CROSS PURPOSES(some text hidden)

By Jonathan Crouch

Ten Second Review word count: 47

Just because a car is fashionable doesn't mean it can't also be practical too. For proof of that, Citroen brings us this C3 Aircross, now usefully revised in this updated form. This complete and highly personalisable package is their idea of what a little SUV should be.

Background word count: 194

What if you could have the style and adventurous feel of a small SUV. Combined with the interior space and flexibility of a small MPV People Carrier? It's a combination of virtues that many brands have promised. But which possibly this car actually delivers - the Citroen C3 Aircross. It first went on sale in late 2017 and prior to the launch of this facelifted version in early 2021, over 330,000 examples had been delivered. Which proves that it isn't only the French who like practical, rational cars. Gallic brands were first to popularise the MPV. And amongst the last to embrace the contradictory charms of the modern affordable family SUV. Why, they ask quite reasonably, would you want to take a supermini or family hatchback and, in pursuit of some mythical lifestyle orientation, make it heavier, clunkier, less efficient and less practical? What though, if those downsides could be minimised and the SUV in question could offer all the interior versatility you used to need one of those small supermini-MPVs to get if you required it in a really compact little car? Well that's the thinking behind this C3 Aircross, here usefully improved.