Coupe SUVs have been polarising your opinions ever since they came to be. Remember the BMW X6? Some loved it, some hated it. Both opinions irrelevant because it sold like hotcakes to the people that wanted it. But the BMW X6 was, well, a BMW. The SUV Coupe phenomenon has trickled down though. Our reviews of the Tata Curvv are right around the corner, but before we drive that, we have gotten our hands on this: a French take on the Coupe SUV — the Citroen Basalt.
The Citroen Basalt, as is rather obvious from the pictures, is based on the C3 Aircross but takes things up a notch on the styling front. That’s not all, Citroen has learned from its mistakes with the Aircross and has added a few more features, and toned down some of the blatant signs of cost cutting with this car. How different is the Basalt from the Aircross and should it be on your list if you’re in the segment for a mid-size SUV? Can it really take on the might of the mid-size SUV segment which includes the likes of the Hyundai Creta, Kia Seltos, Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara, Toyota Hyryder, Skoda Kushaq, Volkswagen Taigun, MG Astor and the likes? Read on!
If you’d rather watch a video review of the Citroen Basalt, click here!
From the front, the Citroen Basalt doesn’t look too different from the C3 Aircross. You get pretty much the same face with the split headlamps, large air dam and silver skid plates. Fun fact: you get LED projectors on here, unlike the halogens the Aircross got from launch. That said, you’d be hard pressed to tell that this is a coupe SUV if you look at it head-on. The Basalt is running 16-inch wheels and on the doors, you get the same pull-up door handles (with the visible keyhole) — signs of cost cutting that still remain. No keyless entry either.
Things get interesting at the rear, with the roofline raking down sharply towards the boot. The tail lamps have a very defined 3D effect to them as well. I like the way it looks, these coupe SUVs are a hit or a miss and I think Citroen has done a good job here. The lines are neat, the tail is well defined and it sits pretty on the road. Interestingly, it is based on the CMP platform that both the C3 and C3 Aircross are based on, but it doesn’t share a wheelbase with either one of them. The wheelbase is 2651mm, which is 20mm shorter than the Aircross’ wheelbase (but longer than the smaller C3 hatch) and despite that, its overall length is a couple of millimetres more than the SUV. It is also shorter and slightly narrower.
On the inside, a lot has been carried over from the Aircross but a few important updates have been made to remove many of the obvious cost-cutting choices they made with the C3 Aircross. The dash is almost the same, with the vertically stacked air-con vents, hard plastics all over and the shared screens — a 7-inch unit for the instrument cluster and a 10.25-inch unit for the infotainment screen with wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. The changes include moving the window switches to the doors, a proper extendable centre armrest with storage, the addition of automatic climate control and wireless charging. You also get a keyfob with a flip out key, though you still need to turn the key in the ignition to start the car. These upgrades compared to the C3 Aircross were much needed (and the Aircross will be getting these upgrades soon too), and no longer does Citroen feel like it is cutting every corner it can find. Where the Aircross earlier felt built to a price, the Basalt manages to disguise that fact well enough. That said, the Basalt does lack equipment to some degree — no sunroof, cooled seats, cruise control, electric seat adjustment, 360-degree camera or ADAS. None of them are really deal breakers, but they are all very useful (and in-demand) features.
The backseats were a real surprise. Coupe SUVs tend to have compromised rear seats as the raked down roofline can limit headroom. However, that is not the case with the Basalt. In fact, it is quite the opposite. Space in the back is actually good with plenty of knee room and a couple of inches of free headroom for 5-foot-10 me. Considering the Basalt has a wheelbase that is actually smaller than the Aircross, I was pleasantly surprised by just how much knee room they’ve managed to deliver. Citroen has also managed to integrate some neat touches to improve comfort: the winged headrests and adjustable thigh support. The latter is really ingenious — the edge of the seat squab can be tilted upwards in three settings, giving your thighs more support and making the backseat a lot more comfortable. When it comes to back seats in the mid-SUV segments, this has to be one of the best ones out there right now. And before you ask, boot space is impressive as well: you get 470-litres, and for reference, the Hyundai Creta has 433 litres. So no, the raked roofline isn’t making you compromise practicality in any way.
The Basalt is available with two engines: a three-cylinder, 1.2-litre turbo (108bhp / 205Nm on the AT, 190Nm on the MT) and the 1.2 nat-asp engine (81bhp, 115Nm). These engines are familiar, shared with the rest of the Citroen family. We’re driving the former, paired with the AT transmission. As far as three cylinders go, it is a nice engine. Refinement levels are good at the low to mid-range, and while you do feel an irregular vibration at idle, it smoothens out once you get moving. It can get a little loud if you really wring it out, but this is not an engine that wants to be wrung out to the redline.
Performance is acceptable too. It feels quick off the line, and that 205Nm of torque is available right from 1750rpm making real-world performance quite enjoyable. Citroen claims a 0-100kmph time of 9.95 seconds, but it is the in-gear acceleration that really makes this engine so usable. It picks up speed steadily, with minimal lag and without feeling like it is working too hard. Of course, it doesn’t feel as rapid or refined as the 1.5 TSIs from the Germans or the 1.5 T-GDIs from the Koreans, but it suits the package well and should beat them on price.
The transmission works well — this is a proper torque converter unit, not an AMT and it has a maturity to the way it goes about business. Shifts are smooth, and while not lightning quick, they don’t leave you wanting. There is a slight judder at crawling speeds and while slowing down to a halt, but that aside it is hard to fault.
Ride quality has always been a highlight on Citroens and that continues with the Basalt. The suspension geometry has been designed such that it passes on less impacts into the cabin, plus it is running dampers that tweak damping based on the speed at which a bump is hit.
The Basalt does ride really well over our roads, soaking up bumps and undulations very confidently. Smaller stuff is completely ironed out, occasionally giving this feeling of complete isolation from the road below. Bigger bumps and potholes don’t faze the Basalt and it soaks them up well, without any uncomfortable thudding and crashing in the cabin. We even drove it down some properly rutted tracks at speed and the manner in which it soaks up the road below, without transferring too much of it to the cabin is genuinely impressive. Combine this ride quality with that comfy, spacious backseat and you really have a very rear-passenger focussed mid-size SUV. Highway manners are good too — it stays planted and stable for the most part. You can sit at triple-digit speeds without trouble, however, certain types of undulating, wavy surfaces can cause vertical movement to the body, a product of the soft damping at speed.
Handling is nothing to write home about — the steering is lazy and I found myself having to dial in more steering angle than I thought I would need in the corners. It is slow to react off-centre and that gives it the impression of being a not-so-nimble machine. The soft suspension also means you get a fair bit of body roll. It simply doesn’t feel very connected and tied down, and you soon realise that it's more happy being driven in a relaxed manner than being pushed hard. Despite the fastback styling, this car isn’t even pretending to be sporty and won’t light the fires in the hearts of any enthusiasts.
The Citroen Basalt could possibly be the most affordable SUV Coupe in the country when it launches. If priced between Rs 10 and 15 lakh, at a slight premium to the C3 Aircross, it could sway a lot of compact / entry mid-SUV buyers especially since it doesn’t feel like a large, budget SUV in the way the Aircross did at launch. It looks way more stylish, packs in more kit, rides really well in our conditions, gets a really nice back seat and is very easy to drive. Where it falls short is withdrawing in the enthusiast, but it isn’t even trying to do so and this segment has plenty of other SUVs to appeal to that kind of buyer. The Basalt gets a lot right, and could very well be the car that starts putting Citroen on people’s radar!
Our review is live on Youtube as well. Check it out below.