Citroën’s new C5 Aircross, especially in its electric Long Range guise, doesn’t try to be the sportiest SUV on sale. Instead, it leans hard into comfort, range and value, while quietly hoping you never look too closely at a public fast-charger’s screen.
A steering wheel you could twirl with a pinky
The first thing that stands out on the new C5 Aircross is how lightly it steers. You barely need to grip the wheel: a gentle touch is enough to swing the front end into a tight U‑turn. Compared with its Peugeot cousin, the wheel itself is less tiny and more conventional, yet it still feels featherlight in everyday driving.
The steering is ultra-assisted: effortless in town, detached on a twisty back road.
That lightness fits with the broader personality of the car. The C5 Aircross is not built for people who attack corners. Its suspension is set up to be plush first, precise second, and it shows the moment you hit a speed bump or a patch of broken tarmac.
Suspension that turns bad roads into soft focus
Citroën leans on its trademark “Advanced Comfort” approach here, using progressive hydraulic bump stops to smooth out impacts. In plain English, the suspension has extra hydraulic cushions at the end of its travel, meant to absorb harsh jolts before they reach the cabin.
On urban streets, that translates into a genuinely soft, gliding ride over speed humps, seams in the tarmac and manhole covers. At very low speeds, the dampers can still bang slightly over sharp obstacles, but the overall impression is of a large SUV that constantly tries to shield its passengers from the road.
The body moves around a fair bit in corners, but that’s the trade-off for this level of ride comfort.
This softness has a cost: the car feels lazy when you push it. Body roll is noticeable, and there’s little sense of what the tyres are doing. For many buyers, especially those coming from older Citroën saloons, that will be exactly what they want. For keen drivers, not so much.
At its best on the motorway
Give the C5 Aircross a long stretch of dual carriageway or motorway and it starts to make perfect sense. The electric Long Range version tested here is not especially quick, with 0–62 mph (0–100 km/h) sitting just under nine seconds. In day-to-day use, that’s fine, but rivals with more urgent acceleration will feel livelier.
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What the Citroën gives back is ease. On the top MAX trim, semi-autonomous driving is standard: adaptive cruise control and active lane-keeping work together, and the car can even perform automatic lane changes on the motorway when the driver indicates.
Noise levels are impressively low. There’s no fancy laminated glass, yet wind and tyre noise are kept to a modest hush, helped by the EV powertrain’s lack of engine vibration. At 70 mph, the cabin remains a calm, almost cocooned space.
The C5 Aircross feels less like a high-riding SUV and more like a softly sprung long-distance train carriage.
The built-in route planner handles electric range in a fairly mature way, giving realistic predictions and factoring in motorway speeds. That makes it easier to plan long trips without constantly watching the remaining miles counter.
Big battery, mixed charging manners
Range that reassures
The electric C5 Aircross uses Stellantis’ STLA Medium platform and, in Long Range form, shares a large 97 kWh battery pack with the new Peugeot 3008. Citroën quotes a WLTP range of up to 680 km, or about 420 km of real motorway driving given a consumption figure of around 23 kWh/100 km.
For UK and US readers, that’s roughly 260 miles of fast-road range: enough for a London–Leeds or New York–Washington trip with a comfortable buffer. That sort of capability matters more than a headline lab figure.
Charging that can frustrate
On paper, the 400V architecture should allow up to 160 kW DC rapid charging. Reality, at least on this test, was less straightforward. In one charging session, with the battery at around 40%, the car stubbornly sat near 50 kW, despite the pack being preconditioned beforehand. At another station with a similar state of charge, the car held roughly 105 kW up to 60%.
The charging curve felt inconsistent, sometimes decent, sometimes strangely flat, and never close to the promised 160 kW.
This variability makes planning a long trip a little more stressful, especially if you’re aiming for quick splash-and-dash stops. Citroën may refine the software with future updates, but buyers should be aware that real-world charging speeds can be unpredictable.
At home, things look better. With a wallbox, the C5 Aircross takes up to 11 kW AC, which is sensible given battery sizes of 73 or 97 kWh. An overnight charge is realistic if you have a dedicated home charger.
There is a quirk for off-peak electricity users: you can schedule a start time for charging, but not a finish time. The car then keeps drawing power in a straight line to 80% or 100%. That’s less flexible than some rivals that allow detailed timing windows.
Easygoing in town, with a few rough edges
Despite growing over the previous generation, the new C5 Aircross is still reasonably manageable. At 4.65 m long and 1.90 m wide, it’s not a monster by modern SUV standards. A tight turning circle helps, as does a crisp 360° camera system that clearly shows kerbs and posts at low speeds.
Visibility is more mixed. The bonnet stretches far ahead and can feel intimidating when creeping into junctions, and the windscreen is relatively narrow. Over-the-shoulder views suffer from a thick C‑pillar, which makes reversing out of angled spaces trickier.
The brake pedal also needs a learning period. The first part of its travel feels soft and spongy, which doesn’t inspire much confidence in stop-start traffic. Paddle shifters behind the wheel let you adjust regenerative braking through three levels, helping to slow the car more using the motor, but even the strongest mode does not give you true one-pedal driving.
Space, seats and that Citroën “sofa” feel
Inside, the C5 Aircross plays to Citroën’s strengths. There’s generous room at the front and back, and the rear bench, although now a single fixed unit rather than three individual sliding seats, offers strikingly soft cushions and well-padded backrests with adjustable recline.
