Citroën CX2000 Safari (17,000 miles)

Long suffering camion

By Stuart Bladon

IF EVER there was a year when it suited me personally to have a spacious estate car, 1976 was the one. With a move of house tackled in mid-summer, and all the subsequent constructional works which resulted, the Citroen Safari proved its worth over and over again. If it wasn’t the occasion for moving the enormous mountain of debris that results when you dismantle a fireplace, it was on the countless other operations when cumbersome materials such as three-metre lengths of pipe had to be carried, that it came into worthy service over and over again.

When the needs of the weekend were not too space-demanding, the Safari was quickly wrested from me, frequently by Andrew Shanks to use as support car for his racing activities, and on one occasion by photographer Peter Cramer to use as a sort of motor caravan. Would you believe that two adults and four children of varying ages up to 11 can and did sleep in the back of the Safari?

We took delivery in April 1976 and the first trip of any length was a drive over to Droitwich for the launch of the new Rover 3500 a couple of months ahead of its introduction. A rare sight in those days, the enormous body of the Citroen Safari was source of considerable interest, as it has been ever since although many more of them are now to be seen around.

Running-in restrictions limited it to 4,000 rpm, which meant that 75 mph was permissible, but the loss of that quite important span from 4,000 to 5.500 rpm made it very difficult to overtake anything. I confess to being rather dismayed in those first few weeks at the lack of performance confronting me for the next few months. Partly, I think, it was the abrupt transition from my BMW 528, and partly, too, it was that I had not then adapted to Safari motoring. You soon learn that you have to build the speed up where you can, and are then able to keep it going quickly by making the best of its outstandingly reassuring and manageable cornering. Also. if the occasion calls for a burst of acceleration to overtake, it is surprising how well the Citroen responds once you get the right gear, rev the engine and give it a chance for the second choke to open.

Sensibly spaced gear ratios help one to make the best of the available power, but two litres really is not sufficient for such a big car. In all other respects it served admirably as a tow-car when used to pull a Bessacarr Denaby caravan to France in the summer, but the falling-off of speed on every gradient and an accumulation of frequent strings of vehicles wishing to go faster, was an embarrassment I have not previously suffered. At the time, only the 2000 Safari was available, but since then, the diesel and the 2400 petrol versions have been added. The 2400 costs getting on for £500 extra, but is to be recommended.

Fairly high gearing and a good aerodynamic shape contribute to very good economy. The CX 2000 Safari has frequently returned more than 27 mpg on a run, even when cruising at more than 80 mph as we did on a September trip to Germany and France. Even when towing a caravan or large trailer, it gives better than 20 mpg.

In conjunction with a 15-gallon fuel tank, this gives a terrific range. It has proved an everyday occurrence to do well over 300 miles without refuelling, and few occasions we even stretched the distance between fill-ups to over 400 miles.

Standard modification when the Safari is equipped for towing is to duplicate the electrically-driven cooling fan. After this was done one was rather conscious of the roar from the front on the odd moment when low-speed work caused the fans to cut in, but they certainly deal with the heat build-up very competently. In all the hard work to which the Safari has been subjected, there has been no problem with overheating, nor has a single drop of water had to be added to the cooling system.

Its oleo-pneumatic suspension system with automatic self-levelling is one of the most outstanding features of the car. The ride is magnificent in all conditions, and the suspension is never caught out by any sudden dip in the road or hump back bridge taken fast. One of the joys of Citroen driving is that one can treat those sleeping policemen with the contempt they deserve, noting that the disturbance reduces the faster_they are crossed!

Only two slight problems emerged with this suspension system, both concerned with the way in which the level collapses to its minimum position when the engine is switched off. The first is that if one is parked with the tail hanging over a high kerb or other protrusion one returns to the car to find it firmly aground, as though the; tide had gone out while you were away. It takes about 15 seconds of fast idle to pump everything up again. The second snag is that when towing, the slight collapse of the rear end, on switching off the engine, can make it difficult or impossible to disconnect the trailer. One soon remembers to leave the engine ticking over for unhitching. These are small snags to set against the advantage of superb, level ride comfort in all conditions and regardless of load - in fact, the greater the weight, the more impressive is the car’s behaviour.

Former colleague Michael Scarlett gave us this amusing account of a family outing in the Safari: “I say,” said his father, “I’m terribly sorry about all this smoke coming from my pipe. A minute or two passed before someone made the obvious comment: “But you’re not smoking your pipe!" They stopped to investigate the cause of large quantities of white smoke entering the car from somewhere underneath and pinpointed a hydraulic leak dripping slowly on to the exhaust pipe. Inspection of the fluid reservoir showed the level well up, so they pressed on hopefully; but in due course the central row of warning lights, including the big one labelled ‚”STOP” came on.

