Like the exterior, it’s a similar story inside, with our Max trim test car’s funky split dashboard that’s centered around a 10.25in touchscreen.
Naturally given the C3 Aircross’ value positioning, there is plenty of cheap plastic to be found, but Citroen has done a good job to lift the ambience. There are some nice looking materials such as the sofa-like fabric on the dashboard, however it does feel a tad cheap to the touch. There’s also ambient lighting and there are labels dotted around with inspirational slogans like “be cool/have fun”. The latter are a bit corny, but it adds a touch of fun to the cabin.
The touchscreen, although it’s supposedly new, feels rather last-generation and having to adjust the media volume via the touchscreen is impractical. It’s odd that a volume knob has been left out because elsewhere, there are physical switches and buttons, including for the heating and ventilation and to turn off the speed limit warning (which is far from infallible).
Instead of a traditional driver’s display, the information is projected onto a bar just underneath the base of the windscreen. It’s a neat solution that’s reminiscent of the old C4 Picasso, and it works better than the i-Cockpit in most Peugeots because the display is positioned high enough that you can easily see it over the small, square steering wheel.
The C3 Aircross has one more ace up its sleeve: it can be had with seven seats. At just 4.39m, it is the shortest seven seater on the market. Opting for the seven-seater version (a £765 option on Max trim) reduces the boot space from 460 litres to 330 (still 20 litres more than the C3 supermini) with the third row down, and the third row is obviously very tight, but it is quite a rare feature. Having said that, at £18,295 the Dacia Jogger is more commodious and cheaper still.
