1990 Black Citroen BX 19 TZD ebay

Dollywobbler · Post by **Dollywobbler** » Fri Oct 14, 2011 5:53 pm

I would just like to point out that my 2CV had an engine change last winter and has required an awful lot of fettling this year (mind you, she has done 187,000 miles...).

I'd also like to point out that my previous BX is owned by a friend as his sole vehicle. It's clocked up 12,000 miles since April with only one hydraulic issue. You could buy a brand new car and have to take it to a garage within 12,000 miles! (or 3500 miles in the case of a Peugeot minibus I have use of...)

BX Meteor · Post by **BX Meteor** » Fri Oct 14, 2011 6:09 pm

Dollywobbler wrote:I would just like to point out that my 2CV had an engine change last winter and has required an awful lot of fettling this year (mind you, she has done 187,000 miles...).

I'd also like to point out that my previous BX is owned by a friend as his sole vehicle. It's clocked up 12,000 miles since April with only one hydraulic issue. You could buy a brand new car and have to take it to a garage within 12,000 miles! (or 3500 miles in the case of a Peugeot minibus I have use of...)

does he live on his own, does he rely on it to travel 30 miles to work, what did he do when he had the hydraulic issue, did he take some time off work, or resort to a lift in another car, use a bus, train etc ?

I'm more interested in the fettling your 2CV has required though

Dollywobbler · Post by **Dollywobbler** » Fri Oct 14, 2011 8:13 pm

Actually, he relies very heavily on the BX, for work and band duty. Hence the mileage!

2CV needed an engine change (though it was running pretty much fine) but I then had problems with cylinder heads. It was out of action for a fair while, but that's ok as I had a BX to rely on...

Post by **Defender110** » Fri Oct 14, 2011 8:55 pm

BX Meteor wrote:
mat_fenwick wrote:
BX Meteor wrote:then the BX is not your only car. Sell your wife's car as well, then come back and say that you have a BX as the only car
I would, however it seems a little extreme to sell her car simply to prove a point on an internet forum.

I really would have no qualms about using it as my only car - in 105,000 miles (and no breakdowns!) with my current BX there has only been one instance where I couldn't use it due to a problem. That was when I hit a rock on our drive with the sump, and made a fist sized hole in it. Hardly the fault of the car, and I had to phone up for a lift into work as although my wife owned another car, she was using it.
You must be the only BX owner who is able to say that. Were you really using it every day (without getting into any other vehicle in the drivers seat) ?

I use my BX as an everyday car, yes I do have another back up car; the wifes BX or my L300 dive bus/ camper van which is only used purely for my diving as with the very low MPG it isn't practical to use as an everyday vehicle. So I fall foul of your strict criteria however my wife and children only have the family TZD as everyday transport so they do not, either way both my BX's are everyday commuters and would be my only vehicles if it wasn't for my diving hobby.

Wooscary · Post by **Wooscary** » Fri Oct 14, 2011 9:10 pm

I have only a BX. It seems to do the job pretty well ta.

Post by **Tim Leech** » Fri Oct 14, 2011 10:25 pm

I would happily use a BX every day if I needed, and have done so in 96/97 when it was my only car.

ken newbold · Post by **ken newbold** » Fri Oct 14, 2011 11:09 pm

I use mine every day

MULLEY · Post by **MULLEY** » Fri Oct 14, 2011 11:34 pm

I use mine everyday, but do have access to another car if necessary. All old cars have a level of unreliability potentially, so i don't feel the BX is better or worse in this respect. It does have more pipes to go pop, but that doesn't mean that they will & keeping up on top of maintenance & preventative maintenance means that they can be more reliable than a modern car, & they are certainly a lot cheaper to fix as well.

BX Meteor · Post by **BX Meteor** » Sat Oct 15, 2011 12:10 am

Roverman wrote:I would happily use a BX every day if I needed, and have done so in 96/97 when it was my only car.

but Tim, I am talking about today, not in 96/97

BX Meteor · Post by **BX Meteor** » Sat Oct 15, 2011 12:13 am

Dollywobbler wrote: 2CV needed an engine change (though it was running pretty much fine) but I then had problems with cylinder heads. It was out of action for a fair while, but that's ok as I had a BX to rely on...

and a Range Rover by the looks of it

BX Meteor · Post by **BX Meteor** » Sat Oct 15, 2011 12:41 am

I bought my first BX in 1988 +/- 1 year (can't remember exactly), and I've had BX's ever since.

