Alpsta

It's not about German styling, it's about German quality and reliability. The new C5 has great design and I don't think German's are brave enough to come up with designs like C5 and C6 on their top selling cars, just look at the new Passat :) Sitting in a new C5 in the dealer showroom, the quality feels much improved over the older shape that I own. However you can never tell without driving it for a long time. According to Paul.h's post above the new C5 is handbrake is connected to the rear.

Thanks for the reply Randombloke! I don't think mine has sticky height sensor, and when I said it squats a lot I did not mean it visually but compared to a normal car the back definitely feels softer, that's what I meant. I could buy a Passat but it just has no character and looks too dull in my opinion, plus the tdi here only comes with 140hp. Other options would be used e60 5.20d (06-07), used volvo s80 d5 (07-08), volvo has expensive service and only 2 services here. The youtube vidoes and I've seen and your review of the sport mode is a little different cause they claim that the sport mode doesn't make much difference. Having said that the executive model I'm considering comes with 19" wheels so I'm sure the difference in sport mode would be magnified. My family is open minded about the new C5 because they all like the way it looks, but they ask if the suspension will be the same. Pity there are no executive models for test drive anymore, as Citroen doesn't sell much of it here, they sold all the demo cars. How many km does your car have? Any quality issues? My steering wheel leather melted like it has a disease, it started at 55k kms slowly, became real gross at around 65k km's Citroen did not cover it as warranty ran out at 60k kms and would not listen that this could not happen overnight so it started in warranty period. My driver door inside open close handle broke. The small plastic cap that covers the sensor on the centre of the dashboard popped out and broke by itself while I was driving. One of the tabs that hold the right side map pocket came off and broke (we never used the right side map pocket). The roof trim crunches and makes noises like separating something with a sticky glue. The rear boot shocks blew. The left side interior light for the boot pops out. The driver side window switches failed (does not control passenger side window, and does not properly control driver side sometimes). The radio has the worst reception ever, I can hardly listen to major radio stations without it automatically searching for an alternative station or better reception. Each time I have to deactive alternative station search but once you switch to another channel it automatically activates alternative station search. This list can go on and on....... The funny thing is the most important things like the engine (i belive it's because it's developed carefully as it's used in ford, peugeot etc.) and suspension parts have been very satisfactory. So overall it feels like Citroen is a big bowl of delicious soup but while you're eating it flies keep falling into it and making you nauseous. The handbrake is connected to the front wheels, I am just curious which genius thought of this and what purpose does it have. Also not sure if it's the same in the new C5.

I am the owner of a 05-06 C5 2.0 HDi. In many years of ownership the car never broke down on me and did not have big mechanical problems. However I still hate it and I still think it's a lemon because of all the little problems here and there that I never thought a modern car could have. I can list a million things from skin disease looking melted steering wheel to crunchy roof trim to radio reception etc. etc. I like the hydraulic suspension though. Only problem is my wife and kids hate it because they get sea sick (mostly when we are in traffic). My 7yo son and my 5yo daughter beg me to not go in the Citroen when we are going somewhere. I don't blame them because I think the driver does not feel it as he/she is holding on to the steering wheel but rear of the car squats a lot due to having no springs. I am now looking for another car and I normally I wouldn't consider another C5 (even though I like the design of the new ones a lot) but the price and options of the new ones are quite good and I can afford the top of the range 2.0 hdi exclusive model with all the bells and whistles. Plus there is the German quality and feel promise of Citroen with the new C5 (not sure if they live up to it). The interior trim looks much nicer but I'm more curious about the quality underneath the surface. Is it still the same poo (excuse my french), different smell or has it come a long way? Any most important question for me is to anyone who has driven one with hydractive 3 suspension. Is the suspension reasonably harder in sport mode? Loud thinking, if I bought one I'd always drive in sport mode to stop my kids getting sea sick. I just don't know if this theory would really work in practice so I'd appreciate some user reviews. Thanks in advance.

Yes I've owned the car since new. I agree on the front tyres, they don't last that much but I think it's because of the weight bias of the car even slow speed corners feels like you are pushing the front tyres. The guy at the service department told me the door comes as a whole complete unit and they just install and paint it. He also told me there is no seperate sound deadening material etc. that they can install afterwards. The door comes as is.

As some of you might know from my previous thread http://www.citroenpicasso.org.uk/citroen/i...=ST&f=97&t=2422 I am having turbo problems and Citoren do not want to cover it. I will not give up without a fight but also trying to weigh my options. Option 1 of course is to trade it in and buy a new problem free car. Option 2 is to pay for it and get it fixed. They wanted 2500euros for a new C5 turbo which sounds crazy especially compared to aftermarket prices. It has the size of a pocket blow drier. If I decide to keep the car then I might just not bother with Citoren warranty anymore and get an aftermarket chip for extra hp. Are there also aftermarket bigger or better turbo options for 2.0Hdi engines? I'm guessing that'd work out way cheaper than buying a turbo from Citroen. My last option is to rebuild the existing turbo. Pity I dont have the last turbo, because citroen took it for "inspection" and never gave it back when they replaced the first one. I still don't understand how they replace one but say user error to the other one.

Hi everyone, I'm new to the forum, just wanted to write a small feedback on my car. It is a 2005 C5 2.0HDI manual with 50.000kms on the clock. Firstly I'd like the say this car will go down in history as one of the worst cars I've ever owned. I don't think it is a lemon because things that go wrong are not specific to my car, I see plenty of other citroens in the service with similar complaints. There are also some things I really like about this car but overall it has more minuses then pluses. Problems I had with it since brand new: - Warped brake discs at 20.000kms which were not covered under warranty due to "user error". I quite got used to this term because everything that stuffs up is due to user error according to Citroen or at least the one in my country. - Squeeky windows, needed adjustement few times and when the car is parked outside for long in hot weather, some sort of flexing, or squeeking noise comes when driven over rough roads. - Noise when switching off the aircon. - Noise when switching off the car (either from exhaust rattle or some sort of final shake). - Noise from inside roof trim. - Some sort of wind noise from right side at high speeds. - Had the right rear door changed due to accident and now the right door sounds like a cheap tin toy car when closing and if you knock on it. The service guy swears the door comes as a complete unit and he had left nothing out or uninstalled, can not give me an explanation as to why right and left door make different sound. - When changing radio channels with the remote stick behind the steering wheel most of the time it doesn't go in order (it goes 1,2,3,4 and back to 1,2,3,4 and only sometimes it goes 1,2,3,4,5,6) - Turbo was making a whistle noise and they changed it under warranty, after some time it started making the same noise again and this time they are not changing it under warranty due to "user error". This is part family part work car with babyseats at the back, I do not drive it hard and know how to treat a turbo car, warm-up, cool-off etc. I like to drive fast once I'm on the highway but I watch the revs and do not make the car scream or anything like that so it made me quite angry to hear citroen call it user error and try to get out of it easy. There might be some more stuff that I forgot to mention but basically the built quality is really poor imo. I like French cars but this one was by far the worst I've owned.