Citroën GSA Special 5-Speed: Selected Passages
- “One cannot deny the GS’s fundamental strengths. After a tumultuous youth, this car ranks among the most enjoyable and safest European-made vehicles that manufacturers can still offer today.”
- “But the aim is to win on every front, chase every trend, and treat the obvious technical realities with contempt. That is how the tiny GS Special engine ends up paired with a transmission that fits it about as well as a top hat fits an Eskimo from Hudson Bay.”
- “Alongside the X3-Pallas-Club trio, Citroën offers a GSA Special lineup equipped with a 1,129 cc engine that, depending on the transmission, yields roughly 5 or 6 fiscal horsepower.”
- “From a standstill, the 400 m are covered in 20.4 seconds and the 1,000 m in 38.4 seconds. Compared with our October 1977 test of the GS Special 4-speed, we find a deficit of a few tenths of a second, and likewise in top speed, since at that time the Special reached 153.4 km/h at Montlhéry.”
- “On the road, pushing the engine to its limit, the second gear hits about 80 km/h on the speedometer, the third about 120 km/h, while the fourth hums around 150 km/h.”
- ˝In practice, the result is not especially exciting. Fifth gear is extremely lazy, with almost no kick when called upon.˝
- ˝If you don’t adopt a super-quiet driving style, you’ll be quickly disappointed, especially if you add to this numerical record a significant wind resistance head-on, the slightest incline, and also the load on board.˝
- “The Special 5-speed makes theoretical sense as a fuel-saver. In our average consumption test, we noted 6.53 liters per 100 km at an average speed of 75 km/h. Once again, we lag behind our previous test, in which the Special achieved 6.3 L/100 km at the same average.”
- “To recoup the extra 1,000 francs charged for the 5-speed box, you’d need to drive roughly 55,000 km—two to three years of use for many applications—with the discouraging prospect of steering a car that lacks takeoff.”
- “The overall equipment has a few unacceptable shortcomings: no cigarette lighter, no clock, a pneumatically operated windshield washer that won’t function at high speeds, and wipers whose effectiveness drops markedly above 100 km/h.”
- “The GSA Special 5-Speed, in my view, is merely a caricature of the real GS, largely due to a transmission that offers little interest.”
Citroën GSA Special 5-Speed: Its Strengths
- EXCEPTIONAL ROAD HANDLING: “From a safety standpoint, this car sits at a level rarely matched by the competition. It’s easy to drive, exceptionally safe in both straight-line stability and cornering, and it handles the harshest roads and weather conditions—rain, wind, ice, snow, and mud—remarkably well.”
- COMFORTABLE SUSPENSION: “Alongside this effectiveness comes a comfort level that earns high praise, with reliably normal behavior. Front and rear passengers are well supported, and only certain types of speed bumps are uncomfortable.”
- GOOD BRAKING: “Braking is effective, progressive, and well-balanced, regardless of load. As for the steering, it is precise, and its smoothness leaves no doubt.”
Citroën GSA Special 5-Speed: Its Drawbacks
- DISAPPOINTING PERFORMANCE: “Put on the Montlhéry speed ring, and the five-speed Special we had available, with the driver alone aboard, delivered a top speed of 138.9 km/h in fifth and 147 km/h in fourth.”
- FIFTH GEAR NOT VERY MANAGEABLE: “This fifth gear is reluctant to engage quickly. It requires a wide movement from the driver and costs about 5 km/h off the dial with each shift.”
- NOISY HIGH-REV ENGINE: “When not asked to run at very high revs, the engine is quiet, but because it must spin very fast in the mid-range to push the car to adequate performance, it can become loud on occasion.”
Seen Today by Thomas Riaud
From the GS to the GSA, roughly a decade has passed in which Citroën did not rest on its laurels but instead evolved its midrange lineup in a meaningful way. Yet the argument for a fifth gear here seems entirely out of place, penalizing both acceleration and average fuel economy. Today, the direct heir to the venerable GS is the understated C4, a compact sedan that struggles to find popularity despite a recent facelift and its 100% electric variant…
