Citroen AX | Shed of the Week

Cue wobbly visuals and dreamlike incidental music as you come back with us now to 1986, a time when gear sticks have been wands, tachos were being clocks, and plastic actually was pretty plasticky without a doubt. Arrive back again to the Citroen AX, the replacement for the Visa, which was a credit history card that also doubled up as a extremely unpleasant motor vehicle. 

The Visa may possibly have been unpleasant, in simple fact it most definitely was, but in GT form it was an absolute hoot to push. Most cars and trucks are when their principal layout conditions are (1) a sprightly motor and (2) not significantly excess weight. The marginally considerably less unsightly, nicely quirky AX picked up the Visa’s spindly, crash-crumpled baton and skipped lightly off with it. 

As we all know, the 85hp GT, the 95hp Activity or the 100hp/120mph GTi are the variations every person lusts right after presently, as without a doubt they did thenadays, but really don’t squander your time wanting for any of them at sensible money. The very last and only AX GTi to appear in this sub-£1,500 column was back again in mid 2015. That a person failed its take a look at the calendar year immediately after Shed wrote about it, presumably on the basis of terminal rot if the lengthy record of corrosion-based advisories angrily scribbled on the report in 2015 is any manual. 

So let’s forget about sporty AXs, an straightforward inquire when even a proletarian 1.1 like our get rid of can bowl together at virtually 100mph many thanks to effective aerodynamics specially created to provide the sort of economic climate that bad folks ended up demanding then. Anyway, who needed the carburetted GT’s -60 time of 9.2secs when you could do it in a significantly a lot more calming, scenery-admiring 12 and a little bit seconds, floating effortlessly along on your wispy 66lb ft at 3,200rpm cloud of Gallic torque?

If you are interested in the AX expertise, and you should really be, any design will grant you entry into an ever more exceptional club. One particular of the photos in the advertisement for this one claims ‘Hurry! This is our final Citroen AX in stock!’. It’s most likely their first 1 far too tbh. Get rid of has extended since provided up trying to fully grasp the mysterious workings of the several ‘how numerous left’ type websites, but if there are far more than a hundred AXs still scuttling about the British isles he’ll hit himself continuously on the head with a stale baguette. As much as he can see this may well be the only highway-registered AX 11 TGE in Britain. The suppliers are contacting it a TRE, but the boot badge begs to vary. The TGE is like the TGV but about a thousand mph slower. 

Lift the bonnet, which very easily detaches for use as a sledge, to reveal the mighty 1,124cc motor. This is held in spot by some clips, a pair of self-tappers and a handful of fragments of white plastic. The new battery that we can see shining brightly in the corner is likely just about as significant as the motor. Factor is, you will never need a superior battery in one of these due to the fact an AX has so number of electronic necessities, and even if it does go flat, the task of drive-beginning a car weighing just 675kg is Shed’s favourite, a 1 hand position. Citroen even saved weight on the steering wheel by executing absent with half of the spokes, a trick they learnt many many years in the past with the DS. 

Certainly with just 55hp at your command there’ll be no facial distortion under acceleration, a helpful attribute. Okay, so it is a 5 door. Folks are certain to complain about that. And it’s acquired ‘Nouveau’ penned on it in that sickly-sweet copperplate font so beloved by motorists of a sure age again then. The rumpled upholstery makes the again seats glimpse like an unmade mattress, but as Lose will inform you from his own hasty mattress vacating knowledge, unmade beds are frequently the comfiest ones.

Obviously there has been rust. Some of this was place right in 2009/10. A lot more was sorted in 2020 when the automobile was resurrected after a 6-year layup. Most of the MOTs up to 2014 had been cleanse passes with hardly any mileage amassed between tests. It’s not been tested considering that that very last go in August 2020, but Lose has approved it for your inspection as the distributors are promising ‘a very long MOT prior to sale’. If Shed’s sensation on it is appropriate, there shouldn’t be significantly prior to this sale.