RE: SOTW: Citroen AX GT-5/TVR S2

[razzele]

At 17 After crashing two 1.1i forte's in 1995/6 I bought K610GWT for £3000!

I proceeded to spend every little scrap of cash on it. I worked 3 jobs around my own little business and still had nothing left to take my girlfriend out on a weekend! Priorities still havent changed!

Back to the car, she had koni suspension / OMP braces/ poly bushes/ YokohamaA509s (till they stopped making them)braided hoses and black diamond discs!

The engine had the synonymous re jet and K&N filter complimented by that giant Scorpion 2x2.5inch inwardly rolled SS exhaust! It rolling roaded at 108bhp!! enough for 125mph (valve bounce in 5th)!!!

I was faster than anything on the road (at least i thought so) I even engaged a duel with a F360 in 1999 thinking i would probably waste him !!

After a lot open road rallying I sold her for 850 quid poor thing, she served me well




where is she now i wonder!

[Motorrad]

I'd already looked at the AXGT and was considering despatching a relative to look at it for me as I'm not in the UK at present.
Sadly SOTW has screwed up my negotiating plans so I'm going to have to give it a miss. CURSE YOU SOTW!

[Bill]

My dad's GF had an AX GT that I used to borrow on a regular basis. It was a great little car, although it didn't handle so well with 4 blokes and a load of climbing gear on board

[dpbird90]

I REALLY want that Citroen, if only to stop it falling into the wrong hands and ending up with a badly fitted bodykit, a stupidly loud stereo, "phat alloys" and a fart can "zorst". And at £700, I consider it to be the bargain of the century; the fact that its the 5 door almost warrants keeping it as a museum piece. I may consider chopping in my Panda for it, then spending the £2800 of change on insuring it and making it concourse.

It'll take a VERY brave man to buy that TVR though

[Strawman]

James May thinks the AX GT is the best car ever made

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/2737631/As-see...

[Motorrad]

Strawman said:

James May thinks the AX GT is the best car ever made

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/2737631/As-see...

He's a knob though so I think I'll ignore that.

edit to add: he does make some good points in that article however

Edited by Motorrad on Friday 5th February 13:18

[crofty1984]

At the risk of sounding suicidal:
"The same engine as the Pug 205 1.4..."
People often drop Mi16 engines in the 205...
Do you see where I'm going with this?

Could it be done? a 2 litre 16 valve eggbox?

[soxboy]

I went to look at two of these in 1996 when I wanted a proper car after graduating and had got the French bug after driving a 205XS on my placement.

The first one I loved but when I rang back it had gone (mental note - must not think about things too much!), the second was for sale in Bratfut and stank to high heaven of magic tree and made odd creaks so I walked away and bought a dull MkII Golf Driver.

Looking back I wish I had bought one of them as they would have been far more fun than the Golf, but realistically I know I would have stuffed it sooner or later. Indeed 2 years later on the Golf was 'run over' by a bus and the police said I was lucky I was in a Golf rather than something flimsy.

Earlier this year an AX Echo hit my Merc from behind. The bumper was dinged on the Merc but the AX was completely fooked. Even though he had driven into me, I really felt sorry for the fella looking at his mangled Citroen.

[TobesH]

Yep, the AX. Supposedly we are building eco friendly cars today, but the AX was so light, nimble and economical. When I was 18 I owned a AX 1.1 TRE. It really flew, even though I ragged it, it barely used any fuel, was reliable and brilliant fun. My mates had the predicable Fiestas etc, but the AX ran rings round them for its dynamics and straight line speed.

Why can't they build cars like this now? A lightweight simple hatch back with a small injected engine with a weight limit of 800kilos (AX’s weighed between 630kg and 848kg) yet cheap with some flair!

[CampDavid]

crofty1984 said:

At the risk of sounding suicidal:
"The same engine as the Pug 205 1.4..."
People often drop Mi16 engines in the 205...
Do you see where I'm going with this?

Could it be done? a 2 litre 16 valve eggbox?

It can but it won'd work with the gearbox, which makes it expencive.

There have been a few nutty AX over the years. I remember a white and black one with a superchargedSaxo VTS lump and 300bhp. There was another about 8 years back with silly power and huge brakes the APs of a TVR Cerbra.

[Benmac]

I can remember a review of the AX GT in (I think) Performance Car and (again, I think) it hadthe marvellous line describing it as "an amalgamation of tin and brittle plastic"

[2fster]

soxboy said:

I went to look at two of these in 1996 when I wanted a proper car after graduating and had got the French bug after driving a 205XS on my placement.

Looking back I wish I had bought one of them as they would have been far more fun than the Golf.

