1992 Citroen BX 19TGS from Spain - Comments

Rubber hose burst (perished) after a week causing overheating.

Rear wiper does not operate.

Temperature control was stiff to turn, took me about 5 minutes of owning the car to snap it off whilst trying to force it round. Now its on hot, and I live 10 miles north of Africa in 40 degree heat. Nice.

Too rusty for a dry climate and for year.

This is easily the ugliest car I have ever owned. Suspension is just pointless - why? I have a BMW, never thought "Wish it had a little lever to make it go up and down"...

Engine okay, goes well for an 8v carb engine and not a bad exhaust note too when its pushed. But you have to pretend people are not cringing at the shape of the thing...

So FRENCH!!!

Plus side - has PAS, EW, central locking. But even back when it was launched it must have been out of date. No airbags. No sun roof. No a/c. And it runs on... yup I can't quite believe this for a 1992 car... leaded petrol. Mon ami, if it hadn't been virtually given to me I wouldn't own it.

Good to see Citreon are finally selling more cars these days, now they look more like, well, cars.

Further to my review ...

Yup, my first impressions of this car and its "quirky" (for "quirky" read "crap") suspension design have just been confirmed. Just moved it after letting it run for 10 minutes to warm up and... yes no prizes for guessing, a big patch of green LHM oil under the right hand wheel.

What a complete shed. Ugly AND useless: great combo.

AND FINALLY... (further to my review and my moaning about hyrdraulic leak) :

Yesterday at 7.30am I foolishly decided to travel on the motorway from where I live (Alcaidesa, Spain) to where I work (Gibraltar). As I was approaching the slip road doing around 140kmph the car slightly hesitated for a second and then lost power accompanied by what I can only describe as the sound of a helicopter taking off. At first it would not turn over. It does actually start, but god only knows what is broken in that Galic lump - sounds like the crankshaft is just bouncing around i.e. not on bearings, and no oil pressure.

Funny thing is, I was telling someone only last week "Yeah it is an ugly old thing, but the engine is sound, its the same as a Pug 405 etc.etc." Now it has been confirmed absolutely crystal clear to me: of all the cars I have owned (around 30) the Citroen BX is THE worst most useless pathetic piece of crap I have ever had.

Buy one of these only if you are a mental.

The car you bought wasn't well maintained.

There are good ones for sale and you bought one that was rubbish.

It says more about you than the car. You are a lemon, not the car.

If the car is so ugly in your opinion, why on earth did you buy it? The pug Diesels engines are indestructible, the one used in the 80's and early 90's that is. But Citroens aren't known for build quality, but the car must have been poorly maintained in the first place for you to have the problems that you have had. As a side note, the worst car I ever owned out of mere 10, was the Citroen AX!

"But even back when it was launched it must have been out of date. No airbags. No sun roof. No a/c."

Just to know, the release date of the car is 1983, how many bmw's you know with airbag from that date? I have a gti 16v and has eletric sunroof, a/c, 4 electric windows, electric mirrors, anti-lock breaks, leather seats, heated front seats, (1.9 liter non turbo/ 160 hp)

those cars are reliable, if its well maintained..

If you compare your bmw with a mercedes, ya see that the bmw will be like crap if you put 1 million km in it... and the mercedes will be riding good as new...

And if in good conditions, it can be very beautiful, special gandini version (like mine)..

Well, as for being a "lemon" I have to say I have never felt more like a lemon than driving that car - on several occaisons people actually laughed at me in traffic. It is truly a hideous creation. I'm sorry, I know there are some mental fanatics out there, but seriously, take a step back, forget its yours and you paid money for it, it looks like a sack of crap. The wheels are set too far in on the body, the huge oblong lights, the gormless single wiper, plain unmoulded body panels, ugly as &*&k rear light clusters, silly steering wheel, gear stick that, lets face it, is too long and has too small a grip at the top so it actually looks like a nob!!

The car itself actually had a full Citroen service history. It has barely done the equivilent of 75,000 miles. When I lived in the UK I don't think I ever had a car which had less than 100k on it and rarely with any recent history yet they didn't destroy themselves. I think the engines are just cack - diesel aside maybe. Mind you, that's fair enough, cack car, cack interior, cack engine.

I "bought" it because I was owed a few hundred quid by someone who couldn't pay me back so "sold" me the car instead. Better that than get nothing I felt. In the event though, owning this car was about as rewarding as buying a bag full of air.

If you want further proof, look on www.autotrader.co.uk and see how many are for sale nationally. 1? 2 maybe? That's because they are on the heap.

So you ended up with a bad BX - get over it. If you hate it THAT much, why don't you get something else! Like any car this age there will be bad examples out there - I have experience of this - but there will also be good ones if you look in the right places.

Sorry but I beg to differ. I didn't just have a bad BX, they are hideous in general. I shudder every time I see one, which isn't often these days thank god.

My ownership came about by accident, and ended in predictable disaster. But some people actually CHOOSE to buy one of these machines. Haven't you ever driven a proper car and seen the difference, have you got eyes that see something that mine don't? I just don't get it, I honestly don't.