Citroën C5 X long-term test: report 2
The C5 X channels the style and comfort of Citroëns of old, but how does it stack up against its estate-car rivals? We're running one to find out...
The car Citroën C5 X 1.2 Puretech 130 Shine Plus Run by Mark Pearson, used cars editor
Why it’s here The distinctive C5 X seems to offer something different in the estate car class, with a set-up that prioritises comfort over sporty handling. We want to see if it can cut the mustard in real-world use
Needs to Prove It’s more than just a pretty face. It’ll need to dispatch commuting, work and family life with flair and cope with a wide variety of everyday duties
Miles covered 4335 Price £31,280 Target price £29,190 Price as tested £31,930 Official economy 48.6mpg Test economy 39.7mpg
7 January – Don't look back in anger
One month in and I’m officially sold on this Citroën C5 X.
The pleasure for me starts just looking at it, and it continues when I climb aboard and sink into its large, leather-faced driver’s seat, which is one of the nicest I’ve encountered in a long time. You see it strikes a really excellent compromise between being soft and comfortable on the one hand and properly supportive on the other. It’s lined with memory foam, which is apparently one of the factors that helps it to pull off this trick. With adjustable lumbar support thrown in and some remarkably efficient electric heating too, it’s making journeys long or short a pleasure.
In my car's top-spec Shine Plus trim, my driver’s seat also comes with a huge range of electrically operated adjustments. Indeed so broad is the range that you can raise yourself up so high and far forward you’ll have difficulty breathing or down so low and far back that even Tyson Fury would have problems seeing out.
Likewise, the neatly styled steering wheel, which can also be heated up, has a good range of adjustment, so finding the ideal driving position is easy. My only disappointment is that it’s not a single-spoke wheel, like those idiosyncratic Citroëns of old used to have.
Visibility for so large a car is good, too, at least to the front and sides. However, that stylish rear end and letterbox rear window leaves the view aft a little compromised, and this is not helped in the wet by the lack of a rear windscreen wiper. I’m presuming Citroën thought the C5 X wouldn’t need a rear wiper because of its efficient aerodynamics and the nifty spoiler just above the rear window but, on a wet day, the rainwater does settle on it and it can obscure the view.
On the plus side, there is a 360deg rear-view camera, which helps to alleviate some of that, although on a recent dark and incredibly wet night this too was obscured by rain and made a reversing procedure out of a busy car park a bit of a heart-in-mouth affair.
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