Citroen Aircross X Review: Unique Option In The ₹10-15 Lakh Budget, But With Compromises

So Citroën is a brand that is not too well known in India. It often gets lost in the crowd of Hyundai’s, Maruti’s, Tata, Mahindras, and the MG’s of the market. Now, Citroën is a good, reliable European French brand that makes some pretty kickass cars that last quite long with their users; however in India the brand awareness really isn’t there. Now Citroen has been in India for the past few years and has quite some cars like the Citroen C3, the e-C3, the Citroen C3 Aircross, the Citroen C5 Aircross, and the Citroen Bassalt.

We got a chance to review the Citroen Aircross X recently and took the opportunity because that car interests me personally quite a lot. It offers a nice and complete seven-seater package within a budget of about ₹15 lakh. What also interested me is that I wanted to see if a seven-seater SUV in a very competitive price range is even good or rather what we get in a ₹15 lakh seven-seater SUV from a European car maker.

I took the opportunity and asked Citroen to send over the car to me for a few days. In this review, we will take a look at how my experience was, what I liked about the car, what I didn’t like about the car, and finally if the Citroen Aircross X is worth your hard earned money. 

Citroen Aircross X Review: Design and Styling

I will first talk about the design. Before we start, it’s important to mention that the Citroen Aircross X is a seven-seater car. When you look at the car from the outside the first time, you cannot tell that it is a seven-seater car. Citroen has packaged the car very nicely since there is surprisingly sufficient space in the back for all three rows of seats, without the car looking too stretched from the rear third. In short this is not the worst third-row seat space that we have seen in a car in this segment, in this price range.

The styling of the car, I quite liked. It’s a very European-like design. You can tell that it’s a Citroen for those who know the brand and the design cues have definitely been taken in the products in India as well. It looks proportionate from all angles – not too wide nor too narrow.

The tire profile also fits the car really well and doesn’t look too odd or too disproportionate. We get 16-inch wheels on the higher-end variants. From the outside everything fits in quite well. For some people this might be a bit too busy design but I liked it. It looks distinctive enough to be a Citroen. That signature grille, that signature headlight design, that signature silhouette is all there and of course it looks good to the eye.

In terms of styling I would give this good marks. The car looks good, it looks proportionate. It has a surprisingly sufficient amount of space which you can’t tell by just looking at it from the outside. For design I think this does the job quite well, the Citroen Aircross X is a pretty good looking car. 

Citroen Aircross X Review: Interior and Comfort

Coming to the interiors, first we’ll talk about the space – the quality of materials, the fit and finish, and how it feels to be inside of the Citroen Aircross X.

My first and initial impression was that this is a very well put together cabin. Yes, a few things might look out of place. For example the infotainment display and the digital instrument cluster have been updated later so they do look slightly out of place but still come together quite well. The digital instrument cluster is actually much more premium than what you would expect in a car like this. I like the steering wheel design as well and of course, the dual tone finish on the interiors, the brown and black with the unique ambient lighting setup, looks very good. The fit and finish of everything is pretty good.

We also have these nice soft touch leather panels everywhere in the cabin. The armrest sits well and you can also adjust how far forward and backward it can go. The amount of space is obviously sufficient for all three rows of space. The third row might be a little cramped but again not the worst that we have seen in a car. Leg room and the headroom for the second row passengers is not a problem at all. Headroom is sufficient and legroom is decent enough. The thigh support I thought could have been better even for a short person like me (I am 5’6″ in height). The thigh support felt like it would get uncomfortable on a long journey but overall this is a very good cabin for what you’re getting for the price. Everything looks good, feels premium, feels spacious, and the fit and finish is also well put together. 

Citroen Aircross X: Features and Tech

The Citroen Aircross X was updated last year. Initially when Citroen had launched their cars in India, they were criticized for being slightly outdated, slightly low on the features front. That was changed last year because Citroen gave updates to all of its cars with new features and the Aircross X was also part of the lot.

