Citroen DS5 1.6 THP 200 HP - road fighter

In the 60s, the Citroen DS took to the air with the help of jet engines and took off. Today, the DS5 is trying to replicate its ancestor's bold attempt, but will it fly? Looks like it's ready to go - let's check it out.

In film Fantomas returns in 1967, with Jean Marais as Fantômas, the first Citroen DS played the role of a supervillain. In the final chase, the elusive criminal removes the wings and jet engines from the car and takes off. Thus, he once again outwitted the French police and, having lost the chase, is carried away into the unknown. The people of Citroen seem to have tears in their eyes at the thought of this scene, because once again they decided to turn the DS into an airplane. How? You will read below.

big hatchback

The idea of ​​combining a hatchback with a limousine in automotive history is not new. One of the latest creations of this type was the Opel Signum, a car based on the Opel Vectra C, but with a rear end built like a hatchback. However, we had to add a pinch of crossover to our French dish, and thus we got an unusual dish called Lemon DS5. Its shape is sure to please passers-by. The car is massive, spectacular, but at the same time very elegant - especially in the plum color, like the test model. The style is also added by numerous chrome inserts, but the one that goes from the hood to the A-pillar is probably long and too big. Luckily, he can camouflage himself well. Many from afar could not determine whether it was some kind of insert or just reflections in the paintwork. The front of the car is too lush for my taste, but also streamlined. Huge lanterns frame the sides, and a chrome line resembles a frown over burning eyes. It may look interesting, but I don't like it. In turn, the rear? On the contrary, it looks great. Two large pipes integrated into the bumper give it a sporty look, as does the spoiler lip above the rear window. The bizarre shape of the rear lights is also interesting, as they are extremely voluminous - convex in one place, and completely concave in another. The DS5 is quite wide, at 1871mm comparable to higher-end limousines, with the BMW 5 Series narrower by 11mm and the Audi A6, for example, just 3mm wider. The proportions set by the French designers firmly hold the car on the road, and this affects the handling and the amount of space inside. At least that's how it should be.

Like a fighter

Okay, it doesn't look like a plane. I doubt it will ever fly either. Well, except perhaps thanks to the magic of cinema. But where does the association with the plane come from? Right from the inside. Although we have a steering wheel instead of a handle, many elements would fit a combat jet or at least a passenger Boeing. In addition, Citroen openly admits that aviation was the main inspiration for the interior design. Please come inside.

I am sitting in a comfortable leather chair. Lateral support is good, but far from a sports car. I start the engine, the HUD appears in front of me. In aviation, these screens have been used for a long time, because the pilots of F-16 fighters can see the sight, target acquisition, current altitude, speed and other necessary information on them. Useful when you reach speeds above 1000 km/h. We have much less information, and so far only some Mercedes are equipped with a viewfinder. The screen in the DS5 is a transparent window onto which an image is projected from something resembling a projector. Without taking our eyes off the road, we can see the speed at which we are moving or the current cruise control setting. Pretty useful, but not essential - although it makes a good impression when extended and retracted. The use of the HUD brings us to another reference to aircraft, which is the overhead buttons. Naturally, we will open the roller blind in the attic window here, but we will also hide or extend the HUD, switch it to night / day mode, increase the height, lower it, and in extreme cases, press the SOS button. Luckily I didn't have to test it, but it stimulated my imagination because for a while I wondered if that red button was sometimes a catapult. The glazed roof is also interestingly divided into three parts - the driver has his own window, the passenger has his own, one large person in the back seat also has his own. This is practical as every DS5 traveler can position the window however they like, but the beams between them absorb some light. However, if it turns out that your cousin from Pripyat is 3 meters tall, you can just try to break the dormer window from the front and you will be in trouble. Everyone rides vertically, his cousin is a little windy, but he seems to be comfortable - at least he doesn't have to slouch like in other cars so far.

But back to earth. The central tunnel is quite wide, it has a lot of nice buttons - front and rear window controls, door and window locks, as well as multimedia system and navigation control. I could write about every element inside, because everything is made interesting, and I wouldn't even dare to say that it's boring and secondary. However, let's focus on the practicality of these solutions, because we all know how things are with the French. Shaft control - you need to learn. Every time I wanted to open the windshield, I pulled the rear window to the side, and every time I was just as surprised - it always seemed to me that I had pressed the right button. It also took me a long time to figure out how to adjust the volume of the radio without using the button on the steering wheel. The answer was at hand. The chrome frame under the screen is not only a decoration, it can also rotate. And it was enough to somehow note ...

