Wednesday 8th May 2013

Citroen BX 16V: PH Ad Break

How does the Lamborghini designer get to work? Erm, in a Citroen, apparently...

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As you may have read recently, we've just welcomed a Citroen BX GTI 16V onto the PH Fleet. And as a result, Scrof's been doing the classic 'I've just bought a new car' thing of catching up with the lore - in other words, reading old road tests, watching old videos - and finding this gem of an advert.

'I made this. And this.'

It dates from some time in the early 90s. The Phase Two 16v had just been launched, now without the GTI badging, and Citroen's main marketing tactic was to tell all and sundry about... erm... another car.

That car, you see, was the Lamborghini Countach, and while the connection was on slim ground (as the ad suggests, it amounted to the fact that Marcello Gandini designed both) Citroen clearly hoped the image of the mad Lambo's supercar performance would rub off. Such a comparison was tenuous at best; it wasn't that the 16V was slow for its time, but it could hardly compare with the thrust of that V12.

Spoiler-mounted foliage was a rare option

Still, that didn't deter the announcer. Over the strains of a string quartet - a sure sign of class in any early 90s advert (see Ferrero Rocher, if in any doubt) - he introduces in dulcet tones Sig. Gandini and explains why he chooses to drive his BX to work. Apparently, it's nothing to do with the "beating heart with 16 vaaahhlves" - seems he's just too damn classy for all that "machismo" - instead, he's merely "enjoying his work". How utterly splendid. Mind you, half the time he's supposedly driving it, the suspension looks to be set to low (see the top screenshot) which Citroen says you shouldn't do. Tut tut, Marcello.

Admittedly, on its normal setting, the BX does look a little incongruous winding its way through picture-perfect rural Italy, where one might sooner expect a slinky Alfa Spider or a battered Fiat Tempra to be trundling around. Although on second thoughts, most BXs look a little incongruous anywhere that isn't outer space or France. But with that de-rigeur red graduated filter, this ad feels like the height of early 90s class. Or an attempt at it, anyway.

 

 

[marcosgt]

My wife was once lent a very ratty old 8v GTi and it was absolutely brilliant to drive.

Honestly, most people would probably prefer driving the BX every day to a Countach! Especially in Italian city traffic!

M.