With the new one we now get pretty much everything that one could ask for:

• – We’re getting front ventilated seats
• – We are getting a 10.23-inch infotainment display which also supports wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay
• – We are getting a fully digital instrument cluster
• – We are getting cruise control with speed limiter
• – We are getting seat ventilation
• – I’ve already said we’re getting a 360-degree camera
• – We are getting AC vents for the rear passengers, dual AC vents in fact
• – The most unique feature, in fact, for me in this car, was that we are getting wireless charging
• – We are getting Type-C ports for the rear passengers and a lot more with the new Citroen Aircross X

One integral feature it misses out on is automatic headlamps because in this segment generally cars do come with automatic headlamps so that is a miss. For some users not having a sunroof will also be a minus with the Citroen Aircross X. Apart from that this has everything a basic user can ask for even in 2026. For a user like me this has everything I want in my car so not too bad.

Citroen Aircross X Review: Performance and Drivability

And now to how it drives. The Citroen Aircross X comes with a 1.2-liter turbocharged petrol engine that either comes with a manual gearbox or a CVT automatic. Now we got the automatic with the turbo petrol engine and this car produces 110 bhp of power and 190 Nm of torque, which for a car this size is very less. It did feel underpowered a lot of times. The 0-100 run I did took more than 12 seconds to reach 100 km/h so it is not the quickest car. I didn’t drive it on the highways but I’m sure it would leave you asking for more but if you are buying a car for the city then this is a very comfortable car to drive. It’s actually quite stable as well at speeds of 100 and above but again during overtakes, when you need to quickly just jump the line or something like that, the car will leave you asking for more pretty much every time.

The transmission on the other hand is really good. It’s quite nice. The rubber band effect with the CVT is there prominently but you can switch it to manual and switch gears as per your wish. The performance is good.

Talking about the performance it’s also very important to mention the fuel efficiency. If I am a buyer of this car or a potential buyer of this car, I would either see that the car is fun to drive or powerful, which it doesn’t, so it should have mileage. But the Citroen Aircross X doesn’t have that as well. During my time with the car, where I drove it around 500+ km in the city over the course of a week, I only managed to get about 9.7 or 9.8 km/l with the car, using it as my primary car so I was driving as my normal driving behavior, which is basic. On highways you can eke out about 14-15 km/l but in the city it won’t go above 10 kmpl, maximum 11 for those who are driving with efficiency in mind.

Overall in terms of performance it’s not the most powerful or the fun car to drive. The 1.2-liter petrol is good, it revs smoothly, it’s a good engine but it doesn’t have the kick. The braking is very good, the transmission has no faults, works flawlessly, and the braking is very good, very impressive. The average, of course, is bad. If I were to buy a car, if it doesn’t have performance it should have efficiency. The Citroen Aircross X has none of them so in terms of drivability and performance I don’t think this goes too high on my list of things. 

Review Verdict: Should You Buy the Citroen Aircross X?

Smartprix Rating: ⭐6.6/10

• Design and Build: ⭐8/10
• Features and Tech: ⭐7/10
• Driving Pleasure: ⭐5/10
• Performance: ⭐5/10
• Comfort and Space: ⭐8/10

So that was our review of the Citroen Aircross X. Now purely speaking from the value for money factor, this is a superb car. This is giving you the most amount of seats, the most amount of features, the most amount of space, and the most amount of car in this budget.

There are compromises of course. The performance is underwhelming and the fuel efficiency is bad. There are a couple of features that might be missing for some kinds of users, like a sunroof. But again for a 15 lakh budget for one of the top-end variants, this is a value for money deal. If you are somebody who just wants a good reliable user-friendly family car without burning a hole in your bank account, the Citroen Aircross X is one of the best options you can buy. If you are somebody who cares either about the performance or about the efficiency of your car, this is not the car for you. 

First reviewed in June 2026.