Citroen Saxo VTS Review

Overall Rating

Acceleration, Top Speed, Embarrasment for others and Grin Factor.

Noise on motorways
Not the romiest thing ever
Not 100% reliable.

Ive had my Citroen Saxo VTS 1.6 16v for 6 months now, and am overall very pleased with it.

I'll try and give you a run down of my opinions of the different parts of the car, what it's like to drive, and it as a package.

Engine: Brilliant, 1.6 16v, responsive, power stacked (130bhp from the 2000 model upwards) which, in an 898 kilo car, is really quite something!

Brakes: Not confidence inspiring at first, they're pretty wooden, and take some getting used to. Some softer pads would sort this problem, But I prefer the hard pads, they last longer, and once you get used to them, you realise that once you give them a good prod when you really need to stop, the car suddenly wants to stand on its nose! They come into their own, becoming sharp, responsive, and controllable, but only when they're being used hard.

Handling and Suspension:
Bumpy ride, very rattly, but that's the price you pay (and a worthy one if you ask me) for being able to go round corners like the thing was stuck to the road.

Gearbox and clutch: The gearbox by my standards is sweet as a nut, but my last car was a 206 (the gearboxes are horribly clunky on them) and is a great short throw number, which no doubt helps the cars quick 0-60 time.

Looks: It looks great in my opinion, (on the outside) its a shame they couldnt have paid a bit more attention to the interior, its not even sport, apart from a silver gear knob and white dials, and bucket seats, its pretty much like my Saxo 1.1 i had as a first car!

Reliability.
It needed a few switches and things replacing on it, and it feels like a bush is going on the front somewhere at the minute, and it died on me in Kingston, only to find when the AA arrived there was nothing wrong with it! oooook then! but its not done that since.
It has done the occasional running on 2 cylinders, it's done it twice, but only first thing in the morning, and only when it was freezing, new spark plugs would solve that Im told.

One thing you can be fairly confident on, is that when you turn the key it will start in the morning, it's not been so bad that I don't trust it, and even if I didn't, I wouldn't get rid of it, it makes me grin too much when it IS running!

Refinement/practicality.
Let's face it, the Saxo is light, that's why its 130 bhp goes a long way, and it's got performance to make most other cars bow their head in shame, even much bigger ones, and thats the price you pay for little room in the back, a poor interior, and a noisy cabin, I'll admit, on long journeys, at above 60 mph, it does my head in, but you do get used to it eventually, and it's well worth it!

Performance:
130 bhp @6600 rpm,
0-62mph 7.4-7.7 secs
top speed 127mph
Weight 898kg
Combined fuel consumption 35 mpg.

Let's face it, these figures on paper are never going to be sniffed at, and don't be fooled by the Civic type r, 206gti 180, VW Golf turbo gti, all of these are around 6.7 seconds. But a good start off the line has seen me give all of these more than a run for their money, if they do win, it'll only be by a bonnet length.

I have to say though, it's certainly not as exciting as say, a Honda Prelude manual 2.2, VTECH, the 0-60 times are very similair, but the extra thrust makes those cars feel quicker.
No it's not the most reliable thing in the world, there's no space and it's a pain in the backside on motorway journeys.
But that's not what it's built for, and it can at least do these things.
If you buy it for the right reasons, your going to love it, no questions asked.