Citroen C3 Aircross - Hire Car

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Mon 17 Apr 2023 16:48
Citroen C3 Aircross - Hire Car - Adampr

Just had one of these as a hire car for few days.

The seats are squishy and the engine is pretty good. The SatNav works and infotainment in general is OK, if a little hard to navigate. We had four adults sat in it in comfort and five could fit. Boot was a decent size and shape too.

There were a few issues:

1. Everything was very 'chunky'. The handbrake lever is enormous and the gear knob was also on the large side. Someone keeps designing cars for normal size people with massive hands.

2. The rear doors don't open very wide.

3. This seems to be a very French thing, but the cruise control buttons were strangely laid out and hidden in a stubby stalk behind the steering wheel. It's the same on our Renault, except they hide the radio buttons on those.

4. The ride and handling is extremely weird. Somehow both crashy and floaty with 1980s style understeer.

Probably one for the school run and shopping, as long as you've got flippers for hands.

I should add, as it's come up before, it was three years old 50,000 miles, had quite a few dings and three of the tyres were well worn (about 3mm left). It was rented from one of the big international brands, so I think the notion that they are hanging on to stuff much longer is correct.

Edited by Adampr on 17/04/2023 at 17:27

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Mon 17 Apr 2023 17:47
Citroen C3 Aircross - Hire Car - badbusdriver

The C3 Aircross was facelifted in 2021, so this wouldn't be the same as the one I have on my Motability list. Having said that, I prefer the front end styling of the older car (I think very little apart rom this changed re its appearance) to the more angular and more angry look of the new one (why is it so many cars have 'faces' best described as angry or aggressive?). Not much change inside on the new car, touchscreen is bigger and more responsive with more shortcut buttons (going by video reviews here). Surprised that the rear doors don't open very wide though, bit of an oversight on a car like this.

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Wed 19 Apr 2023 04:08
Citroen C3 Aircross - Hire Car - martin.mc

I like the look of the Mk1 version and was considering buying one (love the blue colour). However was put off by the heating and ventilation controls being on the touch screen.

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Wed 19 Apr 2023 08:05
Citroen C3 Aircross - Hire Car - Adampr

I like the look of the Mk1 version and was considering buying one (love the blue colour). However was put off by the heating and ventilation controls being on the touch screen.

Once you've stopped looking for them, it's not actually too bad. There is a fan icon on the screen all the time and you just press that to get to enormous 'virtual controls' on the screen.

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Sat 22 Apr 2023 13:54
Citroen C3 Aircross - Hire Car - martin.mc

Thanks for the information. I should really move with the times. My 2021 Duster has an ignition key, a proper handbrake and old fashioned controls for the heating etc. Oh, and a spare wheel too. A CD player would have been nice.

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Sat 22 Apr 2023 13:59
Citroen C3 Aircross - Hire Car - Adampr

Thanks for the information. I should really move with the times. My 2021 Duster has an ignition key, a proper handbrake and old fashioned controls for the heating etc. Oh, and a spare wheel too. A CD player would have been nice.

Aircross has a proper handbrake although, for reasons unknown, it has a kind of t-bar shape with and enormous handle on the end. Presumably for those flippers again.

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