Man Maths: Citroën AX GT

From then on I had no hope of keeping up. When I got to drive it, I could understand why. Any AX was laughably light (the bog-standard ones dipped below 700kg) and the GT was no exception, at a Gitanes-packet over 720kg. If you’d attached the twin-choke single carb 1360cc TU engine, five-speed gearbox, some dampers and springs and larger wheels to a shopping trolley, it’d probably weigh more.

That TU was an absolute snorter, the second choke kicking in with full throttle around 3500rpm and piling more air and fuel into the cylinders, which would set the GT up the road as though you’d switched on a turbocharger – a quaint party trick in an age when cars like the Daihatsu Charade GTti really were turbocharged. And again, because of how little it had to lug around, its 85bhp and 85lb ft (at a revvy 4000rpm) went a long way.

Progress was further hastened by Citroën’s innate understanding of how to make a car flow with a road – even fidgety British ones. It had soft springs and long-travel suspension, but delightfully direct steering that was so light and full of feel you just needed a thumb and forefinger to make the most extreme change of direction.

But concentration was required. If you sent it one way too suddenly then lifted, the back of the GT would step out as fast as you could cry for your maman. But it did so as progressively as you could hope from a car with such a short wheelbase, and once comfortable with it, the GT was in many ways a more reassuring companion than the faster, stiffer 205 GTI.

You knew, however, that any ham-fisted mistake would likely spell the end for the AX, because it offered all the impact protection of a croissant. So you respected it and the road, which meant you really thought about your driving.

Given it’s still summer and salted roads are a distant memory, it comes as a shock to see how many AX GTs remain on our roads. With an estimated 23 currently taxed and kicking-in that second choke – admittedly, only in the UK – there are more Ferrari 250 GTOs doing the rounds.

As you can imagine, the hunt for one of these will test your patience: AX GTs come up infrequently, and when they do there’s no shortage of people who’ve done their Man Maths and are ready to make an asking-price offer.

Drive one, and you’ll never wonder why again.

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