Jon - I think you've got it right. Simple pleasure - that's what I've felt driving all the BXs I've ever encountered (apart from some regret when I've encountered an abused one, or not been able to fix one of mine properly). A compromise, no doubt, but a good, intelligent and very practical one. I do think the light construction helps a lot - Peugeot couldn't wait to replace the 1.7 with the 1.9 turbodiesel in the 405, whereas in the BX it positively shines!
I actually quite like the acres of plastic, as it fits in with the lightweight concept and is totally in keeping with a 1980s mass-produced car. My objection to the Xantia, despite all of its undoubted good points, is that it was SO heavy compared to the BX. On the other hand, perhaps it was just a replection of the early 1990s, in the same way that the BX represents the early 80s (with a pinch of 70s fuel crisis thrown in).
The great BX debate.
Moderator: RichardW
I bought my BX16v 15 years ago and would have sold it years ago. But every time I think of getting rid of it I read sites like this and the old Boardhost board before it, get caught up in all that enthusiasm, and remember what a great it is and the fun I've had with it. The best part is that unlike some boards about other cars, the people who own them aren't interested in status or impressing anyone. They just love those cars.
So it's all your fault.
So it's all your fault.
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jack.dempsey
- Posts: 116
- Joined: 05 Mar 2003, 17:57
- Location: United Kingdom
- My Cars: BX TZD @ 250K miles (J reg),
Xantia TD @ 165K miles (R reg),
Xantia 2.1 TD (R reg)
and tow a caravan with them all (not at the same time)
I'm finding all this 'soppy stuff' quite disturbing as I'm currently thinking about releasing my trusty old 'J' reg TZD and replacing it with a Xantia (currenly being brought up to my exacting standards). The BX has done over 240K miles (that's to the moon then !!) and has only really let me down once when the 'octopus' squirted 'ink' - or more specifically 'green blood' all over the M1. A 'very nice man' arranged to get the car home and a new octopus to augment newly fitted front to rear pipes resolved that particular issue. Now I'm thinking I'll keep the BX and sell the Xantia.....or should I keep the Xantia and sell the BX..... Oh how my head hurts !!
Alan, you always have to open a can of worms don't you!
I've owned my baby for over 6 years now, and wouldn't sell her for the world.
Good solid reliable car, capable of cruising at whatever speed all day if need be.
I think they are a handsome car and I love the way they drive.
My cuz has a 16V, and has just bagged himself a late plate one owner 19TXD estate - mint on all accounts, though haven't seen it in the plactic yet.
As for performance, that is one area the 16V is definitely not lacking in.
When I get another car, the BX stays no matter what I buy to compliment her.
Cheers and happy BXing all!
P.S Flynn, I see you say you've owned your 16V for 15 years, are you already a member of bx16v.com?
Dan
I've owned my baby for over 6 years now, and wouldn't sell her for the world.
Good solid reliable car, capable of cruising at whatever speed all day if need be.
I think they are a handsome car
and I love the way they drive.My cuz has a 16V, and has just bagged himself a late plate one owner 19TXD estate - mint on all accounts, though haven't seen it in the plactic yet.
As for performance, that is one area the 16V is definitely not lacking in.
When I get another car, the BX stays no matter what I buy to compliment her.
Cheers and happy BXing all!
P.S Flynn, I see you say you've owned your 16V for 15 years, are you already a member of bx16v.com?
Dan
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tomsheppard
- Posts: 1801
- Joined: 19 Dec 2002, 14:46
- Location: United Kingdom
- My Cars:
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by bxbodger</i>
Don't worry about "all this soppy stuff" if you want to sell your BX and get a Xantia- it'll all be applied to the Xantia in ten years time, it happens to all old cars, no matter how crap they are!!!
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
How very, very true. I would love my 1981 Metro 998cc back, even though I had made the worst job of tinting the windows and it was in the dog-knob red. Then there was my 1988 Fiesta 1400S on which I replaced all the bumper red strips with dayglo green. Mountney wheel and gear knob to match.
There's no accounting for taste (of a then stupid boy racer) and thankfully I left my 1990 BMW 318iS as standard. I still want to cry when I think about having sold it due to a company car (I'd already had for 3 yrs) then left the job 3 months later. Enter my first Xantia. I decided on a Xantia because I loved Citroëns and they were so cheap. £800 for a 1.8 8v SXi in attractive blue. A year later I wanted an auto, that's when my current car came along from e-bay and it's been a genuine bargain.
Skip back to 1989 when I was 12 and the garage down the road from my school was selling a 1987D (facelift) BX 1600TRS auto in stunning black. Dad wanted a replacement for the Sierra and I begged him to buy it. No, I mean begged. Luckily he was taken by it too and duly purchased. I think for the 3 years he owned it I never missed a weekend of hoovering and polishing it. He used to treat me by taking me to the 'Cardrome' which was some local land the owner had set out like a real 'little town' with roads etc where you could pay £12 and drive around with no license or insurance or age limit and stay all day. They were the best days out of my adolescent life!!!
When he eventually traded it in for a 1989 Supra, the salesman asked if it had ever been used!!
The next BX I encountered was after the Supra. I had since passed my test and could only afford to run the hand-me-down Metro being a student. Traded up to the Fiesta courtesy of a Birthday present. Parents bought a small business so sold the Supra and got a 1994BX TXD estate in lovely blue/black. This was such a lovely car to drive. It handled superbly round the country lanes to my parent's new house and the 1800TD had fantastic performance. I loved the turbo boost.
My last BX encounter was whilst working as a valeter for a Renault dealer. A guy traded in a 1990G GTi auto ( in a horrible gold colour) and I bought it as a trade car to sell on for £1000, and after driving it for a while sold it for £1900. I love auto's, but this car was not the best car I had ever driven - I was disappointed by the performance and compared to my BMW was a class apart to drive.
