Had a GTI T2 for a couple of
years. These cars need specialist
maintenance, but they are an
absolute orgasm on wheels to
drive. I have NEVER posted such
short cross country point-to-point
times as I managed in my T2, even
in cars with double the horsepower
and ferocious reputations.Everything is laid out to
encourage you to move your hands
and feet in a slow, ballet-like
dance - long throw gearchange,
slow soft clutch, instantaneous
travel-less brake pedal. If you
jump about like a mexican bean
then you will suffer, and so will
your passengers - but if you get
into moving that huge, razor-sharp
wheel in slow arcs, as you wave
the gearstick gently to and fro,
you will discover that everyone
else is a mile behind you and
sweating to keep up! Almost all the rules for driving
modern cars don't apply to the CX.
The engine isn't even overhead
cam, and doesn't like high revs,
but the torque is so insanely high
that it barely matters. There are
several things that put the Escort
driver right off, not least the
DIRAVI steering, which will turn
the wheels back to straight-ahead
if you let go of the wheel while
stationary. Non-self-cancelling
indicators are part of the
package, too. If you accept these
as part of the charm of the thing,
however, then the whole experience
of the car is just magical. The magic has a tendency to fade
when it comes to: - oil changes. Turbo 2 CXes like
fully synthetic oil and run it
murderously hot (it cools the
turbo). You MUST change oil at the
recommended intervals. If the oil
gets too hot, the engine is shut
down! Long runs on hot summer days
are punctuated by watching the
dash-mounted oil temp gauge
creeping up towards 120 deg. c... - incontinent heater matrixes. XMs
have this problem too - first you
know is squishy carpets, and
replacement is a total bastard.
Worse still, the replacements are
made out of kit-kat wrapper foil
and will fail soon too. - metric tyres! 240 quid per
corner, not per set! - the T2 adjusts the suspension
ride height through a pointless
electric doobrey. If this fails
the car stays in 'ground scrape'
mode and won't be getting up any
time soon. Note that Citroen went
back to a mechanical lever system
in the XM. - dodgy electrics. The loom is
made from nasty stuff you'd be
disappointed to find in a child's
toy, never mind a glorious
executive express. I know of 2
CXes which have finally succumbed
to fire within the wiring loom,
after insulation dries out and
cracks off 8(. Final note: if you go for the
incredibly rare Safari estate, 7-
seater Familiale or the turbo-
diesels (DTRs), then be prepared
for a course in metallurgy. The
estate bodies had a fine
repertoire of rust traps hidden
away in hard to find places - even
in the last few made, around G-
plate time - and the DTRs had
porous engine blocks made from
dodgy scrap metal (yes, really!).
European owner's clubs succeeded
in making Citroen replace all teh
dodgy diesel blocks, but the
English cars weren't included. The
estates are a huge hoot, though:
you can carry over a ton in them
in perfect peace and quiet at
100mph without the bonnet pointing
at the stars. Just don't try to
park 18 feet of CX estate anywhere
inside the M25! |
