Citroen C5 2.2 HDi Exclusive review
by David Finlay (15 May 2008)
As with all journalists, there lies at the core of my being a revulsion for all marketing and advertising campaigns. I can't therefore claim to be a dispassionate expert on those subjects, and in general it's better if I shut up about them. But I must say I have a problem with the campaign for the new Citroen C5, in which we're told that despite being French the car is as good as something made in Germany.
Actually, I smiled when I passed a billboard which had a picture of the C5 along with the words "tres Bonn". Thought that was quite clever. Other than that, I think the whole thing is wrong, because it conveys a lack of confidence on the part of the manufacturer about its latest car. And if there is one car in the recent history of Citroen which should be making the company puff up its chest and say, "Look at us! Aren't we clever?" it's the C5.
This is, for a start, surely the most elegant Citroen there has ever been this side of the 1950s DS. That factor alone puts it well ahead of the previous C5, but there are many other advances in addition to that. From the time the new car was first announced last year, Citroen has emphasised the attention it has paid to noise reduction, and this has turned out to be perhaps the major triumph.
The test car had the 173bhp 2.2-litre HDi turbo diesel engine (there are 1.6, 2.0 and 2.7 V6 alternatives, as well as 1.8- and two-litre petrol units), and a very fine piece of work it is too, capable of pushing this large car from 0-62mph in 10.0 seconds and on to a maximum of 136mph, figures which are beaten in the range only by the 2.7 V6. The more impressive point, though, is that in every situation - from a cold start to flat-out acceleration - its dieselness is almost imperceptible; rarely is anything more than a distant hum allowed to seep from the engine bay to the passenger compartment.
Another thing in the C5's favour is that it is very comfortable indeed - certainly in the test car's range-topping Exclusive trim. The Exclusive has only a few extra pieces of equipment to distinguish it from the VTR+, which is £1500 cheaper, and among the most important of these are the multi-adjustable front seats.
The first time I got into the car, the driver's seat felt okay, but it didn't take long for me to sense some strain in the middle of my back. As things turned out, that was because I hadn't spent enough time adjusting the seat. It's worth taking some time to do this, because once I'd fiddled with the various buttons to get the support I needed for my particular body shape, the seat became one of the best I've ever found in any car.
Something else I learned was the importance of the Sport button mounted just behind the gearlever. It's easy to miss, but it's very important. If you don't use it, the C5 feels like a large French saloon car of the old school - brilliant on smooth roads without many corners, but far too floppy in all other situations.
The Sport button resets the Hydractive suspension, and although the difference isn't dramatic I can't begin to tell you how effective it is. The handling perks up considerably, and at the same time the ride quality improves, simply because you no longer feel like you're sailing a trawler across the stormy seas of North Utsira. I suspect that the Sport setting is the one the engineers intended to use all along, and if you're going to buy a C5 I suggest you press the button before you leave the dealership and don't even think about unpressing it until you sell the car.
So far, then, the C5 has proved to be beautiful, amazingly quiet, extraordinarily comfortable, reasonably quick and very nice to drive. It also has a great deal of space for the driver and passengers, but luggage room isn't quite so impressive. The boot holds 439 litres, which isn't bad, but it's less than you get in the four-door saloon versions of, for example, the Audi A4, BMW 3-Series, Ford Mondeo, Mercedes-Benz C-Class or Volkswagen Passat (though more than Peugeot provides in the 407).
The saloon's boot opening is also quite narrow and the sill high, so loading isn't as easy as it might be. If you want a C5 and you need to carry large objects you'll have to wait for the Tourer, which holds 533 litres - 1490 if you fold down the rear seat - and goes on sale in the summer.
While we're being critical I may as well mention a couple of other ways in which it is below average. The audio system is fine in most respects, but the controls are quite low down and so small that it's difficult to read what's printed on each button without devoting your full attention to the task. Unless you've memorised where everything is, you'd be well advised to stop the car before changing stations.
The interior is also notable for its almost complete absence of cupholders. Not that I get too fussed about that sort of thing personally, but it could be enough to persuade some people to leave the Citroen dealership and look elsewhere, which would be a pity.
A more serious problem area is visibility. At the back this isn't too bad, by the appalling standard to which the industry has sunk in the last few years, but the windscreen pillars are too thick and there are dreadful blind spots to each side of the car which mean you have to take extra care at junctions or while preparing to overtake.
I find this depressing because I'm sure Citroen could have done a better job here (it was certainly on world-class form when it ensured that the forward visibility of the C4 Picasso was better than that of any other compact MPV). On the other hand, the good bits about the C5 far outweigh the bad bits, and I'm delighted that Citroen has come up with a design which is full of excellent features and not spoiled it by throwing in several utterly barmy ones as well (C4 Picasso again).
Apart from that quick grumble right at the start, I've come this far without comparing the C5 to the German opposition in the way that Citroen seems to want me to. I didn't feel the need to do this when I was driving it either. The C5 feels absolutely nothing like an Audi, BMW or Mercedes-Benz, so despite what the advertisers are saying it simply isn't "unmistakeably German". That phrase is as irrelevant as it is wrong - the C5 is in fact brilliantly French, and it would be nice to see Citroen celebrating the fact.
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