Chris Riley tests the 2023 Citroën C5 X Shine with pricing, specs, ride and handling, safety, verdict and everything the over-50 driver needs to know.
Summary: The C5 X is something of a conundrum, not quite a wagon, not quite an SUV and certainly not a sports car, but however you categorise it, it has a lot to recommend it.
2023 Citroën C5 X Shine
Pricing: $57,670 (plus on road costs)
Options: metallic paint (any other than Magnetic Blue) $690, premium paint (Pearl White) $1050
Warranty: Five-years/unlimited km, five years roadside assist
Safety: 5-star ANCAP (tested 2022)
Build location: China
Engine: 1.6-litre turbo intercooled 4-cylinder petrol
Power: 133kW at 5550rpm
Torque: 250Nm at 1650rpm
Transmission: 8-speed sports automatic, front-wheel drive
Body: 4805mm (long); 1865mm (wide); 1490mm (high)
Weight: 1439kg
Towing capacity: 1600kg
Wheels: 19-inch alloy
Tyres: 205/55 R19V
Ground clearance: 194mm
Fuel tank capacity: 52 litres
Official consumption: 6.0/100km (95 RON fuel)
Consumption on test: 6.4/100 (900km)
seniordriver consumption on test: 7.9L/100km (125km)
[review]
You can never be quite sure what you will get from Citroën, but it will always be interesting.
Citroën’s C5 X, not to be confused with the Mazda CX-5, is an odd one, a cross between an SUV and a station wagon, with a fastback profile thrown in.
Guess that makes it a double-cross?
Some design features have been drawn from the Citroën CXperience Concept displayed at the 2016 Paris Motor Show.
Citroën says CX 5 meets the needs of customers who want a large, modern, functional alternative to sedans, wagons and SUVs.
In other words, it’s targeted at buyers who fancy something a little different – Citroën buyers notably.
Competitors? Think Outback, Passat Alltrack, Audi Allroad and Volvo Cross Country. It’s certainly big enough, but doesn’t offer all-wheel drive.
What’s it cost?
There’s just the one fully-loaded model, the five-seat Citroën C5 X Shine, priced from $57,670 plus on-road costs.
If you want any colour apart from Magnetic Blue it’s another $690.
There are three greys and a black from which to choose, while premium metallic Pearl White adds $1050.
Standard equipment includes two-zone climate air with rear outlets and ‘Advanced Comfort’ seats trimmed in a combination of leather and synthetic fibre, we’re told for better durability.
With hydraulic cushions, they are designed to deliver living room levels of comfort with special seat padding that acts in the same way as a mattress topper.
The driver’s seat, which features memory settings, gains eight-way power adjustment including fore and aft movement, backrest, seat height, tilt and lumbar adjustments.
The front passenger seat features six-way power adjustment including fore and aft movement, backrest, lumbar and height adjustments for added ergonomic comfort.
Both front seats are heated and so is the steering wheel.
There’s also auto high beam, auto lights and wipers, auto dimming rear view mirror, keyless entry and push-button start, front and rear parking sensors, a sunroof, foot-friendly power tailgate and walk away/walk up automatic locking.
Centrepiece of the C5 X infotainment system is a 12.0-inch touchscreen with voice control that can be activated with the words “Hello CITROËN”.
The system features Bluetooth, satellite navigation, AM/FM and DAB digital radio and wireless Apple CarPlay and wireless Android Auto plus an eight-speaker no name audio.
The navigation system provides speed limit recognition as well as speed camera warnings which used to be a big ‘no, no’ in French cars – at least those driven in France.
It also comes with a free three-year subscription to online services such as car parking availability, fuel prices and location and TomTom map and speedcam updates.
Screen mirroring means users can customise key functions as their preferred shortcuts as well as set their own user profile and preferred screen ambience.
As well, four USB-C sockets (two front and two rear), two 12-volt power outlets (one in the front console and the other in the boot) plus a wireless smartphone charging pad.
C5 X comes with a maximum five-star safety rating.
