Further cementing their foothold in South Africa, the new Citroën C5 Aircross proves to be a compelling SUV that rather chooses to do its own thing than follow the pack.
Only fairly recently, Citroën returned to South Africa and is now marking its place in the local automotive market. When Citroën comes to mind, much of South African memories are linked to ye olde Xsaras, Picassos and the like. All were fun, quirky cars that showed off the unique French design associated with the brand.
Enter the latest C5 Aircross, competing in the ever-popular midsize SUV segment further cementing the aforementioned foothold that Citroën in South Africa is gaining. As it all stands, rather than attempting to compete with uber-premium SUVs, Citroën sets out to do its own thing, and with that in mind, gives it a bit more of a personality and character to it. We had a chance to drive the newcomer recently at its national media launch and tested the top-of-the-range Shine derivative.
Styling
The words ‘ugly’ and ‘French design’ don’t tend to go together in the same sentence. The original C5 Aircross wasn’t a bad-looking car, it was quite rounded in its design. The new age C5 Aircross opts for a sharper, assertive design with a good mix of angled lines and curves. The front fascia is gorgeous to look at. The LED headlights flanking the top grille blend perfectly into the twin chevron badge. There’s also a piano key effect found in both the head and taillights and is shown off quite well when the lights are on. The use of chrome is fairly minimal upfront and even over the rest of the car, with the only notable chrome piece being across the B and C pillars. There is a set of diamond-cut 18-inch wheels to marvel at too. The rear end is quite rounded off and horizontal compared to the front. As is typical of an Aircross model, there’s plastic cladding on the bottom of the vehicle, to create the impression that it is ready for the rough stuff. Overall, the vehicle is quite attractive, in this writer’s opinion.
Interior and Technology
Settling in the C5 Aircross interior, the cabin employs a rounded rectangular shape to much of the interior features. The air vents, door cards, steering wheel and even dash show this. The centre console with the infotainment screen breaks the theme slightly by being asymmetrical. The seats use 15mm of extra foam to aid the comfort factor and the seats are cushy with supple leather to boot. There are plenty of soft-touch materials in and around the cabin and hard plastic in areas where scratching and scuffing are prone. A majority of the aircon controls are behind the touchscreen menu with easy access to them as the option to operate them is constantly on the screen. Quick-access analogue A/C switch controls are found in the centre console too along with a physical volume dial and the door locks. While aircon controls being operated from the infotainment can tend to be a bugbear for some, rest assured, the implementation here is not bad. Luggage capacity is sizeable in the C5 Aircross at 720 litres with the addition of a full-size spare wheel. The star of the C5 Aircross interior would be the individual rear seats that move forward, can do either 70:30 or 60:40 and can also recline.
Tech-wise you’ll find the following:
- 10.2-inch touchscreen infotainment system
- 12.0-inch instrument cluster.
- Hands-Free, foot-operated motorised bootlid
- Electrically adjustable front driver seat.
- Optional panoramic sunroof
Drive and Handling
Powering the C5 Aircross is a 1.6 Turbocharged 4-cylinder petrol engine pushing out 121 kW of power and 240 Nm of torque paired with a 6-speed conventional automatic gearbox. Power is adequate and fairly responsive from takeoff and the powertrain felt agreeable throughout our launch drive. There’s an addition of shift paddles for gear changes if you wish to shift gears yourself, and despite the thin feeling paddles, the gear changes are satisfying. Claimed combined fuel consumption from this drivetrain will consume 7.9 L/100km, which is respectable for the size of the vehicle.
The thing to make a real song and dance about would be the Citroën Advanced Comfort suspension system. Citroën has for a while known how to tune their suspension to mimic something of a magic carpet ride. The suspension setup is your usual MacPherson style but with Progressive Hydraulic Cushions in the front and rear also giving you a ground clearance of 230mm. It’s unbelievable how comfortable the C5 Aircross feels both on smooth roads, rough roads and even off-road too. Not only that, you’d think with such a soft ride, it would compromise the agility of the vehicle but this isn’t the case here as body roll on this car is minimal for a mid-size SUV. How does Citroën do it? Extensive testing and arduous calibration by engineers, we would say.
Safety
You’ll find the following safety items in the Citroën C5 Aircross:
- Anti-Theft Alarm
- Driver and Front Passenger Airbags, Side Airbags and Passenger Airbag Manual Deactivation Function
- Remote Central Locking
- Anti-Lock Braking System (ABS)
- Brake-Assist System (BAS)
- Active Safety Brake
- Coffee Break Alert
- Collision Risk Alert (CRA)
- 180° Park Assist
- Front & Rear Park Distance Control (PDC)
- Lane-Keep Assist System (LKA)
- Blind-Spot Monitoring
- Speed Limit Recognition And Recommendation (SLI/ISA)
Verdict
The Citroën C5 Aircross is a pleasant mid-size SUV. It has a good amount of specification but what shines about this vehicle is how they got the fundamentals of an SUV correct rather than littering the vehicle with a set of features and calling it a day. The individual rear seats are clever, the design of the vehicle attractive and the level of ride comfort is something you’d find in something that costs double the price. There are some quirks to some processes of operating the car which would warrant a soft sigh but for what it is, the C5 Aircross is well worth a look.
Pricing
| Citroën C5 Aircross Feel | from R633 900 |
| Citroën C5 Aircross Shine | from R683 900 |
*The Citroën C5 Aircross range comes standard with a 5-year/ 100 000km maintenance plan and 5-year / 100 000km warranty.
Tayedza MbiriStarting his petrol-infused passion at a ripe young age playing a plethora of racing video games, Taye has been into the motoring industry for years. During his university years studying Law, he dipped his toes into motoring photography, videography, and exploring what Southern Africa has to offer for the motoring scene at large. Most recently, he presented a YouTube series for a famous Japanese manufacturer and now finds himself fresh on the AutoTrader content creation team. He hopes to own a 90s Subaru one day soon. View News & Reviews
Keyword: Citroën C5 Aircross (2022) - First Drive Impression