As I said yesterday French car marque Citroen is celebrating its Centenary year – the French brand that’s waned here on and off over the years with a number of different importers. Last week however it launched the best model I’ve seen since I began in this business in 1981. The medium-sized C5 AirCross SUV I drove shows enormous promise in a market that’s embraced SUV’s in recent years. Firstly, it’s the right size, front wheel drive only, powered by a 1.6-litre all-alloy turbocharged four-cylinder with 240Nm of torque driving through a six-speed automatic gearbox with manual paddle-shifters. There’s two C5 AirCross models – the Feel at $39,990 and the Shine at $43,990. Cabin size and versatility is a high point, sliding second row seats in a roomy cabin, up to 720L boot capacity, excellent instrumentation and on the Shine, the first fitment of Citroen’s all-new advanced Comfort seats – the seats compliment the C5 AirCross’s all-new suspension system featuring Citroen’s Progressive Hydraulic Cushions. As such the ride quality is best in class for medium SUVs’ and it gives this new Citroen SUV a point of difference. I really like the French style with colour highlights here. The features list is extensive – a reversing camera, electric park brake, cornering lights function, traffic sign recognition, a host of driver assist safety functions even a coffee break alert when you drive for two hours at speeds above 70km/hour. There’s much to like on the new Citroen C5 AirCross and it will go a long way to lifting the profile of the French brand overall. I’m David Berthon.
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