Weirdly I think of it often and not in the kind of bad light you would imagine.
Have similar feelings towards my old 205 GR 1.4.... great fun to punt along, flat out everywhere and with lovely, linear controls, uncorrupted by power assistance or any attempt to be 'sporty'.
My favourite drive was keeping a Bentley Continental honest on a road I know well. He probably barely even noticed I was trying to keep up but I know who was using more of their cars performance, and who was having more fun.
My favourite drive was keeping a Bentley Continental honest on a road I know well. He probably barely even noticed I was trying to keep up but I know who was using more of their cars performance, and who was having more fun.
Spot on.
I remember when I was 19 I was going to do a 14 day stint in France on the vineyards.
I was picked up at the station by a young thug in an AX. I can not remember the engine displacement but it was NOT a GT.
I was stumped by the way that little car flowed through the routes départementales.
I remember being quite depressed and the nagging feeling that I could not pull that off with my Honda 16v Civic 1.3l.
And yes the seating came apart under the stress of sweaty French bums.
Michel
I remember when I was 19 I was going to do a 14 day stint in France on the vineyards.
I was picked up at the station by a young thug in an AX. I can not remember the engine displacement but it was NOT a GT.
I was stumped by the way that little car flowed through the routes départementales.
I remember being quite depressed and the nagging feeling that I could not pull that off with my Honda 16v Civic 1.3l.
And yes the seating came apart under the stress of sweaty French bums.
Michel
Immidiately after reading this very funny article I hit the classifieds, 3 AX's for sale in Sweden, all 3 literally 750 miles away, the prospect of taking the 750 1500 miles to buy a £200 car seems stupid to say the least. But I had a look at Peugeot 106's instead, are those as fun to drive? Found a 106 sport not that far away with a whopping 74 bhp, and in such a small package that might actually move somewhat right?
s
t cars are always the best cars!
I've nearly always had a stbox beater to smoke about in on a day to day basis alongside my other, more performance orientated motors. My personal favourites were an L reg Nissan Micra K11 and a J reg Toyota Carina XL. They cost me £120 and £70 respectively, both flew through their MOTs and were driven into the ground after many months and thousands of miles. The Micra chewed a gearbox and I hotwired it as the key stopped working and the Carina shat a rod clean out the bottom of the sump. Until they gave up, they were fantastic, particularly the Micra - for a little 1.0 it absolutely flew! I had an indicated 110mph out of it, with the valves nearly climbing out of the rocker cover 
t cars are always the best cars!I've nearly always had a s
tbox beater to smoke about in on a day to day basis alongside my other, more performance orientated motors. My personal favourites were an L reg Nissan Micra K11 and a J reg Toyota Carina XL. They cost me £120 and £70 respectively, both flew through their MOTs and were driven into the ground after many months and thousands of miles. The Micra chewed a gearbox and I hotwired it as the key stopped working and the Carina shat a rod clean out the bottom of the sump. Until they gave up, they were fantastic, particularly the Micra - for a little 1.0 it absolutely flew! I had an indicated 110mph out of it, with the valves nearly climbing out of the rocker cover PowerslideSWE said:
Immidiately after reading this very funny article I hit the classifieds, 3 AX's for sale in Sweden, all 3 literally 750 miles away, the prospect of taking the 750 1500 miles to buy a £200 car seems stupid to say the least. But I had a look at Peugeot 106's instead, are those as fun to drive? Found a 106 sport not that far away with a whopping 74 bhp, and in such a small package that might actually move somewhat right?
106 is the same thing as a Citroen Saxo.Personally, I don't understand the appeal. 205s were tinny enough for me. Great fun to thrash down an interesting road, but wouldn't swap my present rear-drive tanks for that sort of thing now.
Never sat in an AX, but saw plenty of rolled-up-into-a-ball versions in the scrapyards and salvage yards I used to frequent as a teenager to keep my equally cack '83 5-door 205 1.1GL running. I thought the 205 was (to use an oft quoted word about small french cars) 'tinny', but an AX looked scarily fragile!
The 205 was great fun though, even if:
- The colour was Antelope Beige (Try asking for rattle cans in that paint code in Halfords without raising a laugh from the staff)
- Had a rotten front RH wing that had been patched with a B&H packet then sprayed over
- Had a speedo that constantly over-read by about 30%; I bought it from a scrapper who had it in with gearbox failure, they found that a Talbot Samba 1.0 gearbox would fit so they slapped that on
- Had 6 inch high graded red stripes all the way down each of the flanks - I decided to peel them off one day, and they took all the layers of paint / rust off with them... off to Halfords I went again!
