Upcoming Shocker: The Citroen C5 Aircross!

In continuation to my last article, in which I talked about some of the latest entrants to the blistering mid-size SUV segment in India, how can one not notice the soon to be launched C5 Aircross from the house of French PSA-group giant Citroen?! I call it a shocker because the 1st time I came across videos of this car's cabin, I thought it to be a high-end BMW with the similarly shaped auto gear lever complete with a digital display of its own, and the fully digital 12.3 inch instrument cluster offered with a huge number of customizations, with no needles or physical dials whatsoever.

Now, if the global spec'd Aircross is indeed launched in India at its expected price bracket of INR 15-20 lakhs, it would be an absolute steal, as can be easily observed from some of the following segment-first features offered by its top trim, unheard of in any of the other cars in its class:-

1. Active or adaptive cruise control, which if set to a speed higher than that of the car ahead, will automatically decrease its velocity to match that of the nearing vehicle, till it picks up speed again.
2. Lane keep assist, which if engaged helps keep the vehicle in its current lane by recognizing the lane markings on the road, using its camera.
3. Active safety brake, which automatically brings the SUV to a complete stop if the driver fails to take necessary action on encountering an obstacle like a pedestrian, etc.
4. Traffic sign recognition, which uses a dash cam installed behind the rear-view mirror to recognize road signs including speed limits and automatically take action accordingly.
5. Automatic manoeuvring for parallel or bay parking of car.
6. Intelligent headlamps which automatically switch from high beam to low beam if an oncoming vehicle is headed toward you at night.
7. Boot open with a simple gesture of your foot in case your hands are loaded.

Mind you that in addition to the list of firsts above, the C5 Aircross has nearly all of the bells and whistles offered by its close competitors too, including various drive modes and an optional terrain response system like that in the Harrier, and a panoramic sunroof, 360 deg parking camera, advanced voice command recognition and driver fatigue alert, etc. as offered by the MG Hector, which is by far its closest rival, both in terms of the features offered onboard the two vehicles and their size. The Aircross also has the most powerful engine lineup in its segment, which includes a 1.6 litre petrol and a 2.0 litre diesel unit, both churning out a thumping 180 bhp, and the highest ground clearance as well, at 232mm.

However, one should be wary that many of the unique safety features offered by the Citroen C5 Aircross are applicable or work effectively only for its automatic variants, like the active safety brake, which in the case of a manual transmission, can only bring down the speed of the vehicle to a certain limit of about 30 kmph, rather than stopping it completely. This SUV also does have certain shortcomings like the absence of cooled seats and that noisy air purifier as offered by the smaller Hyundai family of SUVs like the new 2020 Creta and the Kia Seltos. And as with the Harrier and the Hector, all-wheel drive is also a no-go. The French marquee also misses out on geofencing, which is a handy security measure provided on the Hector. 

All-in-all I would say that the top automatic trim of the Citroen C5 Aircross checks all the right boxes and appears to be a compelling buy but if you want to go for a manual SUV in this segment, the MG Hector's Sharp variant still remains quite unbeatable.