Citroën's C-Crosser offers a typical French twist of style to a SUV, but it has limited off-road appeal, writes Michael McAleer, Motoring Editor
De Gaulle must be gutted. A French SUV to ferry the nation's next generation from sitting in front of 12-hours of MTV to join the throngs at McDonalds on the Champs-Élysée.
Three rows of seating to carry the future leaders of France: all clad in Abercrombie and Fitch, listening to Britney on their iPods. Where did it all go wrong? Is it now time to herald the sixth republic? Is Sarkozy the man to lead France to a more internationalist stance, embracing multiculturalism and the mix of Franco-American popular culture? Not likely.
However, what we can say is that France now has its own SUV, something that many in the car industry thought would never happen without Hummers on the beaches of Normandy.
After all, only three years ago, motions were being tabled by Paris city council to ban SUVs from entering its streets. This was Paris, not Phoenix: a proud nation that would not blindly follow the lead of cultural philistines across the Atlantic.
They may be the sole superpower, but France would offer Europeans an alternative. Alas the writing was on the wall decades ago, when Johnny Hallyday took the nation's music industry by storm with a very questionable Elvis impersonation.
That said, the French have not been loath to cater for changing consumer tastes in the car market. After all, while the US market was gradually taking to pick-up trucks, France was inventing a format that would take the world by storm: le people carrier.
Sadly for them, the Americans adopted France's people carriers and then merged them with its own pick-up trucks. They hoisted them in the air, added four-wheel-drive and called them sports utility vehicles (SUVs). They became the hottest motoring items on the market at the turn of the century.
French resistance was futile. The market was there for rugged vehicles.
Admittedly the French made a pretty impressive fist of holding out. While SUVs ran amok in Britain, Germany and every other European state, France, despite its strong agrarian history, ignored the potential practicalities of the SUV in such terrain.
Now the resistance is coming to an end. As Sarkozy attempts to replace outdated economic practices, so the car giants are starting to accept that selling only to suit French prejudices is not going to keep the factories buzzing with work.
Welcome, therefore, to the French SUV. Allez le C-Crosser.
Of course, they didn't really do it on their own. You don't simply wake up one day and decide to build a four-wheel-drive off-roader, when all your previous experience has been in building quirkily designed hatchbacks and the odd saloon.
The expertise on off-roading was bought-in from Mitsubishi, which developed its own Outlander so that it would share the underpinnings with the French group, thereby leading to this Citroën C-Crosser and the Peugeot 4007. In return for their efforts, the Japanese will benefit from the French group's diesel expertise, in the form of their 2.2-litre HDI engine. The deal seems good for both.
So is this nothing more than a rebadged Mitsubishi? Well, yes and no. Yes if you were to pare it down to the basic essentials then its essence is oriental. But the French have done a little tweaking. Key to this is the suspension. Being a Citroën, the engineers have adjusted the suspension to offer a more pliant ride. It's not wallowing, but it is more refined on the open road than the Mitsubishi. That's in keeping with Citroën's overall aim for the brand: comfort.
That was, admittedly, one of our concerns when we first heard that Citroën was due to sell a SUV. Just how much body-roll could they manage? After all, this firm was made famous by the likes of the 2CV that leaned into corners like a motorcycle. Even the current range of cars - though incredibly comfortable - are not exactly road-hugging and racy. Just what would a high-set SUV feel like? The answer is: surprisingly stable. While it might not have the magic carpet ride of Citroën's saloon cars from yesteryear, it is a very comfortable performer within its class.
The C-Crosser offers a front-wheel-drive settting for better fuel economy and road use or four-wheel-drive when things get a bit more extreme. It's clearly not up to the sort of rigours one could manage in, for example, the Land Rover Freelander, but it's competent enough.
In reality, Citroën would have been better accepting the inevitable and offering the C-Crosser with just two-wheel-drive. It's a little too fancy to be the workhorse some would have expected from Citroën, so you won't find many C-Crossers in the fields of France. Instead, you are going to find them in the suburbs of Saint Denis and the boulevards and banlieue.
That raises the question about whether Citroën needed that much 4x4 technology from Mitsubishi in the first place? Perhaps not, but then it would have been seen as yet another excuse for the French to dodge the SUV question.
Power is offered by the one engine option, the aforementioned 2.2 Hdi. It's a reworked version of the engine that currently features in the C5 and C6, but this time with 160bhp. That's ample for its size and in line with the competition. It offers over 380Nm of torque, which is the real boon of a diesel engine, with plenty of low rev grunt on offer. The most impressive feature is the low-level of engine noise it emits, even when pushed. We found it quieter than rivals like the Honda CR-V diesel, and that's impressive.
Citroën is making much of the seven-seat format, though in reality it's little more than emergency jump seats in the boot.
Use of the third row dramatically reduces bootspace, right back to 184 litres. That effectively means they are only really for very small children on the school run, rather than a proper outing with six friends.
A C-Crosser divided by seven occupants plus luggage adds up to either a roof rack or someone staying at home. Credit to the designers, however, who have given the exterior a very smart look, full of muscle at the back and smart appeal at the front.
The interior trim is as smart as the exterior styling, and that's something for which Mitsubishi must bear some of the credit. This is not the traditional Citroën interior, awash with silly gadgets and a steering wheel that would confuse Lewis Hamilton. It's clean, clear and functional.
As a first effort, the strategy seems to have worked. The C-Crosser pits the Citroën logo firmly into the mid-range SUV mix first-time. They have a lot to thank Mitsubishi for in that regard.
It's up against some serious rivals, from the mainstream Hyundai Santa Fe and Toyota Rav-4, to the Freelander for those that go off-roading and Honda CR-V for those who rarely get on the grass verge.
Then, of course, there is the Mitusbishi. It might not have a strong brand name in several European markets, but here in Ireland, Mitsubishi is well-recognised. Citroën will have to shout a little louder than it's used to if it wants to get noticed here.
Pricing means it is no bargain model in the market, coming in with an entry version that's only €140 less than the entry diesel Freelander. That's pretty serious price competition to keep for a newbie.
The big positive for Citroën is the changing nature of the brand, where quality seems to be improving, design is flourishing and residual-destroying discount policies have been consigned to the scrapheap.
The C-Crosser offers smart European styling to an established off-road undercarriage. In that regard, it's all about adding French panache to the proceedings. Even de Gaulle couldn't complain about that.
ENGINE: 2179cc four-cylinder common-rail turbodiesel engine offering 160bhp @ 4,000rpm and 380Nm of torque from 2,000rpm. Six-speed manual transmission.
SPECIFICATION: Two versions on offer. Dynamique comes with six airbags; ESP with traction control; ABS; selectable four-wheel-drive, two-wheel-drive and lock settings; 5+2 seating; climate control; cruise control; automatic lights; front foglights; electric windows, 16" alloys. Exclusive adds: leather seats; xenon lights; 18" alloys; rear parking sensors; heated front seats; chrome styling pack; rear privacy glass.
L/100km (MPG)
Urban: 9.5 (29.8)
Extra-urban: 5.9 (47.9)
Combined: 7.2 (39.3)
CO2 emissions: 191 g/km
ANNUAL MOTOR TAX: 722
PRICE: 46,750 for exclusive version (41,850 for dynamique version)