[Tony2298]

Originally Posted by Frusciante

Wow, Congratulations on your car and its amazing how similar our car buying journeys are. Heck, you even saved me a lot of typing effort on this forum thanks to your well articulated post on testing, choosing and owning a new C5 aircross. .

Heartfelt Congratulations to both of you on acquiring your new French steeds, even though overpriced the Stellar ride quality, excellent 2.0L Diesel+8AT along with the European build quality justifies the high price tag to an extent, also personally speaking I love the über European flair associated with it. Whether it be a Volkswagen Taigun on affordable side or expensive Europeans like these, we really need more of them and I'm delighted to see people are preferring the same. The C5 especially in jet black shade, looks delectable and has a charm of its own and since it's quite rare on our roads it will turn even more heads than some of the luxury marquees!

I wish you many happy miles with your steed. Stay safe and happy motoring!

[simplynitin]

Originally Posted by the.city

[*] Door lock: The weirdest observation for C5 for me was the door lock. Pulling the door handle from inside overrides central locking's LOCK status and simply opens the door. There's central locking button on center dash but there's no dedicated physical lock button/slider/tab on the door itself. I don't know if it's a thing on other cars too. In some way this is good -- I never end up in situation where I accidentally try to open a locked door then spend next few seconds trying to figure out which way should I twist the lock switch. On other side, I find it really unsafe. I'm going with the assumption that car electronics won't unlock-and-open the door when vehicle is moving but I'm yet to test this out. (To be honest I don't think I'll test it :/). Of course, this doesn't happen on rear doors with Child Lock <wipes sweat off the head>, phew.

Many congratulations on your new ride.
As others have pointed out above, it's the same issue/safety feature in many other cars.
It works the same way in my Ford ecosport. It does open from inside even when vehicle is moving.
So child locks are always on and no child in the front seat ever !!

[the.city]

Originally Posted by Frusciante

I too was the owner of a 3nd gen Honda City for 10 long years and the reliability and performance of that car set a high bar of the one to follow.

Great minds think alike . It's very tough beat City's quality. And might I say -- the Black C5 looks gorgeous.

Originally Posted by Frusciante

2. The boot release switch : There was a dedicated boot release switch in the earlier models of the C5 in India and I cannot stop wondering why they would do away with something so basic but essential. Now opening the boot at checkpoints like mall entries etc. requires you to switch off the car fully to release the boot via the key fob, which in my opinion is terribly inconvenient.

I too touched upon this point on my post. I'm talking to the dealership/service team to see if it could be retrofitted with separate payment. Considering that it was in previous version vehicle, the part should be in inventory list. Will let you know how that conversation goes.

Originally Posted by streetfighter

Now that the C5 Aircross is in, how would you fix your team-bhp handle "the.city" ?

You sir have a keen eye. You caught my utter lack of creativity when I was thinking of a name while joining this forum


Also, thank you abhishek46, Tony2298 and simplynitin for the wishes and comments on the door lock.

[CoolFamilyGuy]

Congratulations on your new car! Hope you enjoy thousands of mile on the C5.

I had a similar situation 4 months ago - I was looking at moving from my loyal 10 year old VW Vento to a car thay was spacious, safe, comfortable and reliable for the family. In our case, space took over all other criteria.

I had tried the C5, and found it to be an interesting option, but the rear seat config still meant our family of 5 might have struggled with the gigantic child seat in 2nd row. Further we had hesitation with a new brand and their service capability.

Thats when we reconciled to a 3 row car- and given we didn't have Kodiaq or Tiguan Allspace in the market we were left to choose between MG Gloster and Kia Carnival ( Ford had walked out of India and Fortuner didn't have the family mandated Sunroof). Given the Gloster issues reported by owners, it was the Kia Carnival Limousine Plus for us.
It has been a month of usage, and I hope to share our experience soon.

Once again, thanks a lot for sharing yiur detailed experience with the C5.

[streetfighter]

Originally Posted by Frusciante

BTW, I noticed you are from Mumbai too. Which dealership did you get your vehicle from, Andheri or Worli ? I got mine from Andheri.