In general, the interior is very pleasant, there is even an analog clock, although the dashboard is mostly made of hard materials. The driving position is comfortable, the clock is clear and only the steering wheel is too big. The quality of the German limousines is still a little lacking, but this is compensated by the appearance - and we often buy with our eyes.

Push

In order for an airplane to take off, it must pick up speed to create enough lift to keep the airplane in the air. Of course, this requires wings, which, unfortunately, the DS5 does not have, so anyway - we move on the ground. We have a lot of power, as much as 200 hp, appearing at 5800 rpm. The moment is also considerable - 275 Nm. The problem is that these values ​​were squeezed out of a 1.6L turbocharged engine. Of course, turbolag pays for this, which makes the car almost immune to gas up to 1600-1700 rpm. Only around 2000 rpm does it come to life and then it becomes more docile. However, you might like this property. When we add gas at the exit of the bend, the engine will accelerate very smoothly, gradually gaining more and more power from the work of the turbine. In this way, we can combine successive sections of turns into one incredibly smooth route. The Citroen rides well, but the suspension concept is the same as in the most basic cars - McPherson struts in front, torsion beam in the back. On a flat road, I will overcome it, because the suspension settings are quite dynamic, but as soon as bumps come across, we start dangerously jumping until we lose traction.

Returning to the dynamics of the engine, it should be said that all this power is not very cooperative. The manufacturer claims that acceleration to hundreds takes 8,2 seconds, in our tests such a result was only a dream - 9.6 seconds - this is the minimum that we managed to achieve. On the track when overtaking is also not very fast and you definitely need to switch to a lower gear. The DS5 isn't slow at all, but it's a must learn and adjust your driving style to match the 1.6 THP engine.

However, engines of this type have their advantages. When the turbine compression ratio is low, we drive a lazy car with a 1.6L engine. So throwing a six and moving at a speed of 90 km / h, we will even achieve fuel consumption of 5 liters per 100 km. However, if we move a little more dynamically, fuel consumption will increase rapidly. On an ordinary national or provincial road, we can rarely drive exactly 90 km/h and not worry about anything. We are often slowed down by a truck or a resident of a nearby village who is not going to accelerate, because he will soon go downhill anyway. So it would be nice to get ahead of such offenders, and the sooner we return to our lane, the safer we will perform this maneuver. This brings our fuel consumption to the level of 8-8.5 l / 100 km, and I would call this level achievable in practical everyday driving. After entering the city, fuel consumption increased to 9.7 l / 100 km, which, with a run of 200 km under the hood, is rather voracious.

Style and elegance

The Citroen DS5 is hard to compare to any other car. Having created its niche, it becomes unsurpassed, but it also works in the opposite direction - it naturally competes with cars from other segments. The test copy had the highest version of the Sport Chic package, which with this engine costs PLN 137. For this amount, we get a little bit of everything - some SUVs, some crossovers, sedans, station wagons, well-equipped hatchbacks, etc. So let's narrow down the search to cars with the right power. We want around 000bhp and ideally the car should stand out from the crowd like the DS200 does.

Mazda 6 looks great, and with a 2.5-liter engine with 192 hp. it also has enough power – in a well-equipped version it costs PLN 138. The Jeep Renegade is no less stylish, and the off-road version of the Trailhawk with a 200-liter diesel engine costs 2.3 km for PLN 170. The interior is interestingly decorated, but not as strong as in Citroen. The last of the stylish competitors will be the Mini, which uses the same engine as the DS123. Mini Countryman JCW has 900 hp. more and costs PLN 5 in the top version, signed with the name of John Cooper Works.

Citroen DS5 it is a stylish car that stands out from the crowd. He is also not flashy - just elegant and tasteful. However, it depends on this taste whether a potential buyer will come to the dealership for the keys to the DS5 or go further and choose something else. If you love beautiful things and appreciate the appearance of the car above all, you will be satisfied. If you like to feel good in your car, so much the better for Citroen. However, if you care about performance and manageability, you might want to look at other offerings. 200 km competition can be faster and better.