A test of the new 1.2 mild hybrid engine in the Citroën C5 Aircross. New powertrain bodes well for the entire company.
An important new powertrain from Stellantis is quickly finding its way into the already somewhat old Citroën C5 Aircross. This immediately causes a difficult dilemma.
A test of the Citroën C5 Aircross? That car is already old, right?
Certainly, it dates back to 2017, although it was recently facelifted. You would quickly read about it, but the news that the C5 Aircross is now also available as a mild hybrid is secretly quite important. This is a brand new powertrain, which will soon find its way to the many other brands within the Stellantis group. The well-known 1.2 three-cylinder engine is now not only supported by a 29 hp electric motor, but it is also linked to a brand new six-speed dual clutch automatic transmission. After many kilometers in our former Citroën C4 endurance tester with 1.2 engine and eight-speed fully automatic transmission, we can say that this change cannot be underestimated. This combination of engine and gearbox is far from ideal. The 1.2 needs revs and the old automatic transmission simply doesn’t handle that very well. A problem that the manual versions logically do not have, but now there is the updated 1.2 with electric assistance.
The car received the new nose earlier during the facelift.
I’ve read about that before, I think
That’s right. We previously drove the engine briefly in the newly updated Peugeot 3008, but in the C5 Aircross it appears again that the small changes on paper make an extremely big difference in practice. The total power may not have increased much, but the electric boost is used exactly where it is needed: at low speeds. This means we don’t miss the two gears at all. You always get a nice push in the back, without the automatic having to immediately downshift. If necessary, it is noticeably faster and smoother than with the previous automatic transmission. The engine also works with the Miller Cycle principle and is therefore very economical in certain speed ranges, so you can make it work much more efficiently in combination with the electric motor.
The power comes from a small battery with less than 1 kWh of capacity that is charged as soon as you step off the gas. The engine then immediately shuts down and the braking energy flows back to the battery. In practice, you also rev much less often, which should of course benefit consumption. A very pleasant whole and a significant improvement compared to the 1.2 with 130 hp that it replaces. The old 1.2 will remain available for the time being and the new 136 version is not even available for many Stellantis models. However, you can expect that the old engine will eventually be retired.
Clear interior, the years will count.
So always take this version of the Citroën C5 Aircross?
Well, now an interesting dilemma suddenly surfaces. The larger models of the group, such as this C5 Aircross, but also the C5 In any case, you should always have the 180 hp version, because the more powerful variant is only faster when you rev hard, and that is not what the cars are for.
If we look at the C5 Aircross, the PHEV 180 with the same version is almost a thousand euros cheaper than the new mild hybrid. This of course has everything to do with our tax system, which is very advantageous for plugins. So you get more power for less money. Moreover, you can reduce your petrol costs by plugging in, but in practice it is a bit more difficult. We know from our 308 180 hybrid endurance tester that it is very difficult to achieve low fuel consumption. Even if you always plug in well, a few long rides and there goes your nice score. Without electricity, the car is noticeably less economical than the 1.2, also because it is considerably heavier. With the C5 Aircross it saves about 230 kilos. In addition, the new 1.2 mild hybrid will be even more economical. The car also drives better due to the lower weight and you have more trunk space: 460 versus 580 liters. So you have to be a very loyal plugger, who rarely makes long journeys, to tip the balance towards the PHEV. If this new engine comes in the company’s more compact models, such as the Peugeot 208 or the Citroën C4X, the choice is easy, as they do not have a PHEV variant. The mild hybrid is definitely the variant you should choose.
Pinball is now noticeably better.