Is this Citroën AX Salsa worth £2,500?
There's a delightful, low-mileage, Citroën AX Salsa for sale on Auto Trader. PetrolBlog asks: is it worth the £2,500 asking price? Well, is it?
This Citroën AX Salsa recently celebrated its 30th birthday. Think about that before you suggest that £2,500 is a lot of money to ask for a Citroën AX.
The fact is, as James Ruppert pointed out last year, “valuing used cars, especially when they are oddities, is always something of a coin toss.”
Mr Bangernomics went on to suggest that low-mileage, early-2000s retro models are the cars to buy. This AX Salsa might be from a decade earlier, but it certainly ticks the ‘low-mileage’ box. It's done around 25,000 miles, in case you were wondering.
How do you put a value on a Citroën AX Salsa with 25k miles on the clock? This was a question posed by Dan Ralley on PetrolBlog's Facebook page. The answer is, it's quite tricky.
Salsa steps ahead
To many people, the Citroën AX is still too familiar and recent to be classed as a classic. Up until fairly recently, the Citroën AX was a common sight in the supermarket car parks and on the high streets of Britain. But ask yourself this, when was the last time you saw one?
Actually, don't answer that until we've been released from the lockdown.
Aside from the low mileage, what else does this Citroën AX Salsa have on its side? Well, the condition looks great, and let's remember that the metallic blue paint was unique to the Salsa. It also boasts its original Trelawney Garage dealer sticker and number plates from when it was sold new in Penzance.
It's a special edition, although hardly a week went by when Citroën didn't release another special version of the AX. The pre-facelift Salsa is arguably more desirable than the later model, if only for the bespoke wheel trims, the more tasteful decals and the pre-facelift cabin.
Salsa driving rhythm
Seriously, look at the cabin. It's super clean, super desirable and wonderfully basic. Note the Citroën badge to the left of the speedo – there's no clock or rev counter in here. Still, the Salsa did boast a glass sunroof and a Blaupunkt radio-cassette player, so you can listen to your Now That's What I Call Cuban Beats cassette with the roof open.
It's one of two Citroën AXs for sale on Auto Trader right now, but while this Salsa is double the price of the other one – a late model Memphis – it's also twice as nice. As the cliché goes, try finding another one.
To answer the original question, is it worth £2,500? Maybe, maybe not. Let the market decide.
At this price, it will sell to an owner who will cherish it and maintain it to the condition that makes it stand out on the pages of Auto Trader. Rather this than risk it falling into the wrong hands or – shudder – get chopped in as part of a scrappage deal. There are rumours such a thing will return later this year...
For now, enjoy this Citroën AX Salsa for what it is. As the other cliché goes: good luck with the sale.
Oh, and stay safe.
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