Have you heard of the Citroën BX GTI 16v? I’ve no doubt that you, as an esteemed reader of this august publication, have.
Time was, nevertheless, that you could ask that question even of a proud car enthusiast and be met with a blank stare, such was the obscurity to which the BX GTI 16v plunged at the nadir of its exile to the bargain bin.
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That it was even there is a pity. Numbers were culled drastically as the hot BX’s cheapness encouraged many a Peugeot 205 owner to buy one, strip the engine out and scrap the rest of the car. After all, taking a car with a suspension system optimised primarily for comfort and turning it into something with a propensity for being thrown hard at corners can’t result in anything worth saving. Can it?
Climbing aboard today, it’s easy to be disparaging at first. The interior is a sea of brittle plastics, and the door handles feel as though they’ll snap in your hands, while the driving position perches you high up in the car and places the large, heavily canted steering wheel low over your knees. But look deeper: that wheel has a direct effect on the front wheels, shifting the nose around deftly; the suspension, while comfortable, is stiffer than in many hydropneumatic Citroëns; and the engine thrums encouragingly. This bodes well.
Let’s talk about that engine, the part of this car for which so many of them gave their lives. It’s quite a thing. Shared with Peugeot’s 405 Mi16, it kicks out 158bhp, right up at 6500rpm – 500rpm short of the red line. If that sounds reminiscent of a Honda VTEC engine, so it goes in the flesh; in fact, there’s a similar sense of a switch as the car comes on cam around the 4500rpm mark. The engine note gains a flintier edge, singing its way up to the red line, charging ever harder and urging you to wring its neck. The sound and the speed are little short of electrifying.
But how can a car with Citroën’s roly-poly suspension system cope with such a rorty powerplant? Better than you’d think – miles better.
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Have the Umbrella not the car
I still have my Citroen BX umbrella from the launch of the vehicle. “The car that loves driving, hates garages” Which compared to Citroen’s of old was very true. I had left Citroen by the time the GTi 16v was launched, but have good memories of driving and selling the BX range. Sitting on the tailgate aperture to demonstrate the self-levelling suspension and pulling out headlamps in the showroom in order to show how easy the vehicle was to maintain. Would love to find a Visa GTi in good condition, as that was the car I have the fondest memories of from my time with Citroen in the mid 80’s.
Fond memories
I past my test in a BX though not a GTI it was the Diesel right at the start of the rise of the black stuff ! My parents bought it 2 weeks befre my test so had to get used toit quick ! We had two the first had the old dash which was quirky no self cancel on the indicators and drum speedo. As other have said they felt fragile but nothing ever fell off the ones we had and I can remember throwing it arround country lanes, yes it rolled but it never let go of the road. A car with character and some times a mind of its own !
I loved mine!
I had the Pug 405 M16 with the same engine before it and I prefered the Citroen - although both cars had superb handling and ride - along with crappy interiors.