I hesitate to use the word "modern" and "Citation" in the same sentence, but it was a new generation of car compared to the Vega. EFI came along for it in 1985, and I actually quite liked the sportier X-11 version with the slick 5-spoke wheels, beefy tires, a bulging hood, 2.8 V6 and that typical 2.8 rasp from the muffler. My neighbor had one and it was a great car for her.
The whole brake lockup doomed it, even though it was far from being the only car that would lock the rear brakes in a panic stop. I never really figured out why the Citation was singled out for this issue, but there was a LOT of bad press over it. Apparently it got quite tail-happy during hard braking. To me, that's just a common-sense issue, which has led to wide use of ABS.
Little known fact: The Citation's drivetrain could later be found in the Fiero, a car I feel was killed before its prime.