Citroen C3 Aircross review

Is the Citroen C3 Aircross a good car?

Despite sitting on a supermini platform, the new Citroen C3 Aircross takes aim at the SUV sector with pure petrol, hybrid and full-electric power. There’s also the choice of five or seven seats (yes, despite its B-segment underpinnings) so the C3 Aircross – or the ‘e-C3 Aircross’ should you choose the electric car – seems to have quite a broad appeal at first glance. 

Equipment levels are fairly sparse, but if you want a family runabout that’ll take seven people on occasion (two of them kids), then the C3 Aircross is a great addition to the market. 

To drive, the C3 Aircross is pretty forgettable and despite Citroen’s attempts to make it ride better than its Vauxhall Frontera sibling, there’s not much difference between the pair. The Citroen is not a car you’d shy away from racking up miles in, though. Pricing is extremely competitive for the C3 Aircross and as with the C3 supermini, it’s likely to be a big draw for the French brand. It slightly undercuts the Frontera in EV form, with the hybrid being a touch more expensive. 

How much does the Citroen C3 Aircross cost? 

Just like the C3 and e-C3 superminis, with which the C3 Aircross shares its new Smart Car platform – nothing to do with the Smart car brand – the C3 Aircross focuses on value for money. Prices start at just over £20,000 for the pure petrol option or just under £23,000 for the e-C3 Aircross, with the hybrid model getting underway at around £23,700. Those figures are for the entry-spec Plus trim level, with the better-equipped Max available on the hybrid and EV for £2,000 more. 

The C3 Aircross is longer, wider and taller than the C4 hatchback, but sits below its sibling in the Citroen range. This second generation faces tough competition, with the latest iteration of the Dacia Duster just hitting our roads and the updated MG ZS recently launched. Fellow Stellantis brand Vauxhall has also made use of the Smart Car platform for its new Frontera, so that’s also an alternative choice. As with the Vauxhall, the option of seven seats (which costs around £765) is only offered on the petrol and hybrid models. 

The pure-petrol model features a familiar 1.2-litre turbocharged three-cylinder engine with 99bhp that’s used across the Stellantis group. It’s paired with a six-speed manual gearbox. The Hybrid 136 is a relatively new powertrain that was introduced on the Citroen C4 in 2024, which consists of a 134bhp turbocharged three-cylinder mated to a six-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission that integrates a 28bhp electric motor. Citroen claims up to 50 per cent of the hybrid’s driving can be done on electric power around town. 

The all-electric e-C3 Aircross uses the same set-up we saw in the new e-C3 supermini and its Vauxhall Frontera Electric sibling. A 44kWh battery sends power to a front-mounted electric motor with 111bhp and 125Nm of torque. More importantly, the e-C3 Aircross’ maximum range stands at 186 miles – which will be bettered by a larger battery model arriving later in 2025. We’re told this will unlock around 250 miles of range.  

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Citroen’s approach to driving is focused on comfort. Trying to couple this with a value-driven B-segment vehicle seems like a tall order when you factor in the inherent lack of sound deadening, interior quality, suspension sophistication and powertrain refinement at the price point of the C3 Aircross. 

It doesn’t have adaptive air-suspension and while the overall spring and damper set-up is the same as you’ll find in its Vauxhall Frontera sibling, the C3 Aircross benefits from what Citroen calls Advanced Comfort Suspension with Progressive Hydraulic Cushions – essentially some extra bump stops to help soak up harsh surfaces and ruts in the road. They work in conjunction with Citroen’s rather funkily-styled Advanced Comfort seats (which feature memory foam) to deliver a pretty smooth ride, and not just for a B-segment SUV. 

Despite being positioned beneath the C4, the C3 Aircross actually features wider tyres. Over scarred roads, there can be an underlying harshness to the ride and some audible road roar can make its way into the cabin, possibly caused by that wider rubber. But at motorway speeds, the C3 Aircross settles down into a cruise, whether you go for the hybrid or the all-electric version.

The Smart Car platform – as we’ve seen with the Frontera – helps reduce weight for a car of this size. The petrol C3 Aircross weighs only 1,298kg, the Hybrid 136 1,389kg and the e-C3 Aircross 1,504kg – for reference, the smaller Citroen C4 Hybrid 136 tips the scales at 1,410kg. 

