A friend has just obtained a well looked after AX 1.1 from the early 90s, 45K miles or thereabouts, FSR, for a good price. The pampered runabout of an old Polish gent who has given up driving.
Does anyone who knows this model have anything to say about any part of it?
s
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Surprisingly good banger racer, I hope it had more in the petrol tank than they paid for it
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A friend of mine bought it as his first car almost 3 years ago with 105k on it and now its done 145k and its still going strong.
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loads whatya want too no
i liked them by the way
the old 1.0 litres used to do phenominal mpg figures (injected)
look for rust where the rack arms come through the inner wings and rust above the spare wheel and in the corners in the boot
it also might show a bit of imulsification in the water like a brown gooey mess,they all did this and so long as its watched i wouldnt do the head
i assume your mates is carb"d pre 93
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The 1.1 is ample for good performance and economy - the twin benefits of a well designed LIGHT car. Something we shall need more of in the future.
Of course the AX feels a trifle flimsy by modern standards and I wouldn't recommend a high speed crash in one, but for nipping around Kensington it will be fine.
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>>i assume your mates is carb"d pre 93
Not sure bb, I was wondering myself. And does the valve gear have to be adjusted?
All, or some, should become plain tomorrow or so.
Is it a chain or belt?
I'm pretty sure it's in very good nick by the way.
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Agree about lightness boxsterboy. I did mention to my friend that the crash safety wouldn't be up to modern standards, but he just laughed and so did I.
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never ever needed to do the valve gear on one (20 and 40 thou)
itsa belt
tell him to be careful with the tailgate they are plastic
o0h and watch your digits under the bonnet its one of the few cars i used to think of as stanley knifed edges everywhere
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> Is it a chain or belt?
Belt.
All French cars are belt driven aren't they?
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If it's a 3-door look out for the feeble plastic hinges at the front of the rear windows. Water gets in here and moistens the seat belt. Open these windows for hurricane-like ventilation. Son and daughter have a 1.0 each. The gear linkage can wear and drop off leaving you with a lot of side-to-side movement and 3rd and 4th gear only. Simple fix with cable-tie or spring. Make sure the spare wheel cage bolt turns freely. If it needs instrument bulbs, do them all while you've got the binnacle in bits. Handbrake cable outers wear and sieze where they are clipped to the rear suspension arms. Rear drum brake adjusters sieze; dont bother freeing them; throw them away and replace. Check the 2 rubber brake hoses that cross the rear "axle" before MoT time. They perish and are swine to replace.
I love the little beasts. Seat is comfy and a reasonable size for a big chap. More headroom on models with no sunroof.
Hawkeye
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Stranger in a strange land
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I actually rather like these as well (I'm a fan of Citroens despite having an inbuilt dislike for most other French cars).
As Hawkeye says the gear linkage is a weak point, along with all electrics, and head gaskets sometimes blow as well. Only real gripe with them is the typically French offset pedals -- why must all small Froggie cars be like that -- and the steering wheel was a bit small for me, but apart from that they're a bargain, and last fairly well.
Weren't these mechanically very similar to the 205?
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> and the steering wheel was a bit small for me
a bit low, I meant
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A good runabout capable of silly mpg. But all the crash protection of a paper bag. But as a regular driver of 50 year-old cars, that wouldn't worry me ;-)
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The 106/Saxo use the same underpinnings (with some changes), are better built and more comfortable imo.
madf
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I took many driving lessons in a 1.4 AX. It was great fun, being so small, light and agile with a relatively powerful engine.
I really, seriously wouldn't fancy being involved in a collision with a modern car while driving one though.... It would be crushed like a beer can.
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I saw and went in the car last night. It's a very clean example in silver grey, 4 door, nice inside and out, marred only by a nasty little ding on the rearo/s corner and damage to the bumper below it. I imagine it will be easy to find a bumper in a breaker's yard but the body damage above, though quite small - about 6 inches square - is quite nasty because it's right on the corner.
The suspension is pretty quiet and the car was nice over speed bumps, but the running gear is a little bit thrashy compared to my three-years-younger but much higher mileage Escort. There was noticeable clutch judder once or twice, and noticeable driveline shunt, both probably exposed by the new owner's unfamiliarity with the car, but present nonetheless. It is a 1990 carburetted model with a manual choke, no rev counter or temperature gauge, just a light. In the dark the engine reminded me of a Peugeot 104 unit, that flat black cambox looked familiar.
I told the owner to look in the records for the last cambelt change, gave him a printout of the comments above and reminded him to look for rust in the places suggested by bb. I didn't see in the dark, and not wanting to get dirty hands, whether it has electronic ignition. The oil, he told me, is very clean, so it may just have been changed. One of the wheel trims is damaged and another missing.
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Thanks, by the way, for the valuable comments above.
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Still run an 18 year old, (bought new in August 1989) AX11RE.
Very little has gone wrong and very cheap to run.
If it is cheap buy it. Far better than many of the cars of the same period like BL METRO. Rust is not usually a major problem. Most spares still available.
Q.
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Not bad little cars, but if I had the choice I'd get the 1.1/1.0 205 - so much cheekier to look at and they really don't seem to rust. There's lots round here in tidy order.
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"Far better than many of the cars of the same period like BL METRO"
Doesn't say much though. A rusty tricycle with one wheel was better than those dreadful A-Series heaps. Incredibly, they were one of the best sellers for BL. Says it all about the car buyer I suppose.
