The Citroën C5 is a large family car produced by the French manufacturer Citroën since early 2001. The C5 replaced the Citroën Xantia in the large family car class.
The C5 had a further development of Citroën's hydropneumatic suspension, now called Hydractive 3. The major change with this system was the use of electronic sensors to replace the mechanical height correctors seen in all previous hydropneumatic cars. This allowed the suspension computer to automatically control ride height: at high speed the suspension is lowered to reduce drag and at low speeds on bumpy roads the ride height is raised. Manual control of ride height was retained, though it was overridden by the computer if the car was driven at an inappropriate speed for the selected height. Certain cars also featured the computer controlled ride stiffness seen on the Xantia and XM.
In 2004, the C5 underwent a major facelift (new front and rear ends; same centre section) to bring it into line with the look of the new Citroën C4. The liftback was lengthened from 4618 mm (181.8 in) to 4745 mm (186.8 in) and the station wagon from 4755 mm (187.2 in) to 4840 mm (190.6 in). Also this new version got swivelling directional headlights.
The Hydractive suspension improves ride quality and keeps the car leveled and can enable the car to drive on three wheels if one tire is flat. The suspension is derived from the Hydropneumatic suspension used in the 1950’s Citroën DS. Variations in height using the Hydractive suspension range up to 15 mm (0.6 in) in the front and 11 mm (0.4 in) in the back.
The turbo power originates form two fixed turbochargers of identical size. Each of these can supply half the air input required to give the engine more power. Fuel mileage is 8.1 litres/100km - this was received from city and highway driving. The side windows are laminated to reduce noise from passing cars.
