Citroen C5 Estate Car Review

The release of the new Citroen C5 Estate to the Australian market marks the latest evolutionary step by French Car manufacturer Citroen to produce a stylish and sophisticated load carrier.

The C5 Estate is characterised by modern styling, a spacious load carrying area and like its sedan stablemate benefits from the latest version of Citroen's hydropneumatic self levelling suspension, dubbed Hydractive 3. The hydropneumatic suspension provides excellent ride quality as there is no loss of suspension travel and normal ground clearance is retained irrespective of the load carried. Additional features of Hydractive 3 include automatic or a driver selected sport setting, and the C5 has the ability to automatically raise itself for increased ground clearance on rough roads and conversely lower itself for reduced drag and better stability when travelling at highway speeds.

Buyers of the C5 sedan have a choice of three engine options, a 2.0 litre four cylinder petrol engine, a 3.0 litre V6 petrol engine and a 2.0 litre turbo charged diesel engine. However, the C5 Estate is presently only fitted with the 2.0 litre four cylinder petrol engine. The 2.0 litre engine is transversely mounted and features an aluminium head and block, double overhead camshafts, 16 valves and multipoint fuel injection. The engine produces a peak power output of 101 kW at 6000 rpm and maximum torque of 186 Nm at 4100 rpm. There is a choice of a manual five speed gearbox or a four speed automatic transmission which features a Tiptronic style gear change function.

The list of standard features fitted to the Citroen C5 Estate is impressive. Some of the features include speed sensitive power steering, climate control air conditioning with split temperature control, front and rear power windows, automatic windscreen wipers, electric and heated side mirrors, a CD audio system with six speakers, multi-function trip computer, remote central locking and automatic lights-on system. The C5 is also fitted with a good array of safety features which include anti-lock brakes (ABS), front seat belt pyrotechnic pretensioners, six airbags designed to protect the driver and front and rear passengers (fuel supply is automatically cut off in the event of an airbag being deployed), the hazard lights are automatically activated if the car brakes suddenly at medium or high speed.

The manual version of the C5 Estate retails for $43,490, $1500 more than the equivalent C5 sedan, while the automatic equipped C5 Estate costs $45,490. These prices do not include dealer charges or on-road costs. Factory fitted C5 options include metallic paint, leather upholstery and a sunroof.

The overall level of detail finish of the C5 Estate was found to be good with touches such as the reversible boot mat, rear cargo net and additional 12V power sockets welcome features. On the road, the Estate felt both tight and solid which reflects the good build quality.

The C5 Estate is a spacious vehicle and the driver and the front seat passenger enjoy generous head and leg room. Citroen acknowledge that the volume of the boot was one of the priorities in the C5 design. The result is excellent rear load space that can be further increased by folding the rear seats and easily accessed by raising the tailgate or through the rear hinged window. Unfortunately, leg room for rear seat passengers is somewhat compromised by the large rear load space area.

The driving position allows an unobstructed view of the road ahead as the forward sloping bonnet is totally out of view. The control layout and driver comfort is generally good, although the stalk mounted lights and wiper operation tended to be a little fiddly. The shift action of the manual gearbox had quite a long throw and selecting first gear required stretching out of the seat.

The hydropneumatic suspension of the C5 Estate provided a very supple ride over small bumps. At all times the C5 was surefooted and offered a high level of road holding. The braking system was equally capable, allowing powerful ABS assisted emergency stops, and instilled driver confidence. Provided you keep the 2.0 litre engine revving, perfomance was acceptable for a vehicle of this size. On the open road the C5 cruises comfortably at legal highway speeds.