French Car Forum

A feast of 2cv; GS; DS; SM.
Lots of GS action:

Thanks for posting. I can't remember if I've seen it before or not. I certainly haven't seen it with an English soundtrack.

Derek,

Brilliant film I enjoyed that very much thank you.
Along Came the Computer and ruined everything.
cheers
Nigel.

Pre ACTIVA stuff, not "Proper" Citroen's............ init

The last proper Citroen:

above, if it is Pre Activa = old Citroen of lesser capability

as shown by Citroen themselves

I like that, thanks. The only car I have had that fulfilled all those criteria was the CX, I did many thousands of miles in them and have never driven anything as good since.

Peter

Stickyfinger wrote:above, if it is Pre Activa = old Citroen of lesser capability

Now we are getting into our expectations of capability. The Activa will capably control roll, but in turn tempts us to drive faster around bends and roundabouts to experience that capability. This in turn leads inevitably to driving faster and perhaps more aggressively, and in turn again leads to more development that sits a car squat on the road with less comfort in mind for the occupants and only in what the car is capable of in hard driving - response to throttle; cornering capability etc. The publicity films will always pander to the markets expectations and push the product as being further advanced than the competition. It's in the necessity for Citroen to be ahead, and keep ahead. But Joe public is likes things that he is familiar with even if they are stuffed with microprocessor engine management systems (until they fail), and so the softly sprung hydropneumatics have been swept away with Citroen's latest beasties.

We lean towards what we expect from our vehicles, and the 'simpler' and softer classics are my choice. They are capable of producing more smiles per mile.

I depends what you want out of a car. I have never highly rated being able to corner at 60mph but the directional stability of the CX is something I have never since experienced, its the only car I have ever driven at speed with a flat front tyre and not immediately know I had one. The wheel centre steering knuckles ensured that no loading of one front wheel would deflect the steering, that combined with the diravi steering and excellent rearward vision on the Safari made parking the 16' + long car a dream, the space and comfort were a very useful bonus.

They took some getting used to, in fact there was a saying that if you drove one for less than half an hour you would never want to drive one again but if you drove it for more than half an hour you would never want to drive anything else. I fell into the latter category, my last CX a TZD Turbo Safari I owned for 7 years and covered over 160,000 miles in it, fantastic car.

Peter

Stonehopper wrote:The Activa will capably control roll, but in turn tempts us to drive faster around bends and roundabouts to experience that capability. This in turn leads inevitably to driving faster and perhaps more aggressively. We lean towards what we expect from our vehicles, and the 'simpler' and softer classics are my choice. They are capable of producing more smiles per mile.

Not for me.. I like to drive an Activa on long trips because I love comfort but hate the roly-polyness that often goes with it in conventionally spring vehicles.. I abhor body roll and find it incredibly unpleasant...

The Activa simply delivers comfort without the usual downsides... It's comfy with very taut suspension..

And as a consequence it delivers lots of smiles per miles for me...

CitroJim wrote:

Stonehopper wrote:The Activa will capably control roll, but in turn tempts us to drive faster around bends and roundabouts to experience that capability. This in turn leads inevitably to driving faster and perhaps more aggressively. We lean towards what we expect from our vehicles, and the 'simpler' and softer classics are my choice. They are capable of producing more smiles per mile.

Not for me.. I like to drive an Activa on long trips because I love comfort but hate the roly-polyness that often goes with it in conventionally spring vehicles.. I abhor body roll and find it incredibly unpleasant...

The Activa simply delivers comfort without the usual downsides... It's comfy with very taut suspension..

And as a consequence it delivers lots of smiles per miles for me...

Now what we have to do is to work out how to make fuel from smiles. The MPG would then be astronomical (possibly infinite, when you work out how much you DON'T then spend on the stuff!).

If only we could James... I'd be making a profit out of it...

Well, it would be pretty boring if we all liked the same cars. We had a CX familiale for a while, and I loved the comfort, steering and grace with which the car looked and performed. The zero point steering (for want of an accurate description) is also to be found on the GS/A and 'A' series. I had a blow out in the Ami at flat out speed in the third lane on the M6 many years ago, and all I knew was a roughness to the ride and lumps of rubber flying skywards from the front right wheel! Control was maintained and the verge safely made without any drama. But the CX drank fuel, the GS is better, but our little AZAM does 60+ mpg!

I think that was the last vestige of 'Citroenness' that they did away with. Everyone else uses McPherson struts so we must use them they apparently decided, obviously cheaper but they have mad the handling rubbish compared to what it was.

Surprisingly the best modern mainstream car for handling/ride/economy is the 406, I reckon that's the best car that Peugeot have made.

Peter

Peter.N. wrote: Surprisingly the best modern mainstream car for handling/ride/economy is the 406, I reckon that's the best car that Peugeot have made.

Can't agree Peter... The 406s I have driven all handled like little boats in a choppy sea.. Comfy but very soggy and roly-poly. I hate that... See my earlier Post as to why I so love an Activa...

Apart from that the 406 is indeed a most excellent car...

The best cars Pug ever made were the 205 and 405...