CX update

[scooters]

well well well...I have now owned my CX for 10 days and in that time I have done the following:Bath to TelfordTelford to EdinburghEdinburgh to WorksopWorksop to St AlbansSt Albans to Edinburghnext week I will be doingEdinburgh to DurhamDurham to HullHull to DurhamDurham to St AlbansSt Albans to cambridgeCambridge to St AlbansSt Albans to EdinburghSo far the car has behaved admirably. It is a very civilised motorway cruiser but is at its best on a good A road especially the A7 from Carlisle to Edinburgh and even better the A68 from Edinburgh to Darlington.well, what is it like to live with?This model is the CX22 TRS Saloon - a fairly basic mid range CX and not as much as a beast as my last one (A CX25 GTi). This one has a 2.2lt "Douvrain" aluminium engine with a twin chimney weber carb. In terms of running an older car this is a sensible and straightforward for a home mechanic like myself. DIRAVI steering is a wonderful invention - I must remember to request it as an extra next time I buy a new Bently. The suspension system is, of course, legendary but you don't really get how good it is until you drive it on a great and empty A road. The car ghosts round corners at pace - unfussy and unrushed - progress is rapid indeed without the requirement of a huge engine or a turbo charger - it is just a beautifully set up car.My one has 80 k on the clock now and I will be splitting my summer miles between this and my VW Clipper as I don't want to cane it too much.The car will be coming off the road for a week next month for a going over by my local specialist in edinburgh to have a service and a new timing belt - i will probably get the front pads done as well. New rear boots will be going on as well and as this is a CX22 the good news is the tyres are not metric and oddly enough the rear ones are smaller than the front ones.Interior wiser the car is in a light grey tweed twill on the seats and the dash and plastics are in wonderful "driving instructor's lounge shoes" grey....it's a bit like being inside a pringle leesure wear shop. This one has a sunroof - wonderfully situated at the front of the cabin - wuith the roof open and the windows down it has a convertible feel to it - sensible citroen - its an electric sunroof but has a manual close option.Starting the car - the engine is nice and roarty with a decent sound from the exhaust - the car then lifts off the ground - the steering wheel recentres itself - you feel that you are 'not alone' - first and second gears are notchy as you like - I have not had a 80's or 90's citroen that did not have an 'interesting' gearbox. The travel of the stick is long and 2nd gear in particular takes a bit of finding - having said that, once you are used to it and accurate the grearing is great and works will with the engine- plenty of ommph in 4th for overtaking.The only rust on this one is a slight bit round the sunroof - It's a cracking car and having owned the following daily drivers in the last 2 years:Volvo 940 SportVolvo 240 GLTvolvo 240 GLTJag SovereignDaimler Double SixDaimler SovereignDaimler XJ40Citroen XMReliant Scimitarthe CX is my favourite all rounder for the type of driving I do and the miles i am clocking.Interestinghly enough I am getting about 30-32mpg which doe a 24 year old car is spiffing indeed.ohhlafekkinla!

[j-j]

Glad you're loving the CX - sounds like it's performing well. I'll not mention to Adam, the prev owner, how good the car he sold is performing as the one he has now is a right bag of shite.Two things though:

The only rust on this one is a slight bit round the sunroof -

Watch out! sunroof on the CX is corrosion weakspot - make sure the drains are totally clear and then pump the roof section full of wax!

The travel of the stick is long and 2nd gear in particular takes a bit of finding

Ah yes, the gear linkage gets tired quickly but it's down to two large nylon joints. The first is simply the one below the stick itself - could possibly be repaired with work to the nylon ball pr the cups but the main source of aggro on the gearlinkage is usually the nylon socket on the intermediate linkage relay right under the front cross member. It is replaceable and is available too but it's a right old fiddly job - I removed the whole intermediate part on mine to replace it but once done, it massively improves the gear shifter.It's not going to ever be like a Ferrari selector in accuracy but it is well up to scratch once the nylon its are done.

[dollywobbler]

Cracking stuff!

[scooters]

Glad you're loving the CX - sounds like it's performing well. I'll not mention to Adam, the prev owner, how good the car he sold is performing as the one he has now is a right bag of shite.Two things though:

The only rust on this one is a slight bit round the sunroof -

Watch out! sunroof on the CX is corrosion weakspot - make sure the drains are totally clear and then pump the roof section full of wax!

The travel of the stick is long and 2nd gear in particular takes a bit of finding

Ah yes, the gear linkage gets tired quickly but it's down to two large nylon joints. The first is simply the one below the stick itself - could possibly be repaired with work to the nylon ball pr the cups but the main source of aggro on the gearlinkage is usually the nylon socket on the intermediate linkage relay right under the front cross member. It is replaceable and is available too but it's a right old fiddly job - I removed the whole intermediate part on mine to replace it but once done, it massively improves the gear shifter.It's not going to ever be like a Ferrari selector in accuracy but it is well up to scratch once the nylon its are done.

cheers j-jadam has tackled the sunroof area but I think it needs a strip back, sort and then a repaint. The nearside front wing he pinged and has fixed with some filler and spray can - what I will probably do, given the overall excellent condition of the car is to have both professionally sorted and then take the car into rustmaster at St Albans and for £300 have them professionally rustprrof it - they give youa 3 year warranty afterwards - this would help preserve the vehicle.I can live with the linkage - if outrageously fiddly I will get chevronics to sort it when they service.I didn't see Adam's GTI butI did see his GS which I thought looked lovely apart from the wheel arches - If I were him I would get the GS sorted - my experience of repairing dog CXs (limited) is that there are easier classics to put back on the road!

