Sonntag, 4. Juni 2006
Welcome back
chelsea farmer's club - cfc_albert
Wir haben den Citroen C6 im Winter in Barcelona gefahren. Das Head-Up Display und die entspannte Schoenheit des Wagens hat uns viel Spass gemacht.
Dieses Wochenende schreiben unsere Freunde bei der FT:
"For my money, that would make the C6 one of the best and most alluring used car buys on earth in a couple of years."
Genau den Eindruck haben wir auch. Freuen wir uns drauf!
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/b31a47c4-f29d-11da-b78e-0000779e2340.html
Der gesamte review auch in der comment section.
... comment
cfc_albert,
Sonntag, 4. Juni 2006, 15:50
C6 continued
Welcome back, the flying armchair - with high-tech knobs on
By John Griffiths
Published: June 3 2006 03:00 | Last updated: June 3 2006 03:00
Iris doesn't take prisoners. She doesn't call a spade a spade; she calls it, albeit in cut-glass tones, a bloody shovel. Step out of line and she would like as not clout you with one. If Britain's Foreign Office were to unleash this formidable, octogenarian blend of Margaret Thatcher, Miss Jean Brodie and Boadicea on all the world's trouble spots, the malcontents would be muttering "sorry Miss", with downcast eyes, in a matter of nanoseconds.
So when, after I chauffeured her home to Devon while testing Citroën's new top model, this grande dame of the Salcombe sailing set deemed the C6 the best thing since Krug and Beluga, it was time to sit up and take notice.
We wound up testing the car in partnership. Daily during my short vacation, I would receive the kind of summons you don't refuse to ferry her between coastal and inland residences. I assessed how the C6 drove from the front seat; shedictated strategy from the rear.
She did it in rather more than usual comfort. That, perhaps, should not surprise too much, as Citroën has a tradition of putting comfort before speed. Not for nothing were its remarkable, pneumatically suspended DS models of the 1970s known as "flying armchairs".
However, Iris's warm regard for the C6 was inspired not so much by the elegant, cream leather surroundings nor the hydraulically damped, drop-down wood-veneered door cabinets; nor indeed by the silence and smoothness of the ride, but by two buttons.
Since there was no one unwise enough to be in the front passenger seat, Iris pressed a button in the rear door. The front seat then whirred forward to park itself with its backrest within an inch or two of the dashboard, leaving enough floor space behind for a kneeling serf. A press of an armrest button and Iris's own back seat then reclined. The novel seating arrangement is just one of a number of features which, after years of Citroën making much the same sort of vehicle as everyone else, takes it a long way back towards its roots as a producer of truly innovative and quirky cars (Citroën, not Mini, was first with front-wheel-drive in the Traction Avant) with a character all of their own.
First, its looks. In an age of drearily cloned executive car boxes, no one is going to mistake the C6 for anything other than a Citroën. And that is not only because of the car's worst styling feature: twin metallic bars travelling horizontally across the entire width of the bonnet and missing only a couple of comic strip teeth. The overall effect smacks of stylists trying a mite too hard for a distinctive identity. The same applies to curious, raised rear light housings, looking like nothing so much as the hips of Kermit the frog.
In between, however, all is elegant curves. And even allowing for the generous overall exterior size, there is still a Tardis-like quality to the interior. It feels simply vast and, provided Iris is not around to press passenger-squashing buttons, there is more than ample leg and elbow room for five.
The ride, except for minor disturbances at very low speeds, is genuinely "magic carpet", a function of the "hydractive" suspension system with electronically controlled hydraulic cylinders in place of conventional springs and dampers, which constantly and instantaneously adjusts ride and handling to compensate for road undulations and corners. Irrespective of load, it maintains a constant height and horizontal attitude but lowers the car at high speed for optimised handling and fuel consumption.
