2001 Citroen C5 2.0 SX review from Singapore
"Good value for the money"
What things have gone wrong with the car?
On delivery, there was a smudge on the bonnet, squeaks on the false wood trim which were fixed very quickly.
On 5 occasions spread over the last one and a quarter years, the engine died for no apparent reasons or ran erratically. These all occurred either at idling or after the car had just started. On one occasion, the engine could not start for half an hour and the AA man had to be called. When he tried, it started straighaway! Immobilizer fault?
Latest incident of car dying was yesterday which was what prompted me to search on the Net for other owner's experiences. Today the engine and transmission software were upgraded, plugs changed and idle valved cleaned. Will know soon if this provides permanent cure.
An "anti-pollution fault" warning came up on the display which was rectified by changing the ignition coil.
A problem unsolved till now is that central locking can't work if one of the doors is opened when it is still on. Will work again after switching off ignition, taking out the key and restarting!
General comments?
Aside from the faults mentioned above, my family and I are very happy with the car and the service provided by the local dealer. It is sufficiently powerful and smooth for both town and country driving. Comfortable and spacious with air-conditioning powerful enough for tropical conditions with outdoor temperatures up to 36 degrees C even while set at the lower fan speeds. This also in spite of the athermic windscreen having to be replaced by non-athermic ones to allow the reading of the pre-paid card electronic unit by overhead gantries in Singapore's electronic road pricing system.
One of the things that attracted me to Citroens were the technical features and these also make good conversation pieces. So far they have been generally reliable except for what was mentioned above.
Downsides include a woolly steering and jerky downshifts.
One more thing - not being used to the self-lowering of the suspension after it is parked, both my wife and I were caught out by the bumper dropping to the level of the curb and resulted in the bumper being pulled out once when the car was started and reversed from the curb in a hurry.
Recommended reviews
| An excellent all round large car, pity about the problems |
|
| Great car, underated and ignored by the ignorant |
| Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? | Yes |
| Year of manufacture | 2001 |
| First year of ownership | 2001 |
| Most recent year of ownership | 2003 |
| Engine and transmission | 2.0 Automatic |
| Performance marks | 8 / 10 |
| Reliability marks | 8 / 10 |
| Comfort marks | 9 / 10 |
| Dealer Service marks | 9 / 10 |
| Running Costs (higher is cheaper) | 7 / 10 |
| Overall marks (average of all marks) | |
| Distance when acquired | 50 kilometres |
| Most recent distance | 41000 kilometres |
| Previous car | Fiat Brava |
| Date of Entry | 14th March, 2003 |