Citroen C5X vs Mercedes-AMG E43

What's the difference?

This is a new take on the Citroen station wagon, and it’s an impressive one at that. It may not tick all the boxes, but it is a comfortable and practical car, with stunning design, decent equipment and a pretty agreeable price tag.

Now, just get that plug-in hybrid version in at a reasonable price please, Citroen.

Note: CarsGuide attended this event as a guest of the manufacturer, with meals provided.

If you want a fast Benz but your other half prefers genuine comfort and doesn't like the sound of NASCAR, this is your solution. It's an opulent luxury saloon by default, but with proper performance and personality just the flick of a switch away.

We know the E 63 S will be sharper and 1.2s quicker to 100km/h, but it will also cost another E 200 more, and feel like a performance car ALL the time. The E 43 doesn't, which is just brilliant.

Citroen reckons the C5 X combines SUV, wagon and sedan design cues to make it a true crossover model. I reckon they’ve got a point, and while it’s certainly not as butch as some other crossover wagons out there, it’s not bashful, either.

I’m a massive fan of the assertive front end lighting design, the bold body lines that punctuate the bonnet and swoop backwards down the sides of the car, and the swooping roofline that dips away, almost like the iconic Citroen DS.

It’s quite a large car, too - at 4805mm long on a 2785mm wheelbase, it has a commanding presence, and it’s 1865mm wide (not including the side mirrors) and a rather sleek 1490mm tall. 

Of course it has some body cladding and black plastics to give that ‘rough and tumble’ appearance - and the rear features a couple of spoilers on the boot that help it cut through the air cleanly, and they look interesting as well.

Inside, there’s an almost-square steering wheel, which is interesting, and a pair of screens - a 12.0-inch touchscreen for your multimedia duties, and a 7.0-inch driver info screen. It looks and feels upmarket and pretty conventional in the cabin, so let’s see what the practicality is like.

Unlike the bulging wheelarches and gaping gob of the new E 63, the E 43 uses discrete flourishes to distinguish it from the regular AMG-pack E-Class.

Most obvious are the more aggressive 20 x 8 and 20 x 9 'RTO' wheels, but if you look closely it also scores subtle black winglets on the outer edges of the front bumper openings, a single bar grille insert, boot lip spoiler and black split exhaust tips. 

Hiding within those wheels are upgraded 360mm brakes at all corners, with four piston calipers up front and single at the rear.

On the inside, the E 43 steps up to perforated leather and 'Dynamica' pseudo suede seat trim but the fronts appear to be the same comfortable shape as the regular AMG pack seats. Aside from a smattering of AMG badges, that's about it. Like the outside, it looks a little bit sporty, but luxury is the focus.

The Citroen C5 X is almost as big as a Subaru Outback, and similar in size to a Kia Stinger. So it ought to have a bit of family-friendliness packed in.

Starting at the back, there’s a 545-litre boot capacity, with the kick-action, electronically controlled tailgate that you can also use the keyfob to open. It is a low, wide, quite squared-off aperture, meaning loading bulky items in should be a breeze. Just note that the roofline does taper down towards the rear, so bigger things will need to be pushed towards the seat backrests.

Or, if you’re really acting like a delivery van, you can drop the rear seats down to allow 1640 litres of cargo capacity. There are boot-mounted releases to drop the seats down, and there’s a floor mat in the boot, under which is a space saver spare wheel.

Back seat occupants are decently catered for. I’m 182cm/6’0” tall and I managed to sit behind my own driving position with plenty of leg and foot room - however, the sunroof does create a bit of a hump in the ceiling that you might bump your head on, and those with big feet or small children might want to take note that the sills in the door openings are very tall. A child could easily trip over them if they were clambering in the back in a rush.

Children will be covered with a pair of ISOFIX child-seat anchor points in the window seats and three top-tether restraints, too. There are map pockets, door pockets with bottle holders, a pair of USB-C charge points and directional air vents, too.

However, it wouldn’t be a French car without some kind of quirky cup holder situation, and the back seat has none - there’s no flip-down armrest to speak of. But the seat is exceptionally cushy.

Front seat impressions are good - and cup holders are present. They’re big ones, too - large enough for a big cuppa or a bottle of water, even, And there are door pockets with bottle holsters as well.

There’s an opening centre armrest box with a USB-C charge point, and in front of the interestingly designed recessed gear selector and parking brake, there’s another storage spot with a wireless phone charger, too. Nice.

Seat comfort up front is very good, with lots of adjustability (eight-way electric for the driver, six-way electric for front passenger) and heated front seats as well.

Scoring a big tick from me is the fact there are physical dials and buttons for the air conditioning and ventilation controls. But they’re in that glossy black finish, which shows fingerprints so much that it makes you feel self-conscious of being a walking germ farm.

