2002 Citroen C5 Exclusive 2.0 HPI

Summary:

Could have been a good car, dreadful reliability.

Faults:

Cooling fan would not turn off. Relay replaced twice.

Rear tyre wear uneven so had to have the complete rear axle assembly replaced.

Clutch judder developed and had to be replaced.

Immobiliser fault displayed. All electrics failed. AA call-out, had to disconnect battery to reset.

Anti-pollution fault has been painful. This last time resulted in the total loss of power, very frightening on the motorway. Petrol pump replaced and now waiting to see if this is the cure.

Vibration problems. Wheels have been balanced 3 times (once at Citroen dealer) at dealers who can balance these special centre-less wheels. Still have the vibration problems. Will have to put up with this for 4 months until car is changed.

Has had two safety recalls, one for the handbrake and one for a safety download?

General Comments:

Whenever you lift the tailgate you get water running into the boot.

Very quiet for motorway miles.

Very smooth ride.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 15th October, 2004

12th Dec 2005, 14:16

I agree with the other users and have had many of the same problems.

An additional problem I have is total electrical failure. This means, that all electrical components cease to work, i.e. wipers, lights, air con, radio/CD for a period of 3 to 4 seconds and then it all comes back again. Very disconcerting when driving on motorways in bad weather and heavy traffic, and not knowing when it will happen again. Two Citroen dealers have been unable to resolve the problem, and now the car is out of warranty, there's no interest from them.

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2002 Citroen C5 LX 2.2hdi

Summary:

We have owned this car from new and love it, it's a stylish, comfortable, value for money work horse

Faults:

The compact disk player gets very hot in use, making the compact disk very hot and distorting the sound of the music.

All the interior/exterior lights have an intermittent flicker more noticeable on badly lit roads.

The display for the radio, time and temperature lock out so I cannot change between time and temperature.

Also I have heard, but not experienced that this model does not have an audible alarm that sounds if the car is broken into.

General Comments:

This car is used to tow our caravan, as a equipment carrier for our business and scrubs up nicely when required.

Last year we drove 4,000 miles in two weeks through Europe in complete comfort.

We have also found that fuel economy has improved as the mileage has increased.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 29th February, 2004

8th Oct 2016, 19:22

Seems the 2.2 Exclusives are about the only Citroen worth having. Mine's now 14 years old, 100k of general usage including towing a caravan and she's running perfectly well.

The only advice I'd give is to invest in a Citroen interface for the OBD and a copy of the diagnostic software for a laptop. Both easy to get off that certain website. This has saved me lots of dosh being able to simply hook up my laptop to the car, and using Citroen's own software, fix just about all the Citroen/Peugeot electrical gremlins for nothing.

The car is still superb to drive, has stacks of power, good MPG for its size, not wonderful but good, but most importantly for me is the comfort, as our roads get worse everyday and I watch all the other cars on motorway bouncing and crunching over the BAD road repairs, I do still chuckle a bit. In fact my main problem is not falling asleep, commuting back from a 12 hour shift etc, as I gently float along, relaxed and unstressed.

Personally I'm glad the depreciation is terrible. I managed to get my current Exclusive SE, the top model with everything for under a grand LOL; can't beat driving a car that cost 15+k new for such little money.

The automatic wipers do pee me off sometimes though; think they have Alzheimers, they start OK but soon forget they are wipers, and the ashtray's getting full so I may have to buy another car soon...