66 replies to this topic

[The Otter]

Thought some of you might be interested in seeing my latest purchase, a 93 Citroen BX 1.9 diesel  It's only my second car (the Mini being the first obviously) and I fancied getting something a bit different to the Mini, but that's still quirky and interesting (in my opinion anyway) and with the added bonus of being able to get 50-60mpg whilst cruising around very comfortably - a far cry from the harshness of the Mini.

 

It's had lots of work done recently, including just having its MOT done this past week (which cost the previous owner £350 to get done  ) so I'm pretty pleased at picking it up for only £425  There are lots of little niggly things that are wrong with it (including a bit of rust!) but it drives really nicely and almost everything works properly.

 

I bought it with a set of roof bars already fitted, but seeing as I'm not going to be carrying anything big around in the near future, I took them off straight away after we got it home, so the next two pics show the car as I got it, and then without the bars.

 

 

 

I won't be doing too much to it really, just fixing all the little broken things first, so there won't be many updates and they'll probably be quite boring, but if anyone is interested in funny old French cars with magic suspension then keep an eye on this 

 

Thanks for reading

 

The Otter

[Archa]

Looks funky.

[JackF]

My parents had one of these when I first took interest in cars. The susp drops when you park, so no wheel clamps can be put on if I remember correctly?

[Archived4]

Funny looking thing

[Moggyton]

Looks like a spaceship

[The Otter]

My parents had one of these when I first took interest in cars. The susp drops when you park, so no wheel clamps can be put on if I remember correctly?

 

There's a lever by the handbrake that allows you to put the car in to three height positions, low (for when it's parked/to look cool), medium (the one you drive it in) and high (for maintenance purposes). Hydropneumatic suspension for the win 

[Moggyton]

Whats the insurance like?

[The Otter]

Whats the insurance like?

 

I got a quote for just over £600 a couple of weeks ago, the Mini on the exact same sort of policy would be around £450, so it's a fair amount more but not enough to bother me yet. The Citroen is insurance group 8 I think, as opposed to group 2 for the Mini. Tax is also about £100 more than the Mini, but the extra 'legal' costs should more than balance out with the fuel savings, as the Mini only does about 35-40mpg at best. 

[Moggyton]

Whats the insurance like?

 
I got a quote for just over £600 a couple of weeks ago, the Mini on the exact same sort of policy would be around £450, so it's a fair amount more but not enough to bother me yet. The Citroen is insurance group 8 I think, as opposed to group 2 for the Mini. Tax is also about £100 more than the Mini, but the extra 'legal' costs should more than balance out with the fuel savings, as the Mini only does about 35-40mpg at best.

Sounds good mate, enjoy it

[The Otter]

I've had a closer poke around the car the past couple of days and thought I'd fill you in on some of the finer details/issues.

Firstly, the interior is in pretty good condition, in fact it almost boggles my mind how it can look so nice in there (relatively speaking) after 124,000 miles and 20 years of use. Of course some of the buttons and switches are a bit worn, but they all seem to work which is a good thing! The heater works well too better than the Mini anyway. The trip counter doesn't work, but I'm not really bothered about that yet, and the speedo needle has a very comical wobble which I'm told is normal for these cars, so I know what speed I'm doing within a range of about 10mph. As you can see in the photo, the radio is ancient and it doesn't fit, so I'll try and get something a bit more modern in there so I can at least plug my iPod in; the speakers work (it only has the two in the front doors) but they're not brilliant so maybe one day I'll look at upgrading them, along with maybe finding somewhere for some more speakers in the rear.



As is very common with BXs, the glove box lid has been swapped out due to broken hinges, and the replacement (that happens to be the wrong colour...) is only hanging on with one hinge. The light in there is just laying on its face with no bulb, so I'll chuck one in there and see if it still works sometime (looks like it'll take the same bulb as a Mini number plate lamp).





Blinds still work well on the parcel shelf, although the shelf hinges are both snapped off so it just all falls down whenever you open the boot. I'll need to come up with a fix for that before I start using it every day, or it'll just get annoying and probably break something else...





Seats are oh so comfy. The drivers seat backrest angle adjustment is stuck though, in a rather reclined position - the knob on the side of the seat turns one notch backwards or forwards and then gets stuck. I can't imagine it's that bad to fix, just haven't gotten round to looking at it yet.



Nice bit of fluff for me in the ash tray.



KERCHING! £3.95 in the coin tray! So the car actually cost me £421.05.



Slider missing from the passenger side interior light that doesn't come on, maybe a screw driver will work to flick the contact across if it's just turned off...



Rear demist isn't working for some reason...





Anyone know a good way to fix that? Without using a roll of electrical tape preferably!

The car came without a boot carpet, as apparently the old one was mouldy and manky and the previous owner just threw it away. I happened to be helping my girlfriends mum take some things to the tip the other day, and when I saw an old bit of carpet she was going to throw away I knew I could find a home for it.



Okay maybe it's slightly the wrong shade of black, but it's better than no carpet at all right?

I'll make another post soon about the exterior of the car, I took more photos than I thought! Too much excitement about a new gadget (car) to play with!

Thanks for reading

The Otter

[Shifty]

I can remember when these used to be all over the place, not seen one in years!!

[Tamworthbay]

I love old citroens! We had a Xantia that was brilliant. The suspension on its highest setting got us out of a couple of shows when everyone else needed to be towed out by tractor. BUT getting those spheres off for replacement makes any job on a mini seem easy. After trying and failing for a month to shift the rears I admitted defeat and took it to a specialist. He welded a socket onto the back, put a long pole on the end and then lowered the lift down with the pole underneath at an angle. He said it was only way to shift stubborn ones!

[Moggyton]

I like the coin tray

[MerlinTheMini]

Think you're missing half a back wheel mate? ;) haha

[mini-luke]

My parents had one of these when I first took interest in cars. The susp drops when you park, so no wheel clamps can be put on if I remember correctly?

 

Mine had one from new, had a recurring habit of emptying it's hydraulic fluid over the road and the suspension staying down when you turn the engine back on!