News like this makes you face up to how old you've become. The Citroën Saxo VTS was the hero of our youth and was pretty high on the "I'll buy this as soon as I get my driver's license" list. An oft-quoted phrase. Now this little savage is celebrating its 30th birthday.
In 1996, Citroën launched the new Saxo series. The successor to the AX was developed by the PSA group, sharing much of its technology, including the engines, with the Peugeot 106. Initially, four-cylinder, eight-valve, naturally aspirated engines with 50, 75 and 88 hp were available. In addition, a 1,5-liter diesel engine with 57 hp was also available. From the very beginning, a market that was still very keen on compact sports cars also offered a particularly sporty top model with a 1,6-liter 16-valve engine developing 120 hp and 145 Nm of maximum torque – the Saxo VTS.
In the mid-90s, the world of small sports cars was still wonderfully uncomplicated. And that's true of the hot Saxo. It was the answer to the question of how much driving pleasure could be squeezed into 3,72 meters of sheet metal without emptying the bank account. Today, this little Frenchman celebrates his 30th birthday - a good enough reason to take a look at why he was actually so damn good.
The Saxo did not have an easy job in 1996. It had to follow in the footsteps of the AX, which had set new standards in the AX Sport and GTi versions with its radically lightweight construction. While the regular Saxo debuted as a fairly practical city car, a very young designer named Gilles Vidal – today, incidentally, Renault’s head of design – was able to give free rein to his imagination when designing the sporty version.
This was his first order with Citroën: he designed the distinctive fender flares that flowed smoothly into the side sills, and the more pronounced front and rear spoilers. Otherwise, the VTS remained relatively inconspicuous. The 16V emblem on the rear fenders, special 14-inch wheels and a chrome exhaust pipe sufficed.
Under the hood of the top model was the jewel of the TU engine family: the TU5J4. A 1,6-liter sixteen-valve engine that developed 120 hp at 6.600 rpm. Today, that doesn't sound like much, but we're talking about an unladen weight of just 935 kilograms. The result was an extraordinary power development that only ended at 7.300 rpm on the limiter. This allowed the VTS to officially accelerate to 100 km/h in 8,7 seconds and surpass the 200 km/h mark. At a time when the Golf GTI had already become considerably more cumbersome, the Saxo was a real scalpel for the roads.
The Saxo VTS chassis was legendary – and notorious. The precise steering and self-tracking rear axle made it extremely agile, but also required an experienced hand in extreme situations. Typical of a French sports compact car from the 80s and 90s. The desire for real oversteer was all the rage at the time. It is no wonder, then, that the Saxo became a breeding ground for talent: whether in rallying or in the Make Cup, a whole generation of drivers, including a certain Sébastien Loeb, learned their trade here.
In the fierce competition of the 1990s, the Saxo VTS had to compete with well-known rivals. Among them was, of course, the Peugeot 106 S16, its technical counterpart, which was often tuned a shade more sporty. But the Opel Corsa GSi with 106 hp, the Fiat Punto GT with a 131 hp turbo engine or the then young VW Polo GTI with 120 hp were also fishing in the same pond. However, the Citroën offered its own unique blend of restraint and pure mechanics.
Over the years, the VTS model range has expanded to make the sporty look accessible with smaller engines (75 to 100 hp). A major facelift in 1999 with the characteristic almond headlights brought the look up to date once again, before the series was finally discontinued in 2003, after seven years and replacement with the C2. Anyone looking for a well-preserved VTS in original condition today needs patience. The relevant used car markets do not offer much. A brief search did not find more than a handful of examples – depending on condition, between a good 5.000 and 9.000 euros.
