When i dropped my octy off for some warranty work this evening they gave me a choice of the following loan cars.

Citroen C1

Ciroen Picasso

Citroen C5 VTR

Fabia 1.2 HTP

I had the C1 the other week and it was truly awful. The C5 was the only diesel so i said i would have a go with it.

It is an estate and is huge!

Only had a short drive in it tonight but it is not as bad as i was expecting it to be. Very comfortable indeed but in no way sporty. Has dual climate control too. The build quality of the interior is pants though.

Looking forward to my drive to work in the morning to give it a better run out:thumbup:

The W.O. had one a couple of weeks ago, and I took it to work twice.

As you say, supremely comfortable, but a bit like motoring Mogadon.

The W.O. had one a couple of weeks ago' date=' and I took it to work twice.

As you say, supremely comfortable, but a bit like motoring Mogadon.[/quote']

Didn't know what a mogadon was til i googled it

I read a review on the car on the net somewhere and apparently it has some special suspension set up and no matter how hard you corner the car stays flat.

We shall see;)

Yes, it's an odd feeling. You find yourself 'leaning' into a corner, and the car stays flat, no matter how hard it's pushed, a very strange sensation.

A bit different to my old CX GTI Turbo anyway:D

you had a CX GTI graham?! cool car I had an old BX GTI, but always fancied one of the fast barges.......

yeas the suspension is an evolution of their fluid sping/damper stuff, when it detects you cornering, it firms everything up so the car doesn't roll... wierd experiance (I drove one with it too...) see if it breaks before you hand it back

you had a CX GTI graham?! cool car I had an old BX GTI' date=' but always fancied one of the fast barges.......

yeas the suspension is an evolution of their fluid sping/damper stuff, when it detects you cornering, it firms everything up so the car doesn't roll... wierd experiance (I drove one with it too...) see if it breaks before you hand it back [/quote']

Off topic but yes, a silver, mint, GTI Turbo 1 ( B723 UCP)

It's still about, although untaxed ( probably sat in a lock-up awaiting parts:D )

In the end I couldn't justify 12mpg when driven hard and

I'd be interested in knowing more, cos that was the other thing I considered, was a C5 HDi, but I couldn't see the bonnet, and the footbrace got in my way worse than the Octy's one does.

I had an old BX GTI

Me too, ahh the memories.

All these new Citroens have appaling build quality, but the suspension is the strong point in all of the range, until it breaks. Depreciation on the C5 is bankrupt inducing stuff too. Why they bagded one as a VTR I will never know, as you say, nothing remotely sporty about it.

Well i had a good run to work in it today down some good country roads.

I have to say that i thought it was not a bad car, i was expecting it to be total pants but it wasn't

The quality of the interior plastics was cheap but the car was very comfy and very quiet and the rest of the car seemed fairly well put together, nowhere near as good as the octy though but not too bad. I have owned a few citroens in my time and this was light years ahead of the old AX,BX and saxo that i owned.

Next year i will be replacing the wifes micra with a big family car for around the 6-8k mark and would maybe consider one of these C5 things, especially the way they depreciate.

Could you stick a tuning box on one to give it a bit more welly too???

Think the HDI engines are quite mapable. Celtic have done quite a few with decent results

Could you stick a tuning box on one to give it a bit more welly too???

Looks like it

http://www.mrhoot.com/citroen_diesel_tuning.asp

Chris

Any idea as to which one of the diesels is the best to go for????

Any idea as to which one of the diesels is the best to go for????

The bigger the better I would say, after all it's a big lump to push about. I think they do a 2.2HDI.

just been having a quick look on autotrader and for around 5-6k there are loads to chose from all well specced too.

you had a CX GTI graham?! cool car I had an old BX GTI' date=' but always fancied one of the fast barges.......

yeas the suspension is an evolution of their fluid sping/damper stuff, when it detects you cornering, it firms everything up so the car doesn't roll... wierd experiance (I drove one with it too...) see if it breaks before you hand it back [/quote']

I had a BX TZD Turbo-diesel estate - rapid for a 1.7. Always fancied the sporty turbo-diesel version - forget the designation now :O

Pity the suspension and interior weren't up to the standard of the engine:thumbdwn::thumbdwn:

I had a BX TZD Turbo-diesel estate - rapid for a 1.7. Always fancied the sporty turbo-diesel version - forget the designation now :O

Pity the suspension and interior weren't up to the standard of the engine:thumbdwn::thumbdwn:

If you don't think the suspension was up to much, you either can't drive,never tried too hard, or it was leaking.

I've had many, many Citroens with 'proper' ( I think the correct term is Oleopneumatic ) suspension and 'button' brakes and IMHO they were briiliant for every day brisk driving .

The interiors were generally self-destructing though..

If you don't think the suspension was up to much' date=' you either can't drive,never tried too hard, or it was leaking.

I've had many, many Citroens with 'proper' ( I think the correct term is Oleopneumatic ) suspension and 'button' brakes and IMHO they were briiliant for every day brisk driving .

The interiors were generally self-destructing though..[/quote']

It was great when it wasn't leaking. Mine ( a former taxi with 136000 miles on the clock) was.......................I went through 2 litres of LHM in 25 miles. By the end I had brakes and feck all else :eek::eek::eek::eek:

Just as well I was going to the dealers :D

the suspension on my GTI was mint, just been 'repaired' by th owner to pass the MOT (new pipes, gassed up ect...) but mine had a different problem, no third gear! lol.... quite easy to drive around though, just a case of booting it in second and going for fourth, the old 130bhp 1.9 8v had pleanty of torque and pulled quite strongly seeing as most of the BX was plastic! lol...

The bigger the better I would say, after all it's a big lump to push about. I think they do a 2.2HDI.

Focus on the power output, not the engine capacity or type designation Rob. The 2.2l engine doesn't make as much power (136bhp, 250lbft IIRC), and uses more fuel (not much, only about 2mpg difference) than the latest 2.0l (138bhp) unit. Also there are 90bhp and 110bhp tunes on the 2.0l.

Although I agree that too little power makes a car just dismal to drive; my dad once had a non-turbo diesel Xantia with an auto box, and it didn't have enough power to get out of its own way!