2005 Citroen C5 from UK and Ireland - Comments

Rear Brakes squeal admitted by Citron, but refuse to deal with it, as “it does not affect braking performance”. Ask my neighbours, check my eardrums!

Incompatible roof rack equipment supplied.

Poor recording of service details that potentially affect guarantee.

I would like to know how many other Citroen users have been treated in an arrogant, high handed, and potentially negligent way.

I would like to co-ordinate responses in order to bring public awareness to this situation of poor service.

Citron senior management need to know how their customers feel – not just the stymied view filtered to them by their “Customer Service” Department.

We have a website: www.citroenbrakesqueal.com

that has been created to bring together Citroen users who feel that they have been let down by poor service from Citroen dealers.

This whole activity is as the result of an inability to get a message past the impenetrable “Customer Service” Department at Slough.

I have experienced the same dealer indifference here in Australia at the dealership where the car was purchased from Hobart, Tasmania and at the dealership in Melbourne, Victoria.

I resorted to threatening media attention to have some issues looked at. Not a good relationship.

The resale values here have plummeted, however I believed that it was now the time to end this so I sold my C5 for a considerable loss as car industry sources have suggested that Citroen may even pull out of Australia.

The worst automotive experience in my life. Please refer to my entry in the Car Survey website under " a car is only as good as it's dealer network".

Bill, Melbourne Victoria AUSTRALIA.

My comments entirely.

Citroen relies largely on a reputation created by the fine D series and G series cars over thirty years ago. They have been making unreliable bombs ever since.

French quality control is appalling.

Japanese cars a re very reliable, but mainly have no soul. A German car is reliable, solid and has heaps of character.

Buy a BMW.

If you want a C5, hire a 2.2hdi, they are great on the motorway. If you are looking to buy, get a Rolls royce, they are cheaper. The service charges are crippling and they are prone to faults, their version of climate control is blow hot then blow cold. The brakes squeal like a bus and they will not fix them unless you pay. Topping up the diesel additive at around 50k miles will cost you in excess of £300 if you are lucky. Fed up of being ripped off I am trading mine in for an Audi and will never set foot in a Citroen dealership again.

Do not agree. A car is as good as its dealer. Have been driving a Xantia Break 2.0 16v for 5 years (bought new in 1999) and no problems, in contrary to my Passat (bought new in 1995).

Drive a C5I (bought new in 2004) and zero problems. Would buy Citroen again without any doubt.

Kaaskop, Holland.

I think it is not correct to dislike Citroen or any other car brand if you have problems with your local dealer. Yes it is known some dealers are bad and have bad service, but this NOT only the case with Citroen. I can give you some examples of bad service with other brands and also with Citroen, but this is not the point with these reviews; I consider it slightly short sited to comment in such a negative manner! It is true Citroen dealers have not always been trained to cope with the latest models, this problem has occurred with the introduction of the DS, SM, CX, XM and so on. It is fair to note all of the cars had such new and different technologies at the time dealers had to get used to them.

Dear oh dear, all you unhappy people out there. My last C5 was "A bit of a dog" see C5 year 2002. But then, in March 2005 I purchased a new style C5. The 2.0 HDI Exclusive hatch. It's a different car all together. It has more power, more gears, more toys, more style AND is more reliable.

The only faults have been with the automatic fold back mirrors and a suspension leak. All were fixed without any hassle by my local dealer here in Cornwall. The service from them has been 100%

I have been driving Citroen's since 1990 and covered nearly 250,000 miles, many with a caravan in tow. I have NEVER broken down at the side of the road (not even with my last C5)

The old and new style C5's are completely different cars.

I cannot agree with those, who dislike Citroen ‘cause of the bad attitude dealers.

I am looking forward to buy NEW LOOK C5 with 2.0 HDI 138 and in Sofia I can do it from the only dealer there is. The people keep buying Citroen not with the help of this dealer, but despite him, if you know what I mean. I am very happy with my XM 3.0 Exclusive and my CX 25 Prestige Turbo. These are the most reliable cars I’ve ever droved and I’ve driven and keep driving lots of them every day – German, French and Japan models. Believe me the spirit of Citroen is alive with the new models and they are far more reliable then you think.

I have to agree that the general consensus is that Citroen dealers in the UK are poor, I love Citroen and have had the pleasure of owning a BX and ZX. My mum was looking to get a new car and really fancied the new C4, we visited both are local Citroen dealerships, both agreed decent deals and promised to call back that day.. neither bothered and were off hand when we rang back up.. so we visited the SEAT dealership who were extremely helpfull and she bought a new shape Leon TDi. The one local dealer (Citroen) I also visited with my dad several years earlier as he fancied a Xantia, we were the only people in the showroom.. yet we were ignored for 45 minutes.. in fact my dad had to actually walk into there staff room and get someone, even then they were disinterested.. net result was he bought a Volvo. It really made me laugh when Citroen UK gave this dealership and award for customer service!!

Citroen can be great cars if they are 1) built properly. Although that complaint could be levelled at plenty of other cars in the same price brackets 2) The dealers actually cared!!

