How many times can one write about a particular model before the motivation runs dry? I’ve cooked up the Citroën CX in virtually every type of sauce: wagon, saloon, LWB limo – heck, I even wrote up a two-door cabriolet, and those were not even in the range! Well, I guess the wagon was a long while ago and rather underwhelming. Finding one in Tokyo, in its fully-fledged glory, might just bring forth enough creative juices to squeeze out one more post.
There are some variants of the CX that I do yearn for, such as a 1974-79 2-litre Super saloon (sans side trim, with plain chrome bumpers and, pretty please, a blue interior), or an early GTI. As a rule, I’m far less keen on the plastic-not-so-fantastic Series 2, but I cannot recall when I last contemplated such a clean-looking example of the breed. And it’s a wagon. There’s always room for a wagon. Or should that be inside the wagon?
I’m guessing this car was sold here new. It has the old-style (pre-1999) license plate after all, and it seems French cars, unlike more luxury-oriented imports, are RHD in this country. Makes this particular CX all the more interesting to document – and fortunately, this one was a very cooperative subject for photography.
The CX was the last Citroën devised before the firm’s second crisis. Which led to its takeover by Peugeot in 1974 – the very year the CX was launched. The LWB variants, namely the Prestige limousine and the wagon, arrived in 1976, complete with 25cm extra in wheelbase, clean flanks and oh-so-lovely blade-like chrome bumpers, as we can see above.
The CX wagon (or Break, as the French call them) came from a long tradition of family- and utility-oriented big Citroëns. Both the 4- and 6-cyl. variants of the Traction Avant and the ID/DS also came in this type of body style. The former pioneered the hatchback formula, while the latter added self-levelling suspension for good measure. Compared to its illustrious predecessors, the CX wagon provided a bit less innovation, but it made up for it with a mix of style, roominess and (relative) reliability.
The style was authored Citroen’s in-house design team, under the helm of Robert Opron. This is the same team that crated the SM and the GS – two other space-age ‘70s icons. Their work on the CX Break was excellent, though a few details, such as the rear wiper, seem a bit last-minute.
But I’m really nitpicking here. The overall design is superb, with that stepped roof, those thin B and C pillars bookended by a reassuringly thick D pillar. This is more than the usual put-a-box-on-the-saloon kind of exercise that most European makers were doing on their wagons. And when the suspension is set to minimum like this, the look of this thing is absolutely gangster.
The Series 2’s most egregious flaws, such as those ill-fitting body-coloured bumpers, were partially offset by a few undeniable improvements, such as the addition of more substantial mirrors. In fact, these mirrors became one of the CX’s least likely success stories, as this innocuous piece of kit was adopted by loads of ‘90s sports cars, including the Aston Martin Vantage and the DB7, the Jaguar XJ220, the Lotus Elan and the Esprit, several TVRs, some early production McLaren F1s, Marcos, Venturi and even Renault – the very nemesis of Citroën! – used it for their Spider.
Another big let-down with the Series 2 cars is the interior. Standard dials replaced the whacky ones used in the previous series, the plastic got worse and the radio, set next to the handbrake, is an ergonomics nightmare. The oddly warm space-age ambiance of the Series 1 cars was replaced by a very ‘80s coldness, evident in everything from the seat fabric to the shape of the gear selector.
But at least, the amount of space remained identical. You don’t know what rear legroom is until you’ve parked your behind on the rear seat of a long wheelbase CX. The extra headroom afforded by the stepped roof, coupled with the thin C-pillar, must make the Break’s rear seat passengers feel like they’re in some kind of panoramic train.
Our feature car has the biggest engine seen on the CX, a fuel-injected 2.5 litre 4-cyl. providing 136hp, mated here with a ZF 3-speed automatic. The “ABS” script is here to reinforce the CX’s technological bragging rights, now that the model was over a decade old, and remind the world that the 1985 CX GTI was the first French car to feature ABS – soon broadened to all cars equipped with the big engine, including wagons.
