Citroen C3 Aircross In-Depth Review 2020 | A Practical Choice?

Just because a car is fashionable doesn't mean it can't also be practical too. For proof of that, Citroen brought us this C3 Aircross in 2017. This complete and highly personalisable package was their idea of what a little SUV should be. Here we look at the original 2017-2020-era versions of this model.

History
What if you could have the style and adventurous feel of a small SUV, combined with the interior space and flexibility of a small MPV People Carrier? It's a combination of virtues that many brands have promised. But which possibly this car actually delivers - the Citroen C3 Aircross.

The French like practical, rational cars. Which is why brands from this nation were first to popularise the MPV. And amongst the last to embrace the contradictory charms of the modern affordable family SUV. Why, they ask quite reasonably, would you want to take a supermini or family hatchback and, in pursuit of some mythical lifestyle orientation, make it heavier, clunkier, less efficient and less practical? What though, if those downsides could be minimised and the SUV in question could offer all the interior versatility you used to need one of those small supermini-MPVs to get if you required it in a really compact little car? Well that was the thinking behind this C3 Aircross at its launch in 2017.

This, we were told, was a car 'full of technical innovation'. Just like the Citroens of old then, those old DS, GS and CX models of the Sixties and Seventies with their ground-breaking drive systems and quirky suspension set-ups. Well not quite. The 'technical innovations' here turned out to be largely items of rather less substance; 85 different exterior paint combinations, brightly coloured air vents, a class-leadingly large sunroof, wireless 'phone charging and modular rear seats that could recline and slide. That's what the modern SUV crowd wants and Citroen here felt compelled to play to it.

This C3 Aircross was positioned as a smaller brother to the company's C5 Aircross model, but where that family hatchback-based contender targeted Kia Sportage, Peugeot 3008 and Qashqai-class cars in the C-segment part of the SUV market, this smaller design had its sights set on supermini-based rivals like Nissan's Juke and Renault's Captur. You might, as we initially did, make the mistake of assuming this contender to be little more than a dressed-up C3 supermini in a pair of hiking boots, but actually, there's a lot more to it than that. Not least the fact that this Aircross variant sits on a wheelbase that's 60mm longer than a standard C3, which makes it significantly more spacious inside. In short, it's a small SUV with big ideas. The car sold in this form until early 2021, when it was significantly updated. It's the early pre-facelift 2017-2020-era models we look at here.

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