After Peugeot had pulled the cut for the financial car passenger division in Citroën to get away from the cliffs (An action that not everyone at Peugeot was happy with) appeared the first result of the new collaboration: the Citroën LN.
And whether that is a real one Citroën It was?
Mwahh ... The new one Citroën was actually just a Peugeot 104 with the headlights of a Dyane and with the block of one Citroën Ami and the container of a GS in it. The LN was thereby or thereby a patch around the hole within it Citroën to complete a program that was created by the disappearance of that Ami. All in all, expectations were not too high and sales (in France) were not that bad. The LN was a success in his (or her?) Home country.
Weird
People with a little motor oil in the veins react slightly confused if they have one Citroën Hear LN start. Because she horen start a Duck, Dyane or Ami, but they see driving off a Peugeot 104. That driving away is not with screaming tires. Because the good, air-cooled boxer block in the front is not a 'powerhouse'. Citroën gave the 602 cc two-cylinder for 32 hp on the crankshaft. There were about 24 left on the front wheels. In its time, a transmission loss of 25% for a front-wheel driver was not uncommon. But if that percentage has to get rid of the already limited capacity of an 600 block? Then you don't pull the vowels out of the road with it.
Slow
The acceleration times of the Citroën So it was best to measure LN with a calendar instead of a stopwatch in your hand. To get from 80-120 km / h had such a Citroën LN tight 40 seconds needed. And those seconds take a very long time when you are catching up on the left lane and when you see the veins in the eyes of the driver ahead.
But compared to cars - or cars - from its own segment, the Citroën LN not a bad figure at all. And the luck was that the limitations of the Citroën LN mainly emerged above the 100 km / h. However, driving on highways and the rapid overtaking of trucks are not the things where the Citroën LN plays its trump cards. But 'inside' and in the city appears to be one Citroën LN still a nice car. To get on with it a bit he needs to be kept up to speed.
Pretty economical
If the whip passes over, then one runs Citroën LN at full speed (about 115 km / h) about 1 on 11. At a speed of 100 km / h, that is something of 1 on 18. A walking pace of 60 km / h is good for a consumption of almost 1 on 22. And how fast are you driving all in all when you are now Citroën LN takes you for a day to drive through the set scenery in the east of the country?
More quiet inside than outside
And that drive in one Citroën LN is not too bad. To the outside is the Citroën LN quite a noisy thing. But that is not so bad on the inside of the carriage. You have to realize that behind the front seats there is at most room for a couple of not too big children. Before you can enjoy it, you must first start. There is a hand choke for that and for many people that attribute is now far from my bed show. An AMK reader recently sent a message about it. He bought a BMW from a lady interested in classics.
It's just a matter of knowing
That BMW had to go because it did not start or hardly started. Our AMK reader Rene vd Ven took the gamble and concluded the next day that the lady had never fathomed the effect of the choke. Because the BMW was one of the kind: 'Starting is running'. That is, if you don't start without a choke and then drive with the choke on * after a lot of muddying. All in all, such an LN drives fine and has inherited the diving tendency of its predecessors when braking. This also applies to the comfortable suspension and damping.
* Hi Dolf,
I still wanted to give you a write / article tip to write about.
The hand choke
Apparently 2 things don't go together in this world, a woman and the hand choke.
What is that? That women cannot master that simple act? Engine cold? then choke, engine warm then choke off.
What often happens? They forget to take off or put on the choke ………
Honey ... ... the car won't start anymore!
Really, I have already spoken to several men who had to get rid of their oldtimer because wife could not handle the hand choke. Only recently my friend, who lent his oldtimer (with hand choke) for 1 week to his new girlfriend !!
I don't have to explain to you what happened.
Well explained, but still went wrong.
My friend got a call, that car of yours is drinking like hell, it turned out that she had been driving all week with the choke on.
Thank goodness I have a classic car with an automatic choke, an old Toyota Carina with carburettor from 1986.
Regards, Rene van de Ven
Grave
Small addition. It is no fun when you overtake a truck in the rain with an LN / 2cv and 1 cylinder stops due to the spray rain. Cost an expensive cable. Eventually had to sell because the pistons started to 'tilt' (restless idle) and he was hit by a van from behind. ?
I also had an LN. Turned 100k km in about 3 years. Bought second hand. For what t was a top car. Also drove in very cold winter (I thought 1984 ???). Not to get warm, a cardboard for the cooling air intake made the heating warmer again. During a holiday in France, took on the challenge of storming a 22% slope with two people and tent equipment. Managed in first gear, full throttle. Driving the Galibier was slow but steady. Just below the top, the bmw320 that had overtaken us at the bottom was driven past again because its engine gave steam signals?
Great stories. I can remember these cars from my time at the mavo. My father often gave me the autotest buying guide if it had expired. Then I knew something new was coming. The LN has penetrated here in large numbers, but you could see them as a distant precursor of the Aygo / 107 / C1.
Dolf, I have five with one Citroën LN driven.
It was a nice and comfortable car. Ridden throughout Europe.
Winter sports travel, you could drive up without snow chains for a very long time. Laughing over the BMWs and Mercedes.
Nice experience: somewhere in a parking lot in Germany, a motorist showed interest in the LN. On the back of the valve I had mounted a plate with “injection”. Bonnet open, and he admired the two-cylinder boxer engine.
Just this quote: it was best to measure with a calendar instead of a stopwatch in your hand. Nice, but borrowed from my great teacher Nico de Jong. He wrote a destructive autotest in which this quote almost literally appeared. The car? I think a Dyane or something. But honors who deserve credit, Nico de Jong is still stylistically unsurpassed. D. Peeters is approaching, but ... I am better off here.
Hahaaaa
Rene's story has history!
In a kind of prehistoric past I have helped many people with their vehicles to get rid of all kinds of ailments. Similarly a lady with a Morris Marina. He sucked and started well with a cold engine. You guessed it, the choke knob was firmly pulled out. That was all.
When I explained to the lady how the choke worked and asked why she had always pulled it out, she asked in surprise and helpless: "Yes, all well and good, but where do I have to hang my handbag on?"
It does not happen often, but I was tongue-tied ……
I once had a lady who thought that her daf was not doing well, she had pulled the mountain brake off instead of choke can happen anyway