That relatively light weight has an effect on the way the C3  Aircross behaves in bends. There’s little feedback from the steering, which also requires a fair amount of input in tighter corners. It’s fairly linear and trustworthy throughout, though, and the grip served up by the front end is more than most C3 Aircross drivers will need on their daily trips, with not too much body roll upsetting the dynamics. The same could be said of the brakes – they might not have the best pedal feel, but they’re up to the task. Around town, meanwhile, the C3 Aircross feels pretty nimble thanks to a 10.9-metre turning circle, which is just 30cm more than the smaller C3 supermini. 

The pure-petrol offering is only equipped with a six-speed manual, a gearbox that’s used widely across the Stellantis Group. While it’s not the last word in connectivity, it’s easy enough to use.

A six-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission is used for the Hybrid 136, which also features on the new C4 Hybrid 136. However, the C3 Aircross Hybrid 136 doesn't get the same manual override shifters behind the wheel that feature in the C4 Hybrid 136, so you’re reliant on the auto changes. It’s a smooth-shifting ’box for the most part in the hybrid, although if you’re pressing on, it can be hesitant to kick down. 

We’ve driven the Hybrid 136 and all-electric e-C3 Aircross and as you’d expect, the delivery of power is noticeably different between the two. The electric assistance in the Hybrid 136 was responsible for 15 per cent of our drive – which was pretty impressive given the variety of roads and amount of time we spent with the car. As with the C4 Hybrid 136, we’d like the hybrid system to be more proactive, because the three-cylinder unit under the bonnet is a little grumbly. A ten-second 0-62mph time sounds slow, but it’s quick enough in the real world and on the motorway there’s enough torque to make comfortable overtakes. 

The 111bhp of the e-C3 Aircross won’t win any traffic light drag races and while there’s instant torque, there’s only 125Nm of it and it tails off pretty rapidly. It’s smooth, though, and with the extra weight we actually felt it rode better and smothered bumps more effectively than its lighter hybrid counterpart.

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The Citroen C3 Aircross’ lightweight construction means that it’s well placed to deliver decent efficiency numbers. The pure-petrol C3 Aircross puts out 136g/km of CO2 – a pretty competitive figure, but a little higher than the Dacia Duster 130’s 124g/km. The C3 Aircross Hybrid 136 is unsurprisingly better in this area, and it emits 121g/km. This is 7g/km off the hybrid version of the Duster, but still pretty good. 

As for fuel efficiency, Citroen claims the petrol-powered C3 Aircross PureTech 100 will return 47.7mpg and the Hybrid 136 53.3mpg – exactly the same as you’d get in the Vauxhall Frontera. 

The zero-emissions e-C3 Aircross is the model to go for if you’re particularly environmentally conscious. Its 44kWh battery doesn’t sound like much when compared with the 55kWh battery offered in many of Stellantis’ offerings on the e-CMP platform, and as a result the e-C3 Aircross tops out at 186 miles of range (although Citroen says a larger battery will come later in 2025 with a more useful 250 miles). There’s no heat pump, so year-round range might be inconsistent, but we saw an expected range of around 150 miles after some hard driving. 

A 7.4kW on-board charger is included as standard, while an 11kW one is available as a £360 option. The 7.4kW charger takes four hours, ten minutes to go from 20 to 80 per cent, although thankfully the e-C3 Aircross can also accommodate rapid charging with a 100kW charger. In this instance, that means a far more appealing 26 minutes to top up from 20 to 80 per cent. 

The EV also features an E-Routes function for planning journeys, and it shows where the best points to stop and charge are on the way, as well as how busy the locations are in real-time. It’s also connected to the vehicle, so it can monitor your remaining charge.

It’s too early to tell which C3 Aircross versions will hold their value best, but the previous model lost around 50 per cent of its value across the range after three years and 60,000 miles, with the now-defunct diesel option the worst offender. 

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The new Citroen C3 Aircross incorporates styling influences from the Citroen Oli concept first seen in 2022. These include a bluff front end with the new Citroen badge sitting prominently over a blanked-off chevron-pattern grille. Despite the visual similarities to the C3 supermini, the wings and wheel tracks are wider on the SUV.

The rear certainly borrows a lot from the C3 supermini, but the bumper and rear lights are unique to the C3 Aircross. Helping to accentuate the SUV aesthetic are a set of roof rails, wheelarch cladding that wraps around the bottom of the car and more than 20cm of ground clearance.

The interior, meanwhile, offers “all the features of a living room on wheels” according to Citroen. Standard on every model are the company’s Advanced Comfort seats, now with 10 to 15mm of extra foam and redesigned to be even more supportive. We found the seats to be incredibly soft, squishy and comfortable, while the driving position feels quite high and commanding. 

