Citroen ZX 2.0 (M)

[Mont-o]

Anybody can give a comment on this car? don't shot me kay . Citroen ZX 2.0 manual yr 1996, dirt cheap around 10k. I wanted to buy this car by cash, after test drive hmmm its awesome. Dunno about reliability and maintenance, anybody care to share experience on this car? cheers

 

[bmwky]

well it's a citroen...handling is superb, secondhand value like dirt as you eloquently put. please prepare another 20K for repairs should you decide to buy, tho spares are hard to come by (probably can allocate 10k to buy another unit for parts).......or head south to find parts. One more no dialy driving pls, its a POS. your call.

 

[sleme]

citroen

Beg to differ with bmwky. This is an excellent cheap car to buy. Parts are readily available due to the large number running around. Reasonably cheap too. I just bought a cheap zx stationwagon. Cost me RM1600 to put up to mark...changed a number of bushes, the engine mounting, both front absorbers, all belts, all oils, drive shaft covers and few other bits and bobs. It now drives like a dream. Not a UDM but hell....its a cheap runabout and a stationwagon! Plants from sg buloh and furniture from Ikea can be transported with ease... wife happy!! hahaha

The fear is by ppl who are afraid to get their hands dirty. I guess if you are used to ol skool bmws (read, e46 and e39 and newer...do not apply) then the experience of maintanence wont be too different...

 

[OSFlanker]

Bro, check out the citroen forum. Most of them are ZX owners.

http://www.mycitroen.net/mcn/

 

[shaifulo]

hmmm, once upon a time i almost bought the 16v....very the nice car to drive, nice interior, handling is ok too

dont think, just buy considering the price now....

 

[Mont-o]

wow!!! bmwky, you scared me bro . It's true? all those maintenance and parts will give me so much problem....reliability also an issue here..

Thanks Bro sleme & shaifulo you make me feel a little release here.

Yo bro OSflanker aka bungeeJ...already registered to their forum, love to read a positive feedback from them

Tonite if deal was okay i will drive back this car, just to feel and enjoy others build. Got E46 at the moment and if reliability was not an issue will make this car as my daily drive.hehe. Even this car was cheap the reliability issue was scary me, i don't want to buy this car and have to crack my head for maintenance after....bagun pagi pagi tak boleh start, mati ar

cheers

 

[thinice]

Used to own one - the auto version.

Definitely a fun car. I think it has even more character than my current ride.

Downside - don't even think about reselling it. When I was selling it, dealers would not even give me a price - and it was a 6 yr old car at that time.

Parts are plentiful and relatively cheap but reliability is a nightmare. All those plastic brackets (they are used everywhere) can become brittle and break without warning. I had 2 overheatings when the fan stopped working without warning.

All I can say is, if you can mantain/repair the car yourself or have a mechanic who you can trust and willing to work on it - it is a hell of a car for 10K. Otherwise, look elsewhere.

 

[bmwky]

Used to own one - the auto version.

Definitely a fun car. I think it has even more character than my current ride.

Downside - don't even think about reselling it. When I was selling it, dealers would not even give me a price - and it was a 6 yr old car at that time.

Parts are plentiful and relatively cheap but reliability is a nightmare. All those plastic brackets (they are used everywhere) can become brittle and break without warning. I had 2 overheatings when the fan stopped working without warning.

All I can say is, if you can mantain/repair the car yourself or have a mechanic who you can trust and willing to work on it - it is a hell of a car for 10K. Otherwise, look elsewhere.

yes this is what I meant when I say the car is a POS.....unreliable as a dialy driver. Thats my opinion anyway. It is quite difficult to find spares for them pesky plastic brackets used to secure everything to the body of the car. So if you were unlucky to get into an accident, chances are your car will sit in the workshop for many many months. Engine parts mabbe quite easy to find now, but not 10 years ago. I guess thats is because more and more ZXs are being scrapped nowadays seeing that not many used car dealers really keen to buy them for reselling. As thinice mentioned its a helluva a car to buy and drive for 10K, if you care to spend time and money to sort it out nicely.....and even after all thet the car is worthless. your call.

 

[okow]

Ive been through 2 ZX's. The 1.9 (cbu) and the 16v 2 door, both manual. Good car to drive (front wheel). I was one of the earlier owners when Citreon came in big again in the 80's under Directional. Parts were expensive - then, and not many workshops carry them.
No resale value though...bought my 16v for $84k and sold it 5 years later for $25k. If the car you are interested in has a 5000 plate, it used to be mine. I still have the Benetton Racing steering in my store somewhere....

 

[ichiwan2]

I have been driving my ZX 1.8i wagon for the past 8 years, albeit not often enough. The car takes a long time to run-in.. at least 20,000km.

No major or recurring problems. Only remarkable thing that happened to it was that I smashed the oil sump by when it hit a tilted manhole cover in Seremban (going into the curve opposite the train station). Brand new oil sump cost me RM1200.

Parts are cheap if you don't mind using Peugeot parts. It is interchangeable. Any differences would be very minor. Recently bought link rods and tie rod set for the front (left and right) at Asli Auto for about RM500. Notwithstanding, it is still a little bit more expensive than parts for my e21, but easier to get. e21 parts are getting more difficult to get.

Maintenance wise, go to the experts. Just as with your Bimmers, you need people conversant with the idiosyncracies of the car. My mechanic for the Citroen was one of those trained in the earlier years when ZX was first introduced. Many a time he has saved me a bundle.

The bad press Citroen receives can be attributed to the way Directionless handles the franchise. I only went to them once. I figured that they would be just like AB was in the 1980s.

Handling wise, I think its better than Bimmers - the car was designed for twisty roads, cobbled streets etc as what you will find in France. Heck! Its the precursor of the Citroen Xsara, the WRC this year and last year which is only just now being replaced by the C4. ZX too was also successful in the international rallies in its day.

After all that, I do have one complaint - my ZX is way underpowered...

 

[Mont-o]

Guys, thank for the great comment on this. Drive the car since 3 days now...what i can say is, it's worth to buy with that kind of price. Love the comfort and handling....it's accelerate smoothly as well, it's manual transmission...i miss the stick so much .

My BMW satisfied me more but now i couldn't resist the french bite

 

[tamade7]

I used to owned a used ZX 1.9 in 1994 nice and solid car. The car starts to consume way too much petrol and I didn't bother to get it fix. After one year of owning it, I sold the car and make RM1k profit. Not bad huh.