Citroen C5 2006 1.8 LX - Citroen C5 - any advice good / bad / run away ?

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Sun 13 Feb 2011 20:41
Citroen C5 2006 1.8 LX - Citroen C5 - any advice good / bad / run away ? - Mr Fox

One of my favourite lady friends is looking to change her car as she needs a comfortable mile muncher due to a change in jobs, family living a long way away, and the fact that her 02 Astra is getting through oil like the Queen mother used to get through Gin & tonics.

Anyway she is completely taken with a 56 plate Citroen C5 we saw at the local dealers, which is a 56, 1.8 petrol engine and seems immaculate, FSH one owner 48 K miles and is up for only 3.5 grand.

Of course the running costs will be more than a diesel but the purchase price is almost half of an equivalent car with a diesel engine, plus she gets 40 p a mile for her work related usage, so it will more than cover the costs.

Now I have the impression that these Citroens were pretty much above par on build quality and reliability, it certainly seems well made.

Should I drag her away from it and advise her to choose something less esoteric, or are they a decent bet for a couple of years ?

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Mon 14 Feb 2011 00:12
Citroen C5 2006 1.8 LX - Citroen C5 - any advice good / bad / run away ? - Carole4X4
From my experience last year with a brand new ( sept 09 59plate) berlingo multispace xtr I wouldn't touch a Citroen with a bargepole.
In 3500 miles my berlingo had the following :-
a new steering rack
new power steering box
2 brand new clutches
2 new flywheels
2 new gearbox housings
plus all the ancillaries that go with the above.

All was repaired under motability warranty and after 8 months motability agreed to replace the car with something else as it was costing them more in car hire while the Citroën was in the garage. In the final 3 months of owning it I only managed to cover 100 miles due to it constantly breaking down. After first clutch, flywheel, gearbox housing replacement I only got from the garage to 1/2 mile away from home before the exact same things went again at an inoppertune moment which ended up closing the inside lane of a major A road dual carriageway as it all just seized, a total of approx 9 1/2 mile from collecting the car.

For those reasons I would never ever consider having another Citroën. The customer service from Citroën UK was as atrocious as from the supplying dealership and I eventually had to use a dealer further away from me and the fact that I knew the owner quite well to get some satisfaction from a Citroën dealership.

Just my honest opinion of the brand and aftersales.

Carole.
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Mon 14 Feb 2011 01:20
Citroen C5 2006 1.8 LX - Citroen C5 - any advice good / bad / run away ? - Collos25

The average C5 or any PAS product will give years of service there are millions oif them all over the world giving stirling service,don,t be put off with one persons bad experience.We have a xm estate in the family with over 700km a peugeot 406 with over 1million km and I have personally run xms,2xc5,s,c3 with absolutely no bother at all .

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Mon 14 Feb 2011 08:02
Citroen C5 2006 1.8 LX - Citroen C5 - any advice good / bad / run away ? - Mr Fox

Thanks Andy,

I've personally had good service from PSA cars in the past and all my instrincts tell me this C5 is a good buy, with a petrol engine life can be a lot simpler in the long term than with a turbo diesel when used mainly for short trips with the occasional long journey.

I am interested in anyone's experience of the C5 of this kind of age, in case there is a hidden achilles heel that may account for the seemingly low purchase price.

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Mon 14 Feb 2011 11:55
Citroen C5 2006 1.8 LX - Citroen C5 - any advice good / bad / run away ? - TheOilBurner

A C5 at this age may have many small annoyances (mine did) but I wouldn't expect any major issues.

Chances are, it will be fine for what it's wanted for.

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Mon 14 Feb 2011 12:52
Citroen C5 2006 1.8 LX - Citroen C5 - any advice good / bad / run away ? - lucklesspedestrian

Paid £4.9K for a 1.6 HDi C5 (VTR) of an identical vintage and mileage 2 months ago. That was with a full 12 months Citroen approved warranty.

The petrol C5's are basically unloved and unwanted which is why they are so cheap. I'd be looking to get at least £500 more off that asking price (check the price of the same spec cars on autotrader) Main checks are all the electrics and the air con (mine failed approx 2 weeks after purchasing the car...glad of the warranty!)

Could potentially be a lot of car for the money and a quiet comfortable cruiser, great for A roads and motorways not so good on the twisty bits! They also have a really high Euro NCAP safety rating which makes a lot of sense for a family hack.

Edited by lucklesspedestrian on 14/02/2011 at 13:03

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Mon 14 Feb 2011 15:49
Citroen C5 2006 1.8 LX - Citroen C5 - any advice good / bad / run away ? - LucyBC

So the advice would be to buy the car but take out an aftermarket waranty with one of the better warranty companies...