The CX was the last big Cit that was also a big hit. The saloon was put to pasture at the end of MY 1989, but the Break was transferred to Heuliez and carried on for a couple of extra years, just so the XM Break could have enough time to be finalized and launched. Just over a million CX saloons were built, but the Break, being more of a specialist model, only tallied 125,000 units.
These are now becoming very rare indeed – even in their home country, i.e. the Netherlands. No! France, I mean France. (Our Dutch friends have been buying the best-looking classic Citroëns from unsuspecting French owners since the ‘70s, as is well known in both countries.) Perhaps, since the stock of viable French CXs is thinning out, it might be time to seek new CX-friendly ecosystems. And perhaps Japan is such an place, as the (few) CXs I’ve caught here were, as with most classics in Tokyo, in exceptionally good condition. Our wagon here is a case in point.
Values are going up. This car’s near identical twin – a mint condition metallic gray Series 2 Break with the same interior and engine (but a manual transmission) sold for just over €22,000. Ten years ago, you would have paid a tenth of that sum for the same car. Bearing in mind that a DS wagon can easily be worth twice that amount, the CX still has a ways to go. And some say that they are now rarer than the DSs, because they are far more difficult to restore. It’s a hard life for fans of the big Cit. They just can’t catch a Break.
Related posts:
Curbside Classic: 1982 Citroën CX Pallas IE – Hydropneumatifragilistic Pallasialidocious, by T87
Curbside Classic: 1984 Citroën CX Prestige – Stealth Spaceship, by T87
Cohort Classic: 1981 Citroën CX Pallas D – Modernism’s Last Stand, by Perry Shoar
Car Show Classic: 1985 Citroën CX 25 GTi Series 2 – Blue Is A Warmer Color Than Grey, by Nigel R. Tate
Vintage Review: Citroën CX 2500 Diesel Pallas, by Yohai71
Car Show Outtake: 1982 Citroën CX 2400 GTi – Fuel Injected Flying Carpet, by Johannes Dutch
Vintage New Car Preview: Citroën CX – The New Big Citroën, by PN
Craigslist Find: 1976 Citroen CX 2200 Diesel Wagon – Not Your Typical Anything, by Eric703
CC Capsule: 1991 Citroën CX Evasion – Last Chance Wagoon, by T87
Car Show Capsule: 1983 Citroën CX Orphée by Deslandes – Hello Strangest, by T87
CC Global Outtake: Citroën CX Pickup with Integrated Cover – CXamino, by PN
Cohort Outtake: Citroën CX Break – Pretty In Pink, by PN
Cohort Outtake: 1983 Citroen CX24 IE Safari – Was This The Best Estate Car?, by Roger Carr
Cohort Pic(k) of the Day: Citroen CX Break – Slammed, by PN
For me it was the encounters with the six-wheel breaks that ran around Europe at night delivering newspapers, the famous Hollander CX’es. We speak about the pre digital era where a.o. the NY Times was transported across the Atlantic in the belly of a 747 being distributed from Paris all over Europe by Hollander.
Our Algemeen Dagblad newspaper had a bright yellow ‘normal’ 2500 Break Diesel, when I once met a driver I asked him why a CX and he replied, we tried a V8 Chevy van, Mercedes but the CX Diesel is the fastest and most capable car for this line of work.
The Series 2 did mean a hughe step forward in built quality or the CX.
I’m always in favour of a break, Msr Dr. Think I’ll grab a cuppa and take a brief one here, and discuss the Citroen version.
I’m pleased to see you share my preference for the naked Cit. The Series Deux really is vastly over-dressed, and in rather crunchy ’80’s plastic at that. It looks like a an older type who believes their tattoos and tight jeans make them something that a young mate might notice (they won’t, natch). And quite why the dashboard was trowelled-over with Selley’s Bland, No. 2, is beyond my deductive powers, given that the original was a sculpture that could sit comfortably in any good museum.
These mobile Utzons – the genius Danish designer of the Sydney Opera House was one Jorn Utzon – were barely seen here as a wagon, though of course this car nutter has seen a few (probably all of ’em, in truth). I came awfully close to going on a long trip to get one for $3K from a hippy coastal location about 4 years ago, but came to my senses. My sensible senses, that is, such as nowhere to park it.
