nice car!....I've just bought a 58 plate 2.0 hdi manual, dark blue colour.
picking it up on Saturday. I've been driving a 207 1.6 hdi for the past 4 years and wanted something bigger. I liked the hdi engine and did look at mazda 6, mondeo, passat and insignia.....but I kept coming back to the C5.
they are a very rare sight on the roads as well which I like ! pics to follow...
Bought a 2009 C5 2.0HDi Exclusive Auto.
Moderator: RichardW
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- Location: Northeast
- My Cars: 07 Citroen C6 V6 HDi Exclusive - Red
07 Citroen C5 HDi VTR - Red
09 Citroen C3 1.4i VTR - Silver
01 Citroen Saxo 1.1i Forte - Mango Orange
93 Ford Mondeo 2.0i GLX
19 Hyundai i10 - x 110
Looks very nice, the new C5s are growing on me.
hdi_man: Welcome to the forum. What trim level have you got? Exclusive with hydractive or SX/VTR with coils?
hdi_man: Welcome to the forum. What trim level have you got? Exclusive with hydractive or SX/VTR with coils?
Chris
07 Citroen C6 V6 HDi Exclusive - Red
07 Citroen C5 HDi VTR - Red
09 Citroen C3 1.4i VTR - Silver
01 Citroen Saxo 1.1i Forte - Mango Orange
.
93 Ford Mondeo 2.0i GLX
19 Hyundai i10
07 Citroen C6 V6 HDi Exclusive - Red
07 Citroen C5 HDi VTR - Red
09 Citroen C3 1.4i VTR - Silver
01 Citroen Saxo 1.1i Forte - Mango Orange
.
93 Ford Mondeo 2.0i GLX
19 Hyundai i10
-
- Posts: 8125
- Joined: 04 Dec 2008, 22:08
- Location: Northeast
- My Cars: 07 Citroen C6 V6 HDi Exclusive - Red
07 Citroen C5 HDi VTR - Red
09 Citroen C3 1.4i VTR - Silver
01 Citroen Saxo 1.1i Forte - Mango Orange
93 Ford Mondeo 2.0i GLX
19 Hyundai i10 - x 110
Well Review Then, I'll start from the beginning.
My previous car was a 2007 Mondeo one of the sharpest handling saloons on sale and it was a 6 speed manual with a 3.0V6 petrol engine.
So going to a Citroen C5 diesel auto is pretty much about as different as you can get.
So why first?
Mondeo was an awesome car it could really put a smile on your face but 25mpg was starting to hurt and high speed motorway work resulted in quite a bit of wind and road noise. Add to that the state of our roads since winter and I was starting to get a bit frustrated with it banging over potholes. To cap it all I'll be moving jobs and doing more mileage on motorways so I thought it was time for a change.
Reading different reviews for a refined motorway cruiser the C5 kept popping up. My wife likes a fully adjustable passenger seat so when I learned the Exclusive had 14way electric seating on the front seats the C5 firmly made it onto my test drive list. I do like a good automatic and as it turned out a large proportion of Exclusive diesels on the market are autos.
So everything looking good on paper I went for a test drive.
I'd read the reviews on the build quality and reliability but I was very impressed with the build on the test drive, I was also impressed with the performance as I was expecting it to be really sluggish.
So deal done and I've been driving it about a week now.
First thing everyone mentions is the refinement, the diesel is very quite on light to medium throttle and the auto is silky smooth. After the lack of noise everyone comments on the ride quality which is the best I've ever experienced. This is what I bought the C5 for and it's still impressing me as I drive different routes.
The steering I'm still learning as the Mondeo had loads of feel, you could position the car millimetre perfect in a bend but the stearing was heavy in town, the C5's is so light you can use one finger but there is no feel at all, you turn the wheel and look where the car has gone. I'll get used to it but would have prefered a little more feel and weight, especially around the straight ahead point.
Other niggles are the tiptronic function on the gearbox is obviosly setup for left hand drive and is a stretch to use but to be honest it's good enough to be left in D. Sports mode on the gearbox hangs onto the gears for too long so it's just noisy annoying mode instead. Still D is perfect anyway.
Other things I like would be the dashboard display, interior lighting and mood lighting. I thought the corner lighting would be pointless but it really works well. The sound sytem is really good far better than the sony system in the Mondeo, I just need to sort out the USB box install.
The seats are amazing, I wish they were heated but you can get perfectly comfortable.
What else can I think of?
The sports suspension mode works well but I wouldn't call it sporty. It's sort of slightly stiffer with more controlled damping than the normal mode.
