Citroen C5 - Day To Day Choice : BIG SOFTY

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Citroen is proud of its C5's German influences but has some French character been sacrificed along the way? Steve Walker takes a look.

I must admit to being mildly flummoxed by the launch advertising campaign for Citroen's C5. The audience were treated to the sight of a blonde businessman driving the car through a landscape overflowing with German iconography from gothic castles and snow-covered pine forests to imperial eagles, all backed by a Wagner soundtrack. Boris pauses only to eat some Bratwurst in a bier keller before parking up at Berlin's Brandenburg gate. The Citroen C5, a heavily accented voiceover tells us, is "unmistakably German - made in France". Great. Now Citroen, the most ferociously French of any car manufacturer is openly admitting to aping the Germans. Whatever next?

You can understand why to a point. The Germans make some fantastic cars, slick, efficient and peerlessly engineered but surely Citroen, with its glorious history of wilful French quirkiness, is the last manufacturer that should be trying to beat them at their own game. The hope remained that the advertising men were merely drawing attention to the strides that had been made in terms of quality and engineering in the C5 and that beneath its cloak of Teutonic efficiency the car would still be just a little bit odd as all the best Citroens are. The only way to find out the truth was to get to grips with the C5 on a one to one basis and our long term test car provided just that opportunity. The C5 definitely has a more classically handsome look about it than lots of recent Citroen products. It follows the broad conventions of the medium range car market but uses some expertly conceived detailing to mark out its own personality. In Tourer estate form, it's even more of a stunner but our test car in the saloon bodystyle still has the capacity to draw admiring glances. The large Citroen double chevron badge that extends right across the nose suggests a car proud of its parentage, while the heavily contoured flanks draw the eye along to the neat rear end with its small boot lid spoiler.

"The French are never likely to do German as well as the Germans"

In the cabin, claims to Germanic standards of fit, finish and materials quality do fall a little flat but if by German, you mean BMW, Audi and Mercedes, that's hardly surprising. Cars from these marques that match the Citroen C5 in size operate in the compact executive sector and are substantially more expensive: even Volkswagen will charge quite a premium for its Passat. The fact is that the C5 is competitive with its family car contemporaries if you're evaluating the way the cabin looks and feels. There are too many small buttons clustered together on the steering wheel and the centre console to make the control interfaces easy to grasp but the lines are clean and that hint of quirky Citroen design is in evidence. Would a German manufacturer fit a fixed-hub steering wheel? Of course it wouldn't and Citroen's one works very well. The centre section of the wheel remains stationary so it's easier to locate all those buttons and, importantly, so there's a stable platform for the driver's airbag to deploy from. The big comfy seats in the C5 don't feel very German either. They might lack a little support if you're going to fling the C5 round a corner but they're a superb place to sit out a motorway marathon. The other component that's overwhelmingly Citroen is optional. It's the Hydractive 3 Plus self levelling suspension that adapts to the road surface in order to deliver a smooth, magic carpet ride. This system lets the driver select from three modes that offer progressively firmer suspension settings for a sportier driving experience or a more comfortable one as required. Lesser models lack this feature but they're still set up for long distance comfort rather than B-road blasting. When you think how the majority of C5s will be used, it's hard to dispute that this is the right way to go. The C5 isn't a sharp driver's tool like Ford's Mondeo and is some way behind the German compact executive elite in terms of handling dynamics but it can match all comers in terms of comfort and beat most of them with Hydractive 3 Plus installed. Surprises are in short supply in the C5 engine range with the majority of the units carried over from the outgoing car. The one exception is the 2.7-litre HDi V6 unit that debuted to considerable critical acclaim in the C6 executive saloon. The petrol line-up begins with the 127bhp 1.8-litre unit and ends with the 143bhp 2.0-litre but it's the diesels that will account for the majority of sales. Citroen are offering HDi oil-burners of 1.6, 2.0 and 2.2 litre capacities respectively producing 110, 138 and 173bhp as well as the 208bhp V6 range-topper. We opted for the 2.0-litre 136bhp HDi diesel model that most will probably end up choosing. With prices starting from just under £18,000, it's relatively affordable for a diesel-powered Mondeo-sized family model of this kind and cheap to run. The figures suggested that we should average around 50mpg on a regular basis and we've been able to come close to that with our test car. The French are never likely to do German as well as the Germans so the Citroen C5 was embarking down a questionable road with its launch advertising. Thankfully, there's more to the car than the slavish mimicking of those pesky Bavarians - the Citroen DNA is alive and well just below the surface. In the past, Citroen products may have scared some customers away with their overt Frenchness. By falling more in to line with the herd, the C5 may have a better chance of convincing them that it's worth a closer look.

Facts At A Glance
CAR: Citroen C5 range
PRICES: £16,695-£26,395 - on the road
INSURANCE GROUPS: 8-13
CO2 EMISSIONS: 149-212g/km
PERFORMANCE: [2.0 HDi] Max Speed 127mph / 0-60mph 11.6s
FUEL CONSUMPTION: [2.0 HDi] (urban) 35.8mpg / (extra urban) 57.6mpg / (combined) 47.1mpg
STANDARD SAFETY FEATURES: Twin Front, side and curtain airbags / ABS / ESP
WILL IT FIT IN YOUR GARAGE?: [saloon] Length/Width/Height 4779/1853/1458mm