C6 gone..no great surprise?

[Deanxm]

The CX is a nice car but from the company's point of view it was a shambles, changing from rotary engines within months of the release date and having to set up the new factory they couldnt afford (forget where it was now) was the final straw that broke the camels back iirc, early cars not having power steering due to rushed release and other issues, rust.......... then of course the nice derv engine marrred by pourus blocks or heads (i forget which) all stupid things that should have been planned better.

Same story with the xm, stupid little things like fitting 8v engines when all your competition was running 16v units, and a hand full of earthing points that take 10 minutes to do properly ruined the cars reputation, a severe lack of dealer knowledge also killed the car.

The C6 came out with no stupid mistakes, it worked, it had the right engines for the job and it raised Citroens profile, the one thing it still falls down on though is woefull depreciation but the launch was done right.

Im not knocking the CX, i like em, more the way citroen handled the launch of such cars.

D

YOU DON'T USE THE CUSTOMER AS DEVELOPENT DRIVERS. Citroën need to realise this.

Yes definatly, its a lesson they just never seemed to learn, great products, poorly executed.

[robert_e_smart]

The CX is a super car! I love the CX. I'm not blind or blinkered guys, they have their flaws too!!!!!!

The CX is a super car. I love hopping into my series 1 CX. It has been well designed and well thought out. The execution leaves a lot to be desired. But 1.04 Million cars, thats over a million CXs than Xms! Not a bad result at all!

Citroen have a habit of letting their customers do important testing that they should do instead! They have been doing that ever since they pioneered Front Wheel Drive (Read Traction Avant), the Traction Avant was meant to be an Automatic at launch, not a manual.

The XM was an utter sales disaster, but what a car! They are no CX, but they are a nice proper Citroen.

For Activa Mike, the 2.5 TD is something else, its not the usual dishwater that PSA used, its a much different unit from the van engine that it shares a lot with, again, Citroen CX 2.5 Diesel and the C25!! Maintaining tradition and all that!

One car that is always overlooked in Citroen's past is the BX! The Mighty BX, the car that saved Citroen. We Xantia and XM owners owe a lot to the BX. The BX was the precursor to a lot of the manufacturing techniques used in its successors. XM Production was 335,000 cars, a little less than 2 million more BXs were made than Xms!

This BXenthusiasm, is of coursed fuelled by me cruising about in my BX recently, but it is a great Citroen that needs to be appreciated. Granted the BX isn't the most glamorous of cars, nor does it have good standing and status, as it still manages to languish in banger territory.

Check out Julian Marsh's excellent Citronet website for production figures and much more!

For our Xantia lovers/enthusiasts, it was a successful car in terms of sales, 200K less than the CX, but not that good, at over a million less than the BX!!!

[Deanxm]

Ah but the BX is in fact a Volvo, with cx bits shrunk on to it, i admit nice car with good sales but not a great deal was down to psa on that one.

D

[Xaccers]

If they re-released the CX but rust proofed and niggle free, I'd buy a new Citroen.

[Trainman]

Yes there's lots of issues with the C6, like ball joints failing, like the suspension being to "floaty" but do you know what? it doesn't matter. we can pull apart any car and find a multitude of issues, the CX as has been said RUST, the Activa known ram problems, XM fitting dodgy engines.......... IT DOESN'T MATTER!!

We all, each and every one of us, buy these cars because we like them. I could of bought a Jaguar, Mercedes, BMW or Audi I didn't, why? very simple, Citroens turn your blood either green or orange, depending on whther its LHM or LDS and where else do you find car's that "stick out like a sore thumb".

We can all rant and rave, and we all have opinions......... but you either like or don't like......it's YOUR PERSONAL CHOICE

[Northern_Mike]

Yes there's lots of issues with the C6, like ball joints failing, like the suspension being to "floaty" but do you know what? it doesn't matter. we can pull apart any car and find a multitude of issues, the CX as has been said RUST, the Activa known ram problems, XM fitting dodgy engines.......... IT DOESN'T MATTER!!

It does matter. Items like those you mention above are why Citroen ended up going bust and being bought up buy Peugeot in the 70s. They are why no one will buy a big Citroen nowadays. To say they don't matter is complete nonsense.

[Trainman]

Yes there's lots of issues with the C6, like ball joints failing, like the suspension being to "floaty" but do you know what? it doesn't matter. we can pull apart any car and find a multitude of issues, the CX as has been said RUST, the Activa known ram problems, XM fitting dodgy engines.......... IT DOESN'T MATTER!!

It does matter. Items like those you mention above are why Citroën ended up going bust and being bought up buy Peugeot in the 70s. They are why no one will buy a big Citroën nowadays. To say they don't matter is complete nonsense.

