Overview

We’ve rather enjoyed watching Citroen head back to its roots. The brand has abandoned the pretence of sportiness it had during the early 2000s and gone back to building superbly comfortable mile-munchers. The C5 Aircross is a fine example of the breed that strikes us as a sensible choice given how family SUVs are most likely to be used.

We admire Citroen’s unashamed focus on comfort. It’s refreshingly honest. Most other SUV manufacturers claim that theirs can do everything. That they can carry lots of passengers, haul loads of luggage and ride like magic carpets – but also corner like a sports car when the road gets twisty. Unsurprisingly, 90% of the SUVs on sale can’t do that.

C5 Aircross rivals include the Kia Sportage, Skoda Karoq, SEAT Ateca and Volkswagen Tiguan. Each has its benefits: the Karoq is incredibly practical and the Ateca is genuinely good fun to drive, for instance. But none of them can match the C5 Aircross for ride quality. You need to step up to a premium SUV such as a Land Rover Discovery Sport or Range Rover Evoque to get the same level of comfort, spending a considerable chunk of extra change in the process.

In-keeping with its comfort-biased brief, you won’t find any high-performance powertrains in the C5 Aircross line-up. Even the most potent 180hp plug-in hybrid model feels merely brisk at best – and the bulk of the car’s range consists of smaller displacement petrol and diesel units offering between 130 and 136hp. You also won’t find any four-wheel drive models.

But what the Citroen gives away in performance, it gives back in practicality. It’s basically a big box with a wheel at each corner, which creates a usefully spacious cabin. The rear seats also slide fore and aft, allowing you to prioritise increased rear leg room or greater boot capacity. And non-hybrid models have loads of luggage space, plus a height-adjustable boot floor.

Confusingly, Citroen builds another C5 variant – the C5 X. It’s easy to tell it apart from the C5 Aircross, though. The latter is an upright SUV while the former is a longer, lower crossover estate-type vehicle.

Over the next few pages, we review each aspect of the Citroen C5 Aircross. Our assessment considers its practicality, interior quality, comfort, technology, driving experience and running costs. Then we’ll offer our final verdict on the car to let you know whether it’s worth spending your money on. If you’d like to know what the C5 Aircross is like to live with day-to-day, check out our long-term review of the car.