We like the fabric used for the centre section of the dashboard and other splashes of light grey trim, as they help make the cabin feel inviting, in stark contrast to the large amounts of hard black plastic used elsewhere. That’s to be expected, of course, from a car at this price.

Despite some similarities to the Frontera, the C3 Aircross gets a completely different driver’s display and some neat touches such as the Eiffel Tower and a rooster emblem hidden in the rear side window along with “be cool” and “feel good” labels on the doors. The Vauxhall, in comparison, just has some generic colours.

Sat-nav, stereo and infotainment

All the essential driving information is projected onto a slim head-up display, rather than traditional dials, and to read it, drivers are meant to look over the slightly oblong-shaped steering wheel. It works in a similar way to Peugeot’s i-Cockpit, yet we think it’s better executed in the Citroen because the wheel never obscures the driver’s display. 

The 10.25-inch central touchscreen is subtly angled towards the driver, and comes with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity as standard. The built-in infotainment system is very simple, so it’s easy to navigate and clearly laid out, if occasionally laggy. The steering wheel features some physical buttons that work well and are easy to use on the move. 

There’s no option to upgrade the sound system on the Citroen, with a six-speaker audio set-up your only choice. It sounded a little tinny to us, but pretty acceptable for a car in this price bracket. 

During our drive, we found the speed recognition function to be wrong on multiple occasions – even registering an 80km/h sign as 20km/h at one point. The beeping from the speed limit change assistant was annoying too, although you can cancel this via a physical button on the dash next to the steering wheel.  

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The new C3 Aircross comes with five seats as standard, and Citroen expects the vast majority of customers will stick with this configuration. Without a third row to accommodate, the 40:60-split bench seat sits 65mm further back to make the most of the 2.76-metre-long wheelbase and create more space for those in the rear. In fact, Citroen claims the C3 Aircross offers best-in-class knee room and elbow room. 

We certainly found there’s enough legroom for six footers to get comfortable, plus space under the front seats for their feet, while the brick-like shape and high roofline ensure headroom is generous. That said, it’s very bare back there, with just two USB-C charging ports and a 12V socket in the model we sat in. In the hybrid, there’s also a slightly higher central tunnel that impacts rear legroom compared with the electric model.  

The regular C3 Aircross has a 460-litre boot and wide, square load space, plus a height-adjustable floor. Luggage capacity expands to 1,600 litres when the rear seats are folded down.

If you decide to go for the optional seven-seat layout, folding down the ‘easy-tilt’ middle seats is quick and easy using the pull tabs, but the rearmost seats only offer enough space for small children. We tried them out for ourselves, and found our legs crushed up against the seats in front, and there was no room for our feet. The Dacia Jogger, on the other hand, can happily seat seven adults. The third-row seats in the C3 Aircross don’t feature ISOFIX mounting points either. 

With all the seats in place, the seven-seat C3 Aircross has only 40 litres of boot space available. But the third row seats also fold completely flat, opening up 330 litres of luggage capacity in five-seat mode when needed. You get a couple of flaps to sit over the folded third-row seats too, to ensure no luggage gets lost between the gaps. 

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Every C3 Aircross comes with a reversing camera, driver attention alert and lane departure warning, while higher-spec Max models benefit from blind spot detection and front parking sensors.

Other standard features include cruise control, a speed limiter, an active safety brake, hill start assist and an electronic handbrake for the hybrid and electric models. The pure-petrol variant comes with a manual handbrake. 

Inside you’ll find plenty of scratchy hard plastics and we’re not keen on the piano black trim around the centre console, it all feels pretty robust and up to the task of ferrying families with small children around. 

A three-year or 60,000-mile warranty is included on all new Citroens (or two years with unlimited mileage). The e-C3 Aircross comes with an eight-year or 100,000-mile warranty on its battery, with a 70 per cent capacity limit offered. 

Citroen C3 Aircross alternatives

The most obvious rival to the Citroen C3 Aircross is the Vauxhall Frontera, with which it shares its platform and much of its on-board equipment and powertrains. The Citroen’s dash is arguably more interesting than the Vauxhall’s dual-screen layout, although for most customers the choice between the two will be determined by which offers a better finance deal. 

Elsewhere there’s the Dacia Duster, which doesn’t come with the option of an all-electric powertrain or seven seats, but does beat the hybrid and petrol C3 Aircross for emissions. If you need to head off-road, it will also be the better option.

MG is in the mix, too, with its ZS. As with the Citroen it’s available as a hybrid, and a pure-electric version will return soon. The MG is quicker than the Citroen, but there’s no seven-seat variant available.