USED Citroën C5 Estate (01 - 08)

My car

The car is outstanding for space and equipment. The addition of the parking assistance pack is very worthwhile with such a large vehicle. Apart from the front and rear sensors, the dipping of the nearside mirror when reversing, along with the light sensitive interior mirror are a real bonus.

The new 1.6HDI engine is excellent and unbelievably quiet for a diesel. On the test drive I stopped the car and checked the fuel filler cap to make sure it was a diesel. Even this size engine has good performance. The car is probably the best Citroen I have ever owned.

It is worth mentioning the negative points, which are limited to three - the turning circle, the adjustment on the interior middle is too limited for short drivers who would have their seat along way forward. Finally one point on which the manufacturers haven't allowed for right-hand-drive cars is the excellent idea of a heated section in the rearmost side window being on the driver's side rather than the nearside.

A real bonus was the price of £14,357 including pearlescent paint and the parking assitance pack, which beats the What Car? best price by a significant amount.

My car

A great load lugger, I'm a semi-pro photographer with a large camera bag and two even larger dogs. It's wonderful out on the motorway and on the open road, but a bit of a monster in tighter spaces!

It will be 3 years old in Feb 05 and it has now completed 49,000 miles.

A set of tyres lasts around 20,000 miles, I had to change the front dics at 47,000, along with all the pads front and back.

It let me down on Monday with what appeared to be a flat battery, though two days previously had flown down the motorway from Scotland without a problem at the end of a 700-mile round trip.

The main dealer has traced this problem to possibly a faulty glow plug relay. I'm changing the glow plugs and relays tomorrow, and hoping for good news.