Dual front, side chest-protecting and side head-protecting curtain airbags are standard, but it misses out on a centre airbag to prevent occupant-to-occupant interaction.
Autonomous emergency braking (Car-to-Car, Vulnerable Road User and Junction Assist) as well as a lane support system with lane keep assist (LKA), lane departure warning (LDW) and emergency lane keeping (ELK), and a speed assist system (SAS) are standard equipment.
There’s also head-up display, adaptive cruise control with complete stop and go and a 360-degree bird’s-eye-view camera.
Top tethers and ISOfix mounting points are provided for child seats on the outer rear seats.
C5 X comes with a 5-year, unlimited kilometre warranty, 5-year roadside assistance and 5-year fixed price servicing.
The latter totals $2818 for 60 months or 100,000km.
What’s it go like?
Our test vehicle is powered by a 1.6-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine.
C5 X is also offered with a more powerful hybrid overseas, but not here just yet.
Citroën is saying “later in the year”, but it’s bound to be more expensive (it doesn’t need that).
The PureTech 180 turbocharged 1.6-litre, four-cylinder unit delivers 133kW of power at 5500 rpm and 250Nm of torque at 1650 rpm.
It’s paired with an eight-speed conventional automatic that drives the front wheels, with paddle shifters and auto engine stop-start to minimise fuel use.
With a 52-litre tank, fuel consumption is rated at 6.0L/100km, it takes premium 95 unleaded and produces 137g/km of CO2.
Top speed is 230km/h top speed and does the dash to 100km/h in 8.1 seconds.
At 4805mm in length, C5 X is fairly long. In fact, we located it in the carpark because the back was poking out.
It’s 1865mm wide and sits 1490mm high, with a 2785mm wheelbase, all of which promises plenty of interior space.
C5 X sits on what is known as the EMP2 platform which it shares with Peugeot (d’accord) as well as Fiat, Toyota and Opel/Vauxhall.
It’s the same platform that underpins the similarly named but slightly smaller C5 Aircross SUV (a vehicle we like a lot).
The newcomer rides on 19-inch alloys shod with skinny 205/55 series rubber with an SUV-like 194mm of ground clearance that makes entry and exit relatively easy, as well as providing a desirable, elevated driving position.
The SUV look is accentuated by matte black protective trim for the wheel arches, bumpers and lower sill sections.
Other touches include a black roof, aerodynamic roof bars, body-coloured door handles and black heated and power-fold mirrors.
Viewed from a distance, C5 X stands tall and skinny, almost as though it is on stilts as the tyres fail to fill out the guards.
Always a mistake.
Airflow is also promoted by a wheel design that uses aerodynamic inserts to create a turbine effect, guiding airflow and lowering wind drag.
While the windscreen, front and rear side glass is acoustically laminated to provide better insulation from external noise and with privacy tinting for the side windows.
The cabin is spacious, with comfy seats, plenty of rear legroom and a large boot area that has metal luggage runners, with a space saver spare hidden under the floor.
But the elevated rear seat and receding roofline make getting in and out of the back unnecessarily difficult, especially getting in.
The digital instrument cluster offers different configurations but all are minimalist, with a very large 12.0-inch touchscreen and head-up display projected on the windscreen in front of the driver.
It takes a bit of trial and error to work out what operates what, but we could simply not find the adjustment for the height of the head-up display.
The drawcard Citroën Advanced Comfort Suspension comprises MacPherson struts at front and a multi-link system at the rear that is supplemented by hydraulic cushions.
Whereas conventional suspension comprises a shock absorber, spring and mechanical stop, the new system adds hydraulic stops at either end – one for rebound, the other for compression.
It works in two stages: in light conditions the hydraulic cushions don’t come into play but under heavy load the cushions slow suspension travel instead of bringing it to an abrupt stop, absorbing and dissipating energy to reduce rebound.
That’s the theory anyway.
The suspension works in tandem with the Advanced Comfort Seats, to supposedly deliver a “magic carpet” ride.
Our initial impression was of a soft, pillowy ride more akin to the infamous American drive experience.
We had however just got out of a full-on sports car with firm ride and sharp handling.
