Ex-diplomatic Citroen C5

[St.Jude]

12 hours ago, 808 Estate said:

Will you need to take a box of Ferrero Rocher to the handover.

No, you'd only be spoiling them with that.

[SmokinWaffle]

I have to admit this thread is maximum anticipation. Big respect to @warninglight and watching with anticipation. 

[R Lutz]

Flip side is of course is at what point do you renege on the contact though a lack of action from le froggies?

[Ohdearme]

11 hours ago, R Lutz said:

Flip side is of course is at what point do you renege on the contact though a lack of action from le froggies?

Presumably there is a portly town mayor squat away in a run down old town hall in an obscure part of the Languedoc who has been unable to put his wine and cheese down for ‘un moment’ to rubber stamp the release forms…

[R Lutz]

40 minutes ago, Ohdearme said:

Presumably there is a portly town mayor squat away in a run down old town hall in an obscure part of the Languedoc who has been unable to put his wine and cheese down for ‘un moment’ to rubber stamp the release forms…

That or he's concerned there is still a pair of knickers in there belonging to his mistress?

[chaseracer]

2 hours ago, Ohdearme said:

Presumably there is a portly town mayor squat away in a run down old town hall in an obscure part of the Languedoc who has been unable to put his wine and cheese down for ‘un moment’ to rubber stamp the release forms…

"Priorités, m'sieu'... priorités..."

[captain_70s]

At least by the time you take delivery it'll be MOT/tax exempt. 

[warninglight]

[warninglight]

[vaughant]

2 hours ago, warninglight said:

Actually, the best news ❤️❤️.

Laptop arrived safe and sound as far as I know @warninglight, I haven't opened the package yet but not expecting any issues 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻.

 

Thankyou 😀😀

[BorniteIdentity]

It’s wonderfully fitting that buying a French diplomatic car has been riddled with wonderful French bureaucracy and a Gallic approach to expedience.

Happy motoring! 

[warninglight]

Now it's back at base and I have some time to post more than a couple of photos!

Things were progressing very slowly - I had intended on making a day of the collecting, taking the train to Edinburgh, lunch in the French bistro in the same building, followed by a pleasant waft home through the Pentand Hills. Things were getting a bit silly, so once they had confirmed that they had various bits of paperwork from DVLA I suggested I collect it on the trailer, and take control of the paperwork.

Plans were made for this afternoon. Ideally I'd have used the XC70 for such a trip, however being right in the middle of the Edinburgh LEZ, I didn't fancy the fine from taking a Euro 4 diesel in, the van is (technically) euro 6 thus was the only option. Friday afternoon traffic with that lot into the old town was fun.

West Parliament Square was heaving with tourists, and they were as oblivious as ever, clustering in the entrance to the courtyard, ignoring the trailer loudly rattling over ancient cobbles, but I made it in.

The car had barely moved since I saw it in March, and now sported a flat tyre, and was sans number plates. It started right up for loading though, so that was good.

The diplomat, and her assistant, decided to watch how I was going to load up the trailer. I lined the front wheels up with the ramps, however it looked like the front bumper was going to scrape the ramps. I jumped back into the car and with the press of a button, voila, it was on its tip toes.

The looks on their faces was priceless. I hopped out, and they asked if I was a Magician. Turns out neither of them knew it could be raised or lowered. 😆

Once home I pumped the tyre up and had a better look at things. The OSF wing has severe lacquer peel, and there are a few trolley dints etc. however apart from that wing, it'll clean up well.

The wheels are as scuffed as only a succession of French people giving it 9 years of use in a city made of granite kerbs could manage. I'll weigh up refurbing these, against seeing if I can obtain a set of the 'best' wheels for these.

The interior is in brilliant condition, with no hint of gauloise.

So I have some time to tend to the cosmetics whilst sorting its first registration, then start to use it!

It got the seal of approval from the Bordeaux Collie, too.

Popped into low rider mode next to the XC70, it's looking very sleek.

Many thanks again to @Macscrooge for sharing the for sale poster - I'll sort out a proper thank you soon!

 

[brownnova]

9 hours ago, warninglight said:

Turns out neither of them knew it could be raised or lowered

I’ll never forget when we had one my wife managed to get it wedged on a low wall. That day in the panic we totally forgot the suspension could be raised, I could have got it off the wall with no damage. I realised about one minute after dragging the damaged undertray from the underside 🙄

[warninglight]

41 minutes ago, brownnova said:

I’ll never forget when we had one my wife managed to get it wedged on a low wall. That day in the panic we totally forgot the suspension could be raised, I could have got it off the wall with no damage. I realised about one minute after dragging the damaged undertray from the underside 🙄

In fairness to your wife, it probably sank when parked and wedged itself!

