Citroën C6 2.7 HDi V6 Exclusive

Road Test

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Citroën C6 2.7 HDi V6 Exclusive

Test date Wednesday, April 26, 2006 Price as tested £31,895

For Vast cabin, comfort, smooth diesel engine, equipment levels, safety

AgainstStaggering cost, lack of agility, indifferent steering

Relax and look beyond the obvious. That’s what Citroën would like you to do with the new C6. It’s the latest in a long line of big Citroëns, but it has been a while since the marque’s last, the XM of 1989-2000 (excluding the substantial C5). It seems Citroën isn’t keen to stress the C6 as the XM’s spiritual replacement. Instead, it claims the inspiration for the C6 are ‘great’ Citroëns such as the SM, CX and DS.

Nevertheless, the thinking behind the C6 remains similar to that of the XM – a distinctive, pneumatically suspended front-wheel-drive executive cruiser from a manufacturer renowned for making odd and ultimately rare executive cars.

The C6 is suitably expensive, too: from a smidgen under £30,000 for a 3.0-litre V6 petrol version, the range rises to £37,800 for this 2.7-litre V6 turbodiesel in Exclusive trim. That’s the sort of money that would buy a BMW 535d or Mercedes E320 CDi, or get you an identically engined Jaguar S-type 2.7D V6 SE with five grand to spare.

To give the C6 its credit, it does look expensive. At almost five metres long it cuts a stately shape and seems elegant and imposing from most angles. There are also tight panel gaps and seemingly fine assembly, plus some neat external touches – frameless doors with laminated, twin-glazed windows and a concave rear window with bold surrounding buttresses. Whether the C6 errs towards grace (the swooping roofline) or amorphousness (the extraordinarily long front overhang) depends partly on your outlook and partly on the angle from which you view the car.

You’re more likely to appreciate the C6’s interior. From our experience of the colour scheme, it tends towards two extremes: very dark or very beige. With the black leather and trim of some of the examples we’ve seen, the cabin is somehow less opulent, and certainly less flamboyant, than the light cream trim of our test car.