EUROSTYLE

Two 1970s executives, both sporting a swoopy fastback style but so very different under the skin. We try to choose between conservative Rover and complex Citroën.

- Nigel Clark

In the early ’80s the market for executive cars was booming. While successful city boys were driving Porsches and Ferraris, long-serving senior managers up and down the country also had generous company car budgets but didn’t want to appear so brash. The executive saloon needed to make a more refi ned statement, signifying achievement, dependability and status. The market had changed from the 1970s company car pecking order based on Ford or Vauxhall and envy over GXL or Ghia badges.

By 1980, the British executive market had opened up to continental competitors. Head office car parks boasted French, German and Swedish cars between the Fords and Vauxhalls. Size mattered; nothing less than a 2-litre engine was to be found under the bonnets of these big, imposing motors. The executive saloon market had truly never been so crowded but sadly nowadays, these cars don’t survive in great numbers, excellent though many of them were.

Today we’re pitching the best of British against avant-garde French flair, as we line up Rover’s SD1 next to Citroën’s CX. The Rover came with a choice of engine sizes from an adequate entry-level 2-litre to the mighty 3.5-litre V8, wrapped in a svelte fastback body. Citroën had a tough act to follow when replacing the much-loved DS.

The CX may only have had four cylinders but with fuel injection and a turbo option, performance was never in question. Citroën’s hallmark self-leveling suspension set the CX apart, as did its futuristic styling.

No question these are two great cars that were both innovative and popular in their time. How does their appeal stand up today?

ROVER SD1