I bought my present BX in 2004, it was my only car and I lived on my own in the UK for a while back then. I had a job in Munich for several months, I took the BX over to Munich, and I used to drive back to the UK once a month with a lot of things that I could not leave in the car if it broke down.

Today, my Honda Accord is 7 years old. I know that I can get in it tomorrow and drive to Munich with more certainty of getting there than with the BX in 2004. The BX is now 19 years old, there is no way that I would consider the hydraulics to be reliable enough to do what I did in it 7 years ago.

I hope this makes the point that I might have failed to convey up to now. You cannot rely on a BX today to take you a long distance with computers and such. You cannot rely on a BX to take you daily to work, if a car is the only way to get you to work.

I would go further and say that if I had a Peugeot 405 of the same year and engine, I would consider it more reliable than the BX. The point is that when the hydraulics fail, you are well and truly stranded, no brakes, no steering, no suspension, you cannot even call a friend to tow you. If you have not thought of this situation, then you are not thinking properly.

Philip Chidlow · Post by **Philip Chidlow** » Sat Oct 15, 2011 12:43 am

I would say since Jan 2003 I have used a BX as our daily driver for most of the time. Not the same BX, sure, but a BX all the same. And not once has a BX left us stranded. In that near-on 9 years we've had a Saab, a couple of Toyotas (one stranded us in France once

), a Fiat (almost stranded on two occasions) - the rest have been Citroëns... ZXs, XMs, Synergie, Xantia... and not one left us in a pickle.

I hope our luck is not going to run out!

BX Meteor · Post by **BX Meteor** » Sat Oct 15, 2011 12:52 am

Philip Chidlow wrote: I hope our luck is not going to run out!

rest assured it will, and when you are stuck miles from anywhere on your own, you will then call a friend to get you but you will have to leave the car behind.

It happened to my son in my BX a couple of months ago, the pump belt broke on a Sunday in daytime. I went to get him, we left the car and then went back at night and I drove it 2 miles with only the hand brake to a friends house where we left it on their drive. I went back in the daytime on Monday with a new belt from Unipart. An easy fix, but if it had been a leaking pipe it would have cost a lot more to get it back to my house to do it.

Philip Chidlow · Post by **Philip Chidlow** » Sat Oct 15, 2011 2:14 am

BX Meteor wrote:...you will then call a friend to get you but you will have to leave the car behind...

Or call the AA? (Or RAC etc. - as many others would)...

BX Meteor · Post by **BX Meteor** » Sat Oct 15, 2011 2:27 am

If the listeners do not get the message it is the fault of the speaker, so, I'll try one more time to convey my message.

I think a lot of people are confusing maintenance with reliability.

I have renewed both rear arm bearings. Those bearings were not in a state to stop the car moving, so they were not a reliability issue. It was maintenance, because if I left it for another year or more, the job might get worse, and it might eventually become a reliability issue. I also changed the cambelt. That is maintenance as well.

Hydraulics: you can change the pump belt, do a flush of the LHM, inspect all the metal pipes and as much of the rubber piping as you can. But this does not mean that you can say, hand on heart, that the hydraulics have 100% reliability i.e. you have done the maintenance on the hydraulics, but you cannot be sure, unless you renew all of the piping. This is what you would have to do if it was an aircraft !!!

When you go to ebay and read the advertisement for the car in the top of this thread, it says it has had one lady owner from new, and has a full service history. In terms of potential reliability of the hydraulics, it is no more and no less reliable than my BX which has only done 80,000 miles, has had 5 previous owners, without FSH.

With that in mind, I don't see why the car is going to sell for £1500, I don't see why anyone would spend that money to use as an everyday car, with potential failure of the hydraulics leaving them stranded. That potential for failure applies to all BX’s, unless the hydraulics have been fully renewed as would have to be done for an aircraft of the same age.

Anyone else who wants to post self-denial half-stories like
"my BX has never let me down"
"I use my BX every day"
"I can rely on my BX"
"I'm in the AA"
"I cannot rely on my Ford/German car/Italian car/Far eastern car", etc, etc
.... has not got my message about the hydraulics, and I now give up.

Susan, please start posting pictures of VW Golfs etc, better still someone put some wings on a photo of a BX and show a BX flying

PS Here are 3 BX's that failed airworthiness http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1160869