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By Jonathan Crouch

Citroen's second generation C5 Aircross family SUV gains a full-electric powertrain option. Jonathan Crouch reports on the e-C5 Aircross.

Ten Second Reviewword count: 37

Perhaps the option of full-electric power will revitalise the fortunes of Citroen's mid-sized family SUV, the C5 Aircross. This electric crossover is certainly spacious, well priced and assertive. Dealers must wish they'd had this car years ago.

Backgroundword count: 164

Is it too late for a UK comeback for the long-running Citroen brand? After years of neglect from various parent groups, which saw the marque mainly turning out restyled Peugeots with quirky colour schemes, the company does at last seemed to have some direction - and a range of properly distinctive products. This is one of them - its first large electric model, the e-C5 Aircross. C5 Aircross customers are well used to being able to plug this model in, but with the first generation design, they could only do that with a Plug-in Hybrid powertrain. The PHEV option continues with this second generation model, but has now been joined by this full-electric e-C5 Aircross variant. As you'd expect, it borrows all its mechanicals from its other close Stellantis cousins - electric versions of the Peugeot 3008, the Vauxhall Grandland and the Jeep Compass - but is much better value than any of them and arguably even more distinctive. Let's take a closer look.

Engines and Tech Specword count: 338

There are two e-C5 Aircross powertrains. Citroen launched this car with the more affordable one using a 73kWh (usable) capacity battery capable of up to 322 miles of range. Thanks to 2132hp of front electric motor output, rest to 62mph takes 8.9s en route to 106mph. The alternative you can ask your dealer about is a 97kWh battery variant which uses 228bhp motor and offers a range of up to 423 miles. One of the things we criticised with all the Stellantis Group STLA-Medium-platform mid-sized SUV designs we tried before this one (namely the Peugeot 3008 and the Vauxhall Grandland) was heavy weight. And that meant a clunky ride, particularly in the EV versions. This C5 Aircross must use that overly weighty platform too, but the ride you get with it will be nowhere near as bad as it is on, say, a Peugeot E-3008 because Citroen has carried forward to this car a bit of clever damping tech. Namely the 'Progressive Hydraulic Cushion' suspension system that it introduced on the first generation C5 Aircross. The name of this model might suggest this to be an air-sprung set-up, while the current trend might suggest it to be driver-adaptive. Neither of these solutions though, fits with the approach Citroen must take at this price point. The company lost money building too much damping complexity into its affordable cars in the '60's and '70's and in developing this SUV, it wasn't about to make the same mistake again. So what we've got here instead is an ordinary everyday spring-and-damper set-up that's been re-imagined in a rather clever way. In ordinary cars, such a system usually works with rubber bumps stops that the suspension coil crashes against over bumps at the top and bottom of wheel travel. The 'Progressive Hydraulic Cushions' set-up replaces these stops with hydraulic dampers. These cushion those impacts over things like speed humps and tarmac tears and allow the fitment of softer springs and dampers, producing the exemplary ride quality that Citroen claims this car can deliver.

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