Of Citroëns and Auto Express

Auto Express is one of those magazines that I stopped reading a long time ago. Something about the way the features were written sucked all the joy from the subject. The feature that brought me to that point was a supposed celebration of a Ferrari anniversary (probably the 50th) which failed to convey any magic of the cars the magazine gathered to mark the occasion.

If the issue I borrowed from a work colleague today was anything to go by things have improved as Auto Express. AE does seem a little more serious than its main (only?) rival, Autocar. With my mind in an analytical frame it seems that Autocar’s writers put more of themselves into their features than the Auto Express team. I still prefer Autocar as it seems to carry a greater variety of interesting features.



One of the features in Auto Express was a first drive of the new Citroën C5. It was the second review I had read and I am worried that the C5 will be a disappointing car. At the behest of fleet managers Citroën have restricted hydro-pneumatic suspension to the top models. Fleet managers are unable to appreciate the virtues of hydro-pneumatic suspension and are not prepared to pay for it on the mainstream C5s. It does rather beg the question; what are the people who do appreciate the self-levelling, smooth-riding virtues of hydro-pneumatic suspension supposed to buy?