Youngsters who associate the Citroen badge with C4 Picassos might recoil in horror to see it featured so blatantly on PistonHeads, but the C6 was the last of those desirable wafters from the Quai de Javel, and the inheritor of a long line of engineering innovation and stylistic gorgeousness that can be traced all the way back to the 1934 Traction Avant.
Alas, buyers have never flocked to big Citroe?ns in quite the way people who fancy big Citroe?ns have always thought they should, largely due to the question mark over their complexity, and the reliability and depreciation issues attached therein. So hats off to those brave few who took the plunge and bought one of these lovely C6s when they were new. In fact, in the land of the UK, despite it being on sale from 2005 to 2012, fewer than 1,000 people did, which makes it something of a rarity and technically now a collector's car.
But those who have travelled in one - or even better, bought one - can hug themselves in self-congratulatory glee, knowing that this sleek aerodyne can, thanks to its self-levelling hydropneumatic underpinnings, waft with the very best of them. There's a soft, pillowy ride with plenty of pitch and roll, and a sybaritic interior of leathery goodness, with just enough of the traditional Citroe?n idiosyncrasies to keep it interesting and set it apart from its graceless German rivals.
With echoes of the glories of the past inherent in its low-drag lines, its looks are worth the sticker price alone. It's an undeniably beautiful old Hector, this C6, long and low and redolent of the wonderful DS and CX models; it even has a concave rear window like the CX, for heaven's sake, to keep the rain off at speed.
It's not all perfect, of course - nothing can be, not even an oleopneumatic Citroen. The V6 diesel engine under the bonnet of the car we've found is smooth enough but, at the end of the day, it is just a diesel. There are petrol-engined models, but you'll be hard-pushed to find one. The dashboard is a bit ho-hum too, but who cares?
This beauty we've plucked from our classifieds does come with a full service history and a mere 73,000 miles on the clock, though. You'll also get the laminated double-glazed windows and swivelling xenon headlights, as well as individually reclining rear seats. Buy it and it'll immediately set you apart from the twerps who serially purchase anything with four rings or a three-pointed star on the grille. It'll mark you out as a person of rare taste, unfettered wisdom and unceasing faith, and that's not a bad return for your £5,500.
SPECIFICATION - CITROEN C6
Engine: 2,720cc, V6 diesel
Transmission: Six-speed automatic, front-wheel drive
Power (hp): 208@4,000rpm
Torque (lb ft): 325@1,900rpm
MPG: 32.5
CO2: 230g/km
First registered: 2007
Recorded mileage: 73,000
Price new: £37,047
Yours for: £5,500
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