I was very pleased with the CX's which I used to own. Unfortunately Citroën gave up making those kinds of vehicles years ago. An SM would be great, but well out of my price range. The SM was only made as a two-door coupe. But at Goodwood a couple of years ago there was displayed a four-door SM Opera which had been made by a coachbuilding company (Henri Chapron, I think). Now there's a car!
Back in the early eighties you could pick them up for next to nothing. They had a reputation for fragile engines with cam chain problems. I think it was a tensioner problem which caused the chains to snap or go so slack they jumped the sprockets. That said they were years ahead of there time in the suspension and steering department and styling. Specialists have developed cures for the faults. I would love to own one couldn't afford one when they were cheap now they are too expensive
Being half froggy, my parents owned several Citroens including ID19's,DS 21's,2CV's, but my favorite was my dads ID 19 Palace in grey and red which he loved but a somewhat fragile engine.He loved stopping at traffic lights with kids looking out of the back of the cars in front and raising and lowering the suspension and getting that" dad,the car behind is going up and down" moment.
First time I went to France with the family in 1974, I think, we were in Le Mans when all these school kids started laughing at my Mum's Morris Minor Traveller. Was it the wood? I thought this was odd at the time, and even odder when I started to see the cars that the French used as transport - strange corrugated-iron Renault and Citroën vans and the like. People who live in glass houses...
I spent several years as a mechanic in a Citroen Service agents w/shop. Worked on everything from vintage to (at the time) modern cars, this was from 1991 to 1994/5. The older cars seemed pretty well engineered, if a little awkward to work on.
