2023 Citroen C5 Aircross Sport Review

The Citroen C5 Aircross is one of those cars that flies under the radar. Perhaps because of its badge or perhaps its previously lacking value equation, sales of the C5 Aircross have never really set the world alight and to be honest, that makes us a bit sad because it’s actually a really good offering in the mid-size SUV segment thanks to its practicality, quality and excellent ride quality. Citroen Australia has just launched the mid-life update of the C5 Aircross, aimed at enhancing its value equation and offering more features to buyers. Is the 2023 Citroen C5 Aircross Sport a more compelling mid-size SUV choice? Let’s find out.

Competing in the mid-size SUV segment, the C5 Aircross competes with a huge amount of competition: there’s the Volkswagen Tiguan, Toyota RAV4, Nissan X-Trail, Mitsubishi Outlander, Renault Koleos, Peugeot 3008, Skoda Karoq, Mazda CX-5, GWM Haval H6, Honda ZR-V, Hyundai Tucson and Kia Sportage. What sets the C5 Aircross apart from rivals? Read on to find out.

Price & Equipment: 7.5/10

Priced from $54,990 plus on-road costs (just shy of $60,000 drive away in New South Wales), the 2023 Citroen C5 Aircross Sport is the only model offered in the updated C5 Aircross range. It’s priced $2,690 more than the 2022 C5 Aircross, yet has added a more powerful engine, more gears and a lot more standard equipment. Because of that, its value equation has been made sharper, in our opinion.

Standard equipment on the C5 Aircross Sport includes 19-inch alloy wheels, automatic dusk- and rain-sensing LED exterior lighting with front and rear daytime running lights, automatic wipers, gloss black exterior detailing like the roof rails and wheels, keyless entry and start, heated and auto-folding mirrors with puddle lamps, dual-zone climate control with rear vents, nappa leather upholstery, a leather steering wheel, a 10-way electrically adjustable driver’s seat with massaging functionality, heated front seats, a 10-inch touchscreen with wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, satellite navigation, digital radio, a wireless phone charger, a 12.3-inch digital driver’s display, a hands-free electric tailgate, an auto-dimming rear mirror and a panoramic sunroof.

Safety kit includes six airbags, auto emergency braking (AEB), lane keep assist with lane departure warning, adaptive cruise control with stop and go functionality, lane trace assist, blind-spot monitoring, auto high beam, traffic sign recognition with speed limit recommendation, driver attention alert, front and rear parking sensors and a reversing camera. The C5 Aircross Sport earned a four-star ANCAP rating in 2019 but its safety features have been upgraded since then – it’s unclear if it will be retested.

As for colour choice, ‘Polar White’ is the only no-cost option with ‘Nera Black’, ‘Platinum Grey’, ‘Steel Grey’ and our test car’s ‘Eclipse Blue’ adding $690 to the price, while ‘Pearl White’ adds $1,050. Black and blue nappa leather is the only interior option for the C5 Aircross Sport.

There are obviously a huge amount of competitors to the C5 Aircross in Australia, but we consider the Mazda CX-5 G25 Akera (priced from around $57,500 drive away) and Skoda Karoq Sportline (priced from $50,990 drive away though with options to match the Citroen and Mazda, around $62,000 drive away) to be its biggest competitors. Both the CX-5 and Karoq, like the C5 Aircross, are on the physically smaller size in the mid-size SUV segment and both, again like the C5 Aircross, offer good driving dynamics, good practicality and quality interiors.

However, while the C5 Aircross Sport’s value equation has improved a lot, it could still offer more features like both the CX-5 and Karoq Sportline do, for the money. While the C5 Aircross Sport features a massaging driver’s seat, sliding rear seats and rear daytime running lights over the CX-5 and Karoq, the CX-5 adds a lot more safety kit like Matrix adaptive high beam, cooled front seats, a heated steering wheel, heated rear seats, a 360-degree camera, a heads-up display, rear cross-traffic alert, automatic rear braking and a premium Bose sound system – and it costs around $3,000 less than the C5 Aircross too.

The Karoq Sportline also adds Matrix headlights, a 360-degree camera, USB-C ports, rear cross-traffic alert, rear automatic braking, dynamic scrolling rear indicators, heated rear seats, an umbrella, a bin in the driver’s door and a heated steering wheel over the C5 Aircross Sport. But in addition to that, both the CX-5 and Karoq Sportline are all-wheel drive and offer more performance than the C5 Aircross Sport.

