Tuning and mods for the Citroen Saxo

"SAXOn warrior"

Time to look at the tuning options for the Saxo.

Being a popular car it has many parts and performance options so we'll outline the best ways to improve your car.

The Citroen Saxo was introduced back in 1996 and was very closely related to the Peugeot 106 sharing many common parts and components.

Many high performance parts can be sourced from the Peugeot 106 parts bin so with a bit of research you should be able to save money and have a wider choice of Saxo mods.

Engine tuning mods.

These mods sports modifications are usually installed by our members, decide how far you wish to go in your tuning project before you begin.

Getting the best performance mods for your planned usage of the car is essential. Stage 3 motor sport mods just won't work well on the road and will make the car undrivable.

Please watch our video which covers the 5 principles of tuning your car. Be sure to keep up with our latest YouTube content and subscribe.

Best mods for your Saxo

  1. Remaps - A Remapped Saxo ECU provides the most power in terms of cost, aftermarket ECU upgrades, and piggyback ECUs are all alternatives.
  2. Fast road Camshafts are generally the biggest mechanical mod upgrade, but they must be setup by someone who knows what they are doing and they are not always easy to source but you might find a local firm to regrind a stock camshaft.
  3. Intake Upgrades and Performance Exhausts - Note that on their own these mods will NOT ADD POWER in most cases, but they can help enhance power after other mods by removing the restriction.
  4. Saxo Handling Mods (suspension) - Fitting a more sporty Suspension kit greatly enhances your Saxo road holding and cornering. Poly Bushes and Coilovers are typically fitted to achieve this
  5. Brake Upgrades - Improve your Saxo's stopping power ought to be near the top of your Mods list.
  6. Flowing and porting the engine head - for larger gains, you will get better flow and make a more efficient engine if you do this to support your other mods.

Saxo Tuning Stages

Typical stage 1 mods often include: Sports exhaust, Engine Tunes/Remapping, Suspension upgrade (drop 30-40mm), Panel air filter, Alloy wheels, Lighter flywheel.

Typical stage 2 mods often include: Power/Sport clutch, high flow fuel injector, fuel pump upgrades, Fast road cam, Ported and polished head.

Typical stage 3 mods often include: Adding or upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger), Sports gearbox, Engine balancing, Competition cam, Internal engine upgrades (pistons/head/valves).

Your aim when modding the engine should be a flat and wide torque curve. You don't want all the torque to be at the top end unless you are creating a competition car.

The VTS enjoys a more powerful 16 valve engine (the VTR has only 8) which produces 120 brake horsepower.

It propels the car to 60 in around 7.6 seconds and makes the Saxo a very capable track car or fun road car.

TorqueCars have seen the Saxo outperform much more powerful cars on very short twisty tracks where the nimble handling and quick steering reactions come into play.

The car is very agile and the best models for suitable tuning projects would include the 1.6 VTR and the 1.6 VTS.

Tuning tips and articles

Engine tuning Transmission tuning Care care Intake & exhaust mods Improve handling Forums

The Saxo is very popular with young drivers as it is cheap to run and insure and there is certainly no shortage of tuning parts available for it. The first modifications you want to do to a Citroen Saxo is outbreak the brakes and you will find that the disc brakes from a Peugeot 306 will fit nicely.

The Saxo is a very nimble car which can outperform more powereful cars on short twisty tracks!

Engine swaps are also very straight forward with the Saxo and you can, with relative ease insert the 1.6 engine into a car fitted with the 1 litre engine and enjoy almost three times as much power. With so many suitable engines available from breakers yards this becomes a very low cost performance modification.

You will also need to upgrade the security on the car (only the VTS model comes with reasonable security equipment), TorqueCars would suggest a deadlock and immobiliser. There are a few tuning companies which can provide turbo conversions offering astronomical power gains! These can be quite costly and require a fair bit of engine work.

Due to its light weight and small proportions, any amount of tuning has a noticeable impact on the car's performance. For the ultimate track day car remove the back seats fit a roll cage, and get some lightweight alloy wheels.

As far as the engine goes you should get the head properly gas flowed and ported, fit an induction kit and sports exhaust and apply a fast road cam. A fuel pressure boost felt will also increase the response in acceleration from rest.

Saxo Handling/Suspension Upgrades

Many Saxo owners uprate the handling of their cars with fast road suspension parts as a priority, this will certainly increase your enjoyment of the car.

We suggest that you fit motorsport suspension and lower the car by 30 - 40 Larger drops require arch work - especially on models already equipped with performance suspension.

Upgrades to the Saxo's suspension and handling

Handling upgrades are often the initial step for the Saxo.

What considerations must you make when setting up and selecting your suspension if your Saxo serves as a daily car as well?

Upgrading your Bushes

What factors should you consider when setting up and selecting your suspension if your Saxo is also used as a daily driver?

The suspension components of the Saxo may be mounted and moved around the car's chassis through bushes, which are rotating rubber mounts. The rubber ones will degrade with time.

By replacing new OEM rubber bushings, you may greatly improve your vehicle's performance.

Because the polyurethane bushes are firmer, the ride may be a bit bumpier, but they will last longer and maintain the handling.

They may also hasten the depreciation of other suspension components due to the increased vibration and play.

A new set of poly bushes might help to lessen the excessive play associated with rubber bushes.

Rarer and older models may only have polyurethane versions of the main bushes available as aftermarket bushing kits, however the majority of recent models have a complete set of suspension bushes for all parts of your suspension mounts.

You may be able to have custom bushes created to suit your needs.

Many people believe that a 30mm lower Saxo from a franchised component shop would be ideal. However, this is not the case.

Vendors may assert that their Saxo suspension kits are compatible with any or all of the Saxo model years.

To adequately support a diverse variety of vehicles, the "compromized"approach is obviously a mistake as engine weights and equipment trim levels all affect the cars handling characteristics.

How low should you go on the Saxo?

According to TorqueCars research and testing, the maximum amount of suspension drop for most road vehicles is 30 - 40 millimetres, whereas versions that come with lowered suspension already have a maximum suspension drop of 21 millimetres.

These tolerances may be drastically lowered if the wheel size is changed. Even with 17"wheels and stock suspension, lowering the vehicle might result in a slew of complications.

While the fact that the Saxo being lower allows for less air to travel underneath it may aid in stability, the ultimate goal should always be to enhance handling. When lowering the springs, it is critical to use the proper shocks that match all round.

If you set the toe out to 0.8 to 1.3 degrees on the front, and add some negative camber then cornering will dramatically improve.

Fitting meatier brake discs and better quality pads can make for greatly enhanced braking.

Bear in mind that race brake pads can grind and will need a lot of heat before they start to work.

On a road car the brakes are occasionally used, therefore will not be effective so source friction pads which have a low working temperature.

Alloy wheel upgrades.

Alloy wheels will help the brakes cool down and are generally lighter than steel ones. We'd like to point out although they can look cool on the Saxo big alloy wheels will actually decrease your performance. The larger you go the lower your acceleration will be - this to the change in your effective final drive ratio.

Due to this endeavour to keep the overall rolling diameter of the wheel your OEM settings. In all cases without going bigger than 16 inches.

Please browse our tuning tips pages and join the forum to discuss the best tuning methods and modifications for your Saxo with our other dedicated Saxo tuners.

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One Response to “Tuning the Citroen Saxo”

  1. jayden says:

    Can some one tell me in detail how to turbo a citron saxo vtr 1.6 16v

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