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The Citroen ZXs of Autoshite


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I have a couple of ZXs. This week is MoT time for one of them. The ex Bramz (isn't everything?) and also ex BEep 1.9 D has been with me since January this year. No problems with it.post-19511-0-10451000-1536741399_thumb.jpg

Doing a pre MoT check on it, I noticed thispost-19511-0-01733500-1536741448_thumb.jpgpost-19511-0-60617800-1536741464_thumb.jpg

 

Great. So do I stick a plate on top of it or do it properly? It's a surprisingly big job to do it properly as the inner wing top folds over the top of the strut. It's a good car though and deserves to be done right so I reckon I've answered my own question. These previous plates need tidying uppost-19511-0-48921900-1536741636_thumb.jpg

The other side isn't far behind. It will pass a test but you can see the rust starting to bleed outpost-19511-0-86325900-1536741712_thumb.jpg.

 

So there's one of mine. Who else has ZXs?

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Phwwooaar. I *loved* my ZX's. Not had one for 4 or 5 years now, but I had two when they were only a few years old and they were fuggin brill. 

 

*hunts through film-type photo archive*

 

This was the second, about 13 years ago. Just after I rammed it up the back of a mk3 escort that stopped at a green traffic light.

2249745198_895399ee23_z.jpgSome OLD photos found on my work PC by Tony Lloyd, on Flickr

 

Attached is the first one, circa 1999/2000. Lovely stuff. 

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 Not mine but three that I know of, one currently on the road.

 

MrDU5mL.jpg

 

oFuJ3Iz.jpg

 

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Then there are a few photos of some sadly long dead ones.

 

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Glad I wasn't sat in that one!

 

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My old one after a fat twat T-boned me at a junction. It was a very nice Volcane TD before hand  :-( Loved that car and it had been "Optimised" by Van Aaken tuning back in the day so went surprisingly well.

 

 

 

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ZXs have featured in my life since 1994 when I sold them new including running a couple of band new ZX TD Memphis as company cars.

 

In 2009 I was given a ZX 1.9D Adantage because the factory sunroof had blow out at 50 mph and the lady owner wanted no more to do with the car. A very neat, even if I say it myself plywood repair and the car was in use. It was then passed to my neighbour a year or so later by which time I had a ZX TD Aura.

 

Again in 2009 my father inlaw wanted an Auto so we got a 1.9D Avantage and we keep it for a several weeks to make sure it was ok before we passed it over. My memory was always how slow the Auto made it, but not this one and we had a manual on the drive to check it against.

 

I bought the TD Aura in 2010 and I loved that car, fastest ZX diesel I ever knew, always light on it feet and once I had the rear subframe bushes changed what a handler! It went to the father inlaw in Wales, where it sadly in 2015 broke a cambelt in spite of having it replaced in my ownership. I was told later that there was a fair amount of rust in it anyway.

 

In 2011 I saw a ZX TD Avantage estate with low mileage being advertised cheaply and bought it for no good reason! It was a good buy and on the face of it a better car than my 5door TD, but somehow I have never really taken to this one. That was good news for everybody else, every man and his dog has borrowed it because it was spare! 7 years on we still have it and Mrs6C is now using it regularly as a daily car.

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Here's our ZX from a good few years back, 'Bertie' as we used to call him for some reason.

 

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Have always thought the Mk I version looked a lot cleaner, outside and in.  I remember there was a short lived 2.0 Volcane auto version towards the end of its life, there was one for sale down here and I quite fancied it.

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I'm not really a French car fan (bar a few exceptions), but the ZX is one i've always liked.

 

Very nearly owned one too, a £400 diesel.... regret not getting it.

 

As my Disco is nearing its end with rot, a ZX is on my shortlist but there's never any coming up for sale in relatively sensible distance/sold when they do

 

Same goes for everything else on my shortlist, mind!

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Wonderful cars, my first was a 1.4 Advantage estate which I bought with 14k and took it to 150k within 5yrs. It was no fireball but I drove it all over the UK an it took all manner of abuse. The second was a one owner J plate Venetian red Volcane which we took in p/x whilst I was working for my local Citroën dealer.It drove like the scaled up 205 Gti it really was and I got offered a handsome profit on it by one of the workshop techs in the same dealer very soon afterwards.

If it wasn't for my current similarly chassis'd Multispace and 306 droptops I'd have another in a heartbeat. Preferably a t/d Aura estate.

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I have always wanted a Volcane...they're getting quite rare now. There is a early 1.9 auto (petrol) on eBay but the auto box has an issue with kickdown.

 

My first and second cars were both ZXs. I would own one again but it would have to have all the bells and whistles, as that's the type of person I've become.

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So I decided to attack the ZX with a grinder and sort the rot properly. First job, remove wingpost-19511-0-36367900-1536783064_thumb.jpg

Second job, chop the lip off the top of the inner wing. Including VIN. plate. Remove strut.post-19511-0-33022400-1536783140_thumb.jpg

Then cut out all the rotpost-19511-0-58794500-1536783190_thumb.jpg

Fabricate some patches out of thick grade steel and weld in place. post-19511-0-26697400-1536783273_thumb.jpg

Seam seal then paint. Not the correct colour, just a tin of some red that the label had fallen off. Not perfect but tidy enough jobpost-19511-0-63535700-1536783386_thumb.jpg

Then went looking for more holes. I wasn't disappointedpost-19511-0-42280100-1536783434_thumb.jpg

Oh well. It's still quite good for one of these though

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v9srni7.jpg

 

Just the one, a £100 ZX estate with rot in the inner dog leg. Owned for a week.

 

Went quite well, didn't really stop, weird wheel tyre combo because of front tread illegality.

Sold the steels to ruffgeezer, flogged the rest of the car to someone else on here.

 

Still baffled by the 'ZX is far superior to 306' type comments on here; they're very closely related but then again I've never been on the Citroen foamer side of the argument. Earlier posts about ZXs 'rewarding sensitive people' and 'pianists' hands' flocking to ZXs were among the most surreal things I've ever read on Autoshite.

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We've never had a ZX. Things could have been different though as dad did once consider buying an estate but didn't go through with it. They seem pretty rare nowadays and there were only four at the Chevrons Rally. This one is an Esprit, not a model I can find anything about so I guess it's a dealer special.

 

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1996 Citroen ZX 1.4i Esprit by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

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v9srni7.jpg

Still baffled by the 'ZX is far superior to 306' type comments on here; they're very closely related but then again I've never been on the Citroen foamer side of the argument. Earlier posts about ZXs 'rewarding sensitive people' and 'pianists' hands' flocking to ZXs were among the most surreal things I've ever read on Autoshite.

 

 

 

I've had and driven more 306's than Zx's but I still prefer the ZX. For one the seats are better, especially over a long distance but also because they drive differently. The Zx has zero toe in at the rear so turn in better, they may be basically the same car but they aren't identical.

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I've had and driven more 306's than Zx's but I still prefer the ZX. For one the seats are better, especially over a long distance but also because they drive differently. The Zx has zero toe in at the rear so turn in better, they may be basically the same car but they aren't identical.

 

Hairs split. 

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