Citroen C5 Aircross Review

Citroen’s comfort-focused family SUV is back for its second generation and it looks a lot angrier than before. Don’t worry, the core comfort ethos of its predecessor hasn't been forgotten as you will find out in our full Citroen C5 Aircross review.

Some people would rather the 'S' in SUV didn't stand for 'sport'. Many of the breed attempt to compensate for their lofty ride heights by adopting stiff suspension setups that keep them relatively flat when cornering briskly, all at the expense of ride comfort. Is a bit of body roll so bad?

'No' would be the answer from the Citroen C5 Aircross, if it were sentient — it's been designed to maximise comfort within the price bracket it's sold in. In the best possible way, this made the previous-generation C5 Aircross stick out like a sore thumb among other SUVs of its size, both conceptually and aesthetically, thanks to its rounded, friendly-looking form.

Yet this latest version is all angular and aggressive — Citroen describes the C5 Aircross as having a 'powerful and assertive design', but is that something car buyers really want from the brand? If you're worried that Citroen has also made it more athletic and sporty to drive, we're pleased to confirm that it hasn't. 

Comfort is once again high on the agenda, thanks largely to Citroen's Advanced Comfort Suspension. This includes special hydraulic cushions you don't get in the C5 Aircross's close relatives, the Peugeot 3008 and the Vauxhall Grandland. 

It’s the best-riding of today's family-sized SUVs and helps cosset its occupants even further thanks to the use of ‘dvanced Comfort Seats, using wider bases and high-density foam. Judging from our experiences, you shouldn’t be getting a numb bum even after completing a very long drive. 

There’s a bright, friendly and unfussy interior to go with this pleasant driving sensation, including a better infotainment setup than in the C5 Aircross’s relatives from the huge Stellantis portfolio of brands. It’s interesting how all three cars can be made from largely the same box of bits, yet the Citroen ends up being the more appealing.

Its cabin is also roomier than before, with the second-generation C5 Aircross growing by 150mm, 60mm of which is between the wheels, contributing to an increase in legroom. Boot space is competitive, meanwhile, if not the roomiest overall. 

The weak link in all this is under the Citroen C5 Aircross's bonnet. The 1.2-litre three-cylinder engine used in Hybrid-badged versions isn’t hugely refined, with your only other non-electric option being the Plug-in Hybrid, which is expensive and still noisy when pushed hard. 

If you’d rather not have a combustion engine at all, there’s the all-electric Citroen e-C5 Aircross to consider. It’s looking especially tempting, charged at only a slight premium over the regular C5 Aircross once the government's Electric Car Grant (ECG) is factored in. 

The Citroen C5 Aircross is not here to thrill keen drivers or to dominate the brochure war on powertrains. It is here to make daily life easier, calmer and more comfortable, and that still feels like a worthwhile thing to prioritise.

For most buyers, the sweet spot is the Citroen C5 Aircross Plus Hybrid 145.

That recommendation is not especially complicated. The Hybrid 145 is the version most private buyers will naturally end up in because it keeps the price sensible, avoids the extra complexity of plugging in and still suits the C5 Aircross’s relaxed character reasonably well. It is not a powerhouse, and it can sound coarse if you ask too much of it, but in calmer everyday driving it does the job.

Plus is the trim to target because it adds the equipment most buyers will actually appreciate without blowing the budget. You get the reclining rear backrest, front parking sensors, a rear camera, ambient lighting and a generally more complete feel than the entry-level car. It is the point in the range where the C5 Aircross starts to feel properly rounded.

Max is tempting, particularly because the cabin is already one of the car’s strengths and the extra trim helps reinforce that. But it is more indulgence than necessity. As for the plug-in hybrid, it only really makes sense if you can charge regularly and know you will make proper use of its electric running.

The Citroen C5 Aircross Hybrid 145 starts at £31,030 in You trim. Plus moves that to £33,670, while Max comes in at £36,310. The plug-in hybrid sits at the top of the non-EV range at £38,855 in Max trim.

Those are strong prices in context. One of the C5 Aircross’s biggest advantages is that it undercuts several obvious rivals while still feeling distinctive and generously equipped. That is particularly true when you compare it with closely related Stellantis alternatives, because the Citroen often looks like the better-value version of the same broader package.

