MK3 C5 "Exclusive" Trim All Seem Different?

[GiveMeABreak]

Yes looks that way. They should of designed LEDs into the X7 from the beginning - not the LED 'lookylikey', as the technology has been around way before the X7 was launched - no excuse there and certainly not for fitting those ridiculous HP24W bulbs in the most inaccessible place and then charging £40 a bulb. This is the thing that pi**es on your chips and gives them a bad reputation - it was totally unnecessary. The storage is another disaster as stickyfinger notes. Great - we get LED tech in the car, sensing lights for the storage holders, but only enough room to put your keys in and you can't fit in a bottle / can of pop or water anywhere. What is the point of having a cup holder in the front armrest when you would have to have this open in the vertical position to lift the cup ring up. Then you have nowhere to put your arm!
I do like the car - but I suppose it wouldn't be Citroen without some quirks. I think I have all the options, except the LDWS, Sunroof, additional rear side airbags and JBL. If I'd waited until I could find one with that lot too I'd still be waiting me thinks.!

[Paul-R]

I think there's no laminated side windows available on newer models.

They're still part of the Exclusive Techno Pack according to page 28 of the latest brochure. I haven't checked my own car, I don't have any polarising glasses and I'm not going to hit it with a hammer!

Question: are all the side glasses laminated or just the front doors? i.e. rear door dropglasses and, for the tourer, the rear fixed glasses?

[GiveMeABreak]

All side windows laminated on Exclusives with this.

[Paul-R]

Good to know, thanks.

[qprdude]

Did anyone mention the puddle lights, and foot lights by 4 on the Exclusive?
I'm with Kenny. I was told the different trim levels were down to the first purchaser who specified what options were required.
I have full leather/3 way memory/comfort entry and massage seats.
No front sensors and no sun roof.
Door pocket lights are fine when the car is stationary, but you wouldn't really want to be looking in the door pocket at 70mph on the motorway. Cubby storage is pretty useless, and the Sat Nav takes away another one.
Basically though, if it has an electric parking brake, it's an exclusive as far as I know. Exclusive also has rear side widow blinds.
I have the 173 Hp 2.2 sequential bi-turbo. It ain't frugal but it's quite rapid.

[Stickyfinger]

I also have foot-well lights, puddle lights, door handle light, snow button and the electric HB....I do not have the side window blinds

[Lenny]

The rear side window blinds came with full leather.
I think.

[GiveMeABreak]

Again, it's a right mish mash by the sounds of it. I have all the internal mood lighting on the carpets, ceiling console, dash and auto sensing lights on the door bins and the window blinds at the rear - but some others don't have the blinds or the ambient lighting. As said previously they seemed to drop off some features very subtly.

[Richard_C]

Its felt a bit 'end of line' production for a while, maybe Citroen ordered 10 boxfuls of ambient lights, 60,000 sets of window blinds and so on, and when those were used up, they didn't buy any more. Or they have an empowered workforce who, after lunch on a Friday, are allowed to fit the extras they fancy doing that day.

Anyway, back to original post. I have a VTR+Nav with the sunroof. It and loads of extras were on it when I bought it 18 months old. Its nice to have, doesn't open of course, especially with the dark tinted rear windows which could make the rear seats a bit dismal on a grey day. I leave it open most of the time, except when very cold and frosty because the car seems to warm up a bit quicker with the blind shut. Its fine in summer though, you don't boil, they must have the thermal tinting just right. Looks good from outside as well.

2 downsides. The folding semi-rigid blind mechanism is very clever but robs headroom just behind the rear passengers head and in the load space. Might not matter, might depending on what you carry. Also with the glass exposed you do pick up a bit more road noise I assume from having a rigid glass panel for it all to echo off. If you have passengers in the back its easier to have a conversation or listen to the radio with the blind closed. When we travel with 4, we leave it shut on the long Motorway stretches for that reason. I also wonder how much weight it adds high up in the car, a blind, a motor and a big chunk of glass must surely weigh more than a simple steel roof.

So, after 4 years + and 70k miles, the jury is still out. I am neutral on it, if I bought another one I would look for condition and the things I really wanted and not care too much about the glass roof.

I also have the electrochrome rear view mirror, too dark for my liking with tinted rear windows. No button at all, always on, so there is a piece of black insulating tape stuck over the sensor. From ones I have seen and the photo on here, it looks like Citroen bought at least 3 types of mirror and fitted whatever came to hand on the day.