Otherwise, I very much regret it.
If maintained and in good nick, still the best estate you can buy. Drives better than the sedan.
My favourite wagon. So huge but so stylish.
I prefer the exterior of the series one but the interior and mechanical updates of the series two. Like justy, I rarely see them as they are an unusual encounter of the privately imported kind.
Count me in as a well-know lover of these, also preferrably in Series 1 state. Truly one of the more remarkable cars ever built; the French bullet train.
Nice example of a rare car, theres one in a junkyard nearby same colour but a bit worse for wear but it appears to be complete.
What a sweet find! Great pics, well narrated.
I’ve been known to say baselessly snarky things like “They call a car like this a «break» because of truth-in-advertising laws”.
I had a 1987 CX25 GTi which I remember fondly. I agree with you that the series 1 is prettier, but it had no rust protection to speak of whereas my series 2 still had generally good bodywork when I sold it in 1998.
That shot from across the street demonstrating the length of it but perfectly placed in the parking spot in front of the take out place is one of my favorite pics of the year…So unlikely a setting but so perfect a placement.
And what a car, I don’t dislike the Series 1 but these later ones do it for me just as well, sadly haven’t had the pleasure of a ride or drive, but what a looker!
These just look amazing. Some details may be dated, but that shape! It’s hard to think of a more practical design for a ‘conventional’ wagon. (Conventional in quotes, because no Citroen was ever conventional, maybe until Peugeot got involved).
Always loved the CX. A neighbour had a Series 1 sedan, the first I had ever seen – which inspired this tiny (1/43 scale) tribute.
This seems a surprising find, and a nice write up.
I see a parallel between the series 1 and 2 CX and the series 1 and 2 Rover SD1 – in both cases the earlier car had a simpler, maybe more pure style that seems t be more likely hat the stylists were really looking for, more original and to my view stylish interiors, and crucially, less or even nothing there just because of fashion and trends.
So, a series 1 saloon for me, in a period colour and cloth interior
A very good point. It reached peak incongruence on the Rovers when the later Vanden Plas’ had wood stuck onto that dash and door tops. That looked about as correct as the latest laptop encased in some Edwardian-style mahogany case.
You’ve reminded me of something long-forgotten. When the SD1 first appeared in my consciousness at about 8 or 9, I immediately thought “Pity those headlights aren’t level with the front.” Didn’t hate it, but it slightly bugged me.
Yet as soon as they helped me out (how kind of Rover) in the flush-light S3(?), I thought “Well, hell, that doesn’t look right.”
Sometimes, a design and the details in it really is all of a piece. I’d never describe the SD1 as a beautiful car – my apologies – but will always love it as a really striking one, and part of that appeal has of course to be in unaltered parts of the designer’s vision.
“…the latest laptop encased in some Edwardian-style mahogany case.”
It’s called Steampunk. 🙂
But yes, I agree on the incongruity of updates from seventies to eighties style, especially when advancing age shows off the poor quality of the materials used. The CX is on the cusp between fine quality chrome detailing and the cheap faded moulded plastic look. How to make such a car look special without an overabundance of the sparkly stuff? I don’t know that Citroen really pulled it off. Make mine a Series 1, too.
Interesting and very good parallel Roger. I’ll admit to being an outlier here, as I prefer the S2 CX and SD1, inside and out. The CX’s plastic front bumper and the SD1’s flush headlights made each look more modern then their S1 versions. The only (literal?) bum note is the rear bumper on the S2 CX isn’t as well integrated as it was on the fastback.
Lucky enough to have a CX GTi series 1 and a DS. You are exactly right T87, the D is worth twice as much or more yet the CX is far, far rarer and objectively a far better car – as you would expect as it lept more than a generation forward. Restoration is possible but not if you want to see money back any time soon (or ever). I also suspect you are right in saying that if you want the best CX (or indeed C6) Japan is a good point to start looking…
I had and have both series, S2 had better rustproofing from the factory, excluding the last Breaks made by Heuliez, which is the only deadly problem on a CX. I agree the S1 is prettier but the S2 is generally better put together and in my experience more trouble free.