Citroën ZX

The time had come to replace my ageing Ford Sierra 1.8 LX. I had owned it for a year and I was getting more and more concerned about it's reliability. I had just got a pay rise at work so I thought I would treat myself to a newer car. The brief was that it had to be smaller (90% of my journeys are to and from work alone plus I was having to park in a street so smaller was definitely better!) and had to have an engine less than 1.5 (for cheap tax!). I also wanted something with Power Steering, Electric Windows and Central Locking for those times that I did carry other people, and I wanted all of this for a max of £3000. So I set out to look for my new ...

The Citroen ZX has a certain gallic charm, but it tends to wane over the years. The back windows have a tendancy to disconnect themselves from the winder mechanism and drop to the bottom of the doors. this can be especially amusing on a long motorway trip. The blower motor fuses are prone to blow at the slightest opportunity and cost way too much, and to add insult to injury the drive shaft gaiters are prone to failure at an early age and are difficult and expensive to repair. On the plus side the 1.4 injection is rock solid if a little agricultural, and should be good for many years service. In summary a machine with much road presence, but apt to fail after a few ...

Why splash out £10000 on a new Citroen when you can get a wonderful ZX for less than £4000? I bought a Citroen ZX (from a Citroen dealer) just under a year ago. We needed a bigger car to accommodate our two young children, as the AX we had was not big enough for us and the other car we had was showing its age. The ZX we purchased is an Advantage model, 1.4 petrol engine that has electric sunroof, electric windows and door mirror and comes with velour upholstery. When bought it had 38000 miles on the clock and cost £4000. This however included 1 years warranty and the car was given a full service before delivery. (The warranty includes breakdown cover as well so ...