Citroen C5 X review

We mentioned the three powertrains. There are also three trims: Sense Plus, Shine and Shine Plus. Even the cheapest is well-enough kitted inside and has the same 19-inch wheels on the outside, so doesn't signal your saving. It starts at £27,790 for the 128bhp engine and standard autobox. Have a look at what sort of Nissan Qashqai or Superb Estate that buys you. Hint: not much.

That version has an intro leasing offer of £4,635 down plus £279 a month at the time of writing this. All the lease and PCP numbers through the range are competitive with the Superb wagon, and a lot less than an Arteon Shooting Brake, which shows Citroen is confident of the residuals. A change from the depreciation curves of the old C5 and C6, which went into such freefall they broke up on re-entry.

Which trim should I go for?

The headline-grabbing entry cars are all well and good, but you might want to add £1,500 to go to Shine trim, netting yourself the full driver assist and HUD, heated steering wheel, wireless phone charging plus nicer cabin trim. Another £2,500-ish then buys you the 180bhp engine. Might be worth it if you tow or drive a lot in hilly terrain.

What about the hybrid?

This is where it gets more subjective: only you know whether it suits your use case. Basically it needs somewhere around 20 miles every day, and nightly charging. Then you'd get more than 5,000 ultra-low-cost miles a year. And low company-car tax if that's how you come by your wheels.

We've done a number of mixed-road trips of around 75 miles or so in the 130bhp model, the 178bhp version and in the hybrid. The hybrid drained its battery and did 51mpg. The entry petrol did 36mpg and the more powerful version around 34mpg.

The difference between the PHEV and the petrols would have narrowed if we'd driven them further. So once you start doing frequent long journeys the hybrid is hard to justify. It's £6,150 more than the 180bhp petrol in both Shine and Shine Plus trims (though that does include adaptive damping), and as noted drives worse in most scenarios.

As an interesting aside, Citroen won’t say how many C5 Xs it plans to sell in the UK each year and it’ll build them to order so none will make it across the Channel without a buyer ready and waiting. Will that make it as rare a spot as a C6 over here? Hopefully not.