Citroen C5 2.0 SX 16V Review

Overall Rating

its done 150,000 miles and still drives like new! It's huge! great fuel economy, Fantastic comfort, I love it.

Erm........... It has a weird thing where the suspension goes up and down if not left right, even when locked?

When I was a lad, which is a while ago, I remember seeing a great big, daft Citroen estate parked up with the back end on bricks and most of the running gear gone. My Dad told me never to buy a Citroen as the suspension is a right nightmare when it goes wrong and I held this belief for a long, long time.
I inherited my Citroen C5 as a company car. It is a 2.0L HDI SX and about 8 years old now. I did not have much choice as it was the one offered to me by the company I was working for. I ran it up and down the UK for about 3 years and must admit gave it a bit of stick at times. Eventually the Company decided to upgrade the cars and I was so impressed by it, my upgraded car was the new look C5 exclusive.
I was offered the chance to buy the old one and snapped it up for the wife. We have run it as the family car for about 5 years and I just cannot praise the thing more. I know I must have got one of the "good ones" from reading the less flattering reviews on this site but it really is like part of the family now.
The fuel efficiency even at 150,000 miles later is astounding and it just does not use oil! I am rubbish at doing the servicing thing so it has not had one for 5 years, poor thing. I bet with a decent service and a wash (something else it does not get) it would look a couple of years old. Of course my wife has knocked all the corners off and re designed some of the trim so it looks a bit of a mess but underneath it is still top notch.
Not a single speck of rust anywhere, Everything still works (including the suspension!) I just cannot praise the car enough. I know it is in its retirement now and things will start to go wrong but thats cars for you, even rollers go wrong eventually.
To sum up, we have just taken the kids (us plus 3 little angels) on a round trip to legoland in windsor from doncaster and the car was packed to the gunnells. We got in, the suspension re adjusted itself to the heavy laod and off we went. 500 long miles later and it still drove like it did when it had 10,000 miles on the clock. We will have to lose it soon as the wee ones are getting bigger and as big as it is, it's not designed for 5 full time. I will miss it greatly and will proudly proclame it "THE BEST CAR I HAVE EVER OWNED"
The day I pass the keys to some spotty car sales boy, I will truthfully have a tear in my eye. Good car, that'll do.

Members' Comments onandyandleanne's Review

• junkC5 on 23rd Nov 2008

  I have just got rid of my C5 Exclusive as it was the biggest heap of junk I could ever lumber myself with. Electronics that constantly fail, dealers that cannot fix it, independant garages just said no we do not want to work on it. And all this in only 28K miles. I have had 5 Citroens before this one but I will never ever buy another. If you phone the Citroen UK help desk you are charged at an incredible rate for the call only to talk to somebody who says take it to a dealer, one dealer said he had 2 others with the same anti pollution fault and he could not find the problem.

• Ivanovich on 14th Jul 2009

  I found this review very helpful because...
  He had no pre-conceived negative ideas abot Citroens.
  I own a C5 and if the agents here in South Africa were more Service-oriented these cars would have been top sellers.
  Mine drives like a bird and the Service costs are less than most small cars.