Test Drive Citroen C5 Tourer Since 2008 Universal

Asterix and Obelix fight with each other

These two are the famous heroes of French fairy tales. Merry and foolish with appearance, they, however, formidable warriors: then Caesar will show Kuzkina Mother, will turn into escape of German barbarians. But what if one day Asterix and Obelix decided to figure out who two of them are the most-most?
Change of world view
It seems that the automotive francophobia in Russia is over. Peugeot sales, Renault and Citroen grow as on yeast. Interestingly, its buyers find not only supermini category B and golf class accelerators, but also more prestigious models. It turns out - who could think about this three or four years ago! - The French are able not only to marry frogs, but also create excellent class D sedans. And in Reno-Laguna-II and Citroene-C5 there is something in common with those most invincible fabulous gallas. Non-standard appearance, progress, the ability to cope with difficulties and, of course, is true French charm.
People's Choice Award
First of all, it is necessary to note - both of our identity deuel are quite consisted. The lagoon of the second generation only for the first full year of sales in Europe was able to get out the third place in its class. There is only an icon ahead - a treshka BMW, and a snob-conservative Passat. Citroen, originally designed for smaller circulation, is also worthy of the title of drummer of capitalist labor. At the very least, the double chevron had to boost production C5. Surprise here in general, there is nothing to be surprised - the Europeans loved the exclusivity of French delicacies today and not yesterday. Turn for us.
However, in Russia gourmet in prosperity. On the streets of Moscow, more and more tse-fifth flashes, and, they would be even more, there would be even more if not our loopedness with you on black and silver colors. Now I will explain.
 
In the solemn black Frace Citroen-C5 it seems a little heavy - an obelix poured, not a fool to drink and a big lover to eat. Silver C5 looks better, but the slim game of the lines is lost in sun glare, leveling the most complex body architecture. But the cherry tse-fifth - in the terminology of PSA, such a color is romantically called red Lucifer - a completely different car! And where did the shipping? As a financial pyramid, accusations were crumbled in an inexpressively fulfilled stern and overheated front. The impression is that the car was washed with live water, grinned, built, drove. Something even appeared sports-muscular: without five minutes coupe, without twenty - racing silhouette. And then, this is so great when the car looks different because of the color only. Does every self-respecting egoist dream of?
     
Claims can be made to readability of dashboards of both cars: Citroen (photo on the left) is not very conveniently located small on the diameter of the tachometer, in the lagoon ripples in the eyes of too frequent speedometer markup
 
Not to lose in silver
Favorite color is also the lagoon - it is silver and the whole quartered in the neighborhood of the palette: from milky white to dirty gray. But it is in silver Renault looks at all hundred and a tail! In the peak of Citroen, the lines of this sedan bright enamel only emphasizes. Metallic overflows in the sun, as if the heat-bird.
No wonder on all presentations, car dealers, press releases, the second generation of lagoon appears solely in silver. Well, I do not have anything against, because Reno is wonderful handsome. True, if C5 times resembles a picture of a shavy avant-gardeist, Laguna-II belongs to the brush of the Futurist's artist. In the sedan lines more from the aircraft or even a spacecraft rather than from the car. Agree, the aggressive facing of the radiator really resembles the nasal part of the jet fighter - Mirage, and maybe the europera. And the most complex geometry of the headlights, which is the tricky squad of the asterix.
Personally, me silver explosive lagoon takes no less than the unique eclectic tse-fifth. To give someone preference in this dispute over the magnificent design schools, the right, the hand does not rise.
   
Citroen climate control is more elegant, and Reno has a more convenient
 
At work and at home
Both French are nontrivial both outside and inside. Updated in the Citroen salon, you think that the sweater has got into a linked grandmother: so soft, warm and incredibly homely. Interior C5 is by no means a banal combination of seats, panels, switches and dials. This is a cozy and very human world, from which, honestly, I don't want to go out at all. The eye is pleasing and lovingly performed seats, and the lack of straight lines in the torpedo.
And if you retain in the direction of emotion and judge sober? Well, the transmissions could switch the sick, and the climate control control is still a bit chaotically. And in terms of the C5 visibility, not an example for imitation. But it is difficult not to evaluate a very spacious salon. Perhaps behind the Troim will not be too comfortable - it is painfully frankly separation of the pillow only for a couple of places. But this very couple will definitely feel especially important person. We can say about the trunk of C5 that it is one of the largest in the class, and the rear seats are made completely removable. And yet, I repeat, the main thing in the spacious cabin of Citroen is homely comfort, for which C5 with a slight heart is forgiving and cheap plastic places, and individual misses of ergonomics.
   