But it got me and a mate to Glastonbury '98 and back, with my mate bouncing up and down on the bonnet trials car style to get grip in the knee deep car park mud, it gripped like hell (well felt like it did) on 13" Nankang ditchfinders, and I got the speedo off the end of the clock and pointing south once down a long hill - although 110+ on the clock was no more than 85 in reality...
Everyone loves their first car
The 205 was great fun though, even if:
- The colour was Antelope Beige (Try asking for rattle cans in that paint code in Halfords without raising a laugh from the staff)
- Had a rotten front RH wing that had been patched with a B&H packet then sprayed over
- Had a speedo that constantly over-read by about 30%; I bought it from a scrapper who had it in with gearbox failure, they found that a Talbot Samba 1.0 gearbox would fit so they slapped that on
- Had 6 inch high graded red stripes all the way down each of the flanks - I decided to peel them off one day, and they took all the layers of paint / rust off with them... off to Halfords I went again!
But it got me and a mate to Glastonbury '98 and back, with my mate bouncing up and down on the bonnet trials car style to get grip in the knee deep car park mud, it gripped like hell (well felt like it did) on 13" Nankang ditchfinders, and I got the speedo off the end of the clock and pointing south once down a long hill - although 110+ on the clock was no more than 85 in reality...
Everyone loves their first car
RoverP6B said:
106 is the same thing as a Citroen Saxo.
Personally, I don't understand the appeal. 205s were tinny enough for me. Great fun to thrash down an interesting road, but wouldn't swap my present rear-drive tanks for that sort of thing now.
Yeah, I should have known that, they look very similar. It's not the question of swapping my RWD V12 tank for something french and flimsy, but to have as a 2nd car to drive to work and short trips, and under those premises it might aswell be a fun car to drive Personally, I don't understand the appeal. 205s were tinny enough for me. Great fun to thrash down an interesting road, but wouldn't swap my present rear-drive tanks for that sort of thing now.
I had an AX 1.0 Debut (i.e. poverty spec) as my second car. Had loads of fun, cost very little but even then I could tell it was seriously underpowered. Decided to turn it into a GT by fitting the interior, doors, bodykit and finally running gear from one - and yes, it would have been far easier to have just sold it and bought a GT in the first place. Did so several years later, except this time it had a Saxo VTR engine installed which resulted in some pretty decent performance. Could never put up with something so small and tinny now, but I'm glad I did at one point
My first car was a 1.0 AX Jive. Bought by my dad for my older sister to learn in, however I was a lot keener to learn, and still had to wait 2 years before getting my provisional licence.... Industrial estates it was then! Most of my early driving experiences came from when my dad would sit next to me and let me drive to church up this great country road, "the church rally" we called it. (I was still on my privisional). As soon as I got my licence, I booked a track session at Trax, Silverstone and gave the car its moment of glory spending most corners on 3 wheels. Keeping up with someone in an mx5, who then spun it was fun. Then getting overtaking by drifters going sideways, left in a ploom of tyre smoke, gladly coming out the other side. Those were the days. I even tried the 0-60 timing event, and er... I was still trying to get to 60 well beyond the massive stop signs, and had to humbly give up when I ran out of strip.
I then moved to Japan and bought an evo 2 rs, and when I came back to the UK to visit, the first roundabout I took in the AX, was just pure understeer! But predictable understeer. The AX's handling has to be amongst the best. So predictable and as many have mentioned, punches well above its weight. The jaeger instrument panel also added a touch of class.
A great car, and I'm glad it was my first, as it taught me how to drive properly. I would sincerely love to drive an AX again one day.
Here the Silverstone staff were asking where I got my Castle Coombe Helmet from, if I'd nicked it or something. I had to tell them, no, I bought it on ebay from the guy who nicked it hehe.
I then moved to Japan and bought an evo 2 rs, and when I came back to the UK to visit, the first roundabout I took in the AX, was just pure understeer! But predictable understeer. The AX's handling has to be amongst the best. So predictable and as many have mentioned, punches well above its weight. The jaeger instrument panel also added a touch of class.
A great car, and I'm glad it was my first, as it taught me how to drive properly. I would sincerely love to drive an AX again one day.
Here the Silverstone staff were asking where I got my Castle Coombe Helmet from, if I'd nicked it or something. I had to tell them, no, I bought it on ebay from the guy who nicked it hehe.
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