Citroen C5 Aircross Review & Prices

The Citroen C5 Aircross is a handsome mid-sized family SUV with a spacious and comfortable cabin, although it’s not particularly satisfying to drive. That’s low on the priority list in a big, cushy SUV, though, and the C5 Aircross is such a capable all-rounder that it won the Family Values category in the 2026 Carwow Car of the Year Awards.

Think of it as that mild-mannered school friend you’ve not seen all summer, but who reappears at university with a cool new look, ready to make a host of new friends.

It’s up against some highly capable alternatives, including the equally stylish but more expensive Peugeot 3008, the sensible Skoda Karoq and the best-selling Nissan Qashqai. Perhaps the biggest challenge comes from bargain SUVs from Chinese brands such as the Chery Tiggo 8, Geely Starray or MG HS. There’s also the electric e-C5 Aircross to consider if it suits your lifestyle.

The C5 Aircross is much sharper and more chiselled than its predecessor. Its headlights are slim and high-mounted, with a lower LED strip giving it plenty of road presence at night.

The rear is even more distinctive, with taillights mounted high and pushed right out towards the corners. They sit on fins extending beyond the rear pillars, creating a look unlike anything else on the road.

The interior is smart too, with a funky cabin that resembles a more grown-up Citroen C3. There’s a smart digital instrument display set into the upper dashboard, while an enormous portrait touchscreen bridges the dashboard and centre console.

Beneath it is a large storage area with two cupholders. You also get a wireless phone charging pad, big door bins, a deep glovebox and a third, skinny cupholder ahead of the touchscreen that’s ideal for an energy drink,

The seats are comfortable and highly adjustable, while rear passengers get generous headroom and legroom. Boot space stands at an impressive 651 litres regardless of engine choice, with additional storage beneath the floor.

You can choose a 145hp 1.2-litre self-charging hybrid across the whole range, or a smoother and more powerful 195hp plug-in hybrid, but it’s reserved for top-spec versions.

The C5 Aircross is exceptionally comfortable around town. Even on rough roads, it feels as though it’s laying its own tarmac, while large speed bumps are dealt with effortlessly. The steering and pedals are light and require little effort.

It’s even better on the motorway, where it feels as though it’s gliding above the road. Wind and tyre noise are well suppressed, even on the optional 20-inch wheels.

Country lanes are its Achilles’ heel. The downside of that excellent comfort is vague steering and plenty of body lean through corners and faster bends.

Verdict

The Citroen C5 Aircross is a fantastic family car. It’s superbly comfortable, highly practical and looks surprisingly cool. Better still, it’s a genuine bargain, costing less than many smaller SUVs.

You can check out the latest Citroen C5 Aircross deals on Carwow, as well as C5 Aircross lease deals. There are used Citroen C5 Aircross examples for sale through our trusted dealer network, and other used Citroen models too. Carwow can even help you sell your car when the time comes to switch.

The entry-level Citroen C5 Aircross YOU! (yes, YOU!) starts at around £30,500 - which undercuts the mechanically-similar Peugeot 3008 by around £7,000. Both get a 145hp hybrid engine, but while the Peugeot is arguably better looking, it’s not as practical as the Citroen.

The Renault Austral hybrid starts at around £34,000, but it’s not as comfortable nor as well equipped as the C5 Aircross in top-spec Max trim. You can’t get it as a plug-in hybrid model either, but that being said you’ll pay almost £39,000 for the PHEV C5 Aircross, as it only comes in top-spec trim - not miles off the 3008 PHEV at £41,000.

While it manages to be tremendously comfortable in town and on the motorway, the Citroen C5 Aircross isn’t fun on a twisty road

In town

The C5 Aircross is even more comfortable than the previous model thanks to its suspension which has been developed with maximum comfort in mind.

That means that even on its largest wheels you barely feel speedbumps and potholes. Entry-level models with bigger tyres do an even better job.

The extra-light steering and pedals, good forward visibility and 10.9-metre turning circle make driving the C5 Aircross on narrow roads a low-effort experience. Rear visibility isn’t great, but you do get a standard rear-view camera.

On the motorway

Getting up to speed in the C5 Aircross is steady rather than rapid, whether you pick the 145hp hybrid or the 195hp plug-in hybrid. The former is quite noisy getting up to speed, and the PHEV is much the same with quite a roar when the 1.6-litre petrol engine kicks in.

Once you reach a cruise things settle down nicely, with a well-insulated cabin keeping wind and road noise at bay. Over-the-shoulder visibility could be better, but the suspension is so comfortable that you’ll learn to live with it.

The adaptive cruise control is perfectly capable, so you don’t have to worry about it bouncing you around your lane as some other family SUVs like to do.