Citroen do not mean you to be unaware that the fluid level has dropped dangerously low, because loss of pressure would obviously affect the brakes as well as the suspension and power steering. A check button enables the driver to test the four important warning tell-tales, including that for engine temperature. There is also a check button to the right of the steering column which enables the fluid level to be registered while driving along; when pressed, it allows the hydraulic fluid to run into a little glass tube indicator, showing the level.

The fluid leak was repaired by Citroen under warranty. We were informed that it had come from one of the numerous suspension-related pipes under the car, which, as the French service manager told us, was “not well orientated”.

In view of the hard work the Citroen has been put to in its nine months with us and the high mileage covered, now nearing 20,000, its reliability has proved fair enough but we have experienced some silly minor faults. The first of these was at 2,100 miles, when the right hand sidelamp and indicator unit fell out of its bumper housing and dangled on a single wire in front of the wheel. On refitting and reconnecting, the indicator did not work at first, as though still suffering from shock at the narrow escape from being trodden on by the wheel; but it soon recovered and gave no further trouble.  Another, later on, was the bonnet release, which came undone and fell on to the floor (at 4,400 miles).

At the same time it was noticed that petrol was being lost from the fuel filler when the tank was full. A new filler cap was fitted, and provided it is fully tightened, this has given no further trouble.

Once or twice when submitting the Safari for service, I drew attention to a tiresome squeak, apparently coming from the rear seat. The Citroen service department were evidently unable to rectify it, and eventually as a two-man effort - one to drive and the other to explore - we tracked it down to the tailgate. Simple adjustment of the catch made the door close a little tighter, and stopped the squeak. But what Citroen did rectify unasked, was a faulty pressure limiting valve in the line to the rear brakes.

I had commented in an earlier report that we were experiencing premature brake locking. Citroen said it was only the third failure of this valve they had experienced on a CX, and the repair certainly transformed the braking performance - no more sliding on with locked wheels and attempting on and off footwork with the pedal; it has always stopped very well indeed since this attention. The brakes are generously big – discs front and rear-even - for a car of this carrying capacity and pedal response is vigorous and not too abrupt. The handbrake is also beefy and used to be appreciated when I lived at a house with a sloping driveway. It works on the front discs.

In recent months the little amber warning light showing a drawing of a brake pedal tended to flash on.  Handbook check showed it to mean “brake pads worn” not “brake fluid low‚ as had been suspected but service check showed the pads to be not then ready for replacement.  The light again came on with regularity though still not to any discernible pattern such as after hard braking, or when it’s wet. It is still not time to renew the pad however; at the last service a short-circuit in the warning system was repaired.

With a personal interest in car radios and tape players I tend to a little pernickety about the ICE in my own car, and was rather horrified at the standard provision of a vertical radio slot in the CX. How do you see the tuning scale when it’s mounted there, and what cassette player will work standing on its back? One or two do it but the majority don’t.

We threw the problem at the Car Music Centre of 122 Shepherds Bush Centre, London W12 SPP, and were highly delighted at the original solution they evolved – as bizarre as the rest of the Citroen interior stying. The radio – a Blaupunkt Essen - was fitted in an enclosed box attached to the side of the -instrument nascelle. It has proved a very convenient position for it, and the slight tremor of the set at tickover does not seem to have any ill effects.

The CX already comes with front door-mounted apertures for speakers, and we had two more speakers neatly installed on the rear quarters, with a front-rear balance control. The result was impressive and has given great pleasure throughout our use of the car.

However, we landed in trouble with Citroen, who said that removal of the console to house the radio’s separate stereo unit, had resulted in disconnection of the ventilator outlets. Our complaint about lack of output from the central vents resulted in a bill for £20 for putting it all back together correctly.

Quite apart from this, I must confess that I find the ventilation the least pleasing aspect of the Safari - and, indeed, of any CX. In the long hot summer it was always a difficult car to keep cool enough without opening the side windows, which results in a lot of noise at speed; and too much heat always seemed to seep through the console. Now that winter is with us it is a car that is slow to warm up and needs the heater full on most of the time. Also, hardly any air at all comes through the heater unless the fan is kept on at least at its low-speed setting.

The electric windows have been appreciated and it seems a logical economy to mix electric front windows with manually-wound rear ones. The electric motors have a cut-out to prevent overload, such as when the windows have become frozen; and there has been no trouble with their operation. The electrical problem we did experience resulted from a short-circuit in the line to the roof lamp switch.

Andrew Shanks was using the Safari as tender for a race meeting at Snetterton at the time, and in endeavours to isolate the fault, which kept blowing the fuse, he plucked more and more switches out, trapping their wires with loops of paper so that they did not disappear beyond recall into the bowels of the car.