Citroën C5 Tourer (08 on) - Review

This is the C5's forte. Like Citroen's of old it majors on ride comfort, soaking up potholes and bumps with ease to produce a magic carpet-like ride. This makes it superb on the motorway where passengers will appreciate the lack of wind and road noise - helped by the acoustic windscreen and multiple door seals. Compared to the old model, the new C5 certainly feels more refined. The seats are soft yet supportive while passengers in the back get generous head and leg room.

With the rear seats in place the C5 Tourer offers a decent 505 litres of boot space - that's larger than the Peugeot 407 SW although not as big as the cavernous Ford Mondeo Estate. The luggage area is wide and easy to access thanks to a large opening, although there's an annoying load lip and no underfloor storage areas. Lowering the rear seats could be easier too - there's no lever in the boot so the only way to fold them is by leaning in through the rear doors. Once folded, the boot capacity increases to almost 1500 litres while the suspension can be cleverly raised or lowered to make loading heavy items easier. An electric tailgate is also available but while it's a handy feature it's not particularly quick and can't be manually overridden.

Citroen is keen to emphasise the improved quality of its new models and nowhere is this more evident than in the cabin. As soon as you settle in the driver seat it's clear that build quality and the materials used have both improved greatly. Some of the controls are a little fiddly, in particular the stereo, but there's no denying that it has a premium feel never before found in a Citroen. The fixed hub steering wheel is another neat feature - the central part (which houses the horn and controls for the stereo, trip computer and cruise control) actually stays fixed, and only the outer rim moves. Storage is disappointing though - there are no cupholders, the central cubby and door pockets are only average and the few slide out trays are pointlessly small.