On a twisty road

You’re better off staying on the motorway when you can, because the C5 Aircross sometimes leaves a little to be desired when the going gets twisty. While there’s plenty of grip for a car with no sporting pretension, the soft suspension can leave it feeling unsettled on rougher stretches of road.

The Citroen C5 Aircross is chock-full of room and clever storage spaces, but the low-mounted cupholders can be annoying

The C5 Aircross has a similar vibe to the C3 - one of our favourite small cars on sale because of its clever, roomy cabin - but now in super-sized scale. You get loads of space up front, with an airy feeling and lots of seat adjustment.

Underneath the bridge-like infotainment display that joins up the centre console and dashboard is a large storage cubby, complete with two USB-C chargers and a pair of cupholders. It’s even painted a bright colour so that you can see small items more easily.

It’s a bit annoying to reach your drink on the driver’s side, but there’s a smaller cupholder on the centre console itself. If you prefer large bottles, you can fit a pair easily in the door cards.

Space in the back

The C5 Aircross offers buckets of headroom and leg space, as well as enough room for three adults to sit comfortably. You can even recline the seat backs for a more relaxed journey in the back.

The door bins are large enough for water bottles, but rear passengers will have to fight for control of the single air vent in the middle.

Boot space

The boot is 565 litres in capacity, making it bigger than the more expensive Skoda Karoq (521 litres) and Vauxhall Grandland (550 litres) but smaller than the Peugeot 3008 (585 litres). There’s a bit of underfloor storage for odds and ends, or the charging cable in PHEV models.

Alternatively you can drop the boot floor down for deeper loads, but you’ll have the boot lip to contend with in that case. There are a couple of small cubbies at both sides of the boot and a pair of hooks, anchor points and an elastic strap help to keep loose items in place.

The C5 Aircross has a funky interior with a crisp, responsive display - but it really does feel cheap, particularly the door cards and dash top

It’s not just the exterior that’s more stylish than the last-generation car, because the C5 Aircross’ cabin looks funkier than ever. The upper dashboard is arrow-straight, sitting atop a fabric-trimmed, curvy panel that extends onto the door cards. The driver’s display is set back within the dashboard while the infotainment display curves up from the centre console, looking as though it’s resting against the dash.

The 13.0-inch infotainment screen itself is crisp and clear to read, and the menus are somewhat intuitive to navigate. It has some quirks, though, for example you can’t just touch the smaller navigation display on the home screen to enter the nav menu - you have to press the dedicated navigation button. You need to back out of Apple CarPlay or Android Auto to access some of the heater controls, too.

The digital driver’s display is clear to read and easy-on-the-eye, as are the funky square-quilted seats that come on all trim levels, as well as the ambient lighting around the cabin. Material quality is a mixed bag, because while the majority of the interior - such as the dash top and the door cards, are trimmed in hard, brittle plastic, the rest of the cabin is trimmed in a pleasant fabric and overall build quality feels solid.

The entry-level C5 Aircross comes with a 1.2-litre, 145hp hybrid engine that Citroen says is capable of 52.3mpg. We achieved about 45mpg in the real world, which is good going.

The more expensive plug-in hybrid has an electric range of 53 miles and an official consumption figure of 113mpg. What you get in the real world will depend greatly on how often you charge it up. Still, the longer electric range of an MG HS or BYD Seal U make these better bets if you’re interested in staying on electric power as much as possible.

The PHEV is the model to have if you’re a company car driver, with the lowest benefit-in-kind rates, though the electric e-C5 Aircross is cheaper still. First year road tax is reasonable, and all C5 Aircross trim levels fall under the threshold for the luxury car supplement on years two to six as they start at under £40,000.

Citroen C5 Aircross Euro NCAP score (2025): 4/5

Adult occupant: 80%
Child occupant: 85%
Vulnerable road users: 79%
Safety assist: 62%

Euro NCAP has awarded the C5 Aircross with its own crash test score, but it shares its result with the mechanically-similar Peugeot 3008, which attained a four-star safety rating when tested in 2025. It scored 80% for adult occupant safety and a more reassuring 85% for child occupant safety - including two ISOFIX points in the rear seats.

Four stars is still disappointing considering most of its alternatives have five-star ratings, but you do get a range of safety features as standard including automatic emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning and driver attention monitor.

Citroen came a pretty dismal 28th place out of 30 manufacturers in the 2026 Driver Power survey, which is unusual as sister brands Peugeot, Vauxhall and Jeep were all in the top 10. The C5 Aircross didn’t feature in the top 50 cars to own, either, though many of its mechanically-identical siblings did, such as the Peugeot 3008 in tenth place.

Citroen offers an eight-year, 100,000-mile warranty on major powertrain components - as long as you service your car at a main dealer - and the general three years and 60,000 miles of coverage on everything else. That’s less than you get from Kia, MG, or Toyota.