After loaning me the new C4 Cactus, Citroën UK provided me with a C3 Aircross for test. It must be said that I intensely dislike SUVs and I hope that in a decade or so, they will be viewed in much the way we now view fashions from the nineteen eighties (other ludicrous decades are available). My reasons for disliking them are that, like vans and trucks, they obscure oneÂ’s view of the road and also, like vans and trucks, they tend to be driven slower than I want to drive, especially on bending and bumpy roads.

I had rather hoped that with CitroënÂ’s well-deserved reputation for excellent suspension coupled with good handling, the C3 Aircross would be different from the competition but it was not to be. The ride was unremittingly hard and jiggly, presumably in an attempt to make it handle tolerably well. And ‘tolerablyÂ’ is the perfect adjective to describe its handling. I found it hard work to drive at speed on some of my local, bending roads, involving as it did the need to make a lot of use of the six speed gearbox. And as mentioned in my Cactus review, there is a section of the A3057 with an undulating surface where, over the years, the speed limit has been reduced from 60 to 40 mph. At 40 mph, it was very uncomfortable with pitching and yawing and the front and rear suspensions getting out of step with one another.

A neighbour thought it looked like ‘one of those Minis on stilts” and I admit that my prejudices about SUVs mean I find myself in broad agreement. My wife thought the interior looked ‘quite funky’ and again, I agree. I liked the HUD (Head Up Display) even if the way it slides out of the dashboard strikes me as gimmicky. Having learned how to use the Cactus’ satnav, the Aircross one was easy to use. In fact I didn’t need to consult the 150 page handbook at all, having read the Cactus one from cover to cover. The ‘tablet’ display was better integrated into the dash than the one in the Cactus.

The seats (which look very inviting) did a reasonable job of reducing the uncomfortable ride but a set of 2CV seats would have done a better job. There was a lack of side support, which exacerbated the problems of driving on twisting roads. At speed on A roads, the engine was audible, both when cruising and accelerating. In true Citroën style, the parking brake was quirky (how I hate that word). The quirkiness did not result in any sort of improvement in function but is very stylish – a triumph of form over function.

CitroënÂ’s press release majors on fashion and style and connectivity and all sorts of other attributes that I consider largely irrelevant.  I am sure that the companyÂ’s market researchers have done their homework and such attributes are important to some people. What this means is that I fall outside the target clientele group.
Now a C3 Aircross equipped with PHC suspension might be a class leader but I suspect that as it stands, there is little to differentiate it from its competitors, all of whom supply similar electronic gadgetry.
I am minded of Jean CocteauÂ’s observation “La mode, c'est ce qui se démode.” (Fashion is that which becomes unfashionable) and I suspect that this car will suffer that fate.