18 Oct 07
The new C5, however, goes yet further in seeking acceptability. Some technological individuality has to stay, otherwise Citroen throws away its USP, but in the pragmatic world of fleet sales, at which the C5 is aimed, money (and the saving of it) talks. So Citroen is offering the C5 not only with the expected hydro-pneumatic suspension that has long been the key thing that sets larger Citroens apart from their rivals, but also with conventional coil-spring suspension at a slightly lower cost.
Is this the end of the pure big Citroen? The company's last biggish car not to have the oleopneumatics (the correct term, as oil rather than water is used) was the pre-DS Traction Avant, so there's a lot of heritage on the line here. However, today's steel-spring suspension is so good that company fleet managers understandably question why they should spend more to get something they don't need, especially as the extra complexity could cause further headaches (even though, in practice, it has not).
Citroen, understandably, denies accusations that it's all over for the oleopneumatics, but the genie is out of the bottle now. If offering coil-sprung C5s is the key to making a profit, the bottom line has finally defeated heritage.
The C5's new skin is very curvy, with a near-fastback tail and C6-like, chopped-off rear side windows. See it from the correct angle and you'll also notice the horizontally-concave, vertically-convex rear window that not only gives another hint of the C6 and the old CX, but also creates a bigger boot opening. Under this new skin is a shortened C6 structure; you could argue that it's equally a lengthened Peugeot 407 structure, but actually the C6, which is different around the rear seat and fuel tank area, was the starting point.
All three cars are made at the same Rennes factory and all have similar suspension (apart, of course, from the springing medium): double wishbones at the front, the top wishbone folded over on itself to increase its effective length, and a five-link system at the back. About 60 per cent of the structure is shared with the old C5, by the way.