[Stinkwheel]

7 hours ago, warninglight said:

In fairness to your wife, it probably sank when parked and wedged itself!

Don’t they have anti sink ? 

[warninglight]

Oh probably - I think they all do since the early Xantia?

For some reason I thought @brownnova was talking about a BX. As you were!

They may lower a bit once parked, I know the air sprung Land Rovers I've had all wait a minute after locking and drop perhaps an inch.

[chaseracer]

This so needs to be on the main page!

[captain_70s]

Jesus wept, those alloys are humped!

[Lord Sterling]

Sa c'est vraiment superb monsieur, bravo ! 

I'd have loved to come with you and brush up on my French conversational skills, alas I'm in Worcestershire so a looooong way fae Edinburgh. And as it is, I'm mainly watching French documentaries on the French traffic police.

What's the future plans for this car? Tidy up and run as is I'm guessing.

[warninglight]

3 hours ago, Lord Sterling said:

 

What's the future plans for this car? Tidy up and run as is I'm guessing.

No idea! It's a lovely car and I've wanted one for years (I was looking at 2008 models when they were just about still current in 2016) however my use for a car these days tends to favour the 4x4 with decent towing capacity. These late autos can only tow about 1200kg so it'll never be the car for that job.

Going to try to persuade my other half that we could replace her XC60 and my XC70 with this and something larger and 4x4. On the days where I need to waft down the M6 I could use this, and on the days where I'm working from home, or towing stuff etc. she could use it. 

With a little bit of bodywork it'll be almost too nice for us to use unless it was a third car, just for me to use, as she will have a wet dog in and out of it on a  daily basis. It's never had a dog in, and perhaps more surprisingly doesn't seem to have been ever smoked in - it's basically a new car, and a bit special being Euro 6.

[DSdriver]

On 28/02/2025 at 13:06, Dj_efk said:

My new word of the day "Kilometrage" - honestly have never come across that in our language before!

If I had a French car with over 200k miles, I would have a beige-coloured badge made up

Citroen have got that covered 

 

[Stinkwheel]

Damn,  now I’m looking at C5’s for sale online 

[IronStar]

Does the satnav screen work? 

[warninglight]

26 minutes ago, IronStar said:

Does the satnav screen work? 

The screen works but I haven't made sense of the system in the 5 mins I spent playing with it. Managed to pair my phone and found a few French names in the list.

[Missy Charm]

21 hours ago, warninglight said:

Oh probably - I think they all do since the early Xantia?

For some reason I thought @brownnova was talking about a BX. As you were!

They may lower a bit once parked, I know the air sprung Land Rovers I've had all wait a minute after locking and drop perhaps an inch.

Except the anti-sink on the Xantia never really worked, in my experience.  Mine always seemed to lose a bit of suspension height, an inch or two, if parked for more than about an hour.  You could always feel the car raising itself slightly, too, upon starting the engine.  It wasn't as dramatic as the BX's trademark spring-up-from-squat manoeuvre, but certainly noticeable.  

Nice car and well done for getting it, by the way!  

[IronStar]

15 minutes ago, warninglight said:

The screen works but I haven't made sense of the system in the 5 mins I spent playing with it. Managed to pair my phone and found a few French names in the list.

Ace! Not looking too dated despite being quite old now. These are prone to randomly failing, and in best French fashion, they’re not the same across the production run despite looking the same. Consensus seems to be that they put in whatever they had on the shelf that week, and they’re not cross compatible. 

It probably has the upgraded sound system as well!

[warninglight]

Not sure what to look for to tell if it has the upgraded sounds.

Its an odd spec with halogen headlamps and half leather, but panoramic roof etc.

Found the first fault - heater blower not working. Seemingly common issues with blower motors and regulators so will get on that first.

[IronStar]

6 minutes ago, warninglight said:

Not sure what to look for to tell if it has the upgraded sounds.

Its an odd spec with halogen headlamps and half leather, but panoramic roof etc.

Found the first fault - heater blower not working. Seemingly common issues with blower motors and regulators so will get on that first.

They have HIFI SYSTEM written above door speakers.

[AxleHorsepower]

Good buy. I really miss my old one, such a good looking car, a nice drive and bags of space.