Rear passengers get a lounge-like feel, especially on longer journeys, with deep cushioning and plenty of legroom.
The loss of individual rear seats does reduce the clever modularity of the outgoing model, but daily comfort has actually improved a notch. The central tunnel is small, so a middle passenger can sit there without their knees up around their ears, though the central backrest is firmer than the outer seats.
There are rear air vents, but rear passengers cannot set their own climate temperature, unlike in the closely related Peugeot 3008 which can be had with tri-zone climate control.
Boot space is generous. With the rear backrests up, the C5 Aircross offers 651 litres of cargo volume. Fold the rear bench and that jumps to 1,668 litres. That’s enough for several large suitcases, a pushchair and the inevitable collection of bags that come with family trips.
Design that dares to be different
For all its comfort focus, the C5 Aircross still wants to stand out visually. The front lights adopt a C‑shaped signature that echoes the facelifted Berlingo, now combined with Matrix LED technology for the first time on a Citroën. Those headlights can selectively shade out parts of the beam to avoid dazzling oncoming traffic while maintaining full high-beam brightness elsewhere.
The side profile wears substantial plastic cladding, giving a slightly rugged look, while optional 20‑inch wheels fill out the arches more than we’re used to from the brand. At the rear, Y‑shaped tail-lights extend into the C‑pillars, giving a dramatic, almost concept-car finish that grabs attention at night.
Small coloured inserts on the bumpers and doors offer mild customisation, even though the overall colour palette is relatively muted for a Citroën.
Cabin tech up, perceived quality down
Sit in the driver’s seat and the dashboard design feels much more contemporary than before. A wide, straight fascia is dominated by a 13‑inch portrait touchscreen, flanked by a 10‑inch digital instrument cluster and a head‑up display.
The main screen’s layout is logical, and climate controls remain permanently accessible as touch-sensitive shortcuts, so you don’t have to dig through menus for fan speed. That’s a relief at a time when many rivals bury basic functions behind multiple taps.
Where the C5 Aircross stumbles is perceived quality. The top of the dashboard uses hard plastics where you might expect soft-touch materials. Door cards, front and rear, rely heavily on similar rigid surfaces. There are large strips of recycled fabric which brighten things up and add a bit of warmth, but they don’t fully hide the cost-cutting.
The interior design looks modern, yet some finishes feel more budget than the tech and price would suggest.
Gloss black trim on the centre console is prone to scratches and fingerprints, and the steering wheel’s lacquered control pads lack a premium feel. None of this will stop the car working, but it does place the C5 Aircross a notch below some rivals in tactile quality.
Equipment and pricing: value as a weapon
Citroën positions the C5 Aircross as the more affordable sibling within the Stellantis family. In France, prices start from €34,300 for a mild-hybrid petrol and €39,490 for the electric version, undercutting equivalent Peugeot 3008 models.
Standard kit is generous for the entry spec: adaptive cruise control, keyless start, the 13‑inch touchscreen, dual-zone climate control and 18‑inch alloy wheels are all included.
Main trim levels at a glance
| Trim | Approx. starting price (France) | Key features |
|---|---|---|
| Base | From €34,300 (mild-hybrid) | Adaptive cruise, 13″ screen, dual-zone climate, 18″ wheels |
| Plus | From €37,240 | Rear camera, keyless entry, tinted rear windows, navigation, ambient lighting, rear air vents |
| Max | From €40,180 | Matrix LED lights, powered tailgate, 360° camera, head‑up display, electric driver’s seat, heated steering wheel |
The electric Long Range battery used in the test car isn’t yet on sale in the Citroën. For now, ACC’s big 97 kWh packs are prioritised for the Peugeot e‑3008 and the DS 8. Based on current pricing gaps, a fully loaded C5 Aircross MAX with the long-range battery may sit high enough to miss out on some national EV incentives in markets like France.
Who this “cloud on wheels” really suits
The new C5 Aircross makes the most sense for drivers who care more about comfort, space and range than they do about handling sharpness. Think families doing long motorway trips, commuters with poor road surfaces on their daily route, or retirees trading in a big saloon for something higher and easier to get into.
- If you regularly tow or need sporty response, the soft suspension and modest performance may frustrate.
- If you mostly drive in cities and suburbs, the soft setup, calm cabin and light steering will probably win you over.
- If you do frequent long journeys, the big battery and quiet motorway manners are strong arguments.
Potential buyers should also understand a couple of EV terms that come up frequently with this car. WLTP range is a lab-based figure used in Europe, often optimistic in fast motorway use. That’s why the quoted 680 km shrinks to about 420 km when cruising at real speeds. DC fast charging power is another: the peak kW number is only one element, what matters just as much is how long the car can hold high power on the charging curve.
A typical scenario: with a well-behaved charging curve at, say, 130 kW, a 10–80% top-up might take around 30–35 minutes on a big battery like this. If the car spends large portions of the session at 50–80 kW instead, you can easily be sitting there for closer to an hour. For families with young kids in the back, that difference changes how practical an electric road trip feels.
The C5 Aircross answers some of those concerns with its comfort, space and long real-world range, making the charging stops you do have to take less frequent. For drivers willing to accept its laid-back character and a cabin that feels more honest than upmarket, this softly sprung SUV could quietly be one of Stellantis’ most rational buys.