Citroen Basalt Review: Sensibly Stylish

The new Citroen Basalt is a compact coupe SUV. It is based on the same platform as Citroen’s other mass market products in India such as the C3 hatchback and C3 AirCross SUV. The body style is unique, and the only direct rival is the Tata Curvv. However, it also competes against other SUVs in the category such as the Hyundai Creta, Kia Seltos, Honda Elevate, Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara, Toyota Hyryder, MG Astor, Volkswagen Taigun and Skoda Kushaq. 

Why should you consider the Basalt, and why not? 

Exterior

If you like attention, you will like the Basalt. The design concept is unique for mass market cars and grabs quite a few eyeballs largely due to its sloping rear design. Among the first things you’d appreciate about the Basalt, is its size. At 4352mm long and 1765mm wide, it has good road presence. 

Citroen has built on an already good looking base of the C3 AirCross. The split X-shaped daytime running lamps, the gloss black grille stripes and the LED projector headlamps give the Basalt a modern face. 

From the side, you see the proportions are quite balanced. You could wish for a slightly better stance by way of larger 17-inch alloy wheels (16” alloy wheels are offered) or a slightly lowered ride height. 

The rear three-quarters might split a few opinions, but it’s the most unique view for sure. With flared wheel arches and large tail lamps that spill over on to the side, the Basalt’s width is emphasized. Citroen has missed a trick by not offering LED tail lamps. Thankfully, the frosted ‘3D’ effect of the lamps looks quite cool. 

There are a couple of interesting orange details on the front bumper, and on the C-pillar. That random chrome strip on the door had us scratching our heads, though. 

In terms of color options, you’d be intrigued by the ‘Cosmo Blue’ and the ‘Garnet Red’. The other colors are staple: ‘Polar White’, ‘Steel Grey’ and ‘Platinum Grey’. Dual tone colour options are offered with the red and white body shade, with the roof and mirrors finished in black. 

Interior

The doors of the Citroen Basalt open wide. Getting in and out is quite easy, even for the elderly. Get into the front seat and you’d see a cabin that’s identical to the C3 AirCross SUV, but that’s no bad thing. The dashboard is slim, which enables Citroen to really maximise space with the cabin. 

Citroen has opted for a safe black-beige color theme for the cabin which simply works. Dabs of silver above the glovebox and the AC vents uplift the experience. There are no soft touch materials here, but we’re not complaining one bit. The quality of plastics used and the textures on the mid-portion of the dashboard make the cabin a pleasant place to be in. 

There’s part-fabric-part-leatherette upholstery on the seats and the steering gets a smooth leather wrap too. Interestingly, the leatherette wrap is provided on the door armrest too, which is good to have. 

You cannot fault the Basalt for practicality either. A large glove box, 1-litre bottle holders in the doors, a little ‘shelf’ for your wallet and phones, a couple of cupholders and space under the front armrest — it’s all there. 

Hop into the rear and you will be pleasantly surprised by the amount of space on offer. It’s among the best in this price category, and you should be considering the Basalt if rear seat space takes high priority. Kneeroom and footroom is more than sufficient. Headroom, despite the sloping roofline, is adequate for six-footers too. Citroen’s party trick of offering adjustable underthigh support (the tip of the seatbase has 87mm of vertical travel) is appreciable too. 

It is possible to accommodate three average sized adults in the rear. The window line isn’t high, meaning the view out is great. You’re unlikely to feel claustrophobic here. 

Rear occupants get AC vents, two type-A charging ports and a large central armrest with twin cup holders and a phone holder.

Boot Space

Boot space for the Basalt stands at a healthy 470-litres. We managed to fit in two medium sized bags, two cabin-sized trolleys, four backpacks and some camera equipment. That’s genuinely impressive!

We wish Citroen had provided a pull type handle (like the Skoda Octavia) on the hatch. Reaching the hatch and pulling it down might be a bit of a challenge for some. Also, 60:40 split seats would’ve added to the Basalt’s impressive luggage capabilities. The rear seat can be folded away (sits flat with the floor) if required. 

Features

The Basalt’s feature list covers the essentials including a height-adjustable driver’s seat, tilt-adjust steering, steering-mounted audio/call controls, and automatic climate control. 

Infotainment duties are handled by a 10.1-inch touchscreen that’s easy to use. It could do with better graphics and more contrast. There’s wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. The feed from the reverse camera is also shown on this screen. Sadly, the camera resolution is strictly average and you don’t get dynamic guidelines either. This screen is paired with a basic sounding 6-speaker sound system.

There’s a 7-inch digital driver’s display too which seems tiny for a vehicle this size. The information it shows is rather limited too, and there’s no customizability either.

Features such as a sunroof, cruise control, seat ventilation would’ve been great to have. Also, skipping out on push-button start stop just seems unnecessary. Overall, the Basalt might not be setting new benchmarks in terms of features. But what it offers is just what you need on a daily basis and nothing more. 

Safety

Safety features of the Citroen Basalt include:

Do note that the rear seats of the Basalt do not have load sensors. Therefore, you’d have to either keep the seat belt buckled even when there are no occupants at the rear, or hear an annoying chime for a while. Such cost cutting measures are disappointing in any car, let alone one that sits at this price point.

Performance

Engine options on the Basalt are as follows:

On the first drive experience, we could only spend time with the turbo-automatic option. Here are a few quick takeaways:

• Refinement feels average. You always feel vibrations on the floor board and pedals. Engine sound could