The British have a long history of being at loggerheads with their neighbours across the English Channel. And once the French created the ethos of liberte, egalite, fraternite (after discovering a facility for using the guillotine) they could never quite agree with the claimed divine right of the monarch in Britain to govern. Although physically separated just by just 34km, the two countries do things so differently that they could have been at opposite ends of the globe: From food and drink, to style and design, to engineering and industry, to even which side of the road they drive on!

Which brings us to the new Citroen C5 Aircross SUV that just had its price announced a couple of days ago. Indian expectations of how vehicles should look and behave have been shaped by a primarily British legacy as well as an internationalised credo. And the C5 Aircross doesn’t quite conform to either of those. Most cars made in India are ‘globalised’ as they are sold in multiple markets. Citroen, however, operates mainly in Europe and, especially, France, and conceives cars very differently. And the C5 is an example of that.

THE EXTERIORS

Make no mistake, the C5 Aircross is a big, wide vehicle that has got that very broad-shouldered look that, we are told, is desirable in SUVs. This one is kind of rounded, however, and doesn’t have an aggressive bared-teeth-mean-eyed appearance. Rather it’s kind of suave with Citroen’s chevron logo neatly built into the top layer (of three) of air intakes that also has the LED daytime running lights. The middle intake has the headlamps and the central slats with a shorter one at the bottom that makes the whole thing look kind of smiley. A third section is at the bottom of the bumper and has a pair of trapezoidal matt silver elements. The fog lamps are placed really low down and at the corners.

The profile is smooth and devoid of the commonly seen cuts and creases. The highlight is a C-shaped chrome surround of the glass area that draws attention away from the fact that the lower section below the glass is quite large. The other thing that does the same job is a black-cladded section at the bottom of the doors that has a matt silver style motif as in the bumper. We’ll see those again.

The two-tone paint job looks the best in the rear three-quarters view. The tail lights continue the trapezoids-with-rounded-corners motif and the recess for the number plate again breaks up the mass of the tailgate. The silver trapezoidal motif continues in the rear bumper and one could mistake those for exhaust tips, which they aren’t but look good nonetheless.

THE INTERIORS

If the outside looked somewhat different, it became more so once we were inside. Again, it looked rather stylish. The multi-function steering wheel was typically Citroen with flattened top and bottom. The angled-down gear lever was good to hold and use. For manual mode one has to press the ‘M’ button and use the paddles behind the steering wheel. The pedals with rubber inserts looked neat. The dash has both dark plastic and leather finishes that look rich even though this SUV doesn’t have leather-wrapped everything. The air vents are squared again and so are the seat cushion patterns.

We like the fact that the infotainment screen is set into the dash and Citroen hasn’t done that stick-uppy number that has become oh-so-common these days.

The rear seat comprising three individually moveable, reclinable and foldable seats is a noveltythat also gives flexibility to the cabin space

And rather than give it a Home screen, that function has been moved to a touch panel below the screen. The Navigation works through a paired phone. The other screen, that of the instrument panel, is different too. There is a Minimal setting that shows just the digital speedo and odometers. Then there is Dials, which doesn’t actually show any analogue meter but displays the usual suspects. Then it can be personalised. The tacho is a bar that isn’t easy to read when driving, but we’ll tell you in a bit why that’s not a problem. There is speed limiter and cruise control, which are quite useful.

In terms of space the cabin is broad and airy. The front seats are wide and good places to be. The back has three similar individual seats that can move forward and back by about 150mm and separately and can also fold over creating a nearly flat luggage floor. With a flat floor and wide body, three can sit pretty well here with sufficient shoulder room, but there is no arm rest. Leg room is quite generous both front and back. The door pockets are big and can take bigger than one-litre bottles. The cooled box in the console is big and deep and can keep your beverages cool. The glove compartment, though, is good enough only for a pair of gloves and the C5’s user’s manual. Boot space is a huge 580 litres with the rear seats in their rearmost position, and can go up to 1,630 litres with the rear-row seats folded down. Intermediate configurations of all sorts are possible.

The seat cushioning merits particular mention. There’s higher density foam covered by softer stuff, the company says. What we can say is that they are very comfortable indeed and would be greatly appreciated on longer drives, more so as each is fairly big.

