Why the BX is the soul of the Citroën brand

GS also a contender

Our search for the soul of Citroën now focuses on a model that can boast of being both innovative and affordable. The GS perhaps? Definitely a contender, given its impressive hydropneumatic suspension system for its size and price range and the diligently pursued streamline that largely determined its special appearance. In 1970, the GS was so boldly different from all his classmates that one could only admire the way he presented himself. The small, air-cooled boxers that turned out to have no eternal value speak to his disadvantage. And although the GS had a fashionable, sloping rear, Citroën only wanted to install a fifth door when the car was allowed to start its belated second youth as a GSA. This brings us back to the 1980s, when the BX was also introduced. That was at the Paris Motor Show in the fall of 1982.

The BX has become our choice, because we find everything that came afterward with a double chevron on the nose less suitable for this honorary title. Why? Let’s start by stating that the BX was still a Citroën as friend and foe could imagine in 1982. The wind would blow very differently at PSA in the 1990s, but the management believed that Citroën, as the new half-sister of Peugeot and Talbot, should continue to follow its own course for the time being, because that is what customers expected from the brand. At the time of their introduction, only the Peugeot 104 engines (1,360 cc, with 62 or 72 hp) were not new, which was true for the 1.6 engine (1,580 cc, 90 hp). A year later the popular 1.9 diesel (65 hp) followed. The chassis was also completely Citroën, with the famous hydropneumatic suspension and with only a fraction of the understeer character that so plagued the CX. The dashboard was very unique and a treasure trove for the occasional driver. Over time you understood the ergonomic ingenuity. Furthermore, the BX was about forty percent cheaper to make than the GS, maintenance was much cheaper (slogan of the time: ‘Citroën BX, it doesn’t like the garage’) and it was pleasantly light thanks to its application. of body panels made of glass fiber reinforced polyester. As a result, he could easily cope with small engines, although power sources with more and more horsepower gradually appeared.

Sporty versions too, including a painfully failed rally car. And speaking of streamline: the BX was shaped even more favorably by Bertone in this area than the GSA. A very original design, which was also marketed at very reasonable prices. Who doesn’t remember the later entry-level BX that cost just under 20,000 guilders? That’s what you bought a huge car for, with a spacious interior and a large trunk, low maintenance costs and unparalleled suspension comfort. Biting the bullet was never an option. The BX was a real mass car, which proved to be extremely successful: no fewer than 2.3 million were built until 1994. That success is partly based on the broad model range, which – somewhat in contradiction to the comfortable nature of the BX – even included particularly sporty models. Extra special was the BX Sport (famous from Flodder, where it was paid for with a Polaroid) with its different rear wheel arches and especially the engine with double carburettors (126 hp, 195 km/h) at a time when injection had long been the standard way to more power was. Even faster (218 km/h) was the 160 hp BX 19 GTi 16V, while frequent drivers could enjoy the 90 hp and 180 Nm that the 19 TRD Turbo brought to the street. There were also versions with four-wheel drive. Funny, in combination with the hydropneumatics that could lift it well above the slippery road surface.

BX has set new standards

In our opinion, other Citroëns cannot match the many virtues of the BX. Not because they weren’t good, but because none of them offered equal value for money. The AX was a piece of candy, but it fell short on the innovation element we wanted. The Berlingo deserves an honorable mention as a cheerful and handy ludo space. The successors to the BX came in two copies: the solid, but colorless and smaller ZX and the much more expensive Xantia, with which Citroën wanted to move up the market and thus alienated itself from the BX buyers. The fabulous CX and Of course, the C1 has made a lot of people mobile at minimal cost, but its distinctive character is simply too small as a member of a triplet. And with the best will in the world, we cannot find one among the past and current C2 to C8 models that has set the benchmarks in the car world as much as the BX. The C4 Cactus was allowed to do its best for a while to put Citroën back on the map in a creative way, but that project failed miserably. His famous Airbumps have turned into bruises. Anyway, with its low weight, friendly price level, pleasant interior and a series of new ideas, it came closest to the BX’s recipe for success.