Citroen C5 X was unveiled with its new look and new technologies. We shared all the details and all the features for you. CX, XM, and C6 were the previous cars with which the brand defended itself, with mixed luck, among the large saloons. Now, it returns with this model whose bodywork mixes various formats to achieve a distinctive image. It will be sold in the fall.
After abandoning the large saloon segment with the discontinuation of the revolutionary C6 in 2012, Citroën returns to a category in which, decades ago, yes, it triumphed with a model as long as the CX. Then would come the XM, the aforementioned C6, and … until now. The issue will be resolved this autumn, when the first units of the C5 X begin to circulate on the roads, a car that, like those, seeks to differentiate itself from the known offer.
Based on the EMP2 platform, but with the elongated wheelbase used for the Chinese versions, it is difficult to fit it for its aesthetics. According to Pierre Leclercq, director of design of the brand, it would come to be a mix between a saloon, an estate, and an SUV inspired by the CXperience concept car of the year 2016. To mo, it vaguely reminds me of a Porsche Panamera Cross Turismo with the bodywork elevated. All this response to the X designation and ground clearance is seven centimeters above that of a traditional D-segment saloon. For example, a Peugeot 508, for not leaving the orbit of Stellaris.
Citroen C5 X Design
The car measures 4.80 meters long, 1.86 meters wide and 1.48 meters high, with a 2.78-meter wheelbase. They are proportions that place him in the middle. For example, it would be somewhere between a BMW 3 Series and a 5 Series, although Vincent Cobee, world director of the brand, makes it clear that they are not a premium alternative but that they play a different league, “that of audacity and comfort “for example … It is fair to admit it, because in recent decades no generalist has managed to sink its teeth into the Germans, or throwing the rest as Citroën itself did with the C6.
More than the front, with the light signature in V already known from the current C4, the personality of the C5 X lies in its large wheels (minimum 19 inches) that separate it a lot from the ground, achieving a higher driving position; and in the drooping design of the rear, with a generous overhang. It has a tailgate, a formula commonly used in the house and that gives it a lot of practicality when loading the trunk, in very regular ways, easily accessible and with 545 liters of capacity, which become 1,640 by folding down the rear seats. It has a solidarity luggage cover and will have an electric gestural drive, passing the foot underneath if we go with loaded hands.
And it is that providing the best life on board will be one of his personality traits. Thus, it promises a large space also for the rear seats and solutions such as laminated glass that make the interior quieter; the huge, customizable, high-definition 12-inch multifunction display that operates like a widget-based tablet and features an assistant with natural voice recognition. It also allows you to replicate mobile content without the need for a cable connection. There are wireless charging and four Type-C USB sockets. According to Cobée, although the platform would allow it, seven-seat versions are not planned.
The digital environment is completed by instrumentation, also supported on a screen, and the Head-Up Display system that projects information on a large surface of the windshield. and is a first step towards the introduction of augmented reality.
Citroen C5 X Engine
More details? Of course, the two great protagonists of the Citroën Advanced Comfort program cannot be absent. On the one hand, the front seats, on the other, the suspension based on progressive hydraulic shock absorbers. Without reaching the level of sophistication of the acclaimed hydropneumatic suspension of decades ago, it now introduces an electronically managed version that allows you to select three working modes, going a step forward in the flying carpet feeling that you want to give the car as it promises an even silkier low-speed response and improved cornering efficiency. That of a current C5 Aircross, for example, maybe too soft for many drivers.
However, that option will be offered only for the plug-in hybrid version that will crown the range at the start. It is the same formula used in cars such as the Peugeot 3008, the aforementioned C5 Aircross or the DS 7 Crossback, with a gasoline-electric powertrain with a combined power of 225 HP, front-wheel drive (not ruled out, because technically it is possible and some of those models offer it, a 4×4 variant) and a range in electric mode of about 50 km / h. With this propulsion, the speed is limited to 135 km / h.
No to diesel, maybe 100% electric
The rest of the range will be made up of gasoline mechanics, from 130 to 225 horses, judging by the offer available in other models of the former PSA, with a six-speed manual or eight-speed automatic gearboxes. On the other hand, diesel engines are not contemplated since the bulk of the purchases of cars of this type will continue to be in the fleets and the cost of use (the famous TCO) is less beneficial in the diesel versions than in the PHEVs. Also, the residual value of diesel variants has been reduced substantially. On the other hand, if the CO2 requirements and the demand it, a 100% electric version is not ruled out.
Of the available equipment, little is known beyond the panoramic roof or the numerous driving aids, among which the semi-automatic level 2 driving system stands out, which maintains speed concerning other cars and the position within the lane; rear traffic alert, long-distance blind-spot monitoring, 360 exterior view camera or hands-free entry and start-up.