My first car was a 205 Roland Garros (a camped-up XS) and it was so unreliable I chopped it in for a Mk2 Golf GTi less than a year later!

God I loved that 205 though and have fond memories of racing a lad in a black AX GT-5, very irresponsibly in hindsight, through the local terraced streets.

The flimsiness of these Citroens does help performance - my brother's Saxo 1.1 does the 60 dash in 12 seconds apparently!

[B10]

I had a Citroen Visa GTI, same engine as 205 GTI 1.6. It had better rear suspension than 205 and 5 doors. Not the most beautiful car ever made but one of the most enjoyable I have driven.

[Ug_lee]

Loved my Black 3 Door 91 AX GT.

It was probably past its prime in 2003 but it served me great while i restored my Mk1 MR2. Accelerated just as well as the Mk1 but found it fantastically comfy and handled really good.

The gearstick didn't really feel like it was attached to anything. I had numerous times where the carb would ice up and I'd have to give it a few mins at the side of the road to let the engine heat warm it bck up again. I also lost a rear bumper on the motorway after the bracket points rusted through the tin foil rear wings.

I'd definitly have another though

[CTT]

2fster said:

soxboy said:

I went to look at two of these in 1996 when I wanted a proper car after graduating and had got the French bug after driving a 205XS on my placement.

Looking back I wish I had bought one of them as they would have been far more fun than the Golf.

My first car was a 205 Roland Garros (a camped-up XS) and it was so unreliable I chopped it in for a Mk2 Golf GTi less than a year later!

God I loved that 205 though and have fond memories of racing a lad in a black AX GT-5, very irresponsibly in hindsight, through the local terraced streets.

The flimsiness of these Citroens does help performance - my brother's Saxo 1.1 does the 60 dash in 12 seconds apparently!

I also did the 205XS onto MK2 golf GTI 8v thing, whilst the golf was one of the most satisfyig all round cars i have ever owned, the 205 was easyley the best handling and most balanced. On skiny tyres the 85 horse was okey, dont always need loads of horse to have a realy great drive. I Have some very fond memorys and races!! in that little car, stuff of legends.

[G0ldfysh]

Hmm all these thoughts make me want one as a new shed, question is with them being rare and mostly chavved or broken. What else would give AX GT fun.

205 XS
saxo VTR?
pug 106 1.6 XSi

Any other manufacturers

[Galaxy Bob]

traffman said:

I owned a lovely white Ax Gt 3 door in the mid nineties.

Loved it , the clocks were tiny so i never bothered about how fast i was going.

Loved that car i paid 3495 for it!

Oh H68 csp where are you now.

Wow, you could be me. I bought a white F plate 3 door in around 1994 for £3.5k One previous owner and only 22k on the clock. I loved it. I lowered mine by 20mm, polished the alloys, put a K&N filter on and did some sort of tweaking of the carb. I don't know what it was as I just followed something someone else told me. Anyway it made it seem quicker I also had custom door cards made to replace the bottle holders with some nice 4in mid range speakers and put some tweeters in the blanking plates where the window winders would have been on a none GT model.

About 18 months later I sold it for a 205 1.9 GTI to a dealer and one week later I saw it again, but it had after market alloys on it and was been driven by a nutter. I reckon old F401 KGB must be written off by now. Shame as it was immaculate when I sold it.

[SimonSaid]

G0ldfysh said:

Hmm all these thoughts make me want one as a new shed, question is with them being rare and mostly chavved or broken. What else would give AX GT fun.

205 XS
saxo VTR?
pug 106 1.6 XSi

Any other manufacturers

Lol - if you think AX's are mostly chavved or broken, I wouldn't look to Saxo VTRs as an alternative! Not only do the modders love 'em, the VTR also had free insurance meaning many spent their formative years in the hands of the yoot.

Type 106 XSi into the PH classifieds or Autotrader and you'll see similar abuse of these.

As for a 205 XS, most sadly killed by rot by now (if any 205 was going to be cherished and saved from rot, it'd be a GTI).

Its such a shame, but finding this sort of car 'unmolested' is a real challenge.

Edited by SimonSaid on Friday 5th February 14:12

[Galaxy Bob]

Forgot to say, even with all this talk of how good the AX GT is, it was still a car that felt like a biscuit tin on wheels with a tupperware interior. Seats were nice though.

[Drive Blind]

SOTW said:

consider the facts: the little GT had essentially the same 1.4-litre 8-valve aluminium block as the GTI

sure I read somewhere that the GTI's engine was actually iron block and the GT's all alloy. That was where a lot of the GTI's extra weight came from.

Or is my memory letting me down? or read an inaccurate magazine? Might have been Autocar....