Luxury isn’t what it used to be. Jean Pierre-Ploué had a good go at imbuing the 2005 Citroen C6 with some high-quality touches. However…
… all the money was spent on exotic wood and the world’s biggest plastic rear bumper. By the time he worked his way around to the upper doors there remained only enough resources for a remarkably tiny door-mounted tray. It’s not chromed either. This one is unusual in that it is not in the centre console. I had to check it was the front: it seemed so natural to have a rear passenger ashtray on the door. Presumably the same assembly works in the back too.
It is not as if there wasn’t room in the car for a centre-console ashtray. I could imagine a lot of French ministerial chauffeurs threw their Gauloises butts out onto the pavement around the Elysée. I do sometimes wonder about how thoroughly management look at the work of their designers. Of course, micro-management is unhelpful yet often the reverse is the case: an indifference to the handling of basic elements of a car. This ashtray is wholly tokenistic and not worth the effort. It calls into question the rest of the car, wouldn’t you say?
[Photos courtesy of our correspondent in Hamburg whose fine blog can be found here: auto-didakt. Highly recommended.]
Driven To Write 
Nice as ever to see something on the C6 – and I really enjoyed the link to Auto-Didakt piece. Like quite a few details on the C6, the ashtrays are of an unworthy quality and let the overall design down – the surface skin of the lid to the ashtrays blisters over time, rendering them ugly. The steering wheel controls do the same thing.
“This ashtray is wholly tokenistic and not worth the effort. It calls into question the rest of the car, wouldn’t you say?” Well, no actually. While I understand the author is being deliberately inflammatory in saying this, and I fully grasp the notion that carelessness in one area suggests an equal lack of attention to detail elsewhere, I would imagine the budgetary constraints imposed upon Citroen’s engineers and designers for the C6 programme meant corners had to be cut – and cut they were.
But as any owner can probably attest (and my own brief drive last year demonstrated to me), the driving is the thing…
I’d also reiterate the point made before – and indeed in the linked article – that the door pockets are a masterpiece, and imbue the interior with quality that outdoes the dampening effect of the ashtrays. They are a thing of wonder and I am astounded not to have found copies in other cars.
Simon, that cubby you describe in the centre console is, from memory, flock-lined, so I never considered that anyone would want to use it as an ashtray … but I do have certain standards about stuff like that.
Is it possible that the C6 has two front ashtrays? Mine has a compartment in front of the gear lever which I use for small pieces of trash, like used parking tickets and so on. I can imagine that it could also serve as an ashtray for whoever needs it. I don’t care and enjoy the air in my car.
But there are areas of penny-pinching that really let the C6 down. Blistering surfaces are one, I agree. I don’t have it in the ashtray area, but on the cruise control buttons in the steering wheel (itself another object of questionable material quality). The front centre armrest may be covered by nice leather, but underneath it’s all tacky plastic, and opening it is a tactile and acoustical disgrace. Too bad, especially since most of the interior is really solid and made of good materials.
By the way, the driver does NOT have the door ashtray, only the passenger. The driver has a different insert at this place, containing buttons for all four windows and controls for the rear view mirrors.
Thanks for the insight. Quite a lot of cars have iffy materials. Peeling coatings seems to be
quite common.
Riiiiiight – I can’t really relate to this because 1) I hardly know anyone who smokes and 2) from what I’ve seen on the road, most people wind the window down and flick the ash (and butts) on the road – maybe because I’m not from the posh part of the world….
Anyway, the half moon shaped compartment in front of the gear shifter IS the ash tray – it shares the same chromed steel insert as C5 FYI.
As for penny pinching, yes there are some and C6 could have been great, rather than just nice – but for the price (both new and used), you can’t complain for what you get.
And let’s not forget the future parts availability – not sure about you guys but I’m not made of money – I will happily take Peugeot 207 door handles even though it makes C6 not as exclusive.
Kirk – how do know you are only seeing the few percent of smokers who don’t refrain from littering?
Good point, Richard – I guess one would hardly have windows down to do that in a car like a C6…
Just curious by the way, are you a smoker? I have only read a few articles here (so far) but you seem to be very interested in them… What are your criteria for perfect car ashtrays and which car has the best ones in your opinion?