US Import Model: 1987 Citroen CX Prestige
For a short period a little over a year ago, I became obsessed with owning a French car. I don’t have a good answer for this – perhaps I was watching too much Inspector Clouseau at the time – but I did ultimately own a Peugeot 505 wagon for a very short period before deciding my fascination had ended and I did not need to scratch that itch any further. Still, I enjoy seeing cars like this 1987 Citroen CX Prestige here on craigslist pop up for sale, as it shows there are die-hard enthusiasts out there far more committed than I was to preserving these oddballs for the long haul. It’s listed for $21,000 near Riverside, California.
While you might think that this is a grey market import reflecting one individual’s desire to bring such a vehicle stateside, there was an “official” importation operation set up specifically to offer a legal channel for bringing Citroen’s new car offerings into the U.S. CXA, much to the consternation of Citroen’s top brass, proceeded with plans to modify and import Citroen models like the CX and the XM of the early 90s. The changes needed were all pretty standard for any European model imported to the U.S. through non-standard means, including steel beams welded into the doors, side marker lights, DOT-compliant headlights, and a different catalytic convertor. The seller’s car was repainted in 2005 in the original color of Florinte Red.
The Citroen benefits from new parts and services totaling $7,500 over the last few months, which included all suspension spheres, rubber hose lines, coolant hoses, brakes, fuel pump, fuel filter, water pump, alternator, plugs, plug wire set, air filter, all five belts, new muffler and tail pipe, full suspension hydraulics service, new tires, a new left front lower control arm bushing, and much more. The leather shows some signs of wear and tear but overall, it’s hard to fault the cosmetics inside or out. These were wildly advanced machines for the times, and the interiors still look quite modern today.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a proper Citroen without that incredibly wild suspension travel that it was capable of, and the seller provides plenty of photos to confirm it is working as it should. Of course, the day you go to fire it up and the suspension doesn’t move like it should will be a trying one indeed, but that’s why you ask the seller who has serviced the car for him over the years and make sure you become fast friends with that individual. Ultimately, this is what steered me away from owning a French car: it’s not that resources didn’t exist for keeping them alive, but it’s more that the effort it required fell well short of my interest in the vehicle. As this listing shows, plenty of French car enthusiasts feel differently.
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Comments
Nice comfortable cruiser. The prestige has the longer wheelbase for rear passenger comfort. This is fully loaded with the sunroof and the automatic transmission. If he says it doesn’t leak a drop then it’s definitely been sorted well. As I have discovered there is a extensive hydraulic circuit as well as a low pressure drain circuit that collects fluid that works past seals in the rams and returns it back to the reservoir. CX-Basis is a parts company in Germany that you will become good friends with. They have already received the purchase price of my car and then some. My car has a sportier suspension and more power with the turbo but this one is the last true Citroen to be designed and built by Citroen and offers the true magic carpet ride these are known for.
looks like a car from Caddy Shack
France has the prize for the ugliest designed cars of all time.
I disagree.Have you looked at any Australian cars?
ahhhhh . . . . big time disagree. Check out the “Utes” they had from Ford and General Motors . . . . aka Holden. Infinitely better looking than anything we have of a similar function. A Camaro or Ranchero doesn’t come close. Before Pontiac took took leave, they were going to import the “Ute” and re-brand it into the Pontiac brand. I would have bought one in half a heart beat.
Care to reveal some examples of your list of these Australian ugly cars?
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Just keep looking at it. It will grow on you.
Yeah, grow on you like mold…… These looked odd when they first came out in the 50s, and 30 years later, this different ,but still similar design still looked odd , IMHO. I dont care if they handle like a race car or ride like my rear is getting a massage , they are just to bizarre looking for me to ever own one
I agree, Steve, for a country that has so many things going for it…. beautiful country area, good food, etc…. you would think they could build a decent looking car…. the last design for Cit for me was the 1950 Avant…
And some of the most beautiful…
There are likely only a very small group of people here in the US that have owned more CX than me. I’m for sure above 20 including sedans, wagons, one Turbo 2 Prestige, diesels…
This one for sure looks nice, but $21k nice?? The world must have gone mad!
One side note is that I really liked this specific drivetrain with the injected 2.5 and auto. The engine and gearbox are perfectly suited for each other and make for a very smooth and relaxing drive. The manuals are no fun with slow, heavy and vague gearchanges, and the turbo engines while ultimately faster have a less even torque curve and didn’t really feel better in daily driving.
So if you want a CX this isn’t a bad choice, but I just can’t wrap my head around the price!
Citroen drivers always seemed to have a certain nutty professor look about them.
This would look good parked under a Abrams Tank
If you have never driven one you missed a grand ride and handling. quiet efficiency. understated looks, i appreciate them but the repair bills can be daunting if you’re not in love.