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Ah, yes. It was my first "decent" car at age 18, after running a 50 quid Uno, and a free (but absolutely shot) A reg polo. Good old days.
Mine was a H reg 11RE "Salsa" and I ran it from about 1998 to 2000. Great little car, never left me at the side of the road. Would echo what was mentioned earlier that the performance and fuel economy are great, mainly due to the (IIRC) 780kg kerb weight.
Couple of issues with mine.
The CV boots perish and split easily.
The rear brake problems somebody mentioned. The handbrake never worked properly from day one on mine. Think long and hard before you remove the rear hub nuts. Mine had been cross threaded previously, and on removing it, yielded a pile of metal mince, which wasn't going to hold the drum in place again. The stub axle was siezed in to the trailing arm, so there was no way to replace that. We ended up just welding the old hub nut back onto the stub axle, to hold the whole lot together.
Tappets can get a little rattly, but are easy enough to adjust (not that it necessarily helps). I think these engines were designed to rattle.
Fortunately, mine didnt have any major electrical problems, because every single wire in one of the looms was colored gray.
Eventually sold it to some young 18 year old guy. I saw it one day kicking around town with primered panels, as happens after a car encounters a tree on a back-road blast.
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Yes, uk2usa, I remember our Pug 104s used to suffer from perishing/spliting CV boots, as well as the engine being rather tappety.
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Known a few of these as first cars. Mechanically indestructable however thrashed / neglected. They sound sicker and sicker (tappets) but just keep going. Interior plastics budget about 10 francs. Paper thin body panels can be pushed in with firm finger pressure but never rust. Fun, slightly oversteery handling. Will drag themselves to the scrapyard under their own steam whatever they've been through.
1.1 goes well, 1.4 goes very well. GT is an absolute riot.
Cheers
DP
--
04 Grand Scenic 1.9 dCi Dynamique
00 Mondeo 1.8TD LX
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Check the handbook when doing anything to the cooling system. Its easy to get air locks if u dont follow the correct method. You use a header tank when filling new coolant. Easy when you know how.
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Same as the 106 and Saxo. A 2 litre soft drinks bottle with the bottom cut off and a suitable sized exhaust mounting doughnut (seal) work well from memory.
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04 Grand Scenic 1.9 dCi Dynamique
00 Mondeo 1.8TD LX
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On 106/Saxo, they can be easily filled nomally as there are two air drain screws: on the 1.4 diesel on the water pump and top hose. it's easy peasy.. on the petrol on the water pump.
No soft drinks bottle needed. Done it several times with no problems..(and if I can, anyone can:-)
madf
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Not disputing that madf, but the 1.4 petrol 106 XSi we had definitely needed the header tank method.
Cheers
DP
--
04 Grand Scenic 1.9 dCi Dynamique
00 Mondeo 1.8TD LX
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Just seen this on Autotrader,
tinyurl.com/37ed36
1992 CITROEN AX 1.0 Highlight 3dr Special Editions - 34k miles - full Citreon service history - MoT June 2008 for only £675 :-)
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if a private advertiser can write such a spiffing advert as that chris then i suggest he needs to change his job
with regards the bleeding bit,i always jacked up the car offside front and used the bleed nipples one above the thermostat one on the back hose,i never had problemo
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Just seen this on Autotrader tinyurl.com/37ed36 1992 CITROEN AX 1.0 Highlight 3dr Special Editions - 34k miles - full Citreon service history - MoT June 2008 for only £675 :-)
I think this guy must be smoking pot. My 1990 model cost 700 quid in 1998, with around 60K on the clock and in good condition. In 2007, surely these cars must be no more that a couple of hundred pounds, even in good condition.
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Not disputing that madf but the 1.4 petrol 106 XSi we had definitely needed the header tank method. Cheers
Parking the Citroen AX facing uphill, on a steep slope, is enough to make the fill port on the radiator the highest point in the cooling system. It can then be topped off leaving no airlocks!
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There are 3 bleed caps on the wifes Saxo (1.1 1999). After bleeding from the screws you do need a header tank. When the thermostat opens a large amount of air is pushed into the tank.
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I had a longer look over the car in daylight yesterday and looked at its paper record. It has had all its services up to the 78,000 mile one, with the true mileage written in at each service (33,000-odd for the last service for example). The record looks genuine, with stamps from three or four different, but respectable looking garages, three of the first four at a Citroen main dealer. Evidently it has been serviced on a time rather than mileage basis. But the ticket stubs don't give any detail. One would like to check the cambelt just in case it hasn't been done. The car is 17 years old after all.
Apart from tappet noise, which I imagine will diminish with adjustment, the car runs like a sewing machine except for a slight miss for a few seconds after starting. The oil is spotless and up to the mark, clear yellow coolant smelling strongly of anti-freeze is visible three inches down the radiator filler neck, the plugs look new, the brake fluid reservoir is full. The owner's foot coordination has improved markedly in three drives and there's no judder or shunt now. The car is virtually rust free above and pretty good below, shiny, modest and respectable. He paid £260 for it and I think he got a bargain. I urged him to use the Krooklok that came with it.
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sounds exactly like the sort of car I'd buy as my daily driver, old but cared for and a good price. The guy on Autotrader selling one for £675 is clearly something of an optimist.
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Ah, yes, but it's the Highlight Special Edition. Rarity value makes it worth more!
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I've just retired from racing a modified one in autograss,where I won my club class 2 years in a row.
You could also look at an owners website:
www.axownersclub.com/
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