Spot the differences! Citroën GS vs Citroën GSA

I compare a 1978 Citroën GS with my own 1986 GSA to show the key differences of these wonderful little cars. Neither car is entirely stock, both use the largest 1299cc engine and have a five-speed gearbox, but you can certainly see a lot of changes made between the two.

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[the_duke_of_bork]

"You don't often go from fifth to reverse"

Just the once, I generally find.

[johnwaga]

I first learned to drive in a Renault 12 and then drove my Dad’s Citroen GS and then his GSA as the company he worked for also owned the local Citroen garage. I loved them and they were great to drive.

I became so used to driving them that I thought all cars had brakes as good. I remember some family friends came up for the weekend and the dad had a Morris Marina. He let me drive it and when I applied the brakes at the bottom of the first hill at a junction it just did not stop until the whole car was over the line. I sh** myself and never drove it again.

I loved those cars.

[jibjab]

I had a 1977 GS Club Estate. A great little car. I liked the way Citroen cut out the rusting process by building them from rust in the first place.

[MrOvershoot]

Going through some old pictures at the weekend I remembered a family friend had an eclectic range of cars, I first remember she had a Mk10 Jag in pale blue followed by a green Citroen CX, she then had both a GS and then a GSA both in pale blue. She had a C6 on order when she sadly died, never did find out what happened to that car or what colour it was to be!

[adamfloyd]

There's quite a lot of subtle differences that are only noticeable side-by-side, such as the rear side windows being a similar shape but not quite the same. The GS has the better looking exterior but the GSA the better dashboard.

[Rosbif]

I had a used Gspecial 1100 in the 80s. Loved it.

[neilsheppard]

I remember my dad saying that the GS was considered to be cutting edge design back in the early 70s. Such a cool instrument panel on the GSA, I also liked the French-only earlier version.

[shieldaigbencher]

In the mid to late 70’s, mainly motivated by 8 year olds determination to ensure that my Dad didn’t crash over a cliff after hitting an unexpected broken couple of bottles on a road that ended in oblivion I told my Dad to buy one of these. He refused to buy a Citroen at that time. Disappointing. And then suddenly, and unexpectedly, I came back from Uni in Newcastle in 1991 to find he had bought a BX Gti. Cool Dad after all. I love these cars.

[andrewpreston]

Must say, I absolutely love that GS dash/instrument panel area. Citroen have somehow managed to make what looks like a relatively standard instrument cluster look very attractive.

[rayjennings]

Totally agree with you, Ian, about the rear end of the GS. It's very much more aesthetically pleasing, in fact, dare I say it, prettier! Very interesting that for the GS, Citroen thought that the European dashboard would be a bit too much for us Brits, then they hit us straight between the eyes with the GSA one.

[jamesstanden]

What a lovely video this is.
I’ve had both GS and GSA. The latter being far more practical.
Those indicator switches are so well designed.
Easy to touch and hold for lane changing.
A harder press keeps the indicators on so you can let go of the switch.
…and a very light press to cancel them. It’s a gem of a car unlike cars today.
Nice one Hubnut… and yep, the parcel shelf half retracts 😉👍

[martinpook]

That cill on the GSA boot made getting a heavy weight out a real test as the car followed you up. Loved them.

[jurekvakva]

Cracking video! I am more of a GS person (I own four), but I wouldn't say no to a nice GSA.

[danrkelly]

Always time to talk about GS's. Very pleasant childhood memories.

[automotivemischief.jamie]

A friend of my Dad bought a gold GSA in 1986 his first new car he loved it so much he had it for nearly 20 years.

[thefreshprinceofdapto]

Dad part exchanged our Vauxhall Viva SL in 1978 for a lovely brand new black Citroen GS Pallas from a place called Ebdons Automobiles in Cheltenham. I can still remember the beige interior and how lovely it smelt inside when we picked it up.

Happy days indeed.

[seancooke]

Both are beautiful and the GS had a lovely Orange colour that was divine with the disc wheel covers.

[leeellis]

Love the early GS. Really nice styling

[melvyncrimlis]

The lighting, indicator, horn and switch etc pods were just like those on my Visa Spéciale

[jfv]

i never understood why Citroen didn't make the GS a 5dr hatchback from the get-go. Same for the Alfa Sud. Both cars got a rear hatch only when the newer facelift model came out.
Strange because so many other cars were already being built with hatchbacks like the Renault R4, 5, 6 and 16 and the Simca 1100. Even Citroen themselves had already recognised that a hatchback was becoming desirable because the Dyane had one and the Ami also. But somehow they decided that the GS didn't need one . Same for the CX. So conservative while the technology of the cars was so avant garde. Strange.