I got it from Pune, B4S motors. This I had let known in my post - https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offic...ml#post5210179 (Citroen C5 Aircross Review)

Not sure if the Worli showroom has reopened, it was shut in September 2021 when I started the search. I did my first test drive with PPS Motors, Andheri, they even gifted me a nice mug, but then they did not take me serious enough as a buyer. The sales guy was in touch regularly over Whatsapp but didn't bother to let me know about the festive offers in October. Rather he slapped me with the increased price list and said at best they could only provide me at the earlier price. I dropped the plan as on one side the budget was high, and I have to endure a bad dealer, not worth my time and effort. My next alternate was the XC40, absolutely no discounts, 5-7lakhs more than the C5, 3 months waiting, topped up with "take it or leave it" attitude (Kifs Volvo, Andheri).
Meanwhile, in Nov, I got in touch with CircleOfLife who got me in touch with the Hyderabad dealer. The dealership gentleman was quite a genuine guy, did let me know about the offers that were running in Oct (expired by then) and the current offers in Nov. Since I was interested in the car, I called up the Pune dealer who immediately confirmed the offer on phone. In the next call, he made me talk to his business head who assured he'd do something better once I make up my mind. So, in the 2nd week of Nov, one Saturday morning, I drove down from Mumbai, reached the dealer, took another longish test drive both in city, broken roads and the highway, and swiped the credit card for the booking. Spent almost 4 and half hours at the showroom, made a few friends and came back happy

[Frusciante]

Originally Posted by streetfighter

I got it from Pune, B4S motors. This I had let known in my post - https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offic...ml#post5210179 (Citroen C5 Aircross Review)

Not sure if the Worli showroom has reopened, it was shut in September 2021 when I started the search. I did my first test drive with PPS Motors, Andheri, they even gifted me a nice mug, but then they did not take me serious enough as a buyer. The sales guy was in touch regularly over Whatsapp but didn't bother to let me know about the festive offers in October. Rather he slapped me with the increased price list and said at best they could only provide me at the earlier price. I dropped the plan as on one side the budget was high, and I have to endure a bad dealer, not worth my time and effort. My next alternate was the XC40, absolutely no discounts, 5-7lakhs more than the C5, 3 months waiting, topped up with "take it or leave it" attitude (Kifs Volvo, Andheri).
Meanwhile, in Nov, I got in touch with CircleOfLife who got me in touch with the Hyderabad dealer. The dealership gentleman was quite a genuine guy, did let me know about the offers that were running in Oct (expired by then) and the current offers in Nov. Since I was interested in the car, I called up the Pune dealer who immediately confirmed the offer on phone. In the next call, he made me talk to his business head who assured he'd do something better once I make up my mind. So, in the 2nd week of Nov, one Saturday morning, I drove down from Mumbai, reached the dealer, took another longish test drive both in city, broken roads and the highway, and swiped the credit card for the booking. Spent almost 4 and half hours at the showroom, made a few friends and came back happy

Ah, I just revisited your earlier posts. Remarkable story and yes I agree with you. My experience with Citroen Andheri was similar. They were lukewarm till they smelt a sale and sweetened up after that but frankly the whole experience does not feel as premium as the car itself. I have had better experiences with Maruti. I don't know how Citroen hopes to break the market with high pricing and moderately competent sales and service team. For our sake's I hope they get their act right before the more mass C3 is launched, becuase the competition in that segment is cut throat and from what I hear, C3 isn't very competitively priced (for that segment) either.

Speaking of car salesmen, the one thing that intrigues me is all sales reps, not just at Citroen but all brands I dealt with were interested in just getting the booking amount. Most went as far to tell me I'm free to cancel later if I have second thoughts. Which makes me wonder if their incentives are linked to bookings alone. Pretty flimsy compensation structure if it is so, because the dealer/company won't make any revenue if the booking doesn't convert to a sale. Does anyone know ?

[Frusciante]

Originally Posted by CoolFamilyGuy

Given the Gloster issues reported by owners, it was the Kia Carnival Limousine Plus for us.

Thanks. Kia Carnival is a great family car and was in my list of considerations too initially, but I wanted a more SUV styled car with high GC as opposed to an MPV, hence dropped it from my list.

[Frusciante]

Originally Posted by the.city

I too touched upon this point on my post. I'm talking to the dealership/service team to see if it could be retrofitted with separate payment. Considering that it was in previous version vehicle, the part should be in inventory list. Will let you know how that conversation goes.