As the week progressed, the ride in C5 X began to feel better and admittedly more comfortable.
Banging along one of our favourite stretches of back road, pot-holed from recent rain, it did to a large extent smooth out the ride as promised.
At the same time handling remained predictable, but there was some bounce as the suspension unloaded with the rise and fall of the road.
With just 250Nm of torque, we weren’t expecting fireworks in the performance department.
C5 X can be a bit slow out of the gates, particularly with some passengers aboard.
Once it’s up and running it’s more than adequate, with plenty of oomph available for overtaking and long grinding hills – although one needs to wind it up.
The gear selector is small and the same as that offered by Peugeot, operated by a tug of the finger. There are three drive modes: Sport, Normal and Eco.
Throttle response is a little jerky while the brakes can be a bit abrupt too.
Other than that, it’s all fairly middle of the road, or just right for the family which is obviously the primary objective.
We were getting 6.4L/100km after more than 900km which is close to the manufacturer’s claim.
What we like
- Wagon style
- Comfortable ride
- Competitive pricing
- Long equipment list
What we don’t like
- Skinny tyres
- Pillowy ride
- Occupants jostled over verges
- Jerky throttle response
- Abrupt braking
- Takes 95 unleaded
What over-50 drivers need to know
What does Citroën have to do to get noticed?
Cars such as the C5 X help. It’s competitively priced and has a long equipment list, and the ‘Comfort’ suspension provides a point of difference.
But let’s face it, Citroën is on a hiding to nothing, under pressure from both ends of the market, caught between mainstream competitors and Chinese hopefuls which will win on price every time.
Still, at the price, C5 X represents good buying for senior drivers.
The name has cache, the station wagon style is familiar, riding a little higher it’s easy to get in and out of and it is even easy to drive.
What’s more, it’s very well equipped. What’s not to like?
seniordriver comments
The Citroën C5 X won us over very quickly (just as well – we only had it for five days!) We loved its French style and slight quirkiness (long a Citroën attribute). Like others, we had some difficulty categorising the C5 X … Citroën themselves claim it has the comfort and status of a sedan, the volume and practicality of a wagon and the posture and driving position of an SUV. So a foot in every camp, then.
It is clearly designed to appeal to buyers looking for an alternative to the traditional SUV. We’d put it up against the Volkswagen Passat Alltrack ($50,790plus on road costs), the Subaru Outback Touring XT ($55,990) or the more expensive Volvo V60 Cross Country ($69,490). However, all of these are all-wheel drive, unlike the Citroën that it only available in front-wheel drive. We’d suggest you could also include the Skoda Superb 162TSI Style wagon ($55,790 plus on roads) and the Volkswagen Arteon Shooting Brake ($65,990 for the 2-litre 140TSI Elegance).
Citroën’s colour choice is rather limited as well. The standard colour, Magnetic Blue, is the only actual colour. The others are various shades of grey or black, and the $1050 Pearl White.
There are clever little touches, such as user profiles (for up to eight users and two phones per person) and the vehicle can detect which person is in the vehicle, based on your device. The customisable instrument cluster is becoming quite common and in the Citroën you can create a screen that combines the widgets you prefer (although not when the car is in motion).
Comfort is a CX 5 feature, with ruts and expansion joints heard rather than felt. The springs and shock absorbers control the vertical movements unaided, while major bumps are controlled by what Citroën calls “Progressive Hydraulic Cushions” working in conjunction with the spring and shock absorber. It results in an impressive degree of ride comfort. Road noise is suppressed, partly thanks to laminated side windows and windscreen.
We had a few issues, however. When you switch off the ignition, the driver’s seat moves way back, which makes it a bit of stretch to reach the stop/start button, which needs an authoritative press before it responds to turn the car on or off. Every time we started the car, the screen displayed a prompt to “Discover the System”. We assume this can be switched off, but in our time with the car, we didn’t discover how. Another frustration was with the sat nav that defaults to a wide view with little to no detail visible until you swipe it to zoom in. And we were disappointed that the seat belts weren’t height adjustable.