What is it?
This is the new Citroën C5 Aircross. Well, sort of. You see, while the family-friendly French SUV has been treated to a mid-life refresh, the makeover is more cosmetic nip-and-tuck than ground-up, nut-and-bolt in its approach.
Yet in many respects, it’s not hard to see why Citroën played safe with its C-segment offering, which has proved to be a bit of a sales hit for the brand. Not only is this corner of the market continuing to grow, but also demand for the old model remained strong to the end, despite the pressures of the pandemic and the ongoing supply-chain crisis.
In total, 325,000 examples have found homes around the globe, with 245,000 of those in Europe. As the old saying goes, if ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
So what is new? Well, the most obvious changes are the on outside, where there’s a new grille and headlights, plus reprofiled bumpers and some rough-and-tumble skidplates. There are also some 3D-effect LED light clusters at the rear, a few extra colours and revised alloy wheel designs.
The result is a sharper-looking machine than before, with the LEDs in particular adding some extra head-turning kerb appeal. What’s even more impressive is that this neat update has been achieved without changing any of the sheet metal.
It’s a similar story inside, where there’s now a slick-looking 10in infotainment touchscreen mounted on top of the dashboard, plus a subtly tweaked centre console with a new toggle-style gear selector. A smattering of smarter materials have also been sprinkled around in an effort to up the premium appeal. Oh, and the already squidgy seats get a new memory foam insert for even greater sofa-style support.
Finally, the line-up has been given a small shake-up. The mid-ranking Shine model remains, albeit better equipped, but the entry level version is now the Sense Plus, while at the top-of-the-range is the C-Series Edition, which gets all the bells and whistles.
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If the fake SUV or crossover is for you then in it's lower trim lines coupled with the petrol engine the Citroen C5 is a pretty good deal for a family car with plenty of space and sort of funky looks. The PHEV version seems to be expensive for the non company car user and with it's striking looks a better colour choice would be good
Must you mention this in every citroen review? If you must, at least add that it is a lot better than in most other cars with the exception of those priced twice as much.
Realistically 4 times as much these days
Why not, you babble on at every oppotunity to tell us you can't tell the difference between a Disco and Defender
Besides, I started to enjoy reading your replies. It's not difficult to turn on a nationalistic brexiloon - just say something negative about his beloved Slovakian made Indian car :))