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Category: Upper medium Price: £15,295-£22,500
On sale: Aug '06 Key rival: Renault Laguna
It's an impressive engine too, perfectly mated to the C5's relaxed driving character. It pulls surprisingly strongly from very low revs, uncharacteristic for a diesel, thanks to the dual-turbo engine, a world first on a four cylinder diesel.
Despite chief rival Renault's Laguna new big diesel branded as a GT to hint at sportiness, the C5's all about comfort. The car's old dynamic foibles still remain, it's far better at long-distance comfortable cruising than it is through the bends. Other rivals already on sale also point more at a sporting diesel, with Ford's Mondeo diesel also being used in the ST TDCi model, though we've put the C5 up against the Titanium X trim in this case. We've also thrown in Vauxhall's 3.0-litre diesel Vectra. Though the V6 is a much bigger unit, power and acceleration figures are very close. Other new rivals include Toyota's new 177PS D-4D Avensis, though the final costs figures are yet to be confirmed.
The C5 is likely to be priced in the region of £22,500, which puts it within touching distance of all its main rivals, and the standard spec is good with cruise control, dual-zone aircon, six-CD changer and seven airbags all standard in the Exclusive trim driven here. There's also likely to be a fleet-friendly VTX version, continuing Citroen's trend of trying to attract company car drivers with a low P11D, good standard equipment and no dealer discount. This method gets around the problem of Citroen's traditionally retail focussed discounting and cashback offers.
The C5's relative exclusivity makes it a worthy choice if you value comfort over driving appeal, and the new engine is a good addition to the range.