Citroen CX at 40

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Discussion

bertandnairobi

Original Poster:

7 posts

114 months

Wednesday 17th September 2014
quotequote all
Hi: I'm Richard from ******.com. Among the recent items published is this one on the Citroen CX.
  • *************
It's apparently a transcriptc of a 1974 review by a certain Archie Vicar. I thought it might be of interest. I run a 1990 XM but I've always been fascinated by the CX. The later ones which I remember from when they were new seemed a bit crumby and as time passes still do: the chrome had been dropped and the interior cost cut so the car had the charm of an elongated R5 in RN spec.
I was member of a Citroen car club but dropped out since single marque clubs are a bit cliquey though the people are actually very helpful too. The XM group seemed to know more about the car than any mechanic I'd ever met.
Cheers,
Richard

Mod note: As you've gathered we don't allow people to use PH to drive traffic to their own website, so I've removed links etc. The rules of posting are at the bottom of every page.

Edited by Bill on Thursday 18th September 06:52

T66ORA

3,474 posts

256 months

Wednesday 17th September 2014
quotequote all
The only Citroen i ever had a soft spot for, a CX GTi, remember looking at one in the late 70s, would have bought it if funds would have allowed.

GTIR

24,741 posts

265 months

Wednesday 17th September 2014
quotequote all
Promoting your own website eh?


bertandnairobi

Original Poster:

7 posts

114 months

Wednesday 17th September 2014
quotequote all
Er, yes, if you mean telling people about it. The site here actually asks for your website when you register. Isn't that an invitation of some kind? I have considered the etiquet (spelling?) of this. I concluded our website had something of interest not offered here (1200 words of edited car-related prose in this case). And DTW isn't a forum where people chip in two lines here and nine lines there; it's a bit more like a magazine whilst forums are more social and used daily like a newspaper. Thus I thought I wasn't treading on anyone's toes. Sorry if I was.

On a sort of related topic I found a website in the US devoted to French cars and French automotive news. They have all sorts of detailed news even though French cars haven't been sold there since the 80s. I think there was a time when Renault, Citroen offered something very unlike US-ican cars. I wonder if the American fans of French cars realise this.

Meoricin

2,880 posts

168 months

Wednesday 17th September 2014
quotequote all
Do you expect people to read the T&C on your own site?

Simes205

4,527 posts

227 months

Wednesday 17th September 2014
quotequote all
We had a cx back in the early 80's.
My dad still has one.
Awesomely complicated but so nice to ride in.

bertandnairobi

Original Poster:

7 posts

114 months

Wednesday 17th September 2014
quotequote all
Hi: What's T&C?
I can only apologise if mentioning our small and idiosyncratic site has touched a nerve. I used to post lots of stuff at car magazine's website but fed up since it was just providing free content for the publisher. But I thought other forums seemed to have a different purpose, more chat and short exchanges. That's why I thought one or two people might want a look. As I say, sorry and whoops.
I notice Citroen didn't make a big deal of the CX anniversary. And the XM's 25th was only noticed by the XM forum. Citroen really hate their heritage. Mercedes thrive on it: "This is our 1974 280 CE... isn't it great!" I think MB have an official classics sales channel in Germany. Citroen won't sell an XM window rubber. I bought the last two in Denmark in 2012, off shelves in a dealer's. A guy at the Citroen forum said the dealers were instructed to dispose of stock for discontinued models.

matt21

4,285 posts

203 months

Wednesday 17th September 2014
quotequote all
Chill out folks. It's clearly more motoring blog than business and I think it's a good read.

GTIR

24,741 posts

265 months

Wednesday 17th September 2014
quotequote all
Hmm.

Anyway. I had a CX2400. It was a very odd car.
Centralising steering, overly complicated suspension, quirky semi-automatic gearbox, odd cylindrical speedo that wobbled and that big lumbering engine.

I loved it!

bertandnairobi

Original Poster:

7 posts

114 months

Wednesday 17th September 2014
quotequote all
Thanks! That's nice of you.
As a general point does anyone feel Car and Top Gear don't do very much by way of non-news features any more? I have some 70s and 80s Car magazines and often they printed articles that were just essays on things like open top cars; in the 90s there was a two page item on night driving. It had nothing to do with a new car; the author discussed the feeling of driving late at night. I miss that free-style writing. I wrote to the editor about it and he said there was no demand. What do you think? The monotony of road tests is dreary.

bertandnairobi

Original Poster:

7 posts

114 months

Wednesday 17th September 2014
quotequote all
I tested a Series 1 2400 Pallas in Germany. The steering was so good it spoiled my XM experience. By comparison, the XM was stodgy and it's still sharp and direct. The CX had metric Michelins and this helped. More recently I tried a Chevrolet Epica and that had quite strong self-centrering steering. I thought it worked very well. It's an under-rated car. Nobody expected that from a Chevrolet. The reviews were patronising.

Xtriple129

1,148 posts

156 months

Thursday 18th September 2014
quotequote all
I had a late CX (reflex ?) with the funky mirrors/single wiper/updated dash and a friend with the earlier posher version. Brilliant cars. I changed the engine in both of them at seperate times - what an awful bloody job! Did loads of suspension work on his but mine (being much newer) was perfectly reliable.

I'd love another....

Piersman2

6,596 posts

198 months

Thursday 18th September 2014
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GTIR said:
Hmm.

Anyway. I had a CX2400. It was a very odd car.
Centralising steering, overly complicated suspension, quirky semi-automatic gearbox, odd cylindrical speedo that wobbled and that big lumbering engine.

I loved it!
Don't forget the non-cancelling indicators. I remember listening to them pinging away for 10 mins at a time as the ex-FIL would never remember to turn them off.

He had a cx2400 estate, then bought another just because it had doors with some metal left in them. I swapped over all four doors and boot for him when I was about 16, so quite some time ago now.

Lovely beast for 6 up traveling down the autoroutes to his house in France though. smile

Leins

9,416 posts

147 months

Thursday 18th September 2014
quotequote all
T66ORA said:
The only Citroen i ever had a soft spot for, a CX GTi, remember looking at one in the late 70s, would have bought it if funds would have allowed.
Grew up being ferried about in a gold-coloured GTi, my father's company car from 1981 for a good few years. Mad, mad car, made us all sick in the back, was ridiculously complicated and unreliable, but I've very fond memories of it still