It is not, however, for hustling round corners. It takes them competently but its forte is to waft driver and passengers along in a degree of relaxed silence and comfort to which few of its more supposedly prestigious rivals aspire. For that, thank in part the only sensible engine choice for the C6, the powerful, quiet but punchy 2.7-litre V6 twin turbodiesel shared with Jaguar's sublime diesel S-Type and the Peugeot coupe. There is a much more thirsty 3-litre petrol option but I can't think why anyone in their right mind would want it.
In terms of on-board toys and safety features, the top-spec C6 "Exclusive" model is a blast like few others. Climb aboard and become Captain Kirk of the Enterprise. The interior is lit subtly via fibre optics. There is a jet fighter-style head-up display which projects speed and satellite navigation information in line of sight apparently about 10ft ahead of the driver. White lines on the road ahead are monitored. Weave across them above 50mph without signalling and the car concludes you are tired or not paying attention and delivers a vibrating jolt to your backside to make you pay attention. Even the headlights themselves turn as the car rounds corners.
Unlike some of Citroën's executive sector efforts of the past - its long-defunct XM was one of the most spectacularly unreliable cars on the planet - the C6 also has a standard of fit and finish to back up the initial impression of quality. It is produced on a unique assembly line built specifically to take quality to a new level for the company. This is softly lit, with expensive hardwood floors and even the occasional pot plant. The aim, its earnest director told me, is to create a home-like atmosphere to encourage workers to take the same care as if building it in their living rooms.
The $64,000 question - roughly the price of the top-specification "Exclusive" model in the UK - is: just how sensible a buy is the C6 financially?
Historically, the resale values of executive sector cars bearing the badges of the big volume car makers have dropped like a stone (not that, in today's over-supplied markets, real-world resale values of BMWs and Mercedes are anything like as strong as their makers would have you believe).
Citroen insists that the quality-raising efforts, the innovative and genuine appeal of the C6, plus a number of after-sales support measures aimed at keeping the C6 within the franchised dealer network, will prevent that happening. Only time will tell but partly for that reason, Citroen expects sale volumes to be low - "hundreds", not thousands, a year in the UK, for example - almost everywhere but in France itself. If it doesn't work, the C6 will do well to hold on to half its value after two years.
For my money, that would make the C6 one of the best and most alluring used car buys on earth in a couple of years.
john.griffiths@ft.com
More reviews at www.ft.com/testdrive
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/b31a47c4-f29d-11da-b78e-0000779e2340.html
By John Griffiths
Published: June 3 2006 03:00 | Last updated: June 3 2006 03:00
Iris doesn't take prisoners. She doesn't call a spade a spade; she calls it, albeit in cut-glass tones, a bloody shovel. Step out of line and she would like as not clout you with one. If Britain's Foreign Office were to unleash this formidable, octogenarian blend of Margaret Thatcher, Miss Jean Brodie and Boadicea on all the world's trouble spots, the malcontents would be muttering "sorry Miss", with downcast eyes, in a matter of nanoseconds.
So when, after I chauffeured her home to Devon while testing Citroën's new top model, this grande dame of the Salcombe sailing set deemed the C6 the best thing since Krug and Beluga, it was time to sit up and take notice.
We wound up testing the car in partnership. Daily during my short vacation, I would receive the kind of summons you don't refuse to ferry her between coastal and inland residences. I assessed how the C6 drove from the front seat; shedictated strategy from the rear.
She did it in rather more than usual comfort. That, perhaps, should not surprise too much, as Citroën has a tradition of putting comfort before speed. Not for nothing were its remarkable, pneumatically suspended DS models of the 1970s known as "flying armchairs".
However, Iris's warm regard for the C6 was inspired not so much by the elegant, cream leather surroundings nor the hydraulically damped, drop-down wood-veneered door cabinets; nor indeed by the silence and smoothness of the ride, but by two buttons.
