• Spacious for four, with plenty of legroom
• Lots of storage space around the cabin
• Headroom isn’t brilliant, especially in the rear

How much space is there?

Passenger space in the Citroen C5 X is very good compared with similarly-priced family cars, including the full-fat SUVs the firm is trying to tempt you out of. We managed to accommodate four adults comfortably on long trips, with ample room to lounge – not something you can say about most cars at this price point.

We’d like a little more headroom, though. The sleek styling and sloping roofline compromises it for taller drivers, and especially in the rear of sunroof-equipped cars – definitely worth checking out if this is an issue for you. If it is the Citroen C5 Aircross SUV soundly beats its rangemate in this regard.

As contributor Adam Binnie discovered in his extended six-month long-term test, the rear was roomy enough for his family of four. ‘It’s good enough for kids. They’re on the verge of not needing booster seats anymore and the high seat point/low roof results in a bit of a manoeuvre to get their chairs in and out, but they have plenty of legroom when they’re in. The widows are reasonably high up but large enough to let light in, plus there are smaller quarterlights behind.’

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Boot space and storage

Boot capacity with the back seats up is 545 litres with the petrol engines, some way off the Volkswagen Passat Estate’s 650 litres, but pretty sizeable nevertheless. And it’s more usable in shape than most SUVs’ boots, without the excessively-high loading lip. Levers enable you to fold the back seats while standing at the rear bumper – that expands the loadbay to an estate-like 1,640 litres, compared with 1,632 for the more expensive Volkswagen Arteon Shooting Brake.

Naturally, opting for the plug-in Hybrid 225 version reduces boot space, which shrinks to 485 litres seats up, or 1,580 with them folded down.

Adam commeneted: ‘Compared with the perennial boot master in this segment, the Skoda Octavia Estate, the Citroen is pretty much on par (485/1,580 litres for the PHEV variant), and in fact has more space with the seats folded. The floor comes complete with four longitudinal metal strips that aid sliding things in and out, plus levers in the boot itself for collapsing the rear seats, which is always a handy function.’

Is it easy to park?

Despite the epic length of the C5 X, parking is easy enough. The view out of the front is good, making it easy to place. The shape of the car makes seeing out of the back a little difficult, but all models are assisted by front and rear parking sensors and a rear view camera.

The suite of cameras covers the whole 360 degrees outside the car – you can select from the front, rear and side views separately and also see a top-down display, which is particularly helpful in narrow drive-through lanes (apparently). There’s a button to wash the rear camera – it gets quite dirty in bad weather – but you’ll have to clean the front camera by hand.

Safety

• Disappointing four-star by Euro NCAP
• Packed with safety equipment
• Driver-assistance technology works well

The C5 X was given a four-star rating by Euro NCAP when it was assessed in 2022, which isn’t what we expect of this type of car. Nevertheless, all the safety tech you’d expect from a large family car is squeezed in. It comes with autonomous emergency braking, traffic sign recognition, three Isofix child seat mounting points, a night vision mode and driver attention monitoring. Adaptive cruise control with lane-keeping assist is available but it’s a little on the sensitive side to allow easy and relaxed cruising.

Other systems include, adaptive LED headlights (the beam pattern adapts to speed and road conditions) and blind spot monitoring.

The C5 X has an advanced eCall system which alerts the emergency services in the event of a crash, and a system which applies the brakes after an impact to avoid secondary collisions.

Watch the Citroen C5 X crash test video