1985 Citroen BX from UK and Ireland - Comments

The plastic petrol tank leaked 56,000.

Rear brake calipers seized 56,000.

Handbrake cable snapped 56,024.

Suspension would not rise (faulty pump) £230.

Suspension pipe leaked.

Rusty suspension pipes all needed replacing costing over £200.

Head gasket blew 56,500 miles.

Gearbox whine at 56,700 miles.

Clutch cable snapped 56,845 miles.

Heater matrix leak (needed whole dash removing to replace) costing £££!

Engine stalling, poor starting, running rough.

Power steering pump failed.

If you want to really annoy your local mechanics then buy a citroen BX. The guys who had to work on them must have had the patience of saints. I have done a bit of mechanics myself, but never in my life have I found a car so annoyingly difficult to work on! Torx screws hidden everywhere etc..

This car cost me a fortune to keep it on the road and to be honest I should have just scrapped it in the first place. Horrible horrible horrible!

Wonder if it's the same person who wrote the Citroen XM review.

Not the same person, but I did read the review. Sounds very familiar though! I know of other people who have all owned a Citroen, the AXes got pretty good feedback, but the BXes got slated big time! Crap build quality/poor dealer service and ludicrously high repair bills.

If people want a car that has the weird floaty suspension and all the other gimmicks then please buy one. Just make sure you get a big loan out to pay for when they all (and do) go wrong!

It does seem unbelievable that such a wide range of faults occurred at 56k miles. After owning 3 BXes I have found them to be reliable and well engineered. My 1.9 litre with 200,000 miles gets 45mpg at 65mph and has tons of power and room. A conventional econobox with little power and room doesn't compare. Granted, some repairs are tricky and require skills and knowledge some mechanics don't have. However, 95% of car is conventional. I'm glad people are unaware of these cars. I just bought one for $300NZ (&80) which needs 5-8 hours of mostly simple repairs and $150nz in parts. After years of Toyota diesel ownership, reliabiliy and servicing are similar.

I would say the best car ever, not the worst.

I have also bought a $300 BX in New Zealand, a 1985 BX19GT, and it's been very reliable since I bought it last year, even with nearly 200,000 miles on the clock. No rust except a spot in the bottom corner of the driver's door (normal!), it runs a bit rough until it's warmed up, the seats were a bit tatty, but cheap to replace second hand, and all it's needed is cleaning up wiring to the coil, a new brake rubber hose, and a replacement set of tyres as the old ones were a little worn.

My partner and I drove it from Auckland to Christchurch and back over last New Year - four days' driving - and apart from some ignition stuttering for a few kilometres before the coil wiring was fixed, it drove beautifully!

I would definitely buy another as a second car! I think the shape has aged very well when you look at British cars from the same time, and I'll be keeping this one for a long time yet! $300 - you can't go wrong!

Dear All,

Basically I'm not to give a comment for this car, but want to know from everyone who own this car, what should be checked and considered before I buy a second hand model this car.

For any info, thanks a lot.

Regards

Lukman.