Just The Job For Me (Citroën AX)

Member Name: CyrixDes

Product:	Citroën AX
Date:	30/03/01 (2042 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: nice shape, group 2 insurance, Citroen reliability, cheap road tax and low fuel consumption

Disadvantages: strange pedals

I have recently purchased my first car in which I am going to learn to drive in. I have been intending on doing this for a while but only recently have I had the money to put into it. So myself and my dad set off one Saturday afternoon a week or so ago to have a look at some cars. The brief was quite simple. I wanted a car with a small engine (insurance & tax purposes), that had a decent body on it, and would be economical to run. I had a around a thousand pounds to spend. I was thinking along the lines of a Mini initially but was open to persuasion.

We set off and had a look around and the best car by far that we found was the one that I ended up with. It was a Citroen AX 10E. I fitted all the criteria. It has a 1 litre engine (954 cc), is a very economical model, looks good and is only group 2 insurance.

All Citroens are very reliable on the whole. My dad's used Citroen vans for the past 10 years with very few problems. The AX I got as I have stated was the 10E. This was the base model. Therefore you may think that it is only very basic inside but I would beg to differ. It came with a radio/cassette player (not sure if this is as standard though). The dashboard is a little basic. It has a speedometer, and fuel guage but this is it guage wise. The rest of the settings are done in the form of lights. For example there is no engine temperature guage but if your engine does overheat a light comes on warning you of the fact. All the other lights are there as per other cars with the handbrake, indicator, headlamps etc... As it is the base model there is no glovebox with a front door on, however theres plenty of storage space in the form of compartments, both on the passenger and driver side.

Under the bonnet is a very nice 1 litre (954 cc) Citroen engine. You may think this sounds a little underpowered, but it is actually pretty nippy, mainly thanks to the fact that the car has a very light body. It accelerates quickly and has a claimed top
speed of 90 m.p.h although for an engine of this size I would have estimated a top of nearer 80 m.p.h. This is accompanied by a 4 speed gearbox.

There is plenty of room in the back for passengers which is suprising for the external size of the car. Also it has a remarkably spacious boot on it, which again you wouldn't expect for a car of the external size of the AX.

The body work is made up very interestingly on AX's. The bulk of it is made from aluminium and plastic, hence making for a very light car which helps compensate for the smallish engine in my case. However because of the presemce of the aluminium you could argue that the car wouldn't stand up too well in an accident although this is just speculation on my part. I would for sure feel a hell of a lot safer in an accident in an AX than in a Mini!

The only strange layout is the pedal layout. It's gonna be difficult for anyone with big feet to drive the AX. The clutch pedal is set at one height, the brake pedal is set further back and the accelerator is set slightly further back at a slight angle pointing slightly towards the drivers door! This just adds to the character of the car and once you get used to it, it really isn't a problem, just makes driving the AX even more fun!!

All in all if you can find an AX with sound bodywork like mine for under a thousand then it'll make an ideal first car or little town runaround.

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