The issue is not the starting point. It is the plug-in hybrid. At just under £39,000, it asks for a lot, especially when the standard Hybrid 145 is already comfortably into the heart of the range. That makes the PHEV feel like a niche choice rather than the obvious one.

Most similar of all are the Peugeot 3008, Vauxhall Grandland and the Jeep Compass, because they sit on the same platform and use a lot of the same components as the C5 Aircross. All the The most obvious alternatives are the Peugeot 3008 and Vauxhall Grandland, because they share so much with the Citroen underneath. Even so, they feel very different. The Peugeot is more style-led inside and out, while the Vauxhall is more restrained. The Citroen is the comfort-first member of the trio.

Beyond those, the Skoda Karoq remains a very strong family SUV and still feels hugely sensible, even if it is beginning to show its age. The Nissan Qashqai is another key rival because it is easy to live with and widely admired, while the Kia Sportage and Hyundai Tucson both combine family usefulness with strong warranty backing and broad model choice.

The Volkswagen Tiguan is perhaps the best all-round benchmark if you want a polished, conservative family SUV. The Mazda CX-5 is also worth a look if interior quality matters more than outright efficiency.

What the Citroen has over all of them is a more distinctive sense of purpose. It feels like it has been tuned for comfort in a way the others simply have not.

The longer wheelbase in the Citroen C5 Aircross gives a 51mm increase in rear legroom over its predecessor and it's certainly noticeable when sat back there. Headroom is also very generous, with an extra 68mm available, plus a rear seatback that can recline anywhere from 21 to 33 degrees is a nice touch.

There's a 565-litre boot, which is 15 litres more than you get in the Vauxhall Grandland, but 23 litres behind the Peugeot 3008. It's considerably better in terms of load space than the Nissan Qashqai, which lags behind the C5 Aircross by 61 litres in its largest form. 

Folding the rear bench opens up a total of 1668 litres, with a further 40 litres of combined storage from various cubby holes and the glovebox, the latter being capable of housing a 1.5-litre bottle. You won't manage that in the 3008, which puts dashboard style ahead of function, evidenced by its modestly-sized glovebox. We're also impressed by the sheer size of the cubby under the front central armrest — it's massive. 

The Citroen C5 Aircross measures 4,650mm long, 2,105mm wide & 1,690mm high.

That makes it bigger than before and puts it right in the middle of the family SUV class. It has enough presence to feel substantial, but not so much that it becomes a burden in town. The extra size also helps explain why rear-seat space has improved.

Rather than using ultra-widescreen infotainment displays as seen in the 3008 and Grandland, the Citroen C5 Aircross features a 13.0-inch portrait infotainment touchscreen housed on an angled plinth that rises from the centre console, rather like the setup seen in some recent Mercedes models. Citroen calls it a Waterfall Screen, but name aside it feels like a more useful arrangement, particularly for the navigation display where a letterbox map view isn't especially helpful. 

The touchscreen responds quickly to inputs, but the operating system is sometimes a step or two behind, lagging a bit before functions load up. The navigation works well enough and has reasonably accurate traffic information. As ever, Google Maps is the preference of many and it's easy enough to switch to that thanks to standard-fit wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. 

Connecting a phone the cabled way is also easy, with a pair of USB-C ports provided in the front and a further two for rear-seat passengers. There are also three 12-volt sockets placed in the front, rear and boot. 

There's no premium audio option available but the standard six-speaker system used across the range is impressive. 

The Citroen C5 Aircross seems to be put together well and it's nice to see that the fabric-covered portions of the dash feature a squidgy layer of foam underneath. We wondered if Citroen might have just wrapped it straight over some hard plastic, but thankfully, that's not the case. 

Start to look below the fabric portions and you will see some cheaper-feeling plastics but nothing overtly egregious considering the car's modest price. 

There are two combustion-engined power choices for the Citroen C5 Aircross. Despite this being an SUV, both engines drive the front wheels only.

Entry point to the range is Hybrid 145PS as found in various other Stellantis products, including the Citroen’s Peugeot 3008 and Vauxhall Grandland cousins. The Hybrid aspect of its name is somewhat misleading because rather than being a conventional self-charging hybrid, it's really a mild hybrid system, best thought of as a beefed-up stop-start arrangement.

We’ve never been especially impressed with its 1.2-litre, three-cylinder petrol engine. Together with a small electric motor it produces 145PS — and 230Nm of torque. It feels underpowered for bigger cars such as the C5 Aircross, as evidenced by its leisurely 11.2-second 0-62mph. Top speed is quoted at 125mph.