The big touchscreen multimedia system has a few buttons and knobs, too - though the menus on screen do take some getting used to. It is highly customisable, so if you bought one you’d set it and forget it, but on first impression I struggled to get to grips with some of the nuances of the menus.

It does, however, have wireless or wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto (with the media-feed USB-C port under the controls) and it goes full screen, too, while leaving enough space for other crucial elements. The graphics are nice and high-definition, and the 360-degree camera display puts  the “surround” view units in Peugeot models to shame. 

There’s also a configurable driver info screen, and a crisp and lovely head-up display as well. 

Like all E-Class sedans, the E 43 has amble room for four large adults to travel comfortably. Everyday practicality is well considered with dual cup holders front and rear with bottleholders in each door, map pockets and ISOFIX child seat mounts in the outer rear positions. Boot capacity is a useful 540 litres.
Like all AMG performance models, the E 43 forgoes run-flats or a spare tyre in favour of an inflation kit.

At $159,900 the E 43 sits exactly $20,000 above the E 400. As you'd expect it comes fully loaded with comfort and convenience features, including a choice of black, brown or beige nappa leather, 'Air-Balance' cabin scent and air filtration system, tinted windows, panoramic sunroof, head-up display and a 13-speaker Burmester surround sound audio system.

Like all new E-Classes, the E 43 also comes with the brilliant Drive Pilot suite of active cruise control and lane guidance tech that permit semi-autonomous driving, including the ability to change lanes. More sculpted AMG front seats and a Dynamica pseudo suede-trimmed steering wheel are available as a $3076 option, but it's worth noting that the seat upgrade eliminates the PRE-SAFE impulse side function that moves passengers toward the centre of the car when a side collision is anticipated.

Yes it’s almost 2023, but the Citroen C5 X model launching right now isn’t bringing anything new or exciting to the table in terms of what’s powering it.

Instead, it runs a 1.6-litre turbo-petrol four-cylinder engine that is also used in other Citroen and Peugeot models. No hybrid tech, no electric version yet….  But Citroen has stated it is keen to bring a plug-in hybrid model to the market. Hopefully, it comes soon.

The petrol motor used here is the brand’s PureTech 180 with Stop & Start, and it’s good for 133kW of power at 5500rpm and 250Nm of torque at 1650rpm. This isn’t a small car, but it is relatively light, weighing in at 1439kg (tare mass). 

However, it has a pretty small engine with low outputs for this type of vehicle. For context, the 508 from Peugeot has 165kW and 300Nm.

The C5 X has a standard fit eight-speed automatic transmission, and despite some SUV pretences, it’s a two-wheel drive, with power sent to the ground via the front wheels only.

That much-anticipated plug-in hybrid (or PHEV) uses the same petrol engine but adds an 81kW electric motor to the mix, for a combined output of 168kW of power and 360Nm of torque. Grunty.

Rather than simply plonking the 3.0-litre twin-turbo V6 from the other '43s in the E-Class body and fettling the tune to edge it ahead performance-wise over the smaller models, the E 43 uses larger turbos to boost power by 25kW but retains the same 520Nm, which is also 50kW and 40Nm greater than the E 400.

Like all current E-Class variants, the engine is backed by Mercedes' very clever nine-speed torque converter auto and follows the E 400 and other '43s by sending power to all corners via the 4Matic all-wheel drivetrain.

If you see a brand-new Citroen C5 X in the showroom or on the street you’ll note that the sticker on the windscreen shows an official combined cycle figure of 6.0 litres per 100 kilometres. For a petrol engine, that’s impressive.

Now, whether you get near that will be determined by how you drive. Lots of city and urban driving could result in a higher figure - but it does have start-stop tech for the true traffic grind.

On the launch drive, which included a mix of different driving situations, I saw an on-display return of 8.5 litres per 100 on the trip computer.

Fuel tank capacity is 52 litres, meaning a driving range of 866km if you can achieve the official figure, or 611km if you average what I did on the launch drive.

Can’t wait for the plug-in hybrid version of this car; it has claimed efficiency one-fifth of the petrol version launching initially - yep, it sips a claimed 1.2L/100km… but of course that relies on you making sure you actually charge it up and use the 50km of EV driving range it is said to offer. We’ll cover it off in more detail when the vehicle launches locally, likely sometime in 2023.

Despite making more power and torque, the E 43 carries the same 8.4L/100km official combined figure as the E 400, but requires more expensive 98RON to achieve it. The E 43 also scores a 14-litre larger 80-litre fuel tank, which should stretch the range between fills by around 167km based on the official figure.