Since there was no one unwise enough to be in the front passenger seat, Iris pressed a button in the rear door. The front seat then whirred forward to park itself with its backrest within an inch or two of the dashboard, leaving enough floor space behind for a kneeling serf. A press of an armrest button and Iris's own back seat then reclined. The novel seating arrangement is just one of a number of features which, after years of Citroën making much the same sort of vehicle as everyone else, takes it a long way back towards its roots as a producer of truly innovative and quirky cars (Citroën, not Mini, was first with front-wheel-drive in the Traction Avant) with a character all of their own.
First, its looks. In an age of drearily cloned executive car boxes, no one is going to mistake the C6 for anything other than a Citroën. And that is not only because of the car's worst styling feature: twin metallic bars travelling horizontally across the entire width of the bonnet and missing only a couple of comic strip teeth. The overall effect smacks of stylists trying a mite too hard for a distinctive identity. The same applies to curious, raised rear light housings, looking like nothing so much as the hips of Kermit the frog.
In between, however, all is elegant curves. And even allowing for the generous overall exterior size, there is still a Tardis-like quality to the interior. It feels simply vast and, provided Iris is not around to press passenger-squashing buttons, there is more than ample leg and elbow room for five.
The ride, except for minor disturbances at very low speeds, is genuinely "magic carpet", a function of the "hydractive" suspension system with electronically controlled hydraulic cylinders in place of conventional springs and dampers, which constantly and instantaneously adjusts ride and handling to compensate for road undulations and corners. Irrespective of load, it maintains a constant height and horizontal attitude but lowers the car at high speed for optimised handling and fuel consumption.
It is not, however, for hustling round corners. It takes them competently but its forte is to waft driver and passengers along in a degree of relaxed silence and comfort to which few of its more supposedly prestigious rivals aspire. For that, thank in part the only sensible engine choice for the C6, the powerful, quiet but punchy 2.7-litre V6 twin turbodiesel shared with Jaguar's sublime diesel S-Type and the Peugeot coupe. There is a much more thirsty 3-litre petrol option but I can't think why anyone in their right mind would want it.
In terms of on-board toys and safety features, the top-spec C6 "Exclusive" model is a blast like few others. Climb aboard and become Captain Kirk of the Enterprise. The interior is lit subtly via fibre optics. There is a jet fighter-style head-up display which projects speed and satellite navigation information in line of sight apparently about 10ft ahead of the driver. White lines on the road ahead are monitored. Weave across them above 50mph without signalling and the car concludes you are tired or not paying attention and delivers a vibrating jolt to your backside to make you pay attention. Even the headlights themselves turn as the car rounds corners.
Unlike some of Citroën's executive sector efforts of the past - its long-defunct XM was one of the most spectacularly unreliable cars on the planet - the C6 also has a standard of fit and finish to back up the initial impression of quality. It is produced on a unique assembly line built specifically to take quality to a new level for the company. This is softly lit, with expensive hardwood floors and even the occasional pot plant. The aim, its earnest director told me, is to create a home-like atmosphere to encourage workers to take the same care as if building it in their living rooms.
The $64,000 question - roughly the price of the top-specification "Exclusive" model in the UK - is: just how sensible a buy is the C6 financially?
Historically, the resale values of executive sector cars bearing the badges of the big volume car makers have dropped like a stone (not that, in today's over-supplied markets, real-world resale values of BMWs and Mercedes are anything like as strong as their makers would have you believe).
Citroen insists that the quality-raising efforts, the innovative and genuine appeal of the C6, plus a number of after-sales support measures aimed at keeping the C6 within the franchised dealer network, will prevent that happening. Only time will tell but partly for that reason, Citroen expects sale volumes to be low - "hundreds", not thousands, a year in the UK, for example - almost everywhere but in France itself. If it doesn't work, the C6 will do well to hold on to half its value after two years.
For my money, that would make the C6 one of the best and most alluring used car buys on earth in a couple of years.
john.griffiths@ft.com
More reviews at www.ft.com/testdrive
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/b31a47c4-f29d-11da-b78e-0000779e2340.html
... link
... comment
