The New Citroen C5 Aircross Benefits The French Wine Industry

Can you tell us a single thing about the current Citroen C5 Aircross? Don’t worry, we’re supposed to be the experts, and we can’t really recall much about it. Still, these mid-sized crossovers are like catnip for the general public, so it’s quite an important car for Citroen, and the all-new second-generation version is at least a bit more memorable looking.

First of all, get your Stellantis platform bingo card out: this one’s based on the new STLA Medium box of bits, shared with the latest Peugeot 3008, Vauxhall Grandland and upcoming Jeep Compass. That’s a platform designed to take combustion, hybrid and fully electric drivetrains, something the C5 Aircross takes full advantage of.

You can get it as a mild hybrid combining a 1.2-litre turbocharged three-cylinder with a 48v battery and dinky 12bhp electric motor for a peak of 143bhp, sent through the front wheels via a six-speed dual-clutch auto.

Next up is a plug-in hybrid, which pairs a 1.6-litre four-pot turbo with a bigger 21kWh battery and 123bhp electric motor. This makes a peak of 192bhp, features a seven-speed dual-clutch, and will do a quoted 62 miles on electric power only.

Finally, there’s an all-electric e-C5 Aircross, which comes in two single-motor, front-drive flavours. The Standard Range gets 207bhp and a 73kWh battery for a quoted 323 miles on a charge, while at the top of the tree is an Extended Range version with a bigger 97kWh battery and 227bhp. That does a quoted 422 miles on a tank of electricity.

Much of that impressive figure comes from the C5 Aicross’ dedication to aero, with all those slender headlights and slashy, creasy bits keeping the coefficient of drag down to 0.75, compared with the old car’s 0.84.

Citroen’s renewed focus on comfort, meanwhile, means the new car gets the brand’s Advanced Comfort Suspension, utilising hydraulic bump stops and, at the front, separate shocks for compression and rebound, all said to make everything suitably wafty and Citroen-ish.

This comfort-first approach continues inside, with Citroen’s squidgy Advanced Comfort seats front and rear. Citroen also proudly boasts it has the largest touchscreen ever fitted to a Stellantis car, although sensibly, it’s kept some proper controls for heating and ventilation. All the expected tech is present and correct – a full suite of ADAS systems, a ChatGPT-powered voice assistant, and charging points out the wazoo both front and rear.

Naturally, the sustainability cred is being talked up, most notably with the plastic in the interior storage areas being partly made from old vine shoots, discarded by the wine industry in Burgundy, France. Très bon.

If you’re looking at all this and thinking it sounds like your ideal family wagon, you’ll have to wait a little while – the new C5 Aircross will be on sale across Europe in the second half of the year.