It certainly wasn't one of the ubiquitous luxury brands on our roads, although it had all the trappings.

Someone observed that it seemed as if auto designers were taking cues from each other these days. I had to agree.

There is a common denominator in the external lines of luxury sedans now; the badges may be different but the designers appear to be addressing a wider audience, rather than target specific tastes.

Odd-ball or outlandish designs are very much for a niche market these days, unlike decades ago, when even cars made for the middle-income group had individualistic traits.

One maker whose cars used to stand out in the crowd was Citroen, but even it seems to be falling in with these design cues nowadays. And so it is with the Citroen C5, which I had the pleasure of driving for a few days.

 

While Citroens of yore evoked conflicting emotions, the C5 is certainly more universally pleasing — it possesses a modern and streamlined gracefulness, with a hint of muscle.

It is the sort of combination you find in Lexus, Volvo, Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi sedans. However, under the skin, the C5 is a different beast.

A consistent theme of Citroen cars through the decades has been ride quality. I've owned a BX and ZX wagon in the past, and there was no doubting the distinctiveness of the ride, even if both employed different suspension systems.

The C5's Hydractive 3+ suspension (first seen on the C6 in 2005) has its roots in the middle of the 20th century, so that's given Citroen more than 50 years to refine and tweak the hydraulic system to this level.

And the ride on the C5 certainly quickened my pulse. This self-levelling suspension is a bit of a technological wonder — it may be expensive to maintain in the long run, but once experienced, it can be addictive.

Whatever faults you might want to pick with the C5, there's no ignoring the silkily supple ride on the roughest of Petaling Jaya's bumpiest main roads.

 

It glides over potholes and humps, as much as it is physically possible for anything on four wheels to do so!

Whatever the load, the suspension adjusts to the optimal level, so ride comfort isn't compromised — it gets firmer at higher speeds, and there's also a sporty mode, but the trade-off for firmness doesn't sacrifice too much comfort.

Either way, I'm hard-pressed to find anything quite as poised for the price.

I challenged the C5 in various situations — a full load, solo driver, dry and wet roads — and took corners with more aggression than I normally would. The car's road-holding manners and ride remained impeccable in all conditions.

It didn't wallow at the normal setting (a trait of the XM of the past) nor was it too stiff in sports mode — I always got the feeling of driving on a surface that seemed much smoother than it actually was.

The speed-variable power-assisted steering was more than adequate at all speeds, although the fixed central hub occasionally got in the way when I made right-angled turns. Many, though, will appreciate the range of controls at fingers' reach on this hub.

t took me more than a day to settle on a comfortable position — the electrically-controlled front seats allowed fine-tuning of the driving position, and meticulous drivers are bound to fuss over this. Still, there's a massage feature for the driver, so I didn't mind at all!

There was a surprise in the performance of the 16-valve, two-litre engine, which outputs 143 horses and 200 Nm, I expected it to be sluggish, given the car's size, but it was nippy and responsive, even from the start. It sounded rougher and pushed only when I revved it at higher speeds.

Obviously, more torque is available at lower rotations than previous versions of the engine.

I was somewhat taken aback that the transmission was only a four-speed system — while, to its credit, it matched the seamless quality of the ride, fuel efficiency on highways will suffer, and you may feel the lack of that extra bite at higher revs.

I was so caught up in the ride that everything else seemed secondary.



For the record, though, the equipment specs include muscular 18-inch rims with 245/45R18 tyres, sun-roof, a tyre-pressure monitoring system, Xenon headlights, seven airbags (including one to protect the driver's knees), a collapsible brake pedal, cruise control/speed limiter, electronic parking brake, front and rear parking sensors, and excellent acoustic treatment of the door, bonnet and roof against external noise.

The competition may offer other things, like a lustier performance at higher speeds, more electronics on the dashboard and a better network (at least, locally), but once you take a ride in the C5, it pampers you into submission.

The car is available now for RM199,028.50 (private registration, excluding insurance).