I've always had a soft spot for Citroëns. I remember being in awe of a 6th former at my school who had a GS when everyone else laughed at him, I remember seeing a DS in London whilst staying with my nan as a child and pestering her to keep taking me round the corner to look at it(she didn't understand). I used to think the CX was amazing, and made friends with a guy in my class when I was about 12 so I could come round and play in his Dad's one!!!
Then there was the 2CV - so different from anything else on the road and nobody I knew had one I could go and play in, so I bought one when I was 20 and ran it as a second car with my Fiesta. A 1984A black and red Charleston which I had to get MoT'd and much sweat and tears lated was driving down the M11 with the roof rolled back, when it unravelled and started flapping along behind me. Then it broke down going home down the country lanes one night and locked me out. I had to 'break in' throught the roof - thank God they were elastic!!
I eventually sold it, regretted it, bought another MoT failure which just sat there and eventually got donated to the local fire service to practise cutting open. A pair of scissors and a can opener would probably have done it I think!!!
Anyway, way off topic, sorry guys. I think this is my longest ever post. Just goes to show how passionate we are about nostalgia sometimes.
The good old days? I don't think I would go back.
Don't worry about "all this soppy stuff" if you want to sell your BX and get a Xantia- it'll all be applied to the Xantia in ten years time, it happens to all old cars, no matter how crap they are!!!
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
How very, very true. I would love my 1981 Metro 998cc back, even though I had made the worst job of tinting the windows and it was in the dog-knob red. Then there was my 1988 Fiesta 1400S on which I replaced all the bumper red strips with dayglo green. Mountney wheel and gear knob to match.
There's no accounting for taste (of a then stupid boy racer) and thankfully I left my 1990 BMW 318iS as standard. I still want to cry when I think about having sold it due to a company car (I'd already had for 3 yrs) then left the job 3 months later. Enter my first Xantia. I decided on a Xantia because I loved Citroëns and they were so cheap. £800 for a 1.8 8v SXi in attractive blue. A year later I wanted an auto, that's when my current car came along from e-bay and it's been a genuine bargain.
Skip back to 1989 when I was 12 and the garage down the road from my school was selling a 1987D (facelift) BX 1600TRS auto in stunning black. Dad wanted a replacement for the Sierra and I begged him to buy it. No, I mean begged. Luckily he was taken by it too and duly purchased. I think for the 3 years he owned it I never missed a weekend of hoovering and polishing it. He used to treat me by taking me to the 'Cardrome' which was some local land the owner had set out like a real 'little town' with roads etc where you could pay £12 and drive around with no license or insurance or age limit and stay all day. They were the best days out of my adolescent life!!!
When he eventually traded it in for a 1989 Supra, the salesman asked if it had ever been used!!
The next BX I encountered was after the Supra. I had since passed my test and could only afford to run the hand-me-down Metro being a student. Traded up to the Fiesta courtesy of a Birthday present. Parents bought a small business so sold the Supra and got a 1994BX TXD estate in lovely blue/black. This was such a lovely car to drive. It handled superbly round the country lanes to my parent's new house and the 1800TD had fantastic performance. I loved the turbo boost.
My last BX encounter was whilst working as a valeter for a Renault dealer. A guy traded in a 1990G GTi auto ( in a horrible gold colour) and I bought it as a trade car to sell on for £1000, and after driving it for a while sold it for £1900. I love auto's, but this car was not the best car I had ever driven - I was disappointed by the performance and compared to my BMW was a class apart to drive.
I've always had a soft spot for Citroëns. I remember being in awe of a 6th former at my school who had a GS when everyone else laughed at him, I remember seeing a DS in London whilst staying with my nan as a child and pestering her to keep taking me round the corner to look at it(she didn't understand). I used to think the CX was amazing, and made friends with a guy in my class when I was about 12 so I could come round and play in his Dad's one!!!
Then there was the 2CV - so different from anything else on the road and nobody I knew had one I could go and play in, so I bought one when I was 20 and ran it as a second car with my Fiesta. A 1984A black and red Charleston which I had to get MoT'd and much sweat and tears lated was driving down the M11 with the roof rolled back, when it unravelled and started flapping along behind me. Then it broke down going home down the country lanes one night and locked me out. I had to 'break in' throught the roof - thank God they were elastic!!
I eventually sold it, regretted it, bought another MoT failure which just sat there and eventually got donated to the local fire service to practise cutting open. A pair of scissors and a can opener would probably have done it I think!!!
Anyway, way off topic, sorry guys. I think this is my longest ever post. Just goes to show how passionate we are about nostalgia sometimes.
The good old days? I don't think I would go back.
Well our BX (in Perth, Western Australia) replaced a good, reliable Renault 12 wagon which was in need of paint but had no rust and was straight and had been very reliable for 10 years. But at 25 years, its time had come.
The BX was a revelation for all the reasons stated by others and I much prefer it to our Peugeot 306, which is itself a terrific and comfortable car with good ride and handling, and to our 44,000 km Xantia. All three of these have about the same 8 valve engines, which I reckon are good all rounders but the BX wagon has the best performance and carrying capacity.
So under-rated, these cars. Just as the Renault 12 was under-rated but more so!
I just wish I'd discovered the BX sooner.
JohnW
The BX was a revelation for all the reasons stated by others and I much prefer it to our Peugeot 306, which is itself a terrific and comfortable car with good ride and handling, and to our 44,000 km Xantia. All three of these have about the same 8 valve engines, which I reckon are good all rounders but the BX wagon has the best performance and carrying capacity.
So under-rated, these cars. Just as the Renault 12 was under-rated but more so!
I just wish I'd discovered the BX sooner.
JohnW