My point of view...

England and France has nothing in common... and probably they also have issues with French cars.

They want you to buy Ford, Seat, Rover... in other word not French.

To Citroen lovers... just bear in mind, that Citroen has already working together with Toyota, BMW and Porsche... and Citroen is moving forward since 1919.

Citroen Xsara has won the World Rally Championship 2004 and 2005.

Renault (France) is a great competitor in F1.

Some cars are already great, it's the owner who didn't know how to take care of the car.

Cheers.

I bought my 2005 C5 1.8 I SX a year ago, and since then I have traveled to my dealer very frequently in order to have errors fixed. In addition to the car changing behaviour and noise for seemingly no reason, there have been serveral other problems with my nearly new car.

*Parking assistance faulty and repaired 4 times. Now it stops working periodically, and the dealer claims everything is OK.

*Windscreen has been replaced due to wiper wear.

*Rear wheel bearings replaced.

*On/off button for the stereo has been changed.

*CD entry motor are periodically defective, but dealer refuses to change it as "it seems to work fine"

*Right rear view mirror tilt down when in reverse is not working. Car has been to the dealer three times in order to fix this, but problem persists.

*The parking brake sticks when the car has been parked for a few days - it must be "ripped" loose with throttle and clutch. Dealer claims "they are all like that, nothing to do".

*Rear suspension collapses after a few hours of parking. I have not seen the dealer about this yet, but I would guess that they will do nothing as the car levels and seems to work when ignition is turned on.

*The car is now always in electrical "economy mode". That means that it will try to conserve battery power. Stereo cannot be turned on without the engine running, the inside lights turn off nearly instantly making it difficult to buckle up my children in the car when it is dark in the morning to go to kindergarden.

*Having had some periodically problems with ESP, but of course that cannot be fixed as "it seems to be working fine"...

*And more, believe it or not.

I am seriously considering selling the car soon. Probably I will lose a lot doing that, but even though I have more than a year left of the Norwegian 3-year warranty I am tired sick from taking the car to the dealer only to be told things can nor be repaired. Thus the warranty is not worth much.

Probably my next car will be japanese...

GK, Kristiansund/Norway.

Re C5 I had a club back in 1976 I came to the conclusion that french cars like the citroen are like french letters they will inevitably let you down.

I have been the owner of many Citroen (some of you don't even know how to spell Citroen by the way)

My first was a GSA back in 1980 and it was the best car I had ever had on fuel and I traveled all over Europe in it. my next one was a BX. I have had 1600 petrol 1900 diesel versions and all were possibly far in advance than anything else made at that time. I never ever had any serious problems with any of the Citroens I have owned. I now have a C5 2L Diesel and it is a wonderful car with never a problem and the only money I have had to spend on it to date are normal service items. In fact thinking back I have never been let down by any of my Citroens ever. It is easy to listen to all the problems that people get with their cars and I guess you would hear the same about all the different makes of cars because people only complain about the trouble they have and never bother to tell the world the fact that they never have any trouble do they.

I have had not much else, but Citroens since 1980 and will continue to buy Citroens because the Citroen service is great the cars are often far in advance of a lot of other manufactures who at best copy Citroen design after Citroen have already done the hard work.

I don't have any connection to the company by the way just in case you are wondering. I am Fireman. An ordinary working bloke.

I look forward to many more years of driving wonderful Citroen cars.

John.

My last five cars have been citroen. bx 19 16v gti fab car best of the recent bunch no probs. c5 top of the range loads of faults electrical. tyres worn out at 6000 miles. local citroen dealer had one and got rid because of the tyres. now a c4 vts brakes driving me mad. citroen don't want to know even though they argee there is a fault. not a good advert for citroen. my next car may not be a citroen if this is the way citroen treat loyal customers. r.i.p. citroen.

I have only had Citroens from GS1220 to C5. None have let me down, but I do service them at least twice a year. If you look after them they will look after you.

Yes the C5 is in general to complex for the DIY, but I see no reason why the 2.0HDI will not do 200,000 miles.

Tyres are an issue on the C5 in that they do not last as long as I would like ie not like the GS rear tyres would last until they had to changed and that wa not because they wore out.

It is like a lot of things of today, all cars are built for a life span of 5 to 6 years. At least it want be the rust that used to get most cars in the 70s and they are relatively cheap to purchase.

As with virtually any car manufacturer these days the dealerships are where the problems will be found. The answer is to find a reliable garage with in depth experience of your car.

Try asking about the new VW Passat for example. No parts available for 5 weeks or read the excellent reviews on Audi or BMW with the tail end comments like Ride too firm or ride a bit firm. But they still get the thumbs up from the masses. Clearly Citroen is as always a different car with generally a more comfortable ride than any German Car plus it does have that different appearance. Easy to find in the car park amongst the flocks of german cars

I've had three BX's and now three C5's and very little trouble but I have found a decent garage.

The dealerships are the problem with all the untrained staff they employ. Training will be a cost they don't want to pay, all they want is your money.