YOU may have noticed the rather clever TV adverts promoting the Citroën C5 as the German car made in France, and though it might come across as a tongue-in-cheek poke at the traditional rivalry between these two continental giants it is also confirmation of a major marketing rethink.
Citroën's traditional role as a manufacturer of innovative if quirky motor cars petered out when the drawbacks of the quirks outweighed the advantages of the innovations. Its replacement strategy, that of marketing the brand as a cut-price se
cond-level Peugeot, ran out of steam for the simple reasons that in a price war everyone loses.
To succeed, Citroën needed to upgrade its quality to German standards; something they've been quietly working away at.
With the new C5, launched in saloon form in April and sporting estate guise in June, they seem to have succeeded.
Unusually for an advertisement, there is a fair bit of truth in Citroën's, certainly in regards to the styling, which, stripped of its distinctive chrome-plated front end, could be at home in any BMW, Audi or Volkswagen garage.
Where they have allowed their designers a bit more scope is in the interior, which is rather stunning with all sorts of features to please the eye, such as the door handles – great curving sculptures that look as though they've come from a bridge designer's drawing board.
But the most interesting feature of the interior, technically at least, has to be the fixed steering wheel boss, which contains secondary controls for the audio and primary controls for systems such as the cruise control.
It's a bit disconcerting, particularly when paying off lock, to see the steering hub remain static while you watch the rim turning above and, beyond that, the nose of the car swinging across the horizon. But I found that I became used to it after half an hour, and shortly after that it became instinctive to set the cruise control to whatever the prevailing limit.
That might seem a strange thing to do for someone who is against technology unless it works and there's a cast-iron case for it, but the new C5 is a deceptively quiet car and that can be very dangerous to your licence unless you keep your wits about you.
I did most of my driving in the Home Counties, where there are cameras everywhere from the 30mph enforcers in small villages to the average speed units on the Newbury bypass. So while I was happy to exploit the car's capability on the empty roads, so quiet is this model that I hit the cruise control every time I even scented civilisation.
What's maybe more surprising is that the vast majority of the test was in what is pretty much the entry-level model, the 1.6-litre HDi in SX trim, priced at £16,595.
Now a 1.6-litre diesel engine might not sound the first choice for a big five-door saloon, but it'll do nearly two miles a minute on the Autobahn, and gets to 60mph from rest in just over 13 seconds. There are only five forward speeds as standard and you'll need to change gear a lot to get the best from the car, but I had the thing flying on deserted country roads yet, slouched in the comfortable driver's seat with the radio turned up, I was hardly trying.
You wouldn't want to tow anything with this engine, which didn't like a particularly long, steep gradient we came across, but most of the time it was fine and, with 50mpg in your sights, an economical way to travel in comfort.
And while on the subject of the driver's seat, this cheapest model comes with sculpted, cloth-trimmed items finished with what's supposed to look like hand stitching in a contrasting colour. They look and feel great and, after a brief drive in a heated, leather-trimmed item in a top-of-the-range car, I'd stick with the fabric and save myself £1,550.
The quality look and feel of the standard seat is continued throughout the rest of the cabin trim, which comes across as a lot more upmarket than the £15,595 entry-level price. This may or may not have contributed to figures Citroën produced claiming that the three-year depreciation record will be second only to the VW Passat.
If that turns out to be true, it's going to get a lot more potential customers through the showroom door than the old model could ever attract.
Though you will have to make do with steel wheels on the entry-level car, it does come pretty well equipped otherwise, with electric windows and mirrors, CD stereo, multi-function computer, cruise control, adaptive lighting, anti-lock brakes with electronic brake assist and electronic brake force distribution, plus traction control and electronic stability.
Oh, and there are seven airbags as standard, should all that fail to keep you out of trouble, and it's here that the new C5 pulls a real flanker on the opposition. Because while conventional steering wheels come with a one size fits all, mushroom-shaped airbag, the fixed hub on the C5 has allowed Citroën engineers to fit an innovative bag tailored to the head and torso, which sounds like a Very Good Thing.
Vehicle Citroën C5 1.6 HDi SX
Price £16,595
Engine 1.6-litre diesel
Top speed 120mph
0-60mph 13.2 seconds
Fuel 48.5mpg
The full article contains 927 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
