Thread: Double Chevron to Front Office Please .....

Originally Posted by 3toes

In the late seventies a mate had a Citroen which was we were told was one of 6 that had been imported for the round Australia reliability trail that was going on. Had obtained it as it was not required. The others were subject to local conversions to make them suitable for the trial. Was an interesting car compared with the Commodores or Falcons that most people were driving at the time. Did not pay enough attention to the model it was though.

Possibly a CX ... they used to give the demonstrators to people by the sounds of it and say "bring it back after the weekend" ... or "next week".... You see, no-one could drive the damn things. The steering is 2.5turns lock to lock with at tiny steering wheel. It works like a light aircraft. The steering centers at all time (the rack is fully powered). The steering column is a controller .... With the engine running there is no direct connection between the steering wheel and front wheels. At high speeds the wheel centres very aggresively. So you can park them with your finger tips, but belting down the roads at 100mph+ speeds they steer arrow straight (the exact oppsite to the old xf falcons ... I had a drive of one of them years ago when they were almost new ... and it was bloody terrifying ... I just couldn't drive it in a straight line at 100km/h ..You would zig zag your way down the roads as you touched the wheel). At the same time we had my 1985 Citroen CX ... At 220+km/h ( er, allegedly ) it would drive arrow straight and was far more stable than the XF was at 60km/h. The only way you can tell how fast you were going is by how quickly the white lines blurred past. The car feels same as it does at 100km/h.

My father said a specialist doctor at his work has a brand new demonstrator Citroen CX for a week back when they were new.... He took it back after 3days as he liked it so much he said he was going to have to buy it if he kept it for the week.

Imagine mid 1970's ... The local cars have "armstrong" or lifeless super light power steering with many turns lock to lock. A lot still had drum brakes.... And trying to sell a Citroen with fully powered steering, full power high pressure brakes (the brake pedal is basically a "valve" on the floor you open to allow high pressure hydraulic fluid into the 4 wheel ventilated brake disk system). Now try selling this to someone that just drove there kingswood in .... They would crawl into it sitting on the ground... wait for it to float upto it normal ride height after starting it ... veer it into the gatepost leaving the showroom .... touch the brakes at the end of the drive and throw everything through the windscreen (don't laugh, EVERYONE does this the first time they drive one). Then zig zag there way down the road white knuckled gripping the wheel in terror as they weave there way along. They can't find the blinkers, can't find the lights ... or the wipers (there on pods next to your fingers so you hands don't need to leave the steering wheel).

These days its a lot easier. All car have high geared sensitve power steering and decent brakes. Actually it would be easy to sell citroens today .... you could put a toyota/holden/mercedes/hi-undie badge on it ... and it would still look and drive like every other boring bit of crap on the market

seeya,
Shane L.