Citroen C5 Tourer road test
French carmakers have suffered in comparison with their German counterparts in recent years – especially as many of their products have been somewhat lacklustre. But the fightback has started, with Citroen and Peugeot upping their games in the last couple of years, starting to build desirable, driveable cars that buyers might take to in larger numbers. The Citroen C5 is a good example of this new generation of French cars. A significant improvement stylistically and in terms of perceived quality over the previous iteration, you might not (as its ads stated) think it was German, but it’s a genuine alternative in the mid-sized family car market.
Prices for the C5 Tourer start at £20,295 for the base 1.6-litre model, which isn’t bad, but you don’t get much kit for that money. The 2.0-litre-engined models (£23,295-24,195) are better value, but the top-of-the-range 3.0-litre version, at £29,395, is pretty pricey – and you still have to fork out for the likes of sat nav and metallic paint. Running costs are very much a tale of two halves. The official fuel consumption for the 1.6 and the 2.0-litre version with the manual gearbox are decent enough at 56.5mpg and 49.6mpg, but opt for the auto an it plummets to 40.9mpg, or 38.2mpg for the 3.0-litre, and things start getting expensive. CO2 emissions are similarly divided: the 1.6-litre engine emits 130g/km, placing cars powered by it in Band D for vehicle excise duty (£90 a year), while the manually geared 2.0 emits 149g/km (£125 a year). However, go for an auto ‘box with the mid-range powerplant and emissions leap to 179g/km, costing £200 a year, while 195g/km is pumped out by the 3.0-litre engine, which means VED will be £235. Residuals for Citroens tend not to hold up too well, either, retaining just 33% of its value after three years and 60,000 miles, which makes it a good second-hand buy, but not so great for those owners who bought one from new.
Read the full Citroen C5 Tourer road test
RoadTestReports.co.uk provides road tests reports written by members of the Guild of Motoring Writers. These reports are complemented by car reviews submitted by the members of the public who drive the vehicles day in day out.
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