Introduction
The Citroen C3 Aircross is back again nearly half a year after it burst onto the Indian car scene and this time with a much-promised value addition. Yes, we are talking about a much-needed automatic gearbox for the budget Citroen range which has been launched in India with a starting price of Rs. 12.85 lakh. The automatic gearbox is available in the Max 5, Plus 5 and 7 seating layouts. It is a six-speed torque converter mated to Citroen’s 1.2-litre turbo petrol producing 110bhp/205 Nm. We have driven the car and you can check our review at the bottom of this story!
| Citroen C3 Aircross AT Plus AT 5 Seater | ₹ 12,84,800 |
| Citroen C3 Aircross AT Max AT 5 Seater | ₹ 13,49,800 |
| Citroen C3 Aircross AT Max AT 5+2 Seater | ₹ 13,84,800 |
Automatic gearbox features
Creep function
Yes, this automatic gearbox comes with a creep function which is most useful in bumper-to-bumper traffic. You put your foot on the brake, engage D and then once you lift off, the car will roll on its own up to a speed of 8kmph allowing you to coast up to the vehicle in front of you without having to press the throttle repeatedly to inch forward.
Manual intervention
Yes, the gearbox comes with a manual intervention in the form of +/- mode in the gear track. Using the manual mode allows you to intervene when needed and you do engine braking as a part of the deal. At this price bracket and with the kind of appeal that Citroen is going for with the C3 Aircross, it was a bit much to expect paddle shifters as a part of the package. It’s also programmed to ensure that you don’t shift at a speed too low for a gear too high and vice versa.
5+2 versatility
The seven-seat option is only available in Max variants and is priced at Rs 35,000 over the five-seat model. It’s a space for two at best and three if you are close or adventurous. This then makes it a 5+2 rather than a dedicated three-row vehicle. The third-row bench seat is removable and in fact, you can fold up the second row also. The progression of numbers is 44-litre with the third row up, 511-litre with the third row out and 839-litres with the second row removed!
Competition check
When looking at the top-spec Max 7 seven-seat model which is priced at Rs 13.85 lakh (ex-showroom) the following three-row vehicles come closest in pricing.
Maruti Suzuki XL6 Alpha AT- Rs. 14.06 lakh
Kia Carens Prestige iMT diesel- Rs. 13.95 lakh
Mahindra Scorpio N Z2 petrol MT seven-seat- Rs. 13.60 lakh
The XL6 and Carens are both mid-spec models having a similar feature list and practicality offerings while the Scorpio N is a base model with a lower feature list as compared to the C3 Aircross AT. However, it is a diesel and an MT option only.
