2026 Citroën ë-C5 Aircross

Citroen built an electric SUV that cares more about your spine than your stopwatch

We have always been Citroen lovers, having grown up with the brand, so heading out in a new one is a genuine pleasure. Plenty has changed over the years, but the foundations are still right: comfortable, spacious, lovely seats and a simple, clean interior. A lot about this e-C5 Aircross just makes sense, and it starts with the thing Citroen has always done best.

Comfort first: the Citroen DNA is intact

The headline here is comfort, and Citroen delivers. Thanks to its Progressive Hydraulic Cushions suspension the e-C5 Aircross rides beautifully, gliding over surfaces that would unsettle rivals, and it deliberately avoids chasing any false sense of sportiness. The seats are excellent, the driving position is spot on, with plenty of adjustment in both the wheel and the seat to find your ideal spot. This is a car built to relax you, and it does exactly that.

Interior: clean, practical, and cleverly packaged

Inside is simple and clean in the best Citroen tradition, and genuinely practical with it. The floating centre console has masses of storage beneath it, with charging options and a deep bin in the console itself. There are still physical buttons for the air conditioning, and a brilliant party trick: hold the shortcut to the vehicle-settings menu and it switches off all the nagging speed and attention warnings in one go. The French really do make life on board more pleasant.

The niggles: piano black, the shifter and the drive-mode button

It is not all good news. There is far too much piano-black trim, including on things you touch constantly like the steering-wheel buttons and door handles, and those handles look filthy within seconds. We are also not fans of the typical Stellantis gear selector, or the Driving Mode button, which simply does not respond quickly or smoothly. Why? The infotainment can be sluggish too. These are small things, but they chip away at an otherwise lovely cabin.

Powertrain and driving: comfortable, not quick

Our Long Range test car uses a single front-mounted motor with 231 hp, driving the front wheels only, as Citroen does not offer all-wheel drive. It sits on the STLA Medium platform shared with the Peugeot e-3008, DS N°8 and Opel Grandland Electric, so the hardware is familiar. Performance is best described as adequate, 0 to 100 km/h takes a shade under nine seconds, but nobody buys a car like this to race, and the effortless, whisper-quiet delivery suits its relaxed character perfectly. Regeneration is adjustable across three levels using the steering-wheel paddles, which works well, but there is no one-pedal driving, and that is a genuine shame. For us it remains a must-have on an EV, and its absence is the one dynamic box the Citroen leaves unticked.

Range, charging and efficiency

We drove the Long Range, which pairs a 97.8 kWh usable battery with a claimed 680 km on the WLTP cycle. That range is genuinely realistic: away from the motorway we saw around 15 kWh per 100 km, rising towards 18 on the motorway and in cold weather, which for a 2.2-tonne SUV is impressive and means 500 km-plus is easy even in winter. Charging is the one weak spot. At 160 kW the DC rate is only moderate for the class, and Citroen quotes it as 20 to 80 per cent in 27 minutes rather than the more common 10 to 80, plus 11 kW AC as standard. If you do not need all that range, there is also a cheaper 73.3 kWh Comfort Range good for around 520 km.

Space and practicality

Having grown 16 cm at this generation change to 4.65 metres, the e-C5 Aircross is properly roomy, with generous rear-seat space and a large 651-litre boot, one of the biggest on this platform and beaten only by the Peugeot 5008. It will tow up to 1,250 kg. It is not perfect: folding the rear seats is fiddly with no release from the boot, there is no 230V socket in the electric version, and taller or broader occupants may find the seats a little snug. But as a family hauler it covers the essentials with room to spare.

Price and positioning

Pricing is where it lands the blow. In Belgium the electric e-C5 Aircross starts at €38,580 for the Comfort Range, around €10,000 less than a Volkswagen ID.4 of similar battery size and roughly €22,000 below its plusher DS N°8 cousin. The Long Range we drove starts at €46,590, more for that big battery but still an appealing offer given the space and comfort on hand. You are not paying for badge or bravado here, you are paying for comfort, space and a genuinely different flavour of family SUV.

AutoNext Verdict

The e-C5 Aircross is Citroen doing what Citroen should: prioritising comfort, space and calm over numbers and noise. The Progressive Hydraulic Cushions ride, the excellent seats and the clever, clean cabin make it one of the most relaxing family EVs you can buy, and the pricing and efficiency only strengthen the argument.

It is not flawless. It is comfortable rather than quick, there is no one-pedal driving, the piano-black plastics feel cheap and mark instantly, and the Stellantis shifter and drive-mode button are needlessly clunky. None of it is a dealbreaker, but it keeps a very likeable car from greatness.

If you want a big, soft, spacious electric SUV that treats you gently and does not shout, the e-C5 Aircross is exactly that. It is comfort with a capital C, and for a lot of families that is precisely the point.