If comfort is your main priority when it comes to your new car, then the Citroen C5 X (or any Citroen, really) should suffice.

The brand says that comfort is one of its defining features - a pillar of why Citroen exists, if you will - and as the flagship model in the brand’s lineup, this should represent the ultimate in comfort. 

And it does. 

The seats - with triple-layer foam - play a big part. They’re wider than most seats and, while they don’t hold you in place like the buckets in a sports car, this isn’t a sports car. 

It also has acoustic glass front and rear to help make it feel more serene and ‘cocoon-like’ inside. There’s barely any wind noise, and just a touch of road roar over coarse-chip roads, but it’s far from noisy in the cabin.

Further, it glides along with relative comfort over bumpy sections of road, with the so-called Suspension with Progressive Hydraulic Cushioning all-but eliminating road surface intrusion into the cabin. 

The suspension has hydraulic cushions at the ends of the springs and dampers (but before the bump stops) that are designed to delete the little bumps in the road surface, while also helping lessen the impact of larger imperfections like potholes. And, with the launch being held in Sydney on yet another wet day, the suspension did a spectacular job. 

You can still feel the 19-inch wheels moving around a bit when you sink into a pockmark, but the way it feels from the driver’s seat is very good. I didn’t get to play passenger on this launch drive, but the seat of the pants vibe I got was that all occupants will be cosseted nicely. 

That tendency towards relaxed movement is reflected in the handling of the car, too. It’s not a corner carver. You can engage Sport mode - which adapts the powertrain (engine and transmission calibration and sensitivity) and also the steering weight, if you really want to.

On the engine - it is perky enough in Sport mode and can do the 0-100km/h sprint in 8.1 seconds, according to Citroen.

This powertrain should really be categorised in the ‘comforting’ rather than ‘compelling’ category. It’s not a bad engine - but you can feel the weight of the car is holding it back, and it particularly feels a bit sluggish from a standing start. I also noticed a bit of vibration through the car under full-throttle acceleration, too. 

But honestly, unless you were trying to duck through a gap in traffic, you’re not likely to spend much time with your foot pinned to the boards in this car. 

I love and admire that this isn’t a car designed to be sporty. It isn’t trying to be that. The PHEV version will be more of a driver’s tool, with an adaptive suspension system and more power and torque. But honestly, I’d be happy with the C5 X as it is, because it’s just a lovely car.

Working our way out of Melbourne via its network of motorways, there's little aside from perforated leather and Dynamica faux suede seats to tell us we're aboard something a bit more special than most E-Classes. 

Left in Comfort mode via the console-mounted drive select toggle, the engine delivers a creamy urge with max torque available from 2500rpm, the transmission is silken and the ambience is very E-Class.

On the country roads beyond Melbourne's urban limits, you can tell you're riding on 20-inch wheels with limited sidewalls, but it's all entirely liveable and still very Mercedes. 

Flick it over to Sport mode and it's much the same, but confronted with the bitumen rollercoaster that is Chum Creek Rd (look it up, it's worth it), we felt it was time for Sport +. Race mode is reserved for the full-blown AMGs, but Sport + instantly transforms the E 43. 

The steering gets heavier, the exhaust gets louder and the transmission drops at least one ratio, but the dampers also become much firmer which makes it feel at least a couple of hundred kilos lighter than the aluminium-abundant W213 E-Class already is.

The stability control also loosens its leash and surprisingly permits some play from the rear end when you're really pushing under throttle. It is all-wheel drive, but the torque bias favours the rear wheels by a factor of 69:31.

The auto manages to shift quickly and the abundance of ratios means it happens very often. You'd have to be pretty bored to bother with the paddle shifters, as everything responds beautifully to your right foot – including the brakes. 

It's very easy to drive very fast and you soon forget you're driving a near-5m long sedan.

The V6's growl will never match a V8 symphony, but it helps to stamp the E 43's individual character. If it made no noise it would be disappointing, but it does well to push a classic V6 bark past its turbos.

Like all versions of the W213 E-Class, the E 43 carries the maximum five star ANCAP and EuroNCAP safety ratings. A brilliantly integrated suite of active and passive safety features go well beyond its nine-airbag count, 360-degree parking cameras, rear cross-traffic alerts, and a pedestrian-protecting active bonnet.

Buy a Citroen and you get a five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty, as well as five years roadside assist and a five-year capped price servicing plan.

The C5 X isn’t cheap to maintain, with the average service cost sitting at more than $560 - that’s based on service intervals of 12 months/15,000 kilometres. 

As with all Mercedes passenger cars, the E 43 is covered by a three-year, unlimited kilometre warranty. Service intervals are either 12 months or 25,000km and the first three services are capped at $668, $1356 and $1356 respectively.