SPECIALIST DIVISION

There are few cars capable of overshadowing the mighty Citroën DS when it comes to technological achievement, but if any were to be capable it would surely be its successor. The CX was more sensibly sized, more slippery in shape, and offered additional technology to boot. But in Britain its image was firmly in the niche sector owing to its complexity. British buyers were far more enamoured by the Rover SD1 – which underneath its supercar-apeing body had a chassis that was distinctly old tech. Despite new engines and a late facelift, the CX just didn’t hit the same mark in Britain as the big Rover.

But worldwide, the CX sold almost three times the number the Rover managed. So was Britain unfair to the CX, or was the SD1 truly the better car? The only way to settle this is to take typical examples of both and pit them head to head.

Citroën CX

Launched in the UK in 1975, 12 months before the SD1 made it to production, the CX replaced the lower echelons of the D range – the D Special and D Super. The upmarket Pallas continued, not to be replaced until the introduction of the long wheelbase CX Prestige. CX carried over its predecessor’s engines, owing to the abandonment of a triple-rotor rotary engine which had been in development. CX’s first truly new engine would appear in 1979 – a new 2.0 unit shared with Renault. But the ageing engines did not prevent the CX from both appearing and truly being a technical masterpiece. Inside, you had rotating strip speedometers, a dash that looked like it belonged in a spaceship and moulded door cards, later simplified and rationalised in 1986. You had