Adieu, vieil ami...
...or 'goodbye, old friend', in real money. Shed a tear: the last big Citroen is on its way out.
Big Citroens have never been driver’s cars, but that hasn’t stopped them from being seriously cool. The C6 was no different. Its dramatic styling had first been previewed by the Lignage concept at the Geneva Motor Show in 1999; six years later, it emerged as a production model, virtually unchanged. With its Hydractive III suspension, enormous armchairs and selection of torquey engines matched to automatic gearboxes, it was clear from the start that this was a car designed first and foremost to relax and cosset, rather than to deliver the last word in driving exhilaration. And that made it a refreshing change from the usual attempts at faux-sportiness so prevalent among the German competition.
Unsurprisingly, though, the C6 sold slowly here in the UK, with many buyers deterred by the prospect of the usual big French car problem: depreciation. As well they may have been; the only C6 for sale in the PH Classifieds has already taken a hefty hit, and is unlikely to stop there. Eventually, Citroen had to face facts, and the C6 was pulled from the UK market back in May. After struggling on for a few more months in its home market, it seems the big Cit has finally been laid to rest completely.
It seems unlikely that there’ll be a true successor. Citroen says that the DS5 is about as close as we’re going to get – but that’s half the car the C6 was, with conventional steel springs and a confused character as a result. And with the appetite for big French cars seemingly at its lowest ebb ever, even in the home market, it looks like the C6 will be the last in a long line of big, effortlessly comfortable French saloons. Quel dommage, truly.
I'd love to just be a passenger in one to try the "famed" comfort levels!
Nothing to do with how much the car costs, but I'd then be able to buy a house with a driveway big enough to park it on!
Unfortunately, I don't think parallel parking one of those into a space a Fiat 500 has just squeezed out of is that practical.
It's such a shame that British company car drivers dismiss comfort (I mean if I was spending 5 hours a day in a car, why on earth would I want to be comfortable?), and insist on the most unsuitable vehicles for our roads - thereby killing off excellent, and far more suitable, cars like this.
They 'need' sport suspension with 1mm of travel on their 116d, so they can 'feel' the road. Every pot hole, bump and crumbling surface. But then they can at least bore the inevitable chiropractor with how great their car's time would be on the 'ring....
Am i correct in thinking that all Citroens now have conventional suspension? A great shame if so, one of my earliest childhood memories was being sick in my uncle's DS.
Strangely coincidentally there was a DS5 about five cars back, still a bit of an out of the ordinary choice but had nowhere near the same effect as the C6!
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