Test drive Citroen C5 Estate 2001 - 2004 station wagon

Traditional originality

Citroen has always been famous for avant -garde, non -standard approaches - this applies to both technical solutions and design. When it mentioned her memory, images of the untimely DS19 and its evolution DS21, aerodynamic CX, cosmic XM ... As for the mechanics, the famous hydropneumatic suspension has become a kind of symbol of the French company.

 

With the association of Peugeot and Citroen, the originality of the company’s models would have been a thing of the past. The use of common platforms in order to save ahead leads to the destruction of individuality, however, the new Citroen C5 proved that this can be avoided. The signaling keychain is already notable, it is simply giant size, which is why you have to constantly hold it in the hand. But if the mistress of the car is a lady, then she will easily find a keychain in her handbag among a pile of female little things. The entity of C5 is contradictory - the designers clearly approached the edge that separates originality and ugliness. In the photo, the car looks like a fish with bulging eyes thrown ashore, but, I assure you, in life it looks much better. Especially in the evening, in the light of neon lanterns, when the glare bizarrely flow out soft bends of the surfaces.

 

The Citroenovites also worked on the interior, as they say, from the heart. It is soft, rounded, almost at homely cozy and at the same time completely not boring - thanks to the main form -forming line, which passes through all the torpedo, and in the area of \u200b\u200bthe central console, it seems to be twisted into the loop. The front seats are impeccable from the point of view of ergonomics, electric drives will allow them to quickly fit them for themselves. The steering wheel is optimal in cross section and diameter, picking it up is a pleasure. The devices are perfectly visible, their readings are easily read, but the shield seems to be overloaded. Well, why, tell me the mercy, you know the temperature of the oil and the voltage in the on -board network - it is quite possible to do with indicator lights.

 

The speedometer scale has a nonlinear markup. It is stretched to 110 km/h, and then begins to compress - reasonably, in the city the speed is determined instantly and accurately, but more than 110 ... This is still a violation. Above the console in the upper part of the torpedo there is a multifunctional liquid crystal display of the on -board computer, which issues all the possible information - which station is the receiver, fuel consumption, average speed, hydropneumatic suspension, etc. Below, the console itself is a radio (by the way, quite well playing, taking into account the factory installation), as well as the microclimate control unit with separate adjustments for the driver and the right passenger, which allows, for example, to supply the first hot air from the stove, and the second is cold From the air conditioner.

 

On the central tunnel, behind the automatic transmission selector, the suspension operating mode buttons are located. The Sport button activates the sports settings, and the shooter buttons are responsible for raising-lowering the machine. For lovers, all their own with them is C5 - just a find: everywhere pockets, containers, glove compartment, so not a single thing will be left without their place.

 

In the back seat, there is enough space for three subjects of solid complexion, but, of course, it will be better to throw back the armrest and sit there together. The trunk of a decent volume (the car looks like a sedan, but in fact it is a hatchback, the trunk opens at the same time with the rear window) is equipped with a special net, which allows you to reliably fix small items. The rear seat folds in parts - even a very large lug can be transported in C5.

 

Citroen C5, which essentially replaced two models at once - Xantia and XM - appeared on the market not at the most successful time: the main places in the family cars are already occupied. See for yourself: Ford Mondeo, Renault Laguna, Volkswagen Passat, Audi A4. Serious competitors. The main argument of Citroen in the fight against them is a new version of the famous hydraulic german suspension of the company - Hydractive 3. (Surprisingly: for half a century that have passed since the appearance of this suspension on Citroen machines, not a single manufacturer has tried something like that. Yes, there were problems With reliability and especially with repair. But 50 years is a term, now the company guarantees that Hydractive 3 will not require the attention of mechanics for 5 years or 200 thousand km of run.)

 

Having received the keys, I thought everything where to check the off -road abilities of the model. The issue was resolved by itself: part of the street next to the car dealership turned out to be fairly dug up by the builders of the third ring - so that only drivers of serious SUVs could feel relatively confident there. I drive up, the workers gestures show: they say, a guy, it’s better not to stick here, just cripple a car. Without stopping, I press the suspension control button - Citroen rises and easily overcomes a complex area. The suspension has four fixed positions: normal and two up and one from it.

The first up allows you to overcome areas with a poor coating, upon reaching a speed of 40 km/h, the machine automatically drops to a normal level. The highest position is used in the performance of service functions (for example, rimming), and also when the road is very bad, at speeds up to 10 km/h. In this case, the road clearance is 230 mm - another advanced SUV will envy this. At a speed of 115 km/h, the smart suspension slightly lowers the body, and the front line is slightly larger - to improve handling ...

 

A powerful three -liter motor is perfectly suited for C5, in any situation you feel confident. True, you need to be careful: the engine very easily accelerates the car to 200 km/h, and you do not feel speeds on it. I almost burned it on this. I am driving along Michurinsky Prospekt on the C5 - there are few cars that have just been received, hop. It feels about - about 130 km/h, red lights up in front, I slow down ... Something is wrong - ABS already works, and the braking distance is too large. I glance at the speedometer and see that the arrow only moves away from the mark of 160. It turns out that I accelerated to about 180 km/h! We must pay tribute to the Citroen C5: even at such speeds, he behaved five with a plus, listening to the helm perfectly and not allowing even small trajectory deviations. But there are claims to the brakes.

The pedal has a big way, ABS begins to work too early, when the adhesion of the wheels still allow you to do without it. In general, the brakes work somehow lazily, with a light delay - even with a sharp blow to the pedal C5 does not besiege, but slowly slows down. The steering also has a similar feature. While you move at a moderate pace, everything is in order, but problems begin with the speed of speed - it feels like a steering wheel with wheels is connected by rubber rods, the car responds to the driver’s actions after a brief thought. The transfer of the suspension into Sport mode improved the situation, but not dramatically ...

 

Automatic box showed herself well. If in the usual mode, it, like most automatic machines, suffers from long switching, delay in the transition to lower gear, etc., then in the sports everything falls into place: no delays in switching, the reduced sticks clearly, and if you drop it. gas, an active braking by the engine occurs. The only negative is that the programs switch very sharply, the car jerks significantly, but this is a small fee for its capabilities.

 

Despite some offensive flaws, the C5 model turned out to be quite worthy of the glory of its famous ancestors, and Citroen thus once again demonstrated that it is capable of a lot.

 

Text: Alexander Nadens
 
 

 

Source: Motor magazine [No. 12/2001]