Citroen C3 Aircross Puretech 110 2021 UK first drive

Few cars have it easy these days, in a competition sense, but fewer still have it harder than those like the Citroën C3 Aircross - one of the more overtly leftfield contenders for supremacy in the unfathomably popular compact crossover segment. 

Despite occupying a similar footprint to sales chart stalwarts such as the Ford Puma and Nissan Juke, it’s rarely mentioned in the same breath, leaning more heavily as it does on virtues of personalisation and quirkiness than outright panache or dynamic appeal. 

But it’s an important car for its maker, second only in sales terms to the C5 Aircross SUV and Citroen C3 hatchback (with an impressive 340,000 units sold since launch in 2017), so its mid-life refresh for 2021 has bigger implications than its slightly more chiselled front end and revamped options list would imply. 

There are, Citroën claims, more than 70 colour scheme configurations now available for its baby SUV, arriving alongside new Advanced Comfort seats, standard-fit LED headlights, added storage capacity and a larger infotainment touchscreen.

You can tell this latest iteration of the MPV-SUV chiefly by its more angular front end design and redesigned skidplate – or, if you’re really into your mass-market Citroëns, its pair of new alloy wheel designs and slimmer handbrake lever. 

While some 4% of buyers will still plump for the diesel option, which survives the facelift, it’s the 108bhp Puretech petrol option that will claim the bulk of sales.

A characteristically thrummy turbo triple mated to a six-speed manual gearbox, it provides a surprising turn of pace when put to work. It's hardly nippy or malleable in the same way as a Ford Ecoboost or Volkswagen TSI unit but is reassuringly grunty off the mark and far from asthmatic right up to the middle of the rev range.

It’s not a motor that rewards liberal use of the accelerator, but it manages to go big on economy (it officially gets 47mpg) without sacrificing too much in the way of zing.

A more powerful but barely less efficient 128bhp petrol is on offer, but it’s paired exclusively with a six-speed automatic that’s just dimwitted enough to make even the numb and inexplicably square-knobbed manual feel almost tactile and engaging, so we would go for the latter.