The Top Gear car review: Citroen DS 5

WHAT WE SAY: 

An extraordinary piece of design marred by sub-par mechanicals. No longer rides like it’s got oblong wheels.

WHAT IS IT?

Curiously, a facelifted car assuming flagship status for an all-new brand. Stay with us – basically, Citroen’s posh DS range has jumped mothership and become its own standalone entity, like, say, Toyota begetting Lexus. The two are still related – sharing engines, platforms and interior underpinnings, but everything you touch is supposed to have a bespoke, more expensive feel. There’s also not a single Citroen badge to be found on the car, which is how you’ll tell it apart from the old Citroen DS5. Still with us? Good, because in a few crucial respects the DS 5 is a much better car than the Citroen DS5 we wanted to like so much when it burst onto the scene in 2011.

DRIVING

Traditionally, this is where the stunning looking Citroen DS5 fell apart. See, it was priced like a BMW 3-series, but in a misguided effort to give the car supposedly sporty handling, it suffered from a jarringly stiff ride, especially on the big alloy wheels which, let’s face it, this art gallery on wheels demands. In graduating from lowly Citroen status, the DS 5 has shrugged off its harshness, and now provides a fair degree of compliance. It’s still a big, slightly cumbersome old bus though, with light steering aimed through a huge ship’s wheel, and a collection of diesel engines which, while efficient, grumble and vibrate at odds with the art-deco business jet ambience. Best at a motorway cruise.

ON THE INSIDE

We challenge you to climb aboard a DS 5 and not utter some form of wonderment. Or expletive. By far and away the car’s supreme party piece is its cabin – the seats penned to look like designer watch straps (so what if they’re not actually that supportive…), the three switches for the head-up display (in the ceiling, of course) or the Tron instruments. It’s fabulous. And ergonomically baffling, of course. The touchscreen is out of reach unless you’re an orang-utan, armoured landing craft offer superior visibility and the plunging roofline means there’s less room in the back of this high-rise exec saloon than a supermini. The boot’s loading lip is higher than a steeplechase obstacle too. It’s the distillation of form over function, but you have to applaud Citr… sorry DS, for daring avant-garde-ness.

OWNING

Given there’s nothing else quite like it, the DS 5’s starting price of £25,980 is difficult to rationalise: it’s BMW 3-series money, for a car that’s far less accomplished, but quantifiably more special. That said, PSA’s fleet of super-clean BlueHDi engines softens the running costs blow. We wouldn’t be tempted by the old-hat hybrid, despite its claims of 70-plus miles per gallon, as the diesels will offer greater real-world fuel economy for a sub-£30k purchase price. There are only two trim levels to bother with – both of which get cruise control, a huge glass roof and automatic climate control as standard. Watch out for used values on the toppy Prestige model; this is a large French car remember, and as such depreciates like a spent party popper.

Source: topgear.com