Yes sir. If we can pull that off, it'll be of huge value.

[silentstorm]

Originally Posted by the.city

My original budget was 30-35L range. I was surprised by how few vehicles are available in this range.

Congratulations on your new car and thank you for your detailed review. Your observations on the door design were sharp indeed! Also noticed the Mahindra Alturas was in your budget too. Curious to know if you had considered it and just missed out mentioning here.

[Frusciante]

Originally Posted by the.city

I too touched upon this point on my post. I'm talking to the dealership/service team to see if it could be retrofitted with separate payment. Considering that it was in previous version vehicle, the part should be in inventory list. Will let you know how that conversation goes.

While you are at it, I'm curious to know why the TFT display has been changed too since the first batch of cars in India. The earlier version (as also shared in the TBHP official review on page 1 of this thread) looked a lot richer IMO, and had more information. The current layout seems a bit bland to me and it will be cool to have the earlier version if possible with a software update. What do you guys think? @streetfighter, @circleoflife and other C5 owners ? I tried checking with my dealer but they weren't too helpful in this regard.

[the.city]

Originally Posted by silentstorm

Congratulations on your new car and thank you for your detailed review. Your observations on the door design were sharp indeed! Also noticed the Mahindra Alturas was in your budget too. Curious to know if you had considered it and just missed out mentioning here.

Thank you. I should have clarified in my write up - I was looking for 5 seater SUV/CSUVs only. I was not interested in 4.7mtr+ 7seater vehicles. This is why XUV 700, Alturas, Gloster, Fortuner, Carnival, etc were out of my consideration.

Originally Posted by Frusciante

While you are at it, I'm curious to know why the TFT display has been changed too since the first batch of cars in India

I did not realize that display had changed! Let me ask around too.

[Frusciante]

Originally Posted by the.city

I did not realize that display had changed! Let me ask around too.

Yup. Another of those changes sneaked in without a known rationale, where the earlier option was actually better.

[14000rpm]

Originally Posted by Frusciante

...Speaking of car salesmen, the one thing that intrigues me is all sales reps, not just at Citroen but all brands I dealt with were interested in just getting the booking amount. Most went as far to tell me I'm free to cancel later if I have second thoughts. Which makes me wonder if their incentives are linked to bookings alone. Pretty flimsy compensation structure if it is so, because the dealer/company won't make any revenue if the booking doesn't convert to a sale. Does anyone know ?

it's the salesguy's moment of Glory for the next morning's team meeting where everyone is questioned on Bookings. The expectation is that a booking is a half sale done as the buyer has parted money and hence is invested in the idea of buying the car. It is assumed that the other half of the sale will go through since the customer is invested. typical - 'what could go wrong?' attitude ensues being ignorant to the dynamics that could change that situation towards cancellation. Frankly the cancellations are far and few in between.

I used to sell cars in the earlier part of my career. lots of life lessons.

[Frusciante]

Originally Posted by 14000rpm

it's the salesguy's moment of Glory for the next morning's team meeting where everyone is questioned on Bookings. The expectation is that a booking is a half sale done as the buyer has parted money and hence is invested in the idea of buying the car. It is assumed that the other half of the sale will go through since the customer is invested. typical - 'what could go wrong?' attitude ensues being ignorant to the dynamics that could change that situation towards cancellation. Frankly the cancellations are far and few in between.

I used to sell cars in the earlier part of my career. lots of life lessons.

Good insight. Thanks for sharing. It takes a strong management to really overhaul the culture of the entire chain to make it singularly customer focused. Not just chase vanity metrics.

[Frusciante]

I had the Citroen Service Advisor come to my residence today to fit the window blinds. I must say they have been quiet responsive and in contact even after sales, checking on things and to close loop on open items, so credit given where due. I hope they continue to build on this. As a general update, he informed me the Mumbai workshop is almost 100% ready including ramps, body work capability etc. I had visited the facility in Jogeshwari (W) in November before booking and work was still underway. I think the center should be fully functional from Jan for those of us who would have the 2k service due. I was quiet relieved with the responsiveness displayed and the news on the service center readiness as they are steps in the right direction to ensure a smooth after sales experience.