(Right) The steering design with flat top and bottom is unique to Citroen; (Left) The outside rear view mirrors have a useful red dots that light up to indicate cars in the blind spot

THE POWERTRAIN

The C5 Aircross is being sold only with a turbocharged 2-litre, 4-cylinder diesel engine that makes 177ps of power and 400Nm of torque. This is mated with an 8-speed automatic gearbox that sends power only to the front wheels. So it would be best to keep the SUV on tarmac and not get too ambitious off-road. That said, it does have Sand, Mud and Snow modes but we could not test them so cannot really say how effective they are with a 2WD setup. What is also on offer are Sport and Eco driving modes, as well as Hill Descent and Hill Hold assist, which we think are useful and practical to have. The engine is certified at 18.6kmpl under test conditions.

The gear selector lever is a stylish one. In Manual mode, one needs to use the paddles to go up and down the cogs

Sand, Mud and Snow modes are on offer with 2WD

THE DRIVE

Whatever doubt anyone might have had about the fact that the Citroen C5 Aircross is different from virtually every other car in India, will be removed once on the road. It is quite the cocoon that the company claims it to be. Sound deadening, both from the engine as well as for ambient noise is really great, what with the laminated glass being used to that end. Hardly any road or wind noise comes into the cabin. The space gets really personal. If there are many people in the car, there might be a shortage of charging ports to plug in the various devices.

The Aircross has both a speed limiter and cruise control, which are useful depending on the driving conditions

The instrument cluster is entirely digital and things like the tachometer are not easy to read

The way the C5 Aircross rides is not like any other car on the road. It’s kind of soft-ish and wafts passengers along while insulating them to a great extent from road irregularities. It only seems to get caught out by sharp ridges, which filter into the cabin. On faster straight stretches it is superbly comfortable. It even takes longer curves quite well at speed — there is body roll and some squatting on the outer wheels, but at no point did it feel that it would break away. That said, slaloming isn’t what this SUV has been set up for, so trying to make it do that would be less than gratifying. The manufacturer says this SUV is about comfort and, indeed, it is.

Contributing to that feel is the fact that the controls are light and easy to use. The steering in particular is perfect for city traffic, which is probably where it will spend most of its time. We also liked the fact that the eight-speed automatic gearbox is not in helter-skelter hurry to shift up the cogs to save fuel. It holds the revs before it activates an upshift so that it doesn’t get into a flat spot in the power band — at all times it manages to keep the engine revs in the meaty part of the power band. And while it’s not scintillatingly fast off the blocks it delivers power very unobtrusively at any point when asked to. Kickdown works well too, although it would ideally prefer not to be hustled.

The eight-inch infotainment touchscreen doesn’t have a Home screen. Instead, there is a touch panel below with hard touchpoints used to move from, say, radio to climate control to navigation, and so on

THE CALL

There are horses for courses and this horse is true to the company claim of being really strong on comfort. It is also visually different and caters to a rather stylish than in-your-face design aesthetic. At around Rs 30 lakh a pop, it’s not cheap, but if one is looking for a vehicle that does lots of things in a very quiet way, literally, to make the daily motoring a feel-good experience, this is right up there.

The grey-tone interior is a mix of materials and textures and gives an overall sense of plushness and quality

THE C5 AIRCROSS IN NUMBERS

⚫ Vehicle type: SUV

⚫ LxBxH (mm): 4,500 x 2,099 x 1,710

⚫ Wheelbase (mm): 2,730

⚫ Engines: 1,997cc turbo diesel

⚫ Maximum power (ps @ rpm): 177 @ 3,750

⚫ Maximum torque (Nm @ rpm): 400 @ 2,000

⚫ Transmission: 8-speed automatic

⚫ Boot space (litres): 580/ 720 (w/rear seats In forward position) / 1,630 (w/rear seats folded)

⚫ Brakes: Discs front and rear

⚫ Wheels: Diamond-cut alloys with 235/55 R18 tyres

⚫ Price: Feel (Mono-Tone) Rs 29.90 lakh; Feel (Bi-Tone) Rs 30.40 lakh; Shine (Mono-Tone/Bi-Tone) Rs 31.90 lakh (ex-showroom in Calcutta)