Used Car Reviews – Getting to Know the Citroën BX

My adventures in the world of French cars continue. Citroëns in particular occupy a certain section of my brain that seems to be on a very special diet of bloodflow; despite their possible shortcomings and idiosyncracies, a Citroën will always catch my eye and tempt me closer. In a way, this article is a song to the siren. The rest of my brain says no, no no and suggests I should be tied to the helm of the good ship Sapporo – and that one glob of brain matter keeps on pulsating and guiding me towards the angular, utilitarian Cit.

So, when there’s a very reasonably priced and reasonably maintained example quite close by, why not take a closer look?

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Used Car Reviews – 1987 Mitsubishi Galant E15

I recently had to lead a Mitsubishi-free life for a while, as my 1990 Sapporo spent over a month in an auto shop due to difficulties with parts availability. But instead of taking a holiday from Mitsus, I decided to get to know the humbler Galant version of the same basic architecture slightly better. It’s about perspective, as the Sapporo is basically a fully loaded luxury version of the Galant, and as I’ve tried to rectify the Sapporo’s imperfections for over a year now it might well be that I can’t see its virtues that clearly any more. For a while it felt like a cumbersome square peg in a round hole, when this frosty town showed me I could do with a less complicated car.

The exact models I had in my sights were two 1987 Galants with the 1600cc base engine and entry-level GL trim. I wanted to see if a simpler car was a more satisfying choice. Here I had a sand-coloured sedan seen on the street and a denim blue one I took for a drive.

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Used Car Reviews – 1998 Nissan Maxima 3.0 V6

MPH speedo. Serious business.

Just in case I’ve ever seemed too pointedly Euro-centric in my posts, here’s what is most likely the most American car I have ever driven. It’s a 1998 Maxima in appliance white, but what makes it stand out amongst Finnish Nissans is that it’s originally been sold new in West Springfield, Massachusetts. Like the Mustang featured some weeks ago, it’s been brought into the country by a Finn moving back here. There are Mass stickers here and there and other little quaint US market details that make it look like it’s been through a Stargate or a space wormhole and just been transplanted into the midst of Finnish used cars. By its special brand of blandness, it stands out. Despite being one of the most anonymous cars in America, a watchful eye here notices its pedigree from afar.

Since a large share of the Hooniverse community has most likely been subjected to these Maximas, either inside or outside them, for me to truly fit the picture I wanted to take this one for a spin.

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Finding a Good 190E – How Hard Can It Be?

Mercedes-Benz W201. Today, two in one post.

It’s been a Benz-filled couple weeks lately; with the North Korean 190:s making the headlines I’ve been thinking of the Mercedes-Benz W201-series quite a lot. Over here, there are two kinds of W201:s driving around. The first category consists of the cars originally imported in Finland when new, which usually means well-used cars well past a quarter of a million kilometres in their respective odometers. The Finnish 190:s have something of a rock-solid reputation despite being often bitten by the rust worm; the epithet HONEST FINNISH CAR is most often attributed to a very basic, slightly brown-around-the-edges ’80s Mercedes.

What, then, isn’t considered a honest one? It’s the second category of Mercs, the German imported ones. Finnish used car import taxation changed in the early 2000:s, resulting in a flood of 190:s, W124:s, E34 and E30 BMW:s and fully loaded Audis. And like one is likely to do, naturally doubtful and wary Finns eagerly associate these imported Germans with odometer tampering. “They’ve all been clocked, you can buy a service book from a Turkish guy for pocket change”. While that might ring true with some cars in the dodgier end of the spectrum, German examples usually have less rust and better specification.

Today I’ll show you a few shots of both: a down-in-an-alley Finnish 190E and one of its latecomer brethren.

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Used Car Reviews – 2007 MINI Cooper S

Mini Cooper S. Blue Motion.

The Mini Cooper S is one of my girlfriend’s favorite cars. While she appreciates hybrids and dislikes ’80s Mercedeses and Saabs, she does have good taste when it comes to small sporty runabouts – and a blue Mini is something she’s got her sights set on.

And as we walked around a Kia dealership on Sunday and noticed a freshly arrived used Cooper S on their yard, was there any holding back?

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Hooniverse Wagon Wednesday – Hand-Me-Down Beater Xantia Offers Value for Money

Citroën Xantia Break. You break it, you buy it.