Even in sports mode it's not a firm as the Mondeo's ride was and that didn't have the optional sports suspension fitted.
The speed limiter I thought I'd never use but it works so well I've been playing with it alot but I expect it's not quite as usefull in a manual car.
So that's my first round of thoughts. The C5 is exceeding all my expectations and some things I'm still getting used to.
I'll post up more thoughts as I have them.
Cheers
Lee
My previous car was a 2007 Mondeo one of the sharpest handling saloons on sale and it was a 6 speed manual with a 3.0V6 petrol engine.
So going to a Citroen C5 diesel auto is pretty much about as different as you can get.
So why first?
Mondeo was an awesome car it could really put a smile on your face but 25mpg was starting to hurt and high speed motorway work resulted in quite a bit of wind and road noise. Add to that the state of our roads since winter and I was starting to get a bit frustrated with it banging over potholes. To cap it all I'll be moving jobs and doing more mileage on motorways so I thought it was time for a change.
Reading different reviews for a refined motorway cruiser the C5 kept popping up. My wife likes a fully adjustable passenger seat so when I learned the Exclusive had 14way electric seating on the front seats the C5 firmly made it onto my test drive list. I do like a good automatic and as it turned out a large proportion of Exclusive diesels on the market are autos.
So everything looking good on paper I went for a test drive.
I'd read the reviews on the build quality and reliability but I was very impressed with the build on the test drive, I was also impressed with the performance as I was expecting it to be really sluggish.
So deal done and I've been driving it about a week now.
First thing everyone mentions is the refinement, the diesel is very quite on light to medium throttle and the auto is silky smooth. After the lack of noise everyone comments on the ride quality which is the best I've ever experienced. This is what I bought the C5 for and it's still impressing me as I drive different routes.
The steering I'm still learning as the Mondeo had loads of feel, you could position the car millimetre perfect in a bend but the stearing was heavy in town, the C5's is so light you can use one finger but there is no feel at all, you turn the wheel and look where the car has gone. I'll get used to it but would have prefered a little more feel and weight, especially around the straight ahead point.
Other niggles are the tiptronic function on the gearbox is obviosly setup for left hand drive and is a stretch to use but to be honest it's good enough to be left in D. Sports mode on the gearbox hangs onto the gears for too long so it's just noisy annoying mode instead. Still D is perfect anyway.
Other things I like would be the dashboard display, interior lighting and mood lighting. I thought the corner lighting would be pointless but it really works well. The sound sytem is really good far better than the sony system in the Mondeo, I just need to sort out the USB box install.
The seats are amazing, I wish they were heated but you can get perfectly comfortable.
What else can I think of?
The sports suspension mode works well but I wouldn't call it sporty. It's sort of slightly stiffer with more controlled damping than the normal mode.
Even in sports mode it's not a firm as the Mondeo's ride was and that didn't have the optional sports suspension fitted.
The speed limiter I thought I'd never use but it works so well I've been playing with it alot but I expect it's not quite as usefull in a manual car.
So that's my first round of thoughts. The C5 is exceeding all my expectations and some things I'm still getting used to.
I'll post up more thoughts as I have them.
Cheers
Lee
2009 C5 2.0HDi Exclusive Auto. Storm Grey.
One other thing is the weight.
I've just got the V5 back and got a bit of a shock.
The Mondeo 3.0V6 GhiaX has a kerb weight of 1495kg according to Ford's brochure.
The actual cars "Mass in Service" on the V5 was 1475 kg so fairly close.
The C5 2.0HDi Auto Exclusive has a MINIMUM kerb weight of 1609kg according to Citroen's brochure.
The actual cars "Mass in Service" on the V5 is 1733kg
Makes the C5 over a quarter of a tonne heavier than the Mondeo.
Seems Citroen under estimated a bit.
As I'm going to tow with the C5 I don't mind the extra weight.
Cheers
Lee
I've just got the V5 back and got a bit of a shock.
The Mondeo 3.0V6 GhiaX has a kerb weight of 1495kg according to Ford's brochure.
The actual cars "Mass in Service" on the V5 was 1475 kg so fairly close.
The C5 2.0HDi Auto Exclusive has a MINIMUM kerb weight of 1609kg according to Citroen's brochure.
The actual cars "Mass in Service" on the V5 is 1733kg
Makes the C5 over a quarter of a tonne heavier than the Mondeo.
Seems Citroen under estimated a bit.
As I'm going to tow with the C5 I don't mind the extra weight.
Cheers
Lee
2009 C5 2.0HDi Exclusive Auto. Storm Grey.