[garethj]

Good write up!Showing my ignorance here, but are CXs all with a tiny bootlid or did later ones have a hatchback?How much does a discerning buyer usually pay for a non-rusty CX?

[carlo]

You feel that you are 'not alone'; I like that, nicely put!

[Mr_Bo11ox]

excellent work Scootaz. I have been doing my Wisbech-Crewe weekend return trip in the Landcrab every time for the last few weeks, its a total winnAr! I'm getting about 30mpg and loving it.

[Rocket88]

Good write up!+1Showing my ignorance here, but are CXs all with a tiny bootlid or did later ones have a hatchback?as far as I know, all had seperate boots, apart, of course, the estates....How much does a discerning buyer usually pay for a non-rusty CX?

Depends what you mean by non rusty............good ones only needing a bit of cosmetic work start at about [as far as I can gather] a grand. I would think a mint turbo would be about £3000 to £4000?

[dollywobbler]

CX was always a saloon (or estate of course) like the GS. Shame Citroen didn't do an 'Ambassador' really. They could have squashed an Ital nose on the CX and given it a hatchback. That would have been really shite.

[scooters]

indeed it is technically a fastback saloon - should be a hatchback but they went the boot option instead - funilly enough although you have to slide your stuff into the boot as it is not a top loader it is quite substantial in size - I have a large suitcase - 2 pairs wellys a hard hat, heavey weather gear and 2 spare wheels in the boot at the moment

[scooters]

Good write up!+1Showing my ignorance here, but are CXs all with a tiny bootlid or did later ones have a hatchback?as far as I know, all had seperate boots, apart, of course, the estates....How much does a discerning buyer usually pay for a non-rusty CX?

Depends what you mean by non rusty............good ones only needing a bit of cosmetic work start at about [as far as I can gather] a grand. I would think a mint turbo would be about £3000 to £4000?

interestingly enough - the most important criteria on value seems to be how well a car has been maintained not necessarily the spec. Turbos are great but complex - trim level seems to be a better guide with mint pallas models going strong.3-4k is about right for a mint turbo/pallas - well maintained 22s can go for considerably more than a shot GTi.I paid about 1000 for the 22 which I think was probably a very good result - given 6 months tax, 12 months MOT and only 75k on the clock

[Cavcraft]

Enjoyed reading that, think you've done bloody well for a grand.Do these have those weird directional tyres that have treads that get wider as they go towards the other side of the tyre?

[scooters]

Enjoyed reading that, think you've done bloody well for a grand.Do these have those weird directional tyres that have treads that get wider as they go towards the other side of the tyre?

I haven't checked - however, the CX 22 does seem to come with 195s on the front and 185s on the rear as standard - barking eh? unless j-j corrects me the previous owner said that was the case. I did have a CX25 Gti that went to the Torsten Foundation for the Relief of Knackerd Old Kit(TOFTKOK) and that had Metrics on it which I think were standard on the gtis - and obviously are very expensive - so maybe that's what you are referring to.The ones on the 22 seem reasonable enough- Kwik Shite sell them for £60 a corner - and I can get them cheaper elsewhere

[Cavcraft]

I'm pretty sure some had (non-metric) weird directional tyres, we used to find them on Transit vans after part worn tyres places flogged them on, so they must have been 14 inch.Metric tyres are a 'mare (as you probably know) because you can't fit tubes to them abnd they're bloody expensive. Haven't seen a CX on the road in a while now, always admired the style of them.

[j-j]

Indeedy! Tyres: it's odd that yours has 195 front 185 rear as all series 2 CXs should be 185s all round except the GtiHowever, the early ones like mine should have 185s front and 175s rear. It's designed this way but if you want the convenience of the same size all round for rotation purposes then it is 185s all round (the spare will be 185 as the 195s have some job fitting in the spare wheel space under the bonnet!) After some little shites slashed all the tyres in our street last year, I replaced my newish Vredesteins with part worn van tyres that don't appear to wear at all nomatter how insane some of my cornering techniques are!

excellent work Scootaz. I have been doing my Wisbech-Crewe weekend return trip in the Landcrab every time for the last few weeks, its a total winnAr! I'm getting about 30mpg and loving it.

not bad consumption there too - how do you feel about LPG? my CX will only do about 20mpg on average due to the torque convertor but on LPG it's a cost equivalent of about 37-45mpg - you guys could be roasting it at a 50-60mpg equivalent!!

[dollywobbler]

Hankooks get my vote. The BX is darned near unstickable and they're only 165s! Mind you, the weight of the XUD lump must add some serious downforce...

[scooters]

j-jAdam stuck the different sizes on because he felt it made the car handle better - I will probably go to all 4 the same though for ease - the rear ones are pretty worn and I have a spare set of 185s in the boot.LPG - maybe - to be honest I'm not too worried about the fuel consumtion - a decent sized boot is of more importance! I guess you don't put a torsodial tank under the bonnet!!

[j-j]

I guess you don't put a torsodial tank under the bonnet!!

Urrrrr NO!

[pompei]

I hope the residents of Hull will appreciate the sight of a CX - it's about 4 years now since I sold mine (on the Fuhrer's instructions)