The amazing car from France of yesteryear, a Citroen CX GTI Turbo, put on sale in Germany at high price, despite the high mileage

It is often said that if you want a classic car, which would bring you constant headaches, you can either buy a classic French or an Italian one. Or, you can buy a Maserati from the era when it was owned by Citroen and have both in one car. But the truth is that some of these French and Italian cars created in that period are as problematic as they are charming in their concept and in the hundreds of spices they hide and which form their character. The Citroen CX was certainly such a car, and a very curious copy, put up for sale in Germany, caught our attention and gives us the opportunity to explore those curious quirks.

First of all, the Citroen CX appeared in 1974, shortly after the famous SM. That allowed CX to take over the hydropneumatic suspension system, which had extensions in the braking system, but also in the DIRAVI steering system, which adjusted its force according to speed. The Citroen CX was a 4.67 meter long model, so it was a competitor for the Audi 100, Mercedes W123 and even the W116. In a word, it was a big car that fought in a niche of comfort offered in abundance.

Citroen CX did not debut with a boring sedan body, but with a much more stylish form, as the French considered, of a fastback with an accentuated back with sharp lines. The car was designed using the wind tunnel and had an excellent coefficient at the time of 0.36.

The suspension was so soft and capable of absorbing shocks that the Citroen CX was often said to float immune to potholes and bumps. Not only did the hydropneumatic system do an excellent job in absorbing and eliminating the recoil of the suspensions, but the suspension was also fixed to the body by other flexible elements, which dampened the sounds and shocks even more. As a result, the car had an absolutely magnificent suspension in road holding, which made it both manoeuvrable, but also fabulously comfortable, so that even today those who have the opportunity to ride in these models remain amazed. I also said that the suspension technology was then bought from Citroen and Rolls-Royce, Bentley and Mercedes, in such a brilliant era.

Citroen CX also has a lot of spices inside. The steering wheel had a single spoke at the bottom, leaving visibility to the dashboard, but all the controls around the steering wheel were positioned so that the driver could operate them while keeping his hands on the steering wheel. And it's ergonomics thought out in the 60s-70s!

Depending on the equipment, years and engine, there were several interpretations of the dashboard dials, and on the car we are talking about today, you can also see a kind of display that shows the doors open, projecting and showing exactly which door remained open.

It is curious that the Citroen CX was initially developed to have rotary piston engines, at a time when Citroen was convinced that it would develop such type of engines, but later it was disappointed in them, and the car received conventional engines, which had dealing with a very narrow engine compartment, designed for the more compact forms of rotary thrusters. But they finally fit, the engines being positioned transversely and propelling the front axle.

Immediately after the launch, Citroen went bankrupt and was bought by Peugeot, the CX being considered the last "real Citroen" from the independent era of the French brand. The model was rushed to the market and had imperfections at the beginning, which the new owner, Peugeot, did not rush to solve. And problems did not come from the essential systems of the car, but from common and trivial components, which gave headaches. And then, it was often said that the car's suspension could handle more powerful engines, and it's a shame the CX didn't have them.

At some point, in 1984, the Citroen CX received a 2.5-liter turbodiesel engine from the Peugeot family. Because it was so aerodynamic, the CX immediately became the fastest diesel limousine in the world, capable of reaching 195 km/h!

And, finally, we come to the motorization of the car we are talking about today — the GTI Turbo, launched only in 1985, as the most powerful version. Then Citroen fans said that the CX finally got an engine to match its suspension! It's a 2.5-liter engine, which could push the car up to 220 km/h! The engine produced 149 HP and 294 Nm and went down in history as the most powerful ever offered on the CX, which makes it very desirable among collectors.

As you can see in the picture above with the dashboard dials and the speedometer, however, this example has 336 thousand km, so it has been fully driven throughout its life. The car was manufactured in 1987, by the way, just 4 years before the model was discontinued in 1991.

This specimen once went through a meticulous reanimation, but on an aesthetic level the car still seems to need a bit of refreshment from the new owner. Its seller in Germany says that it is in impeccable technical condition and still floats on the autobahn today as no modern Mercedes does!

The Citroen CX was a model produced in over 1 million copies during its career, but well-preserved cars are already starting to cost a lot, especially if they are in the GTI Turbo or Prestige Turbo engine. There are already cars sold for over 100 thousand euros, and in such a context, to find out that the car we are talking about today costs only 20,750 euros can leave us puzzled. On the one hand, we could blame everything on the high road, and then we could even think that the price is a bit stingingly high. But the problem is different. And it's one that can alienate even the most ardent fans of French cars. The truth is that the German owner also ran this car with an LPG gas system, despite the fact that it had the turbo engine under the hood, the most sought after Citroen CX and focused on performance, not on low consumption costs. So it's a kind of blasphemy suffered by this car. Theoretically, you can do a complete engine reanimation by getting rid of the LPG system, but with the set of usual headaches, you have to accept so much more on top of that. So the model is fabulous, the engine as well, but this model requires a lot of courage to be chosen.