2022 Citroën C5 review

I love the idea of big Citroëns. Not long ago, the racing driver and motoring journalist Chris Harris turned up in a Citroën DS Safari and we had a wonderful time hurtling around the countryside in it. When I was young and foolish, a girlfriend’s father had a CX Safari which we’d nick whenever he wasn’t around and I loved that too. I didn’t like the XM at all but at least it was wilfully different in the way that all the best Citroëns are.

This C5 X could be another one of those cars. It looks terrific and though I rail against the modern vogue for seeing how many kinds of car you can cram into one design, if you
really want an estate-cum-hatch-cum-SUV-cum-crossover thing, none looks better than this. And it’s practical too: there’s loads of space on board and the boot is vast even if you don’t fold the rear seats (which, if you do, annoyingly don’t fold flat).

But where is the innovation that we’ve almost come to expect? Attractive and spacious though it is, there’s no clever thinking in here, just a predictable cockpit with a terrible infotainment system. Its big asset is meant to be its ride but it’s no better than our five-year-old family Golf. A rival for a big Mercedes it is not. Was originality too much to ask? The designers of the DS and CX didn’t think so.

I don’t mind that it has no performance or handling for it is not that kind of car. But when you consider Citroën’s daring history, the lack of imagination is harder to forgive.
 

Citroën C5 X Shine Plus 130

• Price £31,280
• Engine 1.2 litres, three cylinders, turbocharged, petrol
• Power 129bhp at 5500 rpm
• Torque 170lb ft at 1750rpm
• Weight 1528kg
• Power to weight 84bhp per tonne
• Transmission Eight-speed automatic, front-wheel drive
• 0-60mph 10.4sec
• Top speed 130mph
• Economy 48.6mpg
• CO2 136g/km
• Verdict Citroën, put your brain in gear E