[GiveMeABreak]

Very unusual that Richard - regarding the mirror. Different to the MK2 for sure as that had the button on the front next to the led. So mine with the button on the bottom and yours with no button at all! Can't fathom the logic of changing that design and the expense for what gain?? I have the rear blind up all the time on my saloon as it provides additional anti glare protection along with the darkening mirror from boy racers with those ridiculous dayglo blue illegal (I think) HID kits. Although the Navidrive 3D cost a lot more than the RT4 Nav system, there are no customisations that you can do with the NG4 unit - unlike the RT4 that I've seen people change the colours and themes of the screen with scripts. I'm limited to about 4 themes and that's it. My old RT3 Navidrive in the MK2 was semi-customisable in that you could put your own ringtones in if you were careful. Although the downside to that system was that the Female Sat Nav voice was like Regan in the Excorcist after a few egg noggs and a case of Special Brew down the throat when speaking street names or reading text messages.

[Paul-R]

All side windows laminated on Exclusives with this.

I checked my car this afternoon and on the RH (driver's) side only the front glass is laminated. The rear is definitely not and, I would suppose, neither is the fixed back light.

[vborovic]

I've decided to sit this one out and just enjoy the fun of the "Exclusive" discussion ...

Regarding the interior mirrors, there have been 3 variants:

- regular mirror with manual dimming (by pulling on the back-side lever that tilts the mirror slightly, exposing the 2nd layer glass - standard PSA gimmick) ... this is present on cars that don't have the windshield sensor
- auto-dimming mirror (outer mirrors regular) ... it can't be turned off. no button or option in the menu
- auto dimming mirror (outer mirrors also auto dimming) with an on/off button on the bottom ... it can be turned of with the button

All 3 are quite easy to tell apart:

- back side lever
- light sensor in the center of the back side, small "eye" on the front side of the mirror
- light sensor is shifted to the side on the back side, small "eye" on the front side, with the green indicator LED and the label AUTO (below which the on/off button is located)

Although it is true most of the things can be retrofitted (actually, everything, if you have the tools, the means and each and every related component, connector and cable), some are quite quirky ... for example, the under dash ambient light, not only did the stop placing them in latter cars, they've also disabled them in the BSI ... if you get your older BSI updated to the newer FW, you'll actually lose the ambient button functionality to turn it on/off, as well as actually preventing power to it ... and some can actually never be as original, since they'll be damaged during removal from the source car (sadly, there aren't unobtrusive methods to take some components apart without breaking something in the process) ...

A lot of questions have been opened here, and it is hard to answer them all ... regarding the "Exclusive" content, if heavily depends on the country/market ... from my knowledge and research, basically the minimum of the "Exclusive" is that it has Hydractive suspension and the electric parking brake ... literally everything else can be left out ... and, I've also found (with no confirmation) a few cars that are Exclusives, without the Hydractive - actually ordered that way from the factory ...

[qprdude]

Agree. There is a "base" Exclusive, then the options have been selected, possibly even for "show cars" at dealers. (demonstrators)

[centurus2400]

Such a variation on the Exclusive trim level - well we are are talking Citroen here...
My own X7 Estate is a 2008 model. It has full leather, panoramic roof, auto, ambient lighting, sat nav, rear window blinds, electrochrome interior mirror, and the door mirrors do move when you go into reverse. It is a very useful feature.
The Sat Nav is OK , if not fantastic. You can get to a road if not a specific postcode.
The sound system is excellent. When I first got the car I was distinctly unimpressed, but hidden amongst the many options is a setting which alters the quality of the sound. When I put this to the best setting, the sound was drastically improved. I can't remember off hand what I had to do to access it...

The only thing that I'd like to have had would be front parking sensors, it's not easy to manage without them. All in all it's a great car though. Mine is a 138 but it has been remapped to 160. Under normal conditions it does around 38-40 mpg.

[GiveMeABreak]

The only thing that I'd like to have had would be front parking sensors, it's not easy to manage without them. All in all it's a great car though. Mine is a 138 but it has been remapped to 160. Under normal conditions it does around 38-40 mpg.

I was thinking about a remap - but that's as far as I got! I had a £400 chip box that I fitted to the MK2 138, but made diddly difference to me, so I promptly sent that back! It has kind of put me off - and am also concerned about additional clutch / DMF wear as I have the manual 6 speed. Who did yours by the way?