The boxy new Citroen C5 Aircross uses plastic made with old vines from French wine production

According to Citroen, this second-generation C5 Aircross “benefits from the new STLA-Medium platform to offer greater freedom and peace of mind”. Hmm, we’re not quite sure how a platform offers freedom or peace of mind on its own. Perhaps there’s some sort of inbuilt life coach offering sage advice from under the carpets as you drive along.

Anyway. This new flagship is bigger and should be better than the previous C5 Aircross. There’s an extra 60mm in the wheelbase compared to the old car, and Citroen reckons almost all of that has been used to stretch out the rear legroom. There’s also more headroom than before and a giant 651-litre boot.

That boot remains the same size no matter what powertrain you go for too. So, you’ve got the option of a 48-volt mild-hybrid, a proper plug-in hybrid or a full EV. The former pairs a 1.2-litre three-cylinder turbo engine with a 0.9kWh battery and an electric motor mounted in the six-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox for a total of 143bhp. The PHEV gets more power (192bhp in total) with a 1.6-litre turbo four-pot petrol engine mated to a punchier electric motor in a seven-speed dual-clutch auto. There’s a 21kWh battery in that plug-in hybrid too for an all-electric range of 53 miles.

There’s impressive range in the full EV too. As standard the e-C5 Aircross comes with a 207bhp motor and a 73kWh battery for 323 miles of range, but there’s also an Extended Range version with erm… more range. That one gets a 227bhp motor and a 97kWh battery for 422 miles between charging stops. And yes, these are basically the same powertrains as you’ll find in the Vauxhall Grandland and Peugeot 3008.

Still, Citroen has managed to keep its fancy ‘Advanced Comfort Suspension’ with hydraulic stops on the dampers away from the rest of the Stellantis stable, and of course it’s deployed in the C5 Aircross. In fact, there are lots of mentions of comfort in the press release. This is a good sign for a big Citroen.

The interior apparently uses Citroen’s 'C-Zen Lounge' architecture with the horizontal dashboard clad in soft-touch fabric and apparently designed to resemble a sofa. There’s also ambient lighting with a choice of eight different colours (a first for Citroen) and the seats are supposed to be supremely squidgey but also get electrically adjustable side bolsters for extra support. Top trim levels get heated rear seats while up front you can have heating, ventilation and a massage function in the chairs.

There’s the “largest central HD touchscreen ever offered by a Stellantis brand” in there. Oh dear. There's also a voice recognition system with integrated ChatGPT. Oh dear, oh dear. Still, wireless phone connectivity is a plus, there’s a 10in digital dial display, and some of the interior plastics are genuinely made using vine shoots “sourced from organic vineyards in Burgundy”. This is brilliantly French.

We’re also told the exterior styling is “powerful and muscular, yet slender and full of aerodynamic tricks”. Right. What we do know is that it’s almost identical to the C5 Aircross concept that was shown off at the Paris motor show in late 2024.

Whaddya reckon to both the design and the oily (or electricky) bits?