Ok that's your opinion, and you've read mine. If it matter's so much why do you buy Citroens? I think you miss the most fundimental thing, people are still frightened of the Citroen brand, not because of the car's but because of what they were told when they were kids "You don't want one of those, they cost a fortune to fix".

A £25 replacement sphere turned into a £200 repair because nobody want to do the job. Citroen have never gotten away from that because it was ingrained, despite the fact that the majority of the "fleet" have conventional suspension nowadays.

[Northern_Mike]

All you have done is confirm exactly what I've said!

People are not scared of the Citroen brand at all. Those days are long gone. The older generation who were are dying off, and a lot of the range is very trendy and aimed at the younger crowd - just think, someone who was born in 1989 is now 23 - they won't remember any of the weird and wonderful Cits from the 70s and 80s at all, and unless their parents were Citroen perverts, they won't even have registered on the radar. That's irrelevant - just Look at the amount of Picassos, Berlingos, Xsaras, Xantias and C-series cars. They are everywhere. Big Citroens - yes, they are scared of them, because they have a terrible (deserved, in my opinion and experience) reputation for unreliablilty - I worked as a dealer mechanic in the late 80s so saw plenty of CX, BX, AX and the early XMs in pieces with all manner of weird and wonderful issues.

The other issue is cost. If I were spending my own money, why would I want a £30k + car that would be worth 1/5th of what I paid for it in 5 years? That's what happens when you buy a big Citroen. Each to their own, but if I had £30-40k to spend on a car, I'd probably have to spend it on a BMW, much as I hate to say it. What company car driver is going to want to take the hit of depreciation?

I like Citroens. The smaller ones are great cars, and last for a long, long time. I wouldn't have an XM/CX as anything other than a toy because I like tinkering with them.

Oh, and failing ball joints on C6s - that's quite a serious problem in my book... it's hardly like a window winder falling off in your hand is it?

[Citroening]

Robert's done a nice job of writing about the CX, and here's a couple more facts about that CX that you may/may not know.

In 1975, the CX was voted the Car Of The Year by 49 journalists from 14 European countries. At the Geneva Motor Show, it won the supreme design award, "Award Style Auto". The French Automobile press awarded it "Prix de la Securite " (Safety).

No other vehicle in the world has won all these three awards!

[Deanxm]

To be fair though most cars that won european car of the year have been either utter rubbish or flops, take the xm, that won car of the year twice was it? top motoring jouno's raved about the xm loudly and publicly and citroen sold 6 then there was the Omega and almost every Fiat ever made
You dont have to defend the CX, its a good car, its just citroen sent them out the door half finnished like almost every other large car they have made.

D

[robert_e_smart]

The GS was also car of the year 1971. The Xantia was second to the Mundaneo in 1994!!!!!

[Northern_Mike]

The GS was also car of the year 1971. The Xantia was second to the Mundaneo in 1994!!!!!

Yes, but the Xantia came out the factory properly built, and is a bloody decent car. It marked the turning point. It was way better finished than the ZX and AX , drove well, handled well, and looked reasonable.

[Northern_Mike]

In 1975, the CX was voted the Car Of The Year by 49 journalists from 14 European countries.

Now now, if you're going to start using that to defend a car... it's not a good idea.

There's been some complete tat win that award over the years!

Escort MK3 anyone? Talbot Horizon? Simca 1307?..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_C ... .80.932012" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

<shudder>

As others said, the CX was a good car, badly built. It wasn't even the "Citroeny" bits that let it down for once, it was the mundane parts of it. For real Citroen quality though, you have to go to the last of the line Portuguese built 2CVs..

[R9UKE]

The Xantia was second to the Mundaneo in 1994!!!!!

Oi, the Mondeo deserved first place... that car was a much bigger step from the Sierra than the Xantia was from the BX. The mark one Mondeo is one of those milestones in motoring, well, for me anyway, what a car it was! I still need to get a Ghia X, although finding one without cracked bumpers should be fun.

[Deanxm]

Some of the stuff that wins car of the year is rubbish though, i mean the Mondeo, please Luke its a tool and i know i recently had a very nice one, it doesnt do anything special or interesting its bland basic and cheap motoring and it feels like it why on earth would a car like that get an award, its like the Vectra came second one year, a bloody vectra, its the worst peice of mainstream repmobile automotive tat so far in my driving life and yet it was considered on a par (according to a panel of muppets ply'd with freebie hire cars and holidays from car manufacturers) to the xantia, really?
And why has every Fiat since the dawn of time won?, probably nothing to do with the fact the president of the award scheme is italian.
Strange how im pretty sure a BMW has never really won, they are nice cars on the whole, not my thing but thats irrelivant, they dont win when arguable they are a better car than a mondeo or Fiat brava.strange that isnt it.
Anyway i digress with my rant, winning euro car of the year isnt something i would be shouting about, its not a good thing