Citroen C3 Aircross road test, review

The quirky C3 Aircross takes on the uber-competitive midsize SUV segment. We put it through its paces to see if it’s up for the job.

Published on Jun 18, 2024 03:34:00 PM

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C3 Aircross is available with an automatic and manual gearbox.

Dash looks attractive and light upholstery accentuates sense of space.

Front seats are well cushioned, but light upholstery gets soiled easily.

The 5-seater gets a larger 444-litre boot space; no 60:40 split rear seats.

This is an area where the C3 Aircross leaves you wanting. Sure, it packs in a large touchscreen, a great-sounding audio system, a digital instrument cluster, USB ports for all rows, a rear-view camera, six airbags, a tyre pressure monitoring system, hill-hold assist and traction control. But it also misses out on a load of essential features that rivals offer like auto climate control, push button start/stop, ventilated seats, a powered driver’s seat, a sunroof, a wireless phone charger, LED lighting, a 360-degree camera, cruise control, a heads-up display and ADAS tech.

Cluster is bright and easily legible; also features a tachometer and TPMS, unlike the smaller C3.

What’s even more annoying is the blatant cost-cutting. The C3 Aircross makes do with a simple key with lock/unlock buttons, which doesn’t belong on an SUV of this price range. The wing mirrors can’t be electrically folded, the driver’s door only houses switches for the front windows and rear window switches are not present on either rear door but placed in the middle of the front seats. Additionally, you only get an auto-down function for all windows and not auto-up because that would have meant installing an anti-pinch function.

So while it does get some of the basic features expected in this class, the absence of some crucial ones too limits the appeal of the C3 Aircross.

Top-spec C3 Aircross gets a 10.2-inch free-standing touchscreen infotainment system that features wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay compatibility. The screen is bright and the user interface is easy to navigate. However, it misses out on physical buttons or knobs to control functions like volume up/down, next/previous track etc. During our test, the system never malfunctioned or lost Android Auto connection.