A 'displacement' always consists of a magnitude and a direction. The two cars you just described have displacements with the same magnitude ... 5 km. But if they didn't both drive in the same direction, then their displacements are different.
Remember:
-- 10 m/s² up and 10 m/s² down are different accelerations
-- 30 mph East and 30 mph West are the same speed but different velocity.
-- 5 km North and 5 km South are the same distance but different displacement.
