2023 Citroen C5 X Shine Australia Review – Dubai Car News

Citroen works weird, and that’s how it should be. It makes it weird. Okay fine.

The C5 X is a strange car. Is it vegan? Is it a five-door coupe? What is the benefit of this? Does it all matter when you step inside?

As the seemingly unquenchable thirst for SUVs continues, some car companies haven’t forgotten about sedans. And thank goodness for that, even if the C5 X isn’t strictly one of them.

In fact, with an X in the name, you suspect a little marketing ploy to convince you that you want what you think you want.

Jump ahead.

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How much is it, and what do you get?

Not to put too fine a point on things, but $57,670 before on-road costs is a lot of money for the Citroen C5 X when there’s the Kia Stinger, perhaps its only non-French rival.

You get quite a cut though.

The new media system is vastly improved over the old one and includes Citroen’s Connected Services package. Free for three years, it updates monthly maps and keeps you up to date with fuel prices, live traffic alerts from TomTom and you’ll find a car park.

Its new screen is crisp and clear and the reversing camera is now usable instead of the ridiculous nonsense found on Citroens (and Peugeots) of old.

It would be even better if the digital radio interface wasn’t so annoying, but wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity are welcome.

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How do competitors compare on value?

The most obvious competitor is the car with which the C5 X shares a lot – the obviously brilliant Peugeot 508.

It requires a much bigger investment than the Citroen at $63,341 before on-road costs for the GT Fastback, but it’s plenty loaded and drives very well indeed.

In fact, it has the same driveline and even (if you’re really going to town) shares the same plug-in hybrid driveline with the upcoming C5 X PHEV. The wagon is another $2,200.

Kia’s much-loved Stinger, believe it or not, comes in versions that don’t have the twin-turbo V6, and they’re pretty good, too. While not as quirky or cool inside as the outside, they drive very well and have better steering, courtesy of rear-wheel drive.

The Stinger range starts at around $51,250 for the 200S (before on-road costs). While the Stinger isn’t a wagon, the C5 X isn’t technically a wagon either.

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Interior comfort, space and storage

Citroen does really interesting interiors. I know this isn’t news to a lot of people, but then many others saw their stuff earlier this century and asked, “Though they do?”

He’s returned to form without going completely crazy since the launch of Cactus. Like the Cactus, the C5 X packs a number of interesting design features into what would otherwise be a fairly dull interior. That’s what matters.

The wide and comfortable front seats feature, in current Citroen fashion, perforated leather and a sort of strapping effect stitched. Look closely and you’ll see a chevron pattern in the perforated sections.

The entire cabin has a beautiful slab of textured plastic that adds a nice visual feel to the dash. The texture is again made with chevrons. There aren’t too many buttons, which is nice, although a proper shifter would be more welcome than a miniature golf-style rocker.

You get bottle holders in the doors, a pair of cup holders on the console and a split opening in the armrest to access storage below. The armrest is a bit low and I had to crank the seat all the way down to get it to work.

Which was fine because the now-signature squared-off steering wheel has a greater range of motion. The French car gets a bigger screen but the configurable dashboard could be a lot less distracting and more like sister brand Peugeot.

There’s plenty of leg and shoulder room in the rear seats, but I’d like to see a sunroof made an option as it knocks headspace a bit (and adds to the cost). You get a pair of USB-C chargers to go with both on the front and there are air vents.

In a fairly solid Autonomy, this reasonably expensive car doesn’t have a rear wing, which I find very odd. So you have to hold yourself upright on a long ride like it’s the 1980s or something.

Citroen C5 X boot space

Boot capacity starts at 545 liters and is a really well-kept space, with no intrusions and a flat floor with rails.

Drop the 60:40 split-fold rear seats and you have 1640 litres, which again is quite decent. Both figures are criminally higher than the undersold C5 wagon.

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How is it to drive?

Ah, the French.

There they lost the plot for a while. Too boring, too GFC-ey, too busy trying to be slow and reliable but only good at being slow and not good at reliable. I’m not bitter about the mid-2000s to 2012. Pass du tout.

Things have clearly changed. The old C5 – while a good car – was largely ignored, as are most great French cars, sometimes even in France. It’s a real shame, too, because I think this C5 X, a car that defies a tidy box, is everything that can be good about French cars.

This style of car – and I don’t mean the looks or the form factor – is largely missing from the market. While I love a sporty drive in anything, it seems that’s where everyone has landed, chasing the BMW vibe instead of creating their own paths. The C5 is not an X. This car, like the C3, is all about comfort, from the front seats to the steering, to the ride quality.

I love the way this car goes about its business. In another stressful week full of health dramas – seriously, this pandemic could just kick in and leave us all alone – it was a calm sea as I made my way home from the chemist to the supermarket. What did you do? The ride is extremely supple, the steering is feel-free and light (on purpose) and the cabin is quiet.

That said, it’s also great on B-roads, handling all that broken bitumen mess with ease. Although it’s fairly soft in the suspension, it has very good turn-of-direction, and it came in handy on said B-roads that were littered with large tree branches during a windy week.

Along with super-comfy seats, plenty of forward vision and all the drivers doing their job without trying to break your wrists (I’m looking at you Hyundai and Kia), it’s a great way to get away from the urban hustle and bustle. This is a great car. You are in the urban bustle. All it needs is power and the job is done.

Which brings us to the only thing to break that illusion – the dullness of the eight-speed automatic transmission. While familiar from other cars in the wider Citroen/Peugeot family where it behaves largely impeccably, in the C5 X, it’s decidedly not bright.

You get a lot of rollback when you’re trying to move and it takes forever to wake up from stop-start, which proved difficult if not impossible to switch off. It’s a great shame because the 133kW 1.6 turbo petrol is a belter of an engine.

It’s very smooth, with a linear power delivery masked by the feel of the eight-speed twin-clutch and the fact that all 250Nm of torque arrives at just 1650rpm.

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How about the fuel?

With fairly aggressive stop-start and an already fairly efficient engine, seeing 7.5L/100km on the trip computer was great, given the nature of my week’s work with the C5 X.

I was able to bug myself for a couple of hours, so ran it down the M1 to Stanwell Tops and then through some winding back roads.

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How safe is it?

The C5 X has yet to receive ANCAP or Euro NCAP safety ratings.

It comes with a decent level of safety tech, which is pleasantly unobtrusive on the move, although the list is far from comprehensive given the car’s price.

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Warranty and running costs

Citroen offers industry standard warranty coverage of five years and unlimited kilometres, with five years of roadside assistance.

Servicing is required every 12 months or 15,000 km and the first five services are subject to a limited cost maintenance system. It’s not what you’d call a bargain, running $444, $722, $444, $743 and $465 out of five. That’s an average of $563 per year. Not extravagant but not cheap.

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Decision

At first glance, the C5 X is another strange French car. And it is. But the French bit is key, because the execution is excellent.

It’s kind of funny that this segment used to be one of the most conservative, but as time goes on and the SUV market thrives like sepsis, automakers are having a little fun with it. Which has become the opponent’s car of choice.

Citroen seems to be having a lot of fun as the yin to the Peugeot 508’s yang, while essentially being the same car underneath. I love that there is so much variation from a common platform and two different teams have built such different cars.

But what I love is how comfortable it is and I dream of pointing it to the little place we know in the snowy mountains, knowing we’ll arrive fresh as daisies. .

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2023 Citroen C5 X Shine Specifications

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