<\/p>\n
What a nice surprise it was to see Citroen resurrect the 2 CV<\/a> at the Paris show. With a promise to make something very similar for the showroom, rather than just create a show buzz. If the price and range compromise can be agreeably struck, then Citroen surely has a winner on its hands. Who wouldn\u2019t want to pop to the shops for eggs (with their own dedicated door storage) in a new electric 2 CV?<\/p>\n With that, plus the E-Space<\/a> from Renault and T16<\/a> from Peugeot, it\u2019s been virtually impossible to avoid looking at old French gems in the classifieds. There actually is a 2 CV<\/a>, for those that fancy, but there\u2019s also this: a CX25 Prestige Turbo 2<\/a>. A deux cheveaux is cool, but it ain\u2019t no CX.\u00a0<\/p>\n Probably you\u2019re familiar with the CX, given it was made for 16 years and more than a million were sold. It was glorious, idiosyncratic Citroen of the era taken into the luxury space, large and well-equipped while still being just the right amount of weird. Hydropneumatic suspension? Check. Single-spoke steering wheel? Check. No stalks? And so on.\u00a0<\/p>\n That you knew. What you might not have known about is this particular car, one of just five right-hand-drive Prestige Turbo 2s. For Citroen aficionados, this is the most special of special ones. Forget BX 4TC, Traction Avant or, er, unmodified Saxo VTS – this is it. Well, we think it is. By combining long-wheelbase Prestige spec – rear legroom is genuinely palatial – with the turbocharged GTI engine, Citroen created the kind of cult classic only it could.\u00a0<\/p>\n Originally the long-wheelbase car was built for chauffeur companies who wanted more space; probably the rest of the four-cylinder range would have sufficed for gentle ambling around on the famously cushy ride. But someone decided the 170hp 2.5-litre turbo engine should go in the front (alongside the spare wheel), for the ultimate autoroute express. In the late ’80s, a Prestige Turbo 2 cost more than a 7 Series BMW\u2026<\/p>\n This 1987 CX still looks like the perfect thing for a vast motorway journey, long and low and still with a silhouette like nothing else. Even by the standards of very rare cars, you\u2019re going to get gawped at. It\u2019s hard to know whether it\u2019ll be more enjoyable to sit up front and drive a turbo manual Citroen or lounge in the rear quarters. That feels like the appropriate terminology for such a space.<\/p>\n Given the complexity of the CX, money has to be spent to keep them fighting fit. This one had a new clutch and a suspension refresh last year, which is encouraging, plus there\u2019s been a fair bit of work to get through the most recent MOT. At 40 years old next year, by the current legislation it won\u2019t need another MOT, but keeping a CX in good order has surely always been a labour of love. Still, nobody is going to buy any kind of old Citroen, surely, without being fully invested (in every sense of the word).\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n