So whats your plan now their are no longer green or orange blooded Citroens being made?

[wurlycorner]

It's a shame they decided continuing with hydropneumatic was too expensive and I think it's a position they put themselves in by making it too complicated, the old mechanical system worked just fine and was simple. There never was any need to try turn it into some advanced system no other car of the same class has.

It's the other way round. The c5 suspension system is so, so much simpler than on a cx and as a result way, way cheaper to manufacture, install and maintain. It only 'sounds' complicated because it includes electronics which most people don't understand, but it has a lot less than half the pressure pipework compared to a cx\bx/xantia, basically no mechanical valves, no return pipes, no accumulator spheres... Etc.

[Peter.N.]

Its certainly very heavy but it is possible especially once on a good road, the brakes have a reservoir that lasts sometime. I have driven XMs for some distance with no hydraulics, they ride quite well on the bump stops.

Peter

[lexi]

Like most of these older cars, looking back is mostly with a fondness............for your younger years!

[CitroJim]

Like most of these older cars, looking back is mostly with a fondness............for your younger years!

Ain't that just so!!!

[white exec]

It's not just rose-tinted memories - many of those cars were much simpler to maintain, and without electronic complexity, and the multiplying faults that could bring, given PSA's propensity for low-quality connectors etc.

I remember simultaneously working on both our own BX19RD and our son's BX19GTi 8v. Chalk amd cheese, reliability-wise: the ECU'd petrol was plagued with endless failure to start and cutting-out issues, only eventually solved by comprehensive tracing and remaking of connections and grounding. The RD never failed us electrically.

As electronic and other components, dictated by the accountants, multiply, the risk of breakdown escalates, often making DIY diagnosis and maintenance seriously difficult. Plenty of evidence of that on our Forum.

[CitroJim]

It's not just rose-tinted memories - many of those cars were much simpler to maintain, and without electronic complexity, and the multiplying faults that could bring, given PSA's propensity for low-quality connectors etc.

Yes, absolutely

[Peter.N.]

The CX was like nothing I have driven before or since. There was a saying when I bought my first one that 'if you drive one for less than half an hour you won't want to drive one again, more than half an hour and you will never want to drive anything else' the latter was certainly true in my case, there is and never has been nothing like it - except perhaps the DS.

Peter

[Gibbo2286]

CX is the only car I ever got completely stuck at the roadside with, two steel pipes across the front chassis member rubbed together, holed and poured the fluid all over the road, adding fluid would have been a waste of time, had to get a suspended tow back to my workshop.

Embarrassing when you're in the car auction car park.

Also got it stuck in the mud once and had to get a tractor to drag it out.

[white exec]

. . . There was a saying when I bought my first one that 'if you drive one for less than half an hour you won't want to drive one again, more than half an hour and you will never want to drive anything else'.

What a fabulous quote, Peter. Lovely!

[elma]

It's a pleasure versus pain thing for me. I get a lot of joy from working on a mechanical system whereas the electronic ones just bore me silly. I often get the feeling when I'm doing work on the Scenic that I'm fixing something the car doesn't even need which is a waste of time and resources. I spend my daily work life with electrics though so I never really want to play with them in my personal time.

[Homer]

It's a shame they decided continuing with hydropneumatic was too expensive and I think it's a position they put themselves in by making it too complicated, the old mechanical system worked just fine and was simple. There never was any need to try turn it into some advanced system no other car of the same class has.

It's the other way round. The c5 suspension system is so, so much simpler than on a cx and as a result way, way cheaper to manufacture, install and maintain. It only 'sounds' complicated because it includes electronics which most people don't understand, but it has a lot less than half the pressure pipework compared to a cx\bx/xantia, basically no mechanical valves, no return pipes, no accumulator spheres... Etc.

The mechanical bits may be cheaper but when you factor in the development and maintenance costs for the bespoke software then you increase the costs significantly.

If it were cheaper then they would have stuck with it.

[wurlycorner]

I think we will continue to fundamentally disagree on this one by the looks.
(These days I have to say it's much cheaper to develop/redevelop different software than it is to engineer (and manufacture a variety of) mechanical bits. It's just how things are these days.

[elma]

I agree with what you say Iain but I still won't buy into it with my own cash. Mechanical all the way for me until I go electric or whatever else may replace engines. I just don't like the way modern cars are made at all, I'm sure you understand my sentiments with the cars you choose to own.

[wurlycorner]

Yeah that's fine - I am with you in not liking lots of things about modern cars. My last comment was more in response to Homer, tbf

I'm not personally extoling the virtues of Citroen's proposed new suspension against the benefits of hydropneumatic, either - it doesn't have the load levelling that I find so useful for towing, for a start! I was picking up on the OP about Citroen losing their comfort reputation, which it seems they might still be working to retain, after all.