Finally drove a C6... properly

[David Hallworth]

I've driven a C6 once before back in June 2007. It was very briefly on a round the block trip in Glasgow during rush hour.

I was at the Citroen dealer in Manchester this weekend collecting a new C3 that we bought for my grandmother and I got talking to the salesman.

His dad has owned BX's, CX's, XM's etc etc. and he was adamant that I had a test drive in a C6.

The car I drove was a silver 59 plate 2.7 HDi Exclusive with the full cream leather.

I was impressed with the comfort of the car after having been used to the hard ride on a Golf R32 for the last 12 months.

It really reminded me of the XM.

The main thing that put me off that particular car was the cream interior. As the entire dashboard was cream I noticed there was a hell of a lot of reflection in the windscreen. Enough to be off putting.

The performance was a bit disappointing. I thought with two turbo's and 208bhp it might of been a bit quicker off the mark. Once moving though it was plenty quick enough and made a lovely comfy, high speed cruiser.

For me it's got to be a 2.7 Exclusive in a dark colour with the black leather interior. The lounge pack in the back with the reclining rear seats was a nice touch too!

David.

[robert_e_smart]

I (like many others) got to drive a 2.7 HDI C6 at the CX/XM Rally in September.

I was impressed by it, and found the performance to be good, but I had been driving a 2.1 TD XM and a 19D BX mainly before that, so ofcourse it was going to be fast. It had a nice turn of speed. It handled and rode well. It was nice and comfortable. But I will reserve judgement overall. I don't know if owning a C6 would be on a par with owning a XM. All the crap from the C5 annoys me, beeping if you leave your key in the car, beeping if you don't have your seat belt on in time, beeping if you put a jacket on the back seat, and it thinks someone should have their belt on, economy etc etc etc.

Its the cream steering wheel that gets me, why! It will get filthy.

[David Hallworth]

My thoughts exactly Robert.

It's the same with the completely cream dashboard.

Round the vents and stuff that you touch will get really mucky.

As much as the cream looks nice, it's just not practical.

The guy who was driving it at the dealer only drives it to work and back whilst wearing his suit, apparently the drivers seat will look dirty compared to the passengers seat after just 2 or 3 weeks. If that's what it's like just wearing a suit I dread to think what jeans would do to it!

David.

[robert_e_smart]

So black or tabac leather only then. I like the tabac option, it looks smart

[David Hallworth]

From what I've seen in the UK literature and after talking to the dealer we only get the cream or black over here.

Not keen on that colour myself either!

David.

[robert_e_smart]

It would be better if they could find a mid way compromise between this tan (Alezan they call it) and the light cream. But Black is too sombre in the C6. Too german looking almost.

I've been lucky to have grey leather in my XM, the cream XM leather is too fragile, and the black, really makes the car like a black hole.

[XMV6sadist]

There was a 2007 2.7TDi exclusive for sale on ebay this week. 40K miles. It went for £10,600 which was about the cheapest I've ever seen. I was interested but the cream interior definitely put me off. It would need a new valet every week!

Can't be long before they start dipping into four figures. I'm amazed how many low mileage ones are still around.

[David Hallworth]

I reckon that in the next 6 - 12 months you'll be able to get a 2.7 HDi Exclusive with around miles on it for < £10k.

That'll be one hell of a good buy.

David.

[onthecut]

Can't be long before they start dipping into four figures. I'm amazed how many low mileage ones are still around.

There have been maybe ten or twenty gone round BCA in the past year and I think the highest miles on any of them was about 15k, some with as little as about 3k. Clearly, I suspect, all pre reg dealer demos getting shifted on due to unacceptable age for forecourt or showroom display. Do we have any data on how many they have actually sold ? If they don't shift some soon into the real world, I don't see how anyone will value them, as the trade simply won't have enough real live examples to form a basis for what they will fetch when sold to real punters and therefore what they are worth when bidding on.

Mike.

[robert_e_smart]

The trade won't want them, they'll expect them to follow the XM and depreciate dramatically!