Faults:

Oil leak, turbo, driveshaft, ABS.

Brakes, suspension parts (wear and tear)

The rest was just maintenance. Interior and exterior holding up very well for a 20 year old car, no rust or damage.

General Comments:

Blue 2006 Citroen C5 - the most comfortable car I have ever had. The ride has to be experienced to be believed.

I have had this old French car a long time and had reservations about reliability given my experience with an older Renault Laguna, but glad I gave this Citroen a chance - it's been OK.

Interior is just lovely and has all the electrics expected of a 2006 car. Still feels modern. Very nice and smooth to drive.

2.0 HDi diesel with the auto is fast enough, but struggles for 40 mpg, poor for diesel. I'd go with a manual next time for sake of better MPG.

Overall though for a 20 year old French car it makes the perfect comfortable cheap run about.

Faults:

Quite what Citroen were thinking about with that hydractive suspension is beyond me. Avoid like the plague.

Like all French cars I suppose, you need to buy them when they are very new. I bought it when it was 7 years old, so I suppose I was asking for trouble.

General Comments:

It's French so it's comfortable and stylish, but that damn suspension... bonkers.

Faults:

Where do I start?

About a month after ownership all the electrics completely collapsed. I gave the car to Citroen and it was fixed.

The suspension went wrong (don't know what happened), but the car was sitting on its floor pan. Back to Citroen and fixed.

It was the brakes next at about 2000 miles. Lucky they didn't fail when I was driving! I noticed when the car failed to stop on the driveway when I was about to set off. Back to Citroen.

I thought the steering was getting heavier, I thought it was my imagination at first, but I came to a point where I was getting out of the car with my arms aching like mad. I couldn't be bothered to faff about with Citroen's dreadful customer service so the steering went unfixed.

The car failed to start one day at about 2500 miles. The engine would turn over but not start. Back to Citroen.

The locks kept popping open randomly. First time I was in a shopping centre and I had my things stolen because the car unlocked itself. At first I thought I didn't lock it properly so I made a habit of checking the doors after locking.

One day my son walked in and said the car was open, this is when I realised there was a problem with the doors.

There were various other little things (mostly electrical) that went wrong, but I've covered the main problems that nearly got me fired from work.

General Comments:

The car was nice and comfortable.

It's nice and big inside, and loads of room in the back.

The ride is excellent (while the suspension worked).

The steering wheel is very odd and hard to get used to because you can't tell the position of the wheel.

The car is very safe crash-wise.

The sat nav and speedometers are very nicely designed.

To be honest, my previous car was a Vauxhall Belmont, and I bought a Citroen in search for some comfort, unfortunately the price for comfort is awful reliability. Stick to the Belmonts.