After my old Xantia TD saloon went to the great scrapheap in the sky (actually, I think it's still running as my garage's courtesy car) we bought a C5, so the stable is now a 2007 C5 2.0HDi 16V (138) Exclusive Estate and a 2000 Xantia 2.0HDi (110) Exclusive Estate. Respective mileages are 19k and 141k (we tend to run cars til they die...). I can't comment on maintenance costs because the C5 hasn't needed any yet, the HDI Xantia seems cheap enough to run, despite the non-commonality of the front-end with every other Xantia (OK, there was an exchange driveshaft, the long one. Ouch.).
If you want a shed on wheels, then either will do. The C5 is fractionally bigger in the boot, but not to the extent you'd expect with 4 more inches on the overall length of the car - that mostly seems to have gone on bumpers. The boot's a bit higher in the sides, though the hatch seems smaller. Well-loaded for a holiday with child, the split rear hatch on the C5 is a boon - you can open just the glass and drop things in, rather than opening up the whole estate door. A simple trick, but very handy. You can push buttons in the boot to make the rear suspension go up and down. Haven't seen a point to that, yet.
Inside, a 6' driver can at last get far enough away from the pedals (always a Xantia problem, the "italian" driving position) but the price is paid for that in rear-seat legroom which is probably less than the Xantia.
The main differences between the two are in the driving experience, which boils down to the engine and the chassis. The 16v 138 engine is a powerful lump, it goes well. Midrange point-and-squirt overtaking in the 40-to-70 band in 3rd or 4th gear is damned impressive. What isn't impressive is the throttle response and the turbo lag, which is noticeably worse than the relatively snappy HDI 110 engine. The fly-by-wire throttle has a very long travel (which is probably why that same engine feels snappier in the Ford S-max that we also test drove) which doesn't help, but there's a noticeable delay between pushing the pedal and the elves under the bonnet pedalling much harder. They do pedal hard, very hard, but they have to take a deep breath first
. I'm sure I'll adapt, it's probably all in a good cause of optimising fuel consumption or something. As a motorway cruising engine it's brilliant - oodles of torque, very well managed by the cruise control, just dial in the speed you want and (within sanity on English motorways) there's no sense of strain at all.
The C5 chassis is simply not as good as the Hydractive II Xantia. With the "I'm in a hurry" button (aka sport mode) pushed on the dashboard to nip it tighter, sooner, the Xantia estate can be a complete hoot to drive. Mine's on relatively sticky rubber (a mix of Michelin Pilot Primacy and Goodyear Excellence) and you can stuff it into bends with gay abandon. It turns in sharply and neutrally, and it steers nicely on the throttle - running wide or tightening in as you command.
The C5 just isn't in the same league. It understeers fairly doggedly, it doesn't seem to react much to the throttle, it doesn't change direction quickly enough for B-road fun, and pushed hard on sweeping A-roads (for those of you who know it, the A169 Pickering to Whitby road is good for a laugh) it wallows and drifts and feels numb and ragged where the Hydractive II Xantia simply plants itself down on the road and gets on with the job. That said, I got it across the A169 in pretty quick time, I just didn't particularly enjoy the experience. Driven at 7-tenths it's fine, and frankly (with that lovely strong engine) the C5 at 7-tenths is probably faster than the Xantia being caned. It just ain't *fun*, is what I'm saying. That may be tyre-dependent - the Pilot Primacys on the front are nearly shagged, may try the Goodyear alternative next, have been well impressed with them on the Xantias.
Does any car need 6 gears? The C5 engine certainly doesn't. I don't tow a caravan, mind...
My Xantia has had the silly spring in the brakes removed (12mm water pipe does the trick), so they're Real Citroen Brakes. Unlike the C5 brakes, which I'm sure are fine if you like that sort of thing. Like the throttle response, I'll get used to it.
C5 is returning (by its own uncalibrated odometer) about 44mpg (though the trip computer suggests 48 ) and the Xantia returns about 48 (but I know its speedo overreads by 10%, so I assume its odometer does too, I ought to borrow a pocket GPS).
Summary: It's bigger, it's faster, it's newer, it's got lots of toys, it's got plenty of room, you can cover hundreds of miles in it without getting pains in the back and legs, it's a good practical family car. But it's not really an entertaining driver's car in the sense that the Hydractive Xantia managed to sneak in as under the radar. Guess that wasn't in the spec.
All the above is just my opinion, not to be confused in any way with "fact".
Pete