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Mon 14 Feb 2011 18:38
Citroen C5 2006 1.8 LX - Citroen C5 - any advice good / bad / run away ? - SteveLee
Petrol C5s are pretty reliable mechanically, expect the odd electrical niggle, switch gear is flimsy and the washer pump will invariably pack up (only start squirting either the front or rear screen) these can be bought for around £20 (don't pay Citroën dealer prices!) Given the state of today's roads the C5 is not a bad choice, no broken springs to worry about from nasty road humps. The C5's suspension system is very normally reliable. Keep an eye on the LDS (note LDS not LHM) level every year as they often weep oil at the power steering pump union. I'd say you can get a lot of car for your money - go for it.

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Mon 14 Feb 2011 19:19
Citroen C5 2006 1.8 LX - Citroen C5 - any advice good / bad / run away ? - japdriver

I had a problem with my Ford Galaxy fusebox, which an autoelectrician fixed for me. Whilst he was round and we were having a chat I asked him what were his worst nightmares to work on - answer - big French cars.

Why? - the electrics. The electrics are all multiplex type connectors which run under the floor carpets inside the car - if they get wet, which in our flood prone country is not unusual they fail, and are a nightmare to fault find and repair. So, make sure any you are buying have NOT seen flood water, or have had the windows left down overnight etc.

Only my autoelectricians opinion, but he had no reason to make it up!

Again, I guess like all things, for every 20 good ones there is a bad one, and people only highlight problems normally, so the good ones remain unmentioned.

Personally, A large French car with an auto gearbox would be the perfect recipe for problems from what I have read in owner reviews etc...you pays your money and all that, but generally they are cheap for a reason........

All the best

Mark

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Fri 18 Feb 2011 21:00
Citroen C5 2006 1.8 LX - Citroen C5 - any advice good / bad / run away ? - Mr Fox

Well We found another for sale on the autoquake website which was cheaper and a better colour. Will go and see it tomorrow and hopefully if it seems ok will buy it.

Will let you know

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Sat 19 Feb 2011 08:28
Citroen C5 2006 1.8 LX - Citroen C5 - any advice good / bad / run away ? - s.v.u.

Well We found another for sale on the autoquake website which was cheaper and a better colour. Will go and see it tomorrow and hopefully if it seems ok will buy it.

Will let you know

One thing that is common to ALL French cars..........Mickey Mouse electrics ! As some one remarked previously they are cheap for a reason ! My advice would be find an auto electrician, any one, walk in off the street to any auto electrician and ask him for his opinion on the electrics on French cars. His first response will be, "what sort of car do you have?" when you tell him you have`nt got a french car yet his next response will be " don`t bother" ! I have so far never met an auto electrician who would say that the electrics on French vehicles are up to par with other brands of non french cars. Should you happen to find an electrician who says to you they are acceptable on the electrics front make a mental note to give him a wide berth in future !!

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Sat 19 Feb 2011 15:51
Citroen C5 2006 1.8 LX - Citroen C5 - any advice good / bad / run away ? - SteveLee
There's a lot of truth in what you say about French cars and electrics but Audi haven't been much better for the last 15 years - no-one slates those! My CX, Xantia and Mk2 XM were faultless over hundreds of thousands of miles mechanically and electrically, however my C5 does have a few electrical niggles like the engine warning light coming on with the side lights (no fault codes) the bulb blown light is always on even of the bulbs are fine and the electric window switches need replacing - nothing major thankfully.
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Sat 19 Feb 2011 21:49
Citroen C5 2006 1.8 LX - Citroen C5 - any advice good / bad / run away ? - Collos25

I have had plenty of French cars over the years including 2x C5 hdi and never had a electrical fault and I am going back as far as Simcas and Renault Dauphines and Frigates.I don't think they cause any more problems than any other car in fact on this forum there seems to be more expensive problems with German made tin.

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Sun 20 Feb 2011 19:55
Citroen C5 2006 1.8 LX - Citroen C5 - any advice good / bad / run away ? - Mr Fox

Got the car.

It was totally immaculate 48 K miles and drives beautifully, with a freah MOT even though there was almost 5 months left on the old one, it looks and feels like new car so we didn't mess about.

On the trip back it averaged 37 MPG so not far behind a 2.0 HDI Peugeot 406 I had that averaged 43 MPG over 130 K miles. Plus the engine is utterly smooth and quiet and the ride is like being carried on a magic carpet. SO it is 100% fit for its intended future purpose. A warranty can be bought for £210/ yr if needs be.

Autoquake is a very interesting concept, but not without some flaws< i felt fine buying a 3K car from a bloke in a huge shed, but they sell all sorts of top notch cars too, Jaguars BMW's etc, and I'm not sure I'd be comfortable handing over that kind of cash, the savings have to oughtweigh the potential pitfalls of not having any main dealer back-up and if they can put the cars on sale at such a saving, the the Trade would be queueing up to buy their stock. So they occupy quite a small niche between the Auction and the Trade.

Anyhow I'd happly buy from there again but nothing exotic or over 5K

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