C5 production to end

[White Exec]

I thought that was the Pluriel! Regards, Matthew T.

Now, if there was ever a more forgettable car - and I must confess I had.

[russ92xmsed]

A 2CV is better built than a Pluriel. Great fun, but wow the build quality is bad. Tinny doors, cheap plastics.. Shame, could have been better. But they built it, so that has to be applauded!

Citroen should have built the Servolt as a retro 2CV replacement. The original Berlingo is the true replacement however.

[Dean]

The Pluriel was a C3 though with a silly roof I think, it wasnt a reborn classic like the mini and fiat 500.

D

[raynoon]

And this is a cracking looking modern take on a classic, this is by far the best looking out of all of them!
http://youtu.be/kLD_xDnDhxg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[russ92xmsed]

The Pluriel was a C3 though with a silly roof I think, it wasnt a reborn classic like the mini and fiat 500.

D

I've always considered the C3 as an attempt to look like the 2cv, the Pluriel like the Mehari.
Nice cars, just could have been a bit better.


Ray, that's a cool find. I love his Fiat 127 concept too. Renault should bring back the 5, but instead they half turned the Twingo into a R5. Strange thing to do considering the original Twingo had such a distinctive cheeky look.

[White Exec]

Original frogeye Twingo was a terrific little car. Drove one down here on several occasions, and loved it. Back seat could be slid forward/back by a considerable distance, to provide either lots of rear legroom, or a half-decent boot space (but not both). Loved the minimal dash, with its huge digital speedo.

Most Twingi came in god-awful colours: squidged mulberry, baby-poo yellow (or green), forlorn grey, metallic avocado (called something like spring gold iirc), and a washed-out banana yellow.

Never made in RHD - a real shame. Would have done well.

[russ92xmsed]

There were all sorts of excuses about why there was no RHD. I think it was just to expensive, the car had to be extensively reengineered. The steering column would have had to go through the engine block!
It is a shame, they are a favourite of mine. It would have done very well here. A burgundy one would sit nicely with the XM!
They were originally launched in four colours i think. Mustard yellow, a pastel like moss green, a pinky red and purple. I think they suit the character brilliantly.

[Dean]

I have a customer who sold their Dolly 2cv and imported a 12k km 93reg twingo that lives in the garage, its red with a massive canvas sunroof, they love it.

D

[David Hallworth]

I have a C5 III or X7 as they're alternatively known.

It's an Exclusive with Hydractive and is actually a very, very good car. Ours is a 2010 model with the 3.0 HDi engine in it that has been remapped to 295bhp. Knowing that the C5 is on it's way out of production I would buy a brand new one if they still did the 3.0 HDi. The V6 HDi is a cracking engine that has such smooth power delivery with staggering performance. It's such a shame Citroen have dropped the V6 engines, but now they're dropping the only hydractive car they have left in the range too. Sad days indeed.

The 3.0 HDi in ours does 50mpg on a run and averages about 35mpg locally, has staggering performance and costs £265 a year to tax versus the £505 the C6 used to cost me before I sold it.

If by some chance Citroen managed to find an unregistered 3.0 HDi Exclusive C5 III I'd buy it in a heartbeat.

David.

[Ciaran]

I think the new C1 looks great and will sell well.

Any company has to offer what buyers want to buy, otherwise it will fail to exist. I don't see anyone on here banging on Citroens doors to drop £60-£100k on a luxury, hydraulically supsneded car. If enough people did that, they would make the cars to sell.

You are, as always, correct Will.
The market is what it is, and people want what they want, and sadly that seems to be nasty, cramped little rough riding wagons that look the same as all their rivals.

The financial reality is, as you say, that Citroen have to offer a commercially viable product or they will cease to exist. It's just frustrating to see though, albeit unavoidable now.

Makes you wonder, just counting recent history, the BX, Xantia and C5 were vastly popular, and commercially viable you would assume. It was only when non-hydropneumatic cars began being offered that buyers wanted them. But the hydropneumatic cars sold well for decades before that came about, so were commercially successful.

Ciarán