I've been on and off this forum for quite some time, but as I again have a Citroen its probably time to run a blog. This is also running on Pistonheads so will copy the blurb from there for now, apologies if some of it doesn't make much sense. I must say I'm totally smitten by it at the moment, it is exactly what I wanted it to be, and I'm really glad I held out for a month to find it. I went and collected it last Monday so I'm just over a week into ownership now.
Since selling my Legacy a month ago I've been borrowing cars from friends and family whilst spending all the hours looking at what to replace it with and that was a real challenge.
My initial plan was to get something smaller, as it's mostly just me going too and from work. I didn't really want to spend more than a few grand and was pretty set on a Clio 197/200 but when I really thought about it, I figured once the novelty wore off, the ride and size would get pretty tiresome. Especially as the wife's C3 Picasso isn't "quite" big enough as a family of 4s main car, especially when you throw 3 dogs into the mix.
Then for some reason I then went and had a look at a 2007 Freelander 2. It was local and cheap, but had done 177k. I passed thankfully.
I then really thought about what I use a car for, and my new commute (mostly A road and M27/M3) I realised I wanted: comfy heated seats, good lights a good stereo and decent fuel economy.
With my few grand budget I spent an absurd amount of time looking at Saab 9-3 and 9-5s as I thought this might work but had reservations about ride and the quality of car I could get for the budget. I was also fed up with putting so much fuel in the Legacy I worried a Saab would do similar (was looking at aero only).
Now anyone who's followed my car disasters over the years will know I have a bit of a thing for French cars, well Citroen mostly. This wasn't helped when my good friend Kitchski got himself a budget C6 https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/top ... &t=1891600 I've always loved the C6 and have always wanted one. The problem was, as always, was my budget. £750 ones don't come up often and when they do, they require a gearbox. The good ones with the spec I wanted and history are 3.5k upwards, with circa 120k on the clocks and from 2006/7. Call me a tart but I wanted a newer car than the car is just sold.
I did find what I thought was a good C6 in Oxford which I went and saw a couple of weeks ago. It was newer (just), it was a lignage but had full leather (important as I wanted heated seats) and it had the upgraded stereo. Unfortunately it wasn't well as you can see below.

What this did do for me was give me my first ever ride in a C6, which was a good thing. The ride was lovely but the inside just felt a tiny bit dated to me. Add this to my own personal concerns, tax being £565 a year, potential running costs and the fact it is a saloon, which isn't ideal with dogs and bicycles (I was willing to overlook this before I actually went in one) I was torn on what to do. I still wanted one, but my wife is so pissed off with me changing cars whatever I get I need to keep for some time and I couldn't be sure this would be the case with a C6.
Whilst looking at cars I'd also been looking at the Citroen C5 Touring Exclusive whilst considering a C6. The exclusive has the same hydractive suspension as the C6, and the tourer is the estate version....
If the title hasn't given it away you can guess where this is going.