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The Citroën ë-C5 Aircross offers space, comfort and value for money, and it’s eligible for the Electric Car Grant of £1,500, or £3,750 in Long Range form.
Citroën stands for cars that are as affordable as possible, and this is achieved by not offering lots of features that people don’t need. The new Citroën ë-C5 Aircross is the latest example of this, offering space, comfort and all the features that you do need, and as well as being competitively priced, as an added bonus it’s also eligible for the UK government Electric Car Grant of £1,500, or £3,750 in Long Range form.
The Citroën ë-C5 Aircross has gained a sharper design than the previous model, and is now more in keeping with the styling of the new Citroën ë-C4.
The ë-C5 Aircross shares a platform with the Peugeot E-3008, Peugeot E-5008, Vauxhall Grandland Electric and the new Jeep Compass. It has a 79.9 kWh battery (73.7 kWh usable capacity) which is larger than most previous electric Citroëns, and the Long Range model has an even bigger 100.7 kWh battery, 97 kWh usable capacity, with a driving range of up to 421 miles (WLTP). The ë-C5 Aircross has a 213 bhp electric motor driving the front wheels (231 bhp for the Long Range model).
The ë-C5 Aircross measures 4,652mm in length with a large 565-litre boot, which increases to 1,668 litres with the rear seats down. The boot floor can be positioned in a high or a low position. If you want to remove the large parcel shelf, it doesn’t fit under the boot floor.
The ë-C5 Aircross driving experience focuses on one main thing: comfort. This is true of most Citroëns, but it’s even more the case with the ë-C5 Aircross because it’s an SUV and so there’s even more potential travel in the ‘Citroën Advanced Comfort Suspension’.
This results in comfort in terms of ride quality, but it also results in comfort – rather than sharp dynamics – when driving through corners. So in most driving situations the ë-C5 Aircross provides a perfectly pleasant mode of transport, but if you regularly drive on twisting country roads, just don’t expect sharp handling and precise body control through the corners.
With 213 bhp of power, 124 Nm of torque and a 0-62 mph acceleration time of 8.9 seconds, performance is best described as sufficient. Some road noise is present at motorway speeds.
The gear selector ‘switch’ that you’ll find in virtually every Stellantis EV also makes it into the ë-C5 Aircross, but like some other recent models, the ‘B’ setting has disappeared, and has been replaced with steering wheel-mounted paddles to change the level of brake regeneration, which is a better solution.
Next to the gear selector is the drive mode selector, giving the options of Eco, Normal and Sport
The ë-C5 Aircross has a large 13-inch ‘portrait’ rather than ‘landscape’ format touchscreen, which, rather than being vertical, is on an angle, with the top being further away from the driver than the bottom. There’s also a piece of trim that protrudes at the top of the screen which makes it a challenge to press small icons such as Apple CarPlay at the very top of the screen.
The home screen gives you a map at the top, with radio stations below, along with buttons for screen mirroring and settings. Below are steering wheel heating and seat heating and ventilation controls, then the main shortcuts for media, navigation, home, phone and apps, and at the bottom of the screen are controls for cabin temperature (which, helpfully, are much larger than in a Tesla or some Chinese EVs), AC, fan and ventilation. Some controls on the touchscreen are customisable.
Under the screen are physical buttons for a range of climate controls and vehicle, which gives you the option for switching off driver assistance systems.
So the infotainment system is well organised overall. However if you’re in Apple CarPlay, a bit more button-pressing is involved to find some controls, for example the heating steering wheel.
Our MAX trim test car had electric driver’s seat adjustment, and, unusually for a Citroën, you can also adjust the angle of the driver’s seat base.
One detail that would benefit from being improved is that the surround for the head-up display on top of the dashboard can catch reflections from the sun, which can be distracting for the driver.
The Citroën ë-C5 Aircross MAX 210hp Comfort Range has a WLTP combined electric driving range of 322 miles. The real-world range (which goes down faster than predicted at motorway speeds) after a week on test was averaging 287 miles. Consumption (WLTP) is an impressive 4.4 miles/kWh.
This WLTP range of the Comfort Range model is more than the typical electric Stellantis EV to date, but there’s also a ë-C5 Aircross Long Range model with a 100.7 kWh battery (97 kWh usable capacity), with a driving range of up to 421 miles (WLTP).
The maximum rapid charging rate of the Citroën ë-C5 Aircross is 160 kW, which should give a 0%-80% charge in 26 minutes. The 160 kW rate is more than most electric Stellantis models, which have mostly had a maximum charging rate of 100 kW.
The ë-C5 Aircross will try and limit you to a maximum 80% charge, so you’ll have to manually override this if you want to charge to 100%.
The Citroën ë-C5 Aircross has a heat pump as standard.
The Citroën ë-C5 Aircross is priced from £34,065; the MAX 210hp Comfort Range model is £39,345. Our test car had the options of Astoria Green metallic paint (£645) (which is more grey than green), two-tone Perla Nera Black roof (£300), puncture repair kit with compressor (£20) (which really should be standard in all cars), panoramic opening sunroof (£1,100) and ‘Hype Grey’ ambience with Advanced Comfort Seats in grey perforated premium leather-effect and fabric, including dashboard and doors covered in grey sofa fabric, electrically adjustable seat bolsters for driver and front passenger, massaging front seats, ventilated front seats, heated rear seats, storage nets on the backs of the front seats, and front and rear floor mats (£1100). All the options took the total price of our test car to £42,510.
Citroën ë-C5 Aircross trim levels are YOU!, PLUS and MAX (as tested).
The Citroën ë-C5 Aircross offers lots of space and a comfortable driving experience for a competitive price. This improves further when the UK government Electric Car Grant of £1,500 is factored in, and it gets even better again with the £3,750 grant for the Long Range model. The new ë-C5 Aircross also offers an improved driving range compared to most previous Stellantis products, along with impressive efficiency, and it can charge at up to 160 kW, which is another step forward. Just don’t expect the comfort-focused driving experience to translate to sharp dynamics through the corners. The Citroën ë-C5 Aircross is awarded a Green Car Guide rating of 8 out of 10.
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