It never feels as though it has much left in reserve, so it requires quite a thrashing to get it up to the national speed limit, even if you’re not in a rush, making a racket as it gets there. The standard-fit six-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox is never in much of a hurry, which doesn't help. 

For the Plug-in Hybrid 195PS a much more refined 1.6-litre, four-cylinder engine is paired with a more substantial electric motor for a much healthier total of 195PS and 300Nm of torque. This brings the 0-62mph time down to 8.3 seconds, while its top speed is elevated to 137mph.

It never feels especially fast but there’s more of a feeling of effortless performance when you want to increase speed without working the car too hard. Although the larger engine is generally much smoother than its smaller alternative, it is still a bit noisy should you call upon all of the available performance. 

The seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox still isn’t the fastest but the shifts are smooth. In Sport mode it holds onto gears a bit too long, but are many C5 Aircross owners likely to switch their cars into that setting very often? We doubt it. 

The transitions between the car’s power sources are generally seamless. It’s only if you suddenly put your foot down that the system does seem to take a moment or two to figure out what it wants to do about it. 

This is where the C5 Aircross really earns its keep. Citroen’s suspension tuning gives it a fluid, forgiving ride that few rivals can match. Speed bumps, rough surfaces and potholes are all dealt with more gently than they are in most SUVs of this size.

That is not to say it floats like an old hydropneumatic Citroen. It does not. Some surfaces still create a little jiggle, and it is not immune to sharper bumps. But it is still comfortably one of the most settled mainstream family SUVs of its kind.

Push it harder and the compromise becomes obvious. There is more body roll than in a Sportage or Tiguan, and the steering is not especially informative. Yet this is not a problem unless you are fundamentally driving the wrong car in the wrong way. The C5 Aircross does not invite enthusiastic cornering, and in ordinary family use that softer setup is a far greater asset than a liability.

Refinement is decent overall. Wind and road noise are well enough controlled, but the Hybrid 145 engine is not the quietest when extended. The plug-in hybrid is smoother and suits the car better.

The latest C5 Aircross carries a four-star Euro NCAP result based on the equivalent Peugeot 3008 structure and safety systems. That is respectable rather than class-leading, and it trails the full five-star results achieved by some rivals.

Standard safety kit is still solid, though. Every car gets autonomous emergency braking, lane departure warning, driver attention monitoring, traffic-sign recognition and adaptive cruise control as standard.

So while the crash-test headline is not perfect, the everyday safety story is still good enough for the class.

Fuel economy for the Citroen C5 Aircross Hybrid is underwhelming at 42.0-43.6mpg depending on your trim level of choice. You'll get a more out of a Skoda Karoq with its similarly powerful and smoother 1.5-litre engine.

The Plug-in Hybrid has a not very helpful economy range of 81.1-87.1mpg, which is best ignored. The current WLTP testing regime flatters PHEVs, which spend much of the assessment on electric power alone. What you achieve will vary greatly depending on several factors, including the kind of driving you're doing, how far you're going and the level of charge in the battery when you start your journey. That said, the PHEV has a strong official electric-only range of up to 62 miles. This means it should be capable of covering many everyday commutes without using much fuel at all. The catch is that you need to use it properly to reap those benefits.

Citroen’s standard warranty runs for three years from registration, with unlimited mileage in the first two years and a 60,000-mile limit in the third year. That is serviceable rather than generous. The high-voltage battery in the plug-in hybrid is covered separately for eight years or 100,000 miles to 70 per cent capacity.

Citroen also now offers its We Care programme in the UK, which can extend cover up to eight years or 100,000 miles if the vehicle is serviced within the authorised network in line with the maintenance schedule. That improves the ownership picture, though it depends on sticking closely to the required servicing route.

Insurance groups run from 18 to 20 for the Hybrid 145 depending on trim, while the plug-in hybrid sits in group 29.

That means the standard hybrid looks competitive enough for the class, while the plug-in hybrid carries the sort of premium you would expect.

All versions of the C5 Aircross will cost £200 a year to tax. Opt for the Plug-in Hybrid plus add a few options and it’s possible to push the car beyond the £40,000 threshold for the Expensive Car Supplement. That being the case, you’re in line to pay an extra £440 annually from years two to six.