The new Citroen C5 Touring is by all rights a big time traveler: comfy seats, a really nice panoramic skylight, all the modern luxury accoutrements, sleek styling if you're into the French thing, and plenty of toting space. The Achilles heel of the car is the folding seats, though. When the fronts seats are positioned for a 6'-tall driver, things get tough when you want to transform to full-capacity mode. The bottom cushion sort of lifts up, rotates over a bar and then does a face plant behind the front seat in a vertical position. The next step is the seat backs.
As you put your entire body weight on the seat back to cram it into the space where it needs to go, you wonder if you're doing it wrong. Leather squealing and carpet crinkling, the whole process is overly taxing—très difficile! Once the seat is down, however, the back end becomes commodious, with a wide opening capable of swallowing big gulps of your favorite crap.