Mike O.

Has anyone found a cure for the squeaks/creaks/chirps coming from the arm rest and the centre console it sits on when the driver or front passenger leans on it? Now the car is so quiet after extensive noise deadening this noise has become more pronounced and needs attention. What do the members think would bring some relief? WD40 applied somewhere? Tightening of something? Rubber sheet applied somewhere? Regards, Mike O.

I am starting to think, that Citroen people have been changing some suspension elements from one year model to another without telling anyone. Just like they have been doing with acoustic side windows or interior equipment levels. Cheers, Mike O.

Hi Derek, No noise at the back, hmm... Maybe the previous owner noise deadened the rear? That is the first thing I did when I got the car - the noise was coming predominantly from the rear. Are all the rubber elements in the front suspension OK? I am not sure how many there are, but they certainly isolate the body from the moving suspension elements. I frequently am a passenger in a Toyota Land Cruiser Prado. It has a frame isolated from the body by some elastic compound - now that is a solution for crappy road surfaces. Ride comfort on my friend's over pumped tyres (he has done 130,000km on them and will still do a few more) is not quite to C5 standard, but the silence.... Cheers, Mike O.

Derek, Have you compared your car to a brand new one of the same (more or less) spec? I would do a test drive on the roads you know to be noisy to have an idea... And immediately after I would drive your car on the same roads - this will tell you if it is your car or just a C5 design fault. What possessed you to buy it with 19" wheels? I remember reading a British test report, where the tester said he felt sorry for Citroen engineers, whose fine efforts were ruined by the marketing guys putting big wheels with low profile tyres on the C5. Are you sure the air pressure in your tyres is not too high? Be careful, yours are low profile tyres and as such very prone to damage on bad roads, so you can't go very low... Don't be afraid of Dynamat - it is so easy to apply in reasonable temperatures (it becomes more pliable as the temperature rises - not a problem in Sydney) and it does make a difference. Cheers, Mike O.

Where are you located Derek? In the coarse-chip-bitumen crazy Australia? Having said that, I have recently noticed that quite a few roads in/around Sydney have now been covered with a much quieter bitumen mix. So much so, that I still have not done Stage 3 - the car is basically quiet enough now, even on more than half-worn 17" Michelin Primacy HP tyres. In a year or so they will be changed to Toyo Teo Plus, which will further reduce the decibels inside the car. So, the cure consists of: 1. Changing the wheels to 17" (I don't think 16" wheels on Mk3 would be legal in down under). 2. Having quiet tyres on them. 3. Noise deadening the car body itself. See my previous posts. Cheers, Mike O.

Has anyone replaced the OEM Xenon "bulbs" with the new Philips Xenon Xtreme Vision D2S or OSRAM Xenarc Night Breaker Unlimited D2SI used to buy Osram Night Breaker Plus or Philips Extreme Vision bulbs for my previous C5s and the results were very encouraging... The Bi-Xenons on my current 2013 2.0HDi Exclusive Tourer are rather disappointing with the OEM "bulbs".

Yes, car reviews... Here in Australia Mazda is always "fantastic" and wins everything... About 2 years ago Sydney Morning Herald did a comparison test of small cars, which here means Mazda 3, VW Golf, Peugeot 307 or 308, Hyundai i30 etc., in total I think 8 cars. Do I need to tell you which one won the test? Mazda 3 was the slowest, thirstiest, noisiest, smallest inside, with the poorest ride etc. Dead last in all important categories, yet it won the test supposedly because of the "sporty handling". Go figure.... BTW, it is Australia's best selling passenger car. Who said thousands of people can't be wrong?

Just the 17" alloys instead of the 18s the Exclusive comes with here and extensive noise deadening (80% done). When one of the Xenons goes I will replace both with the "+70%" or stronger bulbs from Osram or Philips.

Since the fronts do much more work than the rears, including the critical for safety things like steering and braking, I always put the new tyres at the front. What brand? In Australia we have Toyo Teo Plus tyres that I have used on previous cars and was very happy with: quiet on the dreaded coarse chip surfaces passing for bitumen here, comfortable ride, reasonable in the wet, low fuel consumption, reasonable mileage, not too expensive...but they have to be "Made in Japan", not China, Thailand or Malaysia. They beat the Michelins (price, noise) and various Malaysian made Continentals (wet braking, traction etc.) hands down.

I am getting just over 37mpg (7.6l/100km) from my 2013 2.0Hdi Auto Exclusive Tourer (163), Measured over 16000km.

Hi rusty-pie, There was a weak knock at 40 kph and none at lesser speeds. The road sign suggested 25 kph. The revving was discussed under: Automatic Transmission MisbehavingStarted by Mike O., Jun 03 2014 09:55 PM Cheers, Mike O.

The suspension does not raise itself to a correct level until you take your foot off the brake, so for a good few seconds after driving off it is sitting too low.

My last C5, the facelifted December 2004 2.2HDi SX Auto Wagon (Estate) produced the very knock on some specific speed humps at certain speed. So does my new October 2013 C5 2.0HDi Exclusive Auto Tourer, but to a lesser extent, I think. I will test drive it over these humps tomorrow and report again. To me it is caused by the front suspension reaching the end of its rebound travel and the bump stops being too hard and not progressive enough. We discussed the car's engine 'revving its head off' a few months ago. I have since learned not to press the accelerator so hard, which eliminated the problem.

I had a similar situation when my passengers entered the car about 1 m from a big bump. I then lifted my foot from the brake pedal and drove off over the bump - the underbody hit the bump because the car had not managed to raise the suspension to a normal level within such a short period of time (not much over 1 s). Did you, perhaps, press the suspension lowering button when slowing down to enter the driveway? Mike O.

Hi Stylo, Re.3. I have read in enough places, that the new C5 is going to be made in the Opel factory in Russelsheim, Germany, to be concerned. Like many other Citroen enthusiasts I have signed a petition (available on this forum, from memory) to keep the Hydractive suspension alive. Money talks, so it doesn't look good... Re. Road noise It is a very subjective thing. Test drive the model you intend to buy on the very roads you will drive it later. If you are going to be driving mainly on smooth bitumen, then there is no problem. The problem becomes apparent on coarse chip surfaces (bitumen with gravel pressed into it), and even then many C5 owners when asked about the noise would answer: what noise? The new C5 is certainly quieter in all respects than many Mazda, VW/Skoda/Audi or Volvo models I have driven... Re.5. Auto transmission Again a very personal thing. I personally would never buy a car with a manual transmission (not that I could buy a manual C5 in Australia anyway). If you are after a feeling of being "in control" of the car - buy a manual. If you value comfort, especially in heavy traffic - get an auto. When in Europe (which is every year) I hire a manual car, but it is not my cup of tea at all. Yes, fuel consumption of a manual is a bit lower (certainly not 2+l/100km lower), but the convenience... In my 30 years of driving automatics I have never had to have anything done to the transmission, except for simple service in case of old Holdens and Fords. Now even that is not necessary, they are sealed for life whatever that means. Cheers, Mike O.