The Citroën BX is a large family car that was produced by the French manufacturer Citroën from 1982-1994. In total, 2,315,739 BXs were built during its 12-year history. The hatchback was discontinued in 1993 with the arrival of the Xantia, but the estate continued for another year.
The Citroën BX was launched in Paris 1982 under the Eiffel Tower. The BX was designed to replace the successful small family car Citroën GS/A with a larger vehicle. The French advertising campaign used the slogan "J'aime, j'aime, j'aime" showing the car accompanied by music written specially by Julien Clerc. In the UK, the BX was advertised as the car that "Loves Driving, Hates Garages" to emphasise the car's reliability and low maintenance requirements, in contrast to the outgoing GS.
The angular Marcello Gandini-designed hatchback was strongly inspired by the British 1977 Reliant FW11 concept and the 1979 Volvo Tundra concept car (also designed by Bertone). It was one of the first cars to benefit from the merger of Peugeot and Citroën in 1976, sharing its platform with the more conventional 405 that appeared in 1987. Among the features that set the car apart from the competition was the traditional Citroën hydropneumatic self-levelling suspension, extensive use of plastic body panels (bonnet, tailgate, bumpers), and front and rear disc brakes.
The BX dispensed of the air cooled, flat four engine which powered the GS, and replaced it with the new PSA group XY, TU and XU series of petrol engines in 1.4 L, 1.6 L and 1.9 L displacements (a 1.1 L engine, very unusual in a car of this size, was also available in Italy, Portugal and Greece). The 1.1 and 1.4 unit was an old Peugeot/Renault powertrain with its roots in the Peugeot 104 and Renault 14, but the 1.6 and 1.9 was all-new and later used in many Peugeots. The class leading XUD diesel engine version was launched in 1984. The diesel and turbo diesel models were to become the most successful variants, they were especially popular as estates and became the best selling diesel car in Britain. It was this Peugeot influence that endowed the BX with some much needed reliability, something for which its predecessor, the GS, had a marginal reputation.
All petrol engines were badged as 11, 14, 16, 19 — signifying engine size (In some countries, a weaker, 80 PS (59 kW) version of the 1.6 L engine was badged as the BX15E instead of BX16). The 11TE model was seen by foreign motoring press as slow and uncomfortable.
The 1.1 L engine with engine code H1A was specially tuned for Italy, Greece and Portugal. It was fitted to the cars made from 1988 to 1993 and produced 40 kW (55 hp DIN) at 5800 rpm.
A year after the launch of the hatchback model, an estate version was made available. In the late 1980s, a four-wheel drive system and turbodiesel engines were introduced.
Technical data:- engine: 4 cylinders
- capacity: 1905 cc
- horsepower: 80 HP
- gearbox: 5+1
- top speed: 175 km/h
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