Spacious, cozy and home interior C5 practically does not have weaknesses and has both short trips and long journeys
      
Lagoon salon is more perfect in trifles, but tall inhabitants of the rear row of seats are hardly necessary for moral, limited space for the head

Under the amount of advantages, the inner world of the second generation lagoon seems to be inferior to Citroen only in one fundamental component - a disorder for sitting from behind. With its 185 on the sofa Reno, I invariably rested my head to the upholstery of the ceiling - the payroll for a spectacular flowing line of the roof. It's a shame, because the rest of the cabin is quite spacious.
In addition, the Reno has a clearer gearbox lever, the clutch that does not require addiction, and adjusting the seats, which is unlike the Citroen, is not difficult for the side pockets of the doors. But these are all the details - the main thing, the lagoon salon is highly technologically and colder.
There is no home coat C5 and in risen - the business atmosphere of a super-modern office reigns here. And the smallest details work on it. The mouse-gray interior does not interfere, but rather stimulates the workflow. Boxes for trifles in business Renault, as if in the organizer on the desktop, much more than in Citroen. Unlike C5, the lagoon has a children's locking of the rear doors under the hand of the driver - in the control unit of power windows. Visual round climate control knobs are noticeably more convenient than the tse-fifth buttons. But the main magnet in the Renault salon - without a doubt, the engine start system.
     
 
Citroen mirrors successfully compensate for not perfect in the sense of visibility

Control cushions in height can be a lever pump. It is a pity that access to it is limited by door pockets
 
    
AUTO inscription on the right girlfriend lever implies the presence of rain sensor

The aluminum knob knob is quite beautiful, it is a pity that the switching lacks definition

  There is a contact!
In Reno, the Ignition Key Place took an electronic card with a size of a little less than a pack of cigarettes. Of course, the idea is far from Nova, but, perhaps, it is first applied to the middle class car. The card has free hands, namely it is called in Renault, dual purpose: actually start the engine and access to the salon.
You can use the card as a regular keychain - in the upper part of it, the opening and closing buttons of the locks are located, however, it is possible to enter cunning. By activating the AUTO mode, it is easy to feel like a real wizard: moved away from the car for three meters, and, flashing for goodbye by dimple, Laguna clicked with locks. He took up the handle of any of the doors, and the sensor, identifying the voice of the card, quietly lying in the pocket of the jacket, heating the car. Great! It is a pity that the electronic genie, locking the car, does not know how to raise the glass. On the key chain Citroen, for example, there is a special button for this.
Well, before the start of the engine of the HM-M, on the one hand, it is not great, no words. Inserted a card into a special nest at the bottom of the central console and click on the start. Effective: Girls screams from delight, friends are approving. On the other hand, don't you all like to run the motor - the key or button? Moreover, the number of tactical and technical actions does not decrease, but, on the contrary, increases. And what will happen if the card comes or drop it? Renault employees, however, claim a smart card nothing worse than the key in terms of reliability.
And yet a piece of plastic stuffed with electronics is a toy for fans of external effects. Yes, quite definitely. That's just for some reason, transplancing from Reno to Citroen, I instinctively searched for a smart card slot
  Fast and quiet
Unfortunately, the basic performance of the C5 model with a 1.8-liter 115-strong engine is not officially not supplied to Russia. Because we will have to stop the choice of the 2-liter version. Despite the fact that the volume of the lagoon engine is less than 200 cubes, and in terms of power it loses the tse-fifth 20 l. s., their dispute seemed to us quite honest. In the end, the 136-strong Motor Citroen went on the seventh year - soon retired, while the power unit Renault is not an example of fresh.
And for sure, after the first urban kilometers, the age difference becomes obvious. The tse-fifth naked will be. So much that after 3.5 thousand on the tachometer, there is a desire to switch upstairs or make music the museum - music, by the way, very good: JBL brooms do not knit! At the same time, in the city of a special advantage, the more powerful engine C5 does not give. Is that a set of revolutions of the lagoon noticeably even, while the Motor Citroen is pleasantly picking up for three and a half thousand. Not that way as pressed into the back of the chair, but still quite decent. Therefore, do not believe the factory data that claims that up to one hundred and car accelerate equally. Tse-Fifth slightly, but quickly.
     
