The Citroën CX Story

When I was small we went to a Citroën dealership to look at the CX and I was struck by just how odd-looking this French creation was. With the rear wheels half covered, my child’s brain wondered just how changing a flat tyre worked, and the car sat low like the suspension was broken or something. I poured over the brochure at home, and strange things like the linear speedometer dazzled my young mind, amazed by this crazy space-age creation from a far-off land. The CX was the last car produced by an independent Citroën. With the company going into meltdown during development it was starved of resources, but it’s another Citroën design classic that’s worth celebrating today.

#bigcar #citroencx

[tfleiter]

I have to disagree: the CX Turbodiesel was definitely the best long distance cruiser we ever owned. It was super comfortable - actually on a totally different level compared to the BMWs, Mercedes or Jaguars of the time. It was like a magic carpet ride. Totally smooth and effortless. You could drive it for hours and emerge relaxed from this car. Sure - it had some weird controls but they were all really ergonomically correct. Was also great as a “pacifier” for our young son at the time: it took only 5 min driving around in this really big car that had slow body movements like a big ship to make him fall asleep! And then it was time to listen to some music and let the landscape just float by....Fantastic piece of engineering - no doubt.

[danp]

Up until their merger with Peugeot, pretty much every car produced by Citroën deserves its own chapter in automotive history books. Everything they did was just so beautifully non-conventional and daring. They experimented so much and pioneered concepts well ahead of their time, coming up with exceptionally quirky technological solutions. It's a shame that society puts so little value on character and individuality in cars (or most other things, for that matter). The herd mentality is just too strong within the human race. I guess one could say we never really deserved Citroën...

[fabrisseterbrugghe]

I saw a CX in a U.S. parking lot in the early oughts. It looked to be about a 1982 model. People were asking if it was a new Toyota or a hybrid from another brand. When I said I thought it was a 20 year old French car, people thought I was crazy. Eventually, the owner showed up and said, "yeah, it's 20+ years old.". That's what I love about Citroens. They always look both classic and futuristic.

[Jones-xxgc]

I worked in a Citroen / Vauxhall garage for my first job in 1979. Those new Citroens had the most beautiful new car smell.

[arthurswart]

I worked at a Dutch magazine and newspaper distribution company in the 1980s. Every morning French magazines and newspapers were delivered bij two streched triple axle CX's. These cars did about 180 km/u while loaded with about 1500kg of paper. Often the French newspapers were available before the Dutch versions arrived at newsstands. These cars were an amazing sight, three wheels on each side and a jet fighter like cockpit with a single seat for the driver.

[budgiebirb]

I am restoring a 1985 CX 25 GTi here in Australia. I get some amazing looks as well as having met some good people!

[JoriDiculous]

We had a 2.5L Turbo CX one of the last models, and is today still the best car i have ever driven, including new citroën's. You can drive for hours without being tired or road fatigue thanks to the hydraulics and the seats. Amazing.

[blitzroehre]

I fondly remember mine, a 1983 GTI 5speed I got in 87 when I was still at trade school. Nobody wanted it because it was factory painted a strange Pink-Beige, got it dirt cheap because I then just could not afford a Golf GTI, XR3, Pug 205 etc like my mates had. I had not planned it as a keeper, but ended up owning it for 6 yrs, got the shop manual and maintained it well, it never let me down except on 2 occasions where it needed new alternator brushes, no idea why they wore so fast..
It turned into a proper chick magnet from the laughing stock it was at first, the girls would prefer to hitch a ride to the discos or concerts in the CX because in addition to the fast and incredibly comfy ride which didnt ruin the hairdo, it was fitted by me with the most elaborate Car CD HiFi by Kenwood where I ran a second woofer amp in the trunk with a huge bass shaker in a custom box. That was something unheard of back then. My GTI/XR3 mateys quit joking about my pink tart spacecraft after a while.
I sold it for way more than I paid for it because of the immaculate condition and the stereo system just to make way for an Audi 200 Turbo, which I deeply regretted later, another story :-)
P.S. Thumbs up from those ex-CX owners here if you also had a tube of superglue in your glovebox to re-fasten those arbitrary bits of interior trim which kept falling off while driving XD

[RetroGamerVX]

I wish car designs were as brave and innovative as these these days. Citroen probably still one of the most daring, but still no patch on those days.

