Citroen C5 shed, of info wanted

[Henry1234]

Any of you got a bad back? Well your not alone if you have. Hence the idea of getting a hydro active ride, sounds exciting ? Well Citroen C5 seems to age very badly, a price drop like a stone, but is it deserved? I thought about trying to get 2012 2ltr diesel estate with exclusive spec. The mileage i see on some ads is as much as 150,000 miles, it seems to me i am into serious servicing cost as soon as i bought one, even at 65000miles its due camblet change? Would i be wasting my time with a C5 or are they any good. i am not too bad with the spanners just lack the tool to open my wallet long enough to pry out all the money it may need?
Seen another post with similar question but they never got the answer i think they were looking for, maybe as a newby someone might be sympathetic.

[S100HP]

You're looking at the X7 then opposed to the fugly version.

I'm a fan of hydroactive suspension but I'm convinced I read that the sprung version rode better. Regardless I'd still hunt down an exclusive.

[Henry1234]

X7,? not heard of that before, is that a model reference

[old'uns]

X7 is the C5 III, the 'germanic" one.
Be prepared for a leaking rack from the pinion shaft, well documented issue on both suspension specs, even the replacement from Citroen leaked eventually.

[Decky_Q]

I do servicing and repairs on one that was bought at the bottom of the market (guys last car was an a6 that had had a cabin fire so I assume this one was super cheap) It's been easy to work on and parts so far have been fairly cheap.

His is on springs and has indications of having had a good wallop at the front at some stage in its past. It hasn't given him any real bother despite being run on less than legal fuel for 100k miles so I would rate them quite highly for the oily bits.

[Henry1234]

Thanks for the steering rack issue, i will look for that, just wondering were to get good parts from? I take it that Citroen is too costly though i don't know just guessing. Anything else i should look for when buying C5 2.0HDI, apparently the 2 litre HDI is not the best engine so hopefully i am lucky.
While i am here can anyone tell me more about the data box or the earlier models LEXIA . I did a little research and found multiple kits which consist of a box of leads, and some came with a disk? This i take it is the program to load onto your laptop or tablet. so where and which kit is recommended. Also is it worth while and easy to use. Sorry to many question

[Monospace]

Ran one for a year or two, super clean but high miler - had 150k at sale. Exclusive, hydro susp.

Super refined, very nice. What annoyed me was average performance and expensive things failing. A/C rad was £700 quote from main dealer. Suspension pump was the same. Then the susp tank split too although that was cheap, it still made the car undriveable.

So I give it a mixed review. Did love it at the time and still respect them. But it did annoy me and I'd be wary next time. Failures I can tolerate but not at such cost. May have been far less at independent.

[basicasic]

I've had two: a 2.0Hdi which I owned for two and a half years with no problems at all and I traded that in for a 3.0Hdi which I've owned for five and a half years and had to replace the drop-links and the rotules. Other than that trouble free and very refined and comfortable.

The main known issues are (as already mentioned) the steering rack (expensive to fix), drop-links (cheap to fix), electric window winders, and leaky front struts. If you check out the Citroen section on the French Car Forum there's a wealth of information about them there.

[Henry1234]

Thanks for that, i will check the french car forum, already had a quick look.

[Dont like rolls]

Henry1234 said:

Thanks for the steering rack issue, i will look for that, just wondering were to get good parts from? I take it that Citroen is too costly though i don't know just guessing. Anything else i should look for when buying C5 2.0HDI, apparently the 2 litre HDI is not the best engine so hopefully i am lucky.
While i am here can anyone tell me more about the data box or the earlier models LEXIA . I did a little research and found multiple kits which consist of a box of leads, and some came with a disk? This i take it is the program to load onto your laptop or tablet. so where and which kit is recommended. Also is it worth while and easy to use. Sorry to many question

C5x7 racks, a friend has one, just cover the depression around the pinion in waterproof (marine) grease to protect it. Access is easy (I did it for him) via the inspection cover in the drivers footwell.

LEXIA, Only get the FULL Chip version and use a Windows Xp (old) laptop, my mate got a discount on the good kit as a member of the below forum at only a few £ more than the China rip-offs (cut chip np for the later Citroens)

The place he frequents is the French Car Forum.

Edited by Dont like rolls on Tuesday 22 October 20:25