Citroen C6 3.0 Hdi Car Review

Facts At A Glance
Car: Citroen C6 3.0 HDi
Prices: £37,895 – on the road
Insurance Group: 16
Emissions: 195g/km
Performance: 0-60mph 8.9s / Max Speed 146mph
Fuel Consumption: (combined) 38mpg
Safety: Nine airbags, ESP, ABS with EBA and EBD, active bonnet, lane departure warning system.
Dimensions: Length/Width/Height 4908/1860/1464mm

TECHNICAL EXCELLENCE

Our Rating: 8.0 / 10

Can the 3.0-litre V6 diesel engine bring the Citroen C6 into the reckoning for more executive car buyers? Steve Walker takes a look.

Reviews of the Citroen C6 usually adhere to a familiar pattern; we’ll call it ‘kind words and a caveat’. There’s a lot to like about the French marque’s executive saloon. It has admirably resisted the temptation to ape its German rivals. It prioritises comfort over sporting excess. It’s a little bit quirky. Similar points are generally raised in any evaluation of the car and just when the reader thinks a resounding thumbs-up is on the cards, the big ‘but’ arrives like an anvil dropped from a passing airliner. The C6 is a Citroen and so doesn’t have a premium badge and as a result, very few executive car buyers will even consider it. Could this problem be addressed by the fitment of an engine with cast iron executive pedigree, an engine like the 3.0-litre V6 HDi?

Don’t hold your breath on the 3.0-litre HDi diesel engine catapulting the C6 to the top of the sales charts above the BMW 5-Series and Mercedes E-Class. That’s not going to happen but there’s a strong likelihood of this advanced oil-burning unit enhancing the already impressive C6. Maybe it will even give its rivals something to think about. The unit is a development of the 2.7-litre twin-turbo diesel that the C6 was launched with. Like that engine, it’s been developed in a partnership between PSA Peugeot Citroen and Jaguar Land Rover. Jaguar’s XF has proven itself well capable of doling out bloody noses to the Germans in the executive car class and this selfsame 3.0-litre diesel engine is a key part of its offering. So is the C6 3.0 HDi due a similar surge in credibility?

The engine is a 3.0-litre HDi with a pair of turbochargers helping it to develop 240bhp. More impressive still is the flat torque curve that sees the 450Nm maximum output produced from 1,600rpm all the way up to 3,600rpm. This is a highly advanced engine with aluminium cylinder heads, four valves per cylinder, double overhead camshafts, a common-rail fuel injection system delivering fuel at 2,000 bar through piezoelectric injectors, two low inertia turbochargers and an exhaust gas recirculation system. Owners of this C6 should feel in no way inferior to drivers of the top six-cylinder diesel models in the executive sector.

Citroen’s flagship is not the executive car to choose if you regularly find yourself in the mood to give your favourite section of B-road a good mauling. Instead, it’s a car in which to take things easy and enjoy the impeccable ride quality served up by the Hydractive self-levelling suspension. The twin turbochargers on the 3.0-litre HDi engine help it gel with the reserved road manners of the C6. The system works to produce a smooth and progressive supply of torque from low in the engine range, eliminating the lag and lunge often associated with less sophisticated diesel installations.

The C6 is a commendable piece of work on the part of Citroen’s design team. The shape is resolutely modern but at the same time, the proportioning (rather than the detailing) is reminiscent of classic Citroen shapes from the past. The elegant arc of the roofline and the long front overhang are redolent of the old DS and SM models, while the short rear overhang and low slung back end reprise some classic Citroen themes. The company claims that the target was to develop a car with the stance and presence of a limousine but with the chic silhouette of a coupe. They may just have succeeded.

A long wheelbase and low slung posture are quite unlike anything else on the road at the moment. The windowline across the curve of the roof arch is picked out with a subtle chrome strip – a clever aesthetic trick that helps visually elongate the car. The frameless glass of the doors also helps here, removing the need for bulky door pillars that would otherwise break up the impact of the remarkable glasshouse.

The interior feels like that of a premium brand product, if not one of the real top dogs in terms of fit and finish. Without doubt, it gives us a different perspective on what Citroen can achieve in this regard. Space in the rear is extremely generous and there’s a very nice detailing to keep passengers in the manner to which they are accustomed, but the boot isn’t quite as capacious when c