Citroen joins the space race

The large family car class has been dominated by Skoda's excellent Superb for decades. Citroen wants to change that with its new C5 X

WE can't think of many cars which have ever been described as a "well-deserved hedonist offer". And of those, we can think of even fewer whose price tags don't have an intimidating number of zeroes at the end. However, that's exactly how Citroen describes its all-new C5 X. It's a car which the quirkiest of French brands has positioned as a luxury model that will make you feel truly special every day and one which majors on comfort and space - particularly for rearseat passengers. That might leave you worrying that this sounds terribly pricey, but the C5 X is much more attainable than you might think, with a really quite reasonable starting price of around £28,000.

There is another car that immediately springs to mind when trying to tally up all of those qualities. The Skoda Superb has been flaunting the "luxury limo on a budget" vibe for more than 20 years, and is also a comfortable, spacious machine. Its prices start from a near-identical figure, too. So is the C5 X the rival that finally takes the fight to the Superb, or is the Skoda still the large family car to have?

Citroen C5 X

The large family hatchback has proved its worth as a PHEV. Can it pack as much of a punch with a petrol engine?

ALTHOUGH the C5 X range kicks off from less the top-spec Shine Plus trim, which in 1.2 PureTech form comes to £31,280. The only extra fitted to our test car is metallic paint, at £650.

score 4.2

Design & engineering

READERS with long memories might be looking at this grand, luxurious Citroen and be feeling a sense of deja vu. The brand is no stranger to building big, waftable cars, but models such as the XM and C6 - although undoubtedly clever - didn't exactly set sales records.