We bought the Citroen C5 Estate in 2007, when we had just taken on a second dog and needed more boot space. We first had to buy a dog guard for it, this cost us around £60 but be advised, the Citroen dog guards are material not metal, but they fit well. Secondly we got the reversible boot mat, I recommend getting one if your going to have muddy dogs in the back!

The Citroen then turned into my works vehicle in July 2008, I am a dog walker.

I could easily fit 3-4 Large dogs in the back of the Citroen with 2 medium sized dogs in seatbelt harnesses on the back seat.

For the first year I had minor problems, we went through Tyres like you wouldn't believe, literally every 2-3 months another tyre needed replacing. Same applies with the brake pads/discs again these were replaced 2-3 times per year. Bear in mind I travel 50-100 miles per day, but it is all local 'around town' driving.

The Citroen isn't the fastest car in the world but it does have some pull to it, I wouldn't say it was sluggish. It also was very comfortable to drive and the suspension adjuster was great for allowing elderly dogs to jump in at a low high and to lift it right up to go through deep puddles. In this year I managed to pull the inside right wheel arch off (curb was higher than I thought!) and due to this alot of rubbish got into the pullies and Aux belt. which eventually led to the bottom crank shaft pully needing to be replaced - £400... about 6 months after this another pully went, but to be honest, a trip to Camberly and £40 later it was fixed!

The Citroen then went on to be absolutely fine for a further few months, I suspected the suspension was on its way out when over the winter it was really starting to creak. Then last month the suspension pump went. But again £50 on Ebay and a few hours labour charges it was back on the road!

The only thing I never understood about my Citroen (and wasted a few RAC calls on) was if I left the phone charger in the higher charger - the one near the handbrake. The battery was completely dead the next day. This also led to the key fob re-setting itself and being unable to lock the car. I used to panic at first but actually to re-set the fob, the instructions are in the handbook! and yes this did happen more than twice!

Apart from these few minor bits, in the 3 years we've had it its served us well! it's tackled a lot of off-road driving, motorway abuse and general stop start driving around town.

It cost me around £70 a week to fill up the C5, and that got me around 450 miles. So again, it did well on fuel for a heavy car.

I would recommend this car to anyone who knows a bit about cars, as it's been very costly going in and out of the garage, but if you know how to replace brakes discs and pads, where the pullies etc are, then you will save yourself a lot of money. Apart from this I loved my Citroen and I would definitely own another one!

The Citroen C5 is a very affordable car for what it is, if you like caravaning and have a caravan this car will not have any problems towing it unless it is a huge caravan.

I have been very pleased over all andwould have another. One superb ride good reliabilty, very good, love them.

Love Citroens, but advise against dealing with the Australian distributor.
Perhaps you will have better dealings with your dealer, but support for new cars in almost beyond belief in poor relationships.