Performance & Economy: 8/10

Under the bonnet of the 2023 Citroen C5 Aircross Sport is the same turbocharged 1.6-litre four-cylinder petrol engine as the pre-facelifted car, but it’s been upgraded to produce more performance and yet, be a lot more fuel efficient at the same time. In this tune, it makes 133kW of power (at 5,500rpm) and 250Nm of torque (at 1,650rpm) – more than the 121kW and 240Nm of the pre-updated model. It’s mated to a new eight-speed automatic transmission – with two more gears than before – and its 0-100km/h acceleration time is now a claimed 8.2 seconds, which is a boost of around two seconds on the old car. As before, the C5 Aircross Sport is front-wheel drive only, but its low 1,402kg tare mass – almost 300kg less than the CX-5 – makes it feel peppy.

For most buyers, the C5 Aircross Sport’s engine is going to offer plenty of punch from behind the wheel. While there are faster options for the money, the Citroen gives willing performance – its peak torque hits at just 1,650rpm, while it’s quite linear as well. Refinement is pretty good too, with the engine’s noise never intrusive at any point and it also likes a rev – particularly in sport mode, which gives a little boost to the performance. On the flip side, eco mode relaxes the throttle response and allows the car to coast when not accelerating or braking, helping economy.

The new transmission on offer is an eight-speed torque converter automatic from Japanese company Aisin. Aside from some odd low-speed behaviour when setting off – and it sometimes rolling back while the start-stop system is still activated – it’s fine in its behaviour. It shifts smoothly and decisively, while using the new transmission selector is quite easy, though – like the starter button – it can take a while for your inputs to be acted upon. If you want more control, there are paddle shifters as well.

The C5 Aircross Sport is rated at just 5.7L/100km on a combined cycle, with CO2 emissions rated at 130g/km – the CX-5 G25 Akera is rated at 7.4L/100km, while the Karoq Sportline is rated at 6.8L/100km. In the C5 Aircross Sport, we achieved 7.8L/100km in mostly urban driving, which would’ve lessened with more highway work. It requires minimum 95RON premium unleaded fuel and features a 53-litre fuel tank.

Ride & Handing: 9/10

Based on the same ‘EMP2’ platform that also underpins cars like the Peugeot 3008, the 2023 Citroen C5 Aircross Sport takes Citroen’s historical comfort-focused mantra and applies it to the modern age. As we’ve seen with the pre-facelifted C5 Aircross, and the newer C5 X, it’s quite refreshing to see a company with cars that focus on comfort and not sportiness. What makes it so comfortable? Well, the seats have 15mm of soft foam for greater padding, but the suspension features hydraulic upper bump-stoppers, which basically smoothens the ride and limits bigger hits from entering the cabin.

It’s a great system that gives the C5 Aircross a genuine unique selling point in the segment. Its low speed ride quality is definitely better than its competitors, while the highway ride is pretty good too. What would make it better is smaller wheels – the large 19s that come standard on the C5 Aircross do take away some of the softness brought on by the innovative suspension system. But against the CX-5 G25 Akera and Karoq Sportline, harder bumps are felt less in the C5 Aircross Sport and it’s an overall more relaxing drive, just as Citroen claims.

Despite being aimed more at comfort than sportiness, the C5 Aircross still handles well. The steering in particular, offers a reasonable amount of feel and its conventional location in the cabin – versus sister company Peugeot’s futuristic ‘i-Cockpit’ low-mounted wheel – makes you feel more in sync with the car’s dynamics. Despite acoustic glass, the C5 Aircross can be reasonably loud for road noise – blame the large wheels – but its visibility is excellent thanks to large windows.

A big boost in active safety kit accompanied the facelifted 2023 Citroen C5 Aircross Sport, and adaptive cruise control with stop and go functionality, as well as lane trace assist, for level two semi-autonomous highway driving now features as standard. In practice, these systems worked quite well for us, though the adaptive cruise control’s conservative nature can be a touch frustrating. We do wish that the C5 Aircross featured rear cross-traffic alert and automatic rear braking, as both the CX-5 and Karoq do, while the resolution on the reversing camera is poor.