What how much
Another plus of both French cars is a generous basic equipment. For the 2-liter Citroen-C5 dealers asking from $ 21,500. And this is a very tempting offer. For this money you are guaranteed to get a stuffing lump - ABS, power steering, full electric car, rain sensor, heated seats and mirrors, air conditioning. In a word, in the list of options it is worth looking only to those who can live without an electrolyak in the roof, skin, alcantara and seats, as well as even more hard music from JBL. Prices for Super-, Mega-, Ultravaya Universal C5-BRIC starts from $ 23,490.
The 1.8-liter lagoon is also quite accessible - only $ 20,500, for the 2-liter option is asked for an extra one thousand. And the complete set - your fingers are license: six airbags, abs, hydraulicel, full electric car, CD-receiver, climate control with separate control, fog lights and, of course, card free hands. The wagon is more expensive than a sedan for $ 1000, but only a system of dynamic stabilization of the ESP movement can be installed on it.
Finally, we recall that the lagoon, as well as on C5, spreads a three-year-old overall warranty. Moreover, Citroen assures and confirms this with a special guarantee that troubles with a branded hydropneumatic suspension will not happen in five years or 250 thousand kilometers.
More gas - less pits
Despite the loud statements by the creators of Renault, I did not experience any driver's nirvana in the lagoon. The modern front-wheel drive car is no less, but, alas, and no more. The sharp rebuildings of the lagoon reacts with the Lenza, the servo-steering wheel with a fast maneuvering lack of performance, and on the reset of the gas in a rapid turn of the sedan corresponds to too sharp feeling inside. However, perhaps, the characterly honed under European tracks The character of the Renault Self was spoiled adaptation under the bad (read: Russian) roads? And Citroen, with their big swells and non-residential mass, also does not differ acutely sports handling. However, the tse-fifth over the lagoon has a fundamental advantage - a hydropneumatic suspension does not need Russian adaptation. The last generation of pneumatic pneumatics is as ever for driving characteristics. Moreover, all the charm of hydrochnyeumum is disclosed not on a winding track, but on the country highway.
Even at the speed of 200 km / h, the tse-fifth is absolutely indifferent to the dewit of the road surface. Easy sections, wide cracks, uneven asphalt - all this for Citroen toys. The car goes that on the rails, and sweat on the palms only from fear to get on the hook to the inspector with the radar.
For the time being, the road and Renault is perfectly held. But at the mark of 160 km / h again makes itself felt the Russian adaptation of the car. The body begins unpleasantly putting on gentle waves, forcing instinctively reset the gas. Maybe it's for the better? After all, riding at such speeds is not recommended by the auto aspects of most countries.
      
 
Baby rear door lock is located in the driver's visibility zone

Music system joystick is even more convenient than Citroen
 
  
Papers for papers and other small things under the right front seat

The cupboard pops up from the nest to the right of the radio, like a devil from the box

The CD receiver for long-standing French tradition is hidden under a massive lid. For personal experience I know - thieves does not stop
 

Unlike twins
They are so different, asterix and Obelix, Renault and Citroen. Laguna - a car for progressive people who adore the fruits of technical progress, who do not want, like everyone else, ride on the trade winds and Avensis, and besides the safety values. Renault is the safest car in the world, at least, so follows from the results of the euro tests of the Euro NCAP!
Citroen - For those who prefer the indochive and in the car sees not only a banal vehicle, but also a faithful friend, an almost animated creature. And yet similarities are similar, of course, there is. After all, the lagoon, like the Tse-Fifth, is a modern, well-equipped, high-quality assembled car.
In a word, our Asterix and Obelix, as expected, was separated by the world. Each of them will definitely find exactly their buyer. And taking into account the sum of the nontrivial advantages of these French, it can be argued that they will very adequately look at the fight with the Japanese and the Germans.
     
Unlike Europe, the system of a car without a key in Russia is a standard set of Renault Lagoon
1. Map free hands. 2. Card signal reader. 3. Control unit. 4. Door blockers and gas tank trim. 5. Electronic locking of the steering column. 6. Start / stop button. 7. Data exchange bus. 8. Door sensors.

 
Mikhail Medvedev, photo Maxim Goncharov
 

A source: Limousine magazine [06/02]