Citroen’s goal to create a comfort-focused wagon seems well-suited to Australia, a claim we seek to investigate over the next three months
Citroen is a niche player in Australia, but the French manufacturer seems to be comfortable with that. Its limited local range is targeted at urbane, worldly Australians – perhaps people who’ve admired the cars while travelling abroad in Europe.
With its long history in Australia, the French brand doesn’t appear to be going anywhere, despite its slow run rate of around 200 sales per year in this country. We tend to focus on sales growth as the metric of success here, but in many ways it seems like Citroen moves to its own beat.
But does Citroen deserve to do better than its extreme-niche status allows it to? We quite like the brand’s C5 Aircross midsize SUV, and the marque has just added a Subaru Outback-esque wagon to its range in the form of the C5 X. A long, practical car, the C5 X is a return to what Citroen arguably does best – uber-plush cruisers that are unashamedly focussed on comfort.
It may not run hydropneumatic suspension, but like the high-riding Aircross SUV, the C5 X wagon does get ‘progressive hydraulic cushion’ bump stops in the dampers that should provide an additional layer of polish over prima facie rivals like the Subaru Outback, Volkswagen Passat Alltrack, and Volvo V60 Cross Country.
We know the C5 X isn’t likely to be a blockbuster-selling car in Australia. But sometimes, we like to dedicate resources in our long term test fleet to cover the weird and wonderful – vehicles that might deserve to do better in our market.
Will the C5 X impress in such a way? We’re going to find out over the next few months.
In this Citroen C5 X long term review
- Why it’s here
- Specification of our C5 X long term test car
- The verdict: should I buy a C5 X? (coming soon)
- Monthly updates (coming soon)
Why it’s here
Citroen’s take on the Subaru Outback might lack AWD, but the C5 X has a raised ride height, additional ground clearance and an unashamedly comfort-focussed suspension. That recipe sounds perfect for touring Australia’s broken-up B-roads.
Specification of our C5 X long term test car
- C5 X Shine ($57,670 before on-road costs, or about $62,300 driveaway)
- Amazonite grey paint ($690)
- Mistral black perforated leather (sole choice – no cost)
It’s not surprising that the Citroen C5 X arrives in Australia in one fully-loaded Shine variant, with just one choice of engine (a 1.6-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol). As a low-volume car, we’re pretty fortunate to get the big Citroen at all. Sadly, no diesel is available – French diesel wagons have a bit of a niche following in this country.
As equipped in striking army-green tinged Amazonite grey, our C5 X Shine hits the road at about $63,000 driveaway in New South Wales.
Standard equipment for the single-variant C5 X in Australia takes in:
- Advanced comfort suspension with progressive hydraulic cushions, front and rear
- 19-inch diamond cut ‘aero X’ wheels painted in silver with onyx black inserts
- Black bi-tone roof
- LED headlights, tail lights and fog lights
- Proximity keyless entry and start
- Power tailgate with kick to open function
- Opening panoramic sunroof with manual sun blind
- Perforated ‘Paloma’ leather trim in Mistral black
- Advanced comfort front seats with heating and electric adjustment (12-way driver, 10-way front passenger)
- Heated grained leather steering wheel with paddle shifters
- 12.0-inch touchscreen
- 7.0-inch digital driver display
- TomTom navigation with connected functions included for three years
- Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto
- Wireless smartphone charging
- Eight-speaker hi-fi system stereo
- My Citroen app
- 360-degree parking camera
- Space saver spare wheel
Keyword: Citroen C5 X long term review (2022–)