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An atypical style
Citroën is often distinguished by style. The C5X is no exception, and the design teams took full advantage of this freedom to let loose. We immediately recognize the codes of the house, and many are those who imagine this car as a C4 with larger dimensions. The rear, however, turns out to be a little less choppy than that of its little sister. The general look makes the link, and yet the differences are numerous.
You have to observe it closely, even very closely to see the smallest details. The chevrons nestle everywhere, in the headlights, in the taillights. Thus, everyone will be able to recognize it even in close-up. Its hybrid side, half sedan half SUV blurs the tracks a little. With its large wheels and its ground clearance of nearly 20 centimeters, you don’t have to worry too much when climbing on a sidewalk or going up a not very clear path.
Rear seat space
The atmosphere on board is not boring. Citroën proves that you can combine style and modernity, without making the environment too austere. Not everything is necessarily about the quality of materials, as we can see with the C5 X. If the assembly holds up, and you feel good in a cabin, you don’t care a bit about a plastic too hard at the bottom. The space is royal in the back, while the trunk here offers 485 liters of capacity.
In addition, the manufacturer does not forget technologies to make driving and life even more pleasant. A head-up display completes the small screen as counters. As in all cars, you have to tame the touch screen menus, but nothing is missing. Connectivity including CarpPlay and Android Auto also makes it easy to use. Finally, level 2 autonomous driving makes traveling less painful.
Unparalleled comfort
This new Citroën C5X surpasses just about anything on the road in terms of comfort. The progressive hydraulic double-stop suspension, combined with controlled damping, produce a small miracle. The irregularities of the road disappear under the wheels, and the speed bumps, lying gendarmes etc are literally swallowed by the car, even taken at 40 km/h. We never noticed a feeling of banging from the shocks.
To find a semblance of equivalent in this area, you have to start looking at sedans adding one more figure to the price at the bottom of the order form. The direction is to match, and we regret it a little, even if it does not affect the precision of placement. We must also accept that this heightened comfort prevents first-rate agility, even if this is not at all its primary vocation, despite the sport mode.
Performance in PHEV
On the engine side, it includes a 1.6 petrol engine of 180 horsepower, with an electric block of 110, for a total power of 225 horsepower. The maximum torque of 360 Nm clearly facilitates the restarts and accelerations on the mountainous part of our course. Overtaking turns out to be a formality and the car does not lack punch when it comes to soliciting power. When the two engines work together, you can easily get out of most situations.
The autonomy of 55 km announced, we can get closer to it on a route that does not include a motorway. However, competitors are beginning to integrate larger batteries, with reserves close to 100 km, which is a clear change. Here in our reality, we easily exceed 40 kilometers, but hardly more. One can imagine not burning (or little) fuel every day, if one recharges every evening for 7 hours on a conventional plug. The rest of the time, the consumption remains in single digits.
to summarize
Citroën amazes with the C5X, as we expect from the brand that does nothing like the others, starting with the style. However, it does not forget its fundamentals, such as very high level comfort, especially in its 225 horsepower hybrid version. The car, assembled in China, has competitive prices given its features, from €32,900 to €49,550 for our top-of-the-range model.