[glynnwright]

I had a front offside tyre blow out on my CX when on the motorway, there was virtually no indication through the steering wheel that anything had happened, apart from the increased noise. I steered the car with no problem at all into the stopping lane by the side of the motorway.
It was one of the best cars I have had, really excellent on long motorway journeys.

[flemmingsorensen]

My dream car as a child - and it still is, and now I have turned 51 !!! 😉👍

[michaelsternberg]

Seduced by the plaudits of Car Magazine and in love with the space age looks, I bought one of the first new manual Gti versions in the UK in November 1977. Initially it was a great treat and quite wonderful. Then slowly fault after fault appeared. The gears became notch and a torment. The breakdowns were numerous and disabling. The AA men always had huge difficulties in making temporary repairs and I never found a garage which could service the car correctly. But it kept me safe when I was smashed into at great speed by a madly driven vast estate car; so in the end it came up trumps. The day before I part exchanged it, the clutch pedal fell off! It was a flawed masterpiece.

[TheAllMightyGodofCod]

When I was a small kid my doctor had a CX Pallas break and the pharmaceutical had a CX 2.5 turbo GTi prestige and he's wife the Pallas.
As a result I always wanted to get sick just to see the cars, special raising to get going.
"Peugeot promised to keep Citröen a separate product line" well, we all know how that went....

[hugocass]

I had two CX models, starting with a 1981 Pallas ie automatic, with disintegrating interior trim. That was the only car I've ever written off, but only after it had gone did I realise the genius design behind much of the interior (heater controls excepted). The hidden internal door handles were perfectly placed, as were the fingertip controls that fell so easily to hand (once pointed out); and the rotating drum instruments behind magnifying lenses seemed wacky until I drove something else and realised that the lens effectively placed the instruments at a focal point similar to the road ahead, so no need for the eyes to adjust when looking from one to the other. My second CX was a 1987 DTR Turbo which was better built, but quite unrefined and not as comfortable as the Pallas, but it was unwaveringly stable, even in strong crosswinds. Clearly, a great deal of clever aerodynamic design went into the CX, but it really had no hope against conventional offerings from Ford, Vauxhall, BMW etc.

[marksterling]

As a teenager I remember my parents getting a brand new CX25GTI Turbo. Every journey was an event, with the black headlining and the T shapes cut into the alloy wheels, it was an awesome car. It was a very different beast from the CX we had had a few years before.

[johnbusst]

If I won the lottery tomorrow, for some strange reason, one of these would be in my garage collection. Always loved them growing up.

[Acarsfault]

We had 2 Cx in our family. A Pallas and a Limousine.
As a kid can’t forget the trip we did all across Europe with my father (RIp) at the wheel ...

[jurekvakva]

Nice video!
I have been a happy owner of my CX 25 Prestige for twenty years.
It still puts a big grin on my face whenever I take it out for a spin.

[-DC-]

Loved this period of Citroen design, clever, different, engineering masterpieces available to the masses. We'll never see stuff like this again unfortunately.

[silkdestroyer]

In 1976 I was a16 yr old, doing a bike ride from Durham to Cornwall during the school hols. Leaving a café at Looe, in Cornwall, a car cruised into the car park which was the first car I remember making me stop and stare after it. I learned that it was a CX.

I now own a 1985 2.5 Pallas auto, recently re-commissioned and back on the road after a 16yr lay off. I love driving it and have to say that I much prefer the rocker mounted, non-self cancelling indicators. They stay on until I decide that I have finished with them!

I also, as it happens, have a 1989, series one 2.0 Si XM, and a recently imported 1973 SM. I just love Citroen's sales flops!