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Citroen C5 3.0 HDI
23 Nov 2011
Fine Car, Outrageous Fortune: our big Citroën endures the slings and arrows of Jo'burg traffic |
What an eventful life our Citroën C5 3.0HDi has had since arriving at the Cars in Action offices back in April. And, I hasten to add, it’s been none of the car’s doing. Regular readers will no doubt remember my Fast Lane column, prompted by a contretemps with a taxi a little over a month after taking delivery of the car. As I said, there I was, stopped at a red light with a couple of cars in front of me when this Hi Ace taxi creamed into the back of my car. Though it absorbed the impact well, the C5’s rear bumper and bootlid were a mangled mess. Repairs took about six weeks and, according to a Citroën SA representative, the damage amounted to over R70 000.
It was like meeting up with an old friend when we were reunited. The repair work looked pretty good, though the rear number plate now clatters when you close the boot and there were a few hairline scratches on the front bumper that I would swear weren’t there when the car was taken away.
Once more, I was able to revel in the comfort of that Hydractive III suspension and enjoy the practicality of that ‘static boss’ steering wheel. There was also the pleasant ‘thrum’ of the powerful turbodiesel V6 and its excellent economy.
In the second part of its ‘life’ at the magazine the C5 has become a firm family favourite, passengers revelling in its interior space and comfy leather-clad seats. As we’ve remarked before, in Exclusive guise the ‘big Cit’ is nicely finished in a combination of good quality black mouldings and leather. In ambience it is a match for offerings from BMW and Mercedes-Benz in its just under half-a-bar price-bracket, and many of the standard ‘bells and whistles’ – park distance control, climate control and electric seats, for example – would be extra-cost options on its rivals. And the climate control works really well.
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