2003 Citroen C5 HDI VTR review from UK and Ireland

The only thing that has gone wrong is that a rear door lock failed in the first week of ownership. This was promptly replaced by the dealer.

I have owned several Citroens, including twenty five years ago a DS of happy memory (although it was slow!) so when my Xantia needed its first MOT I decided to buy a C5 HDI that was at a good price with three years interest free HP.

I I am very pleased with the car and I think it has many touches that reflect intelligent thinking about how we live with our vehicles today. But, despite being a longstanding Citroen customer (who even regrets the passing of non-self-cancelling indicators) I am prone to doubts about my choice when the motoring press seems to rate the car so poorly. Are other cars really that much better?

I have recently been amusing myself by trying the opposition, which I can do because I often travel abroad and have the chance of hiring cars.

I drove the Passat in Sweden for two weeks and found it competent, but, although the motoring press raves about it, disappointing compared to the Citroen -. I was not impressed by the quality of the interior that is always praised (it did not seem noticeable better than the C5) and the style is much more dull. It's a dark car. It rode well, but so does the C5.

The Mondeo I tried in Spain. The diesel is certainly more nippy than mine, but it's a noisy car on the road. Rumble, rumble. And the interior is definitely inferior, even in the high spec model I had. Nor did it seem as solid as the C5.

Friends of mine run BMWs and Mercs. These are good cars, but obviously more expensive. The interesting thing is that everyone of them has had to suffer expensive repairs - a sun roof on a Merc cost over £900 to put right. And electric wing mirror on a BMW over £300. In three years nothing went wrong with my Xantia - nothing!