I consider myself a future Citroën owner. It’s only a matter of time before the marque with the double Chevrons finds its way onto my parking spot. The thing is, I’ve not yet sure which one is the one to get – I’ve not yet driven a CX or an XM. My daily-driver Mitsubishi Sapporo with its one-spoke steering wheel and comfortable-but-weird interior stands as a sort of a placeholder for a real Citroën (it even has a 2.4-litre four like the CX does); I’m sure I’ll find a way to find an affordable, well-kept Citroën sometime in the future to replace it. But in the meantime, the logical thing is to do some research within the marque, to find out what exactly I want from one.

Produced in the days when Citroën had toned down the funk, the Xantia is becoming increasingly affordable, and until now I hadn’t driven one – so when the opportunity came knocking, I was eager to give it a look.

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Used Car Reviews – 1991 Audi 80 2.0E

Audi 80, 1991. Again a black car - what is it with them?

I’ve grown fond of the smallest of the ’80s-’90s Audis. While there’s something ever-so-slightly porcine about the round B3-B4 bodyshape, the build quality and resistance to rust make it a well-surviving car.

Of course, it does count which one you pick and how you keep it; one 80 I checked out some time ago with a friend had such a leaky camcover gasket that we had to abort the testdrive after mere minutes and turn back; billowing underhood smoke is not a good selling point. Another didn’t try to set itself on fire but had peeling paint, and another (a brown one, no less) was saddled with the 1.6-litre diesel engine that just wouldn’t go.

So, could today’s car redeem what the earlier ones had screwed up?

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1999 Mercedes-Benz A-Class – The “A” Stands for “Aveo”

Mercedes-Benz A170 CDI. Possibly the least hoonable car ever.

With fuel prices rising and a 20-year-old 2.4-litre executive saloon in my stable, it’s not a bad idea to look at something less consumptious – especially when most of my driving is commuting. Cold starts and general wintertime usage drop the fuel needle even quicker. Combine that with the nagging idea to get rid of both of my cars and replacing them with something a decade newer and you have the (admittedly vague) reasoning behind today’s used car test drive.

The W168 A-Class is an interesting proposition to behold. After the success of the first small Mercedes that was the W201 190E, I can see the thought process that went into the urban little Mercedes – and with the similarly designed smart/Smart Car in the pipeline, who would blame them? Of course, the cheapening of the Mercedes-Benz brand from attainable prestige (the standing point of the W202, the then-smallest and cheapest Mercedes) to something akin to the Pacer was such a daring shift that M-B USA chose not to ship the A-Class stateside. Though, had US buyers had to deal with the all-encompassing basicness that was the W202 C180 Classic with hard cloth seats and crank windows, the A-Class wouldn’t have come as such a shock.

I was also curious to face the car from a newly retro Year 2000 standpoint: in my mind it sits next to the transparent iMac of a decade ago. But as I wouldn’t really want to use one of those on a daily basis, how about the Mercedes, then?

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Saab 9-5 – It’s a Drag, Isn’t It?

2008 Saab 9-5 and the Griffin badge.

When asked for a comment on the untimely death of John Lennon, Paul McCartney famously replied with the titular phrase, still at a loss of words. The death of Saab, however, comes as no surprise for anyone at this point.

Little more than a week after I snapped a few pics of a new-shape 9-5, it’s time for Saab to finally file for bankruptcy. It’s been a terrible year after a more uplifting first quarter; after relentless and increasingly more tiresome heave-hoing between Swedish Automobile, GM and various Chinese ventures, this morning Victor Muller took the papers in for Saab to be euthanized.

In this article, I take a detail-level look at a late model from Saab’s product portfolio – yes, the Dame Edna 9-5. It’s a drag queen, isn’t it?

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Used Car Review: 2003 Lada Niva 4×4

Some say that this is a revolutionary 4×4 vehicle. Developed in the 1970s, it was the one of the first, if not the first, to feature a unibody design and a coil-sprung independent front suspension. The design, which was based on the Lada passenger car, which itself was based on an old Fiat, was developed and put into production on the request of the government which claimed that there was a need for comfortable countryside car.

Starting with the basic Fiat chassis, the wheelbase was shortened and a two-speed full-time four-wheel-drive system installed. The vehicle was raised, but retained the rear live-axle, and all vulnerable components were neatly hidden. This was supposed to be the Russian Range Rover, whereas the UAZ 469 (more on that later) was the answer to the military Land Rovers and Jeeps of the era.

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