Enjoying my BX!

[maxgreenwood]

i'm quite chuffed with the economy the old bx.. just done 1000 miles on a recent leg of work round ireland. 52mpg and thats with it fully loaded with gear + people and looking for the turbo at every opportunity! alot of 60 mph country roads, i understand going 80mph sees 45mpg at best.

I was a bit nervous of taking her out on this mission, probably from spending too much time on this forum and developing citro-hypochondria, but i'm pleased to say she performed great.

my suspension problems have been cured i think - fingers crossed. Ride is much better since recent strut change, supple.

I'm into this thing over here as a relative newbie living in Ireland... many of the roads in rural regions are windy and undulate alot as well as being quite bad some of the time... i think probably close to rural french roads in the 50s or whenever back in the day, which as i remember from various docs/historical Citroen lit was one thing that spurred Citroen onto developing hydro-pneumatic suspension.

Down in the South west - did a gig in Bantry, the roads are great for the BX, really twisty. Enjoying my car at the moment..

[toddao]

Sounds like a good tour of duty Max - Rock'n'Roll! Were you and your fellow musicians sleeping in/under the car too in a drunken heap ( not suggesting that all musos are soaks of course!). Any pictures?

[Philip Chidlow]

Excellent. I went out in the GTi for a 100 mile round trip on Sunday. Glorious weather, empty roads (in the main part) and I remember why I love the BX. Went like stink, stuck to the road like glue and I even got a bit of arm wrenching (OK not too much ) torque steer exiting a roundabout doing some serious kickdown action.

If this car was a manual it'd give any GTi a challenge I'm sure. Even with an auto it's pretty damned good.

212,500 miles too. Superb.

[DLM]

i think probably close to rural french roads in the 50s

Quite a few are still like that, if you delete the part about bad surfaces, though there are some of those too. Rural or cross-country roads are ideal roads for enjoying a BX, and as you say, the fuel economy works in your favour too. The majority of surviving French BXs that I've seen on visits in recent years are rural beasts.

[mat_fenwick]

Not as rock 'n roll, but we went on a 250 mile round trip to pick up this...



The BX performed well, although the temperature gauge was creeping up on some of the longer hills. Maybe due to the increased boost or a restricted radiator, or a combination of both.

[maxgreenwood]

mmm a temperature gauge would be nice...

Todd no we wern't sleeping under the car although i did contemplate sleeping in the car one night but someone put me up so i was ok.

Photos i should have , i will on next month's trip!

I'd like to move to getting something really reliable as a daily driver that i don't have to worry about, i mean this car has been dead reliable, but as i say, maybe its knowing too much about how the thing works and what could go wrong that makes me nervous.

But what are the options?
It has to have good hydropneumatic suspension so i guess it has to be a citroen.
I took a test drive in an '04 C5 but didn't like it at the time.

Maybe a great nick low milage BX
been looking at late XMs with interest. Big citroen, Big ride, Big boot, and good conering i believe.

[mat_fenwick]

C5

Nooooooooooooooooooooo!!!

My dad drove Citroens for about 25 years (and gave me the bug!), until he owned a C5 for about 6 months. He now drives a Passat...

[maxgreenwood]

my uncle now drives a Passat after 20 odd years of citroens - but i don't think he's that into it, also has a Xantia. He worked as a mechanic in a citroen garage and he's had all sorts of BXs CXs, rates the CX as having the best ride and the GS was 'great to drive' Unfortunately he's in Nottingham so i can't pester him every weekend to tweak my car.

this XM looks nice, well looked after apparently and drives very much like new according to Roger Bradford whos been doing an excellent sales job on it! I'm not so bothered about petrol consumption but it has 139k on it and i gather 150k ish is around the time you may expect gasket issues on the 2L petrols...

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C83848/

[zowark]

I come from a Citroen Family too.
My father had one of the first ID's in 1956.
I have had CX 2000 Break 1976, GSA 1300 1981, Bx 16 TRS 1986, Bx GTi 1988, Xantia TD 1995, Xantia HDI 1999.
Still have the Hdi (daly runner) and GTi (weekend now and then).
Also Hello fellow Irish driver...

[Philip Chidlow]

Welcome to our planet, Zowark

[zowark]

Thanks Philip!
I've been here before.

[Philip Chidlow]

!4 years ago, clearly...



(Welcome fellow GTi fan)...

[zowark]

I wish I had the nerve to got to France this October...
But I'm would be afraid the old dear would break down on me...

[Philip Chidlow]

There will be no shortage of participants with technical know-how, tools and parts en route. We will all be in touch on the road too, and there'll be over-night stop-overs when work can be done too... There's a maintenance day mid-way as well.

I'd take my 'old girl' (212k miler) if it weren't for the fact were're taking a 226k mile TZD estate instead! There's still five months to go so plenty of time to get everything ready...

Go on, you know you want to!