Interior & Practicality: 7.5/10

As we found with the pre-facelifted car, the cabin of the 2023 Citroen C5 Aircross Sport is a practical, good quality and relatively quirky place to spend time. While some rivals can be more luxurious, sportier or more practical, we think the C5 Aircross Sport manages a good mix of all of them. Quality inside the C5 Aircross Sport is pretty good with a soft touch doors, a leather-like dashboard fascia, lovely nappa leather trim on the seats and a very solid overall build quality, though a CX-5 Akera feels more luxurious.

The C5 Aircross Sport’s cabin is reasonably practical as well with a huge box underneath the central armrest, open but somewhat impractical door bins, a tray with a wireless phone charger underneath the dashboard, two medium-sized cup holders, a tray next to the gear selector and a small glovebox.

Centre of the C5 Aircross Sport’s cabin is a 10-inch touchscreen with wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, satellite navigation and digital radio. Disappointingly, it doesn’t use the newest operating system from the company with live services and wireless smartphone mirroring that the high-riding C5 X uses, rather, the old system that can take a while to get used to as its menus don’t make much sense. Thankfully, the screen quality has been improved and the speaker quality is pretty good as well.

The 12.3-inch digital driver’s display initially looks a bit sparse, but it offers a lot of different display options – you can have a map in front of you, or a minimalist option with just your speed and other important information, for example. We also love how comfortable the seats are, and the massaging functionality is excellent – the ‘cat’s paw’ option, in particular, is just wonderful – though it’s strange that only the driver’s chair gets it, while the front passenger doesn’t.

The rear seat of the C5 Aircross Sport is, like the pre-facelifted model, somewhat tight for legroom for taller adults – though headroom is excellent despite the now-standard panoramic sunroof, as is seat comfort. There are a few amenities to keep passengers happy too, like air vents, a USB-A charging port and big door bins – though no centre armrest with cup holders, sun shades or a third climate zone. The rear seats are split into three individual seats in a 40:20:40 split, and each seat both slides and reclines for greater comfort. There are two ISOFIX points and three top-tether points for child seats too.

The boot of the C5 Aircross Sport measures a pretty healthy 580-litres with the seats up and a massive 1,630L with them folded, comfortably eclipsing the larger CX-5 and its 438L/1,340L space, while offering more than the Karoq Sportline with the seats up 580L versus 521L but an identical amount with them folded. The boot features a dual-level floor, a space-saver spare wheel, some tie down points and a 12V socket, but unlike the Karoq, no nets, hooks to hold shopping bags or tabs to fold the seats.

Service & Warranty: 8/10

As with other new Citroen products, the 2023 Citroen C5 Aircross Sport is equipped with a five-year/unlimited warranty with five years of roadside assistance. With its once-yearly/every-20,000km service intervals, five years/100,000km of servicing costs $2,762 ($552 per service), but buyers can choose a service plan for either three or five years at the time of purchase – a five-year/100,000km service plan costs a reasonable $2,000 ($400 per service), which is a $762 saving over pay-as-you-go servicing.

Mazda offers an identical amount of warranty for its new cars, though Skoda eclipses both by offering a seven-year/unlimited km offering. Mazda gives five years of roadside assistance with every new car, whereas Skoda’s roadside assistance is 12 months that’s boosted by another 12 months with each dealer service. Five years/75,000km of servicing the CX-5 costs $2,114 ($422 per service) and while Skoda no longer publishes service costs, a pre-paid service plan for the same duration for the Karoq Sportline costs $1,850 ($370 per service). Both the CX-5 and Karoq use shorter 15,000km intervals than the Citroen, making the C5 Aircross Sport better value for those doing further driving annually.

The 2023 Citroen C5 Aircross Sport DiscoverAuto Rating: 7.9/10

The 2023 Citroen C5 Aircross Sport is still a pretty good offering in the mid-size SUV segment thanks to its long list of attributes like a practical and good quality cabin, excellent ride quality, reasonable performance and fuel economy, handsome styling and good aftersales program. Its ride quality is of particular note thanks to innovative suspension tech that takes the harder edge off our rubbish roads.

Of course, it’s not cheap and there’s only one model available, while it’s not available in all-wheel drive, it’s not especially spacious in the rear seat and it lacks some safety equipment like rear cross-traffic alert. But, unusually for a mid-life update, it’s a big improvement on the pre-facelifted car it replaces thanks to its punchier engine, improved value equation and added equipment and in our opinion, if you’re wanting to spend $60,000 on a mid-size SUV, it’s a great idea to check out the C5 Aircross Sport. Even just for the massaging driver’s seat!