I daily a 1983 Renault R5 Turbo 2 here in San Diego and my life is much better for it. I have owned more then 170 cars and I have to say, the engineering of this rally legend shows the French can create some truly epic cars. Yea, the build quality of the interior is crap, but that was pretty much par for the course in the early 80’s for any manufacturer. It is the engineering and problem solving that impresses. Renault was trying to win the World Rally Championship and poured their resources into that goal and it shows as a properly sorted and cared for R5T drives much better then cars 2 decades younger. The steering feel, the way it puts it’s power down (especially on loose surfaces) and the fact it is one of the only cars in history to have it’s engine inside the passenger compartment with it’s pilot make it oh so French and oh so cool. And it is the ONLY can in my current stable to have never broken down on me and that includes our Tesla Model X and two newer Honda products. The French make some truly awesome and unique cars. It is only ignorance that prevents one from discovering this fact.
Reminds me once more of that oldie “There are none so blind as those that will not see!”
Looks like a Meth Design
Having owned 10 D models in my lifetime, the hydraulics are really no big deal once you understand how they work. Correct fluid and keeping the system clean and flushed once a year will give you thousands of trouble free miles.
Fix anything wrong RIGHT AWAY. A neglected suspension ads up fast.
I had the opportunity to borrow a CX Prestige in the late 1990s while on a week long trip in central Europe, and the ride is wonderful, especially on long trips as I was doing.
I returned to the USA and on driving another car of mine, a vehicle that I always thought was the best riding car, I felt the CX had a superior ride. The other car? My 1985 Rolls-Royce Silver Spur.
That Silver Spur of course had a similar hydropneumatic suspension they licensed from Citroen, albeit modified with the addition of Girling ride-height control and gas-charged shocks. Not sure why, as the Citroen system was already self-leveling, and I can only guess the shocks were meant to mitigate the “floaty” sensation and/or body roll in turns?
SubGothius,
While Rolls-Royce did license parts of the Citroen Hydraulic system, they only used the nitrogen charged spheres and the brake pedal valving. The hydraulic pumps were R-R design, as was the leveling dampers, built to spec by Gerling. Plus, on the R-R the ride height was not adjustable by the driver.
Americans that have never ridden in a Citroen DS/SM etc. don’t yet know the meaning of the description “floating on air.”
I remember sitting in one of these at a car show when I was a teenager. The seats were like a giant marshmallow.
Solosolo UK,
If I may add to that, American cars of the late 1950s [I’m talkin’ to you, GM!] were available with air suspension. I can tell you as someone who has owned and worked on 1958 to 60 Cadillac Eldorados with air suspension, unlike the Citroen system, the GM suspension lost most of the “road feel”, and the cars wallowed like a boat in stormy waters.
The Mercedes 450SEL 6.9 with its hydraulic suspension is the only car out there that even comes close to the Citroen ride. All the commenters above that think its ugly or goofy looking should start off by going to France and renting one of these cars for a week.Your attitude will change. I lived in France for 8 years and during that time owned a CX3 and one of these. On the highway or any twisting road the ride and performance is spectacular. I have also owned the aforementioned Mercedes as well. Its such a shame that Citroen doesn’t have an official north american presence.
I had a guy from Denmark drop by with this
Xantia in 2017.He shipped it over & toured the US in 2017.
Older Citroens appear more favorable to the eye.
Cars were invented in France. I’d sure love to know what some of these folks who think French cars are ugly think which nation’s cars are more beautiful.
Thanks in large part to this car’s aerodynamics, it can travel at double the highway speed limit with a 2.5 liter 4 cyl. engine that delivers 28 mpg. Ride and handling are unsurpassed, with seating like a limousine’s. Then some fool says “Nope. Too ugly for me”?
GitterDunn,
Technically, Karl Benz and Gottfried Daimler, both in Germany, are credited with creating the first gasoline automobiles in 1885. That said, within a couple of years several French makers [Panhard -1887, Peugeot – 1891, & de Dion in 1894] introduced their versions. In the period before 1900, France was making more automobiles than any other country. However, due in part to excessive French taxes imposed on vehicles, America, Germany, and England soon caught up with France.
115 years before Benz and Daimler’s gasoline powered buggy, Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot, a French engineer and inventor, built the world’s first full-size and working self-propelled mechanical land-vehicle, the “Fardier à vapeur” – effectively the world’s first automobile. So there’s that.
It was also the French who in 1891 invented the state-of -the art “Système Panhard”: Four wheels, front engine, clutch, transmission and rear-wheel drive, which today remains the standard layout for most cars.
Some of the fed spec cx sedans had butchered up gas tanks to cope with rear impact requirements.
Well it’s looks are unusual, but I’m into different stuff. Sure beats all the look a like blobs on the road today.
Hitchhiking in 1987 I got a ride in a CX-25 from Avignon to Barcelona. Never forgot it’s amazing smoothness, silence, luxury and style. All at very high speeds. Never looked into it before now. Haven’t since been in a car I was so impressed by. It was out of this world. And now I hear it compares favorably to the Rolls of it’s day. I was really graced that day.
Joseph William Roca,
Having owned several modern Rolls-Royces including a 1985 Silver Spur Centennial, and I’ve ridden in a few modern Citroen cars including a CX-25, I can freely state that when it comes to ride smoothness and overall ride quality, the Citroen comes out better.
Bentleys & Rolls-Royces do come out ahead in overall quality, finish, and a level of quietness at speed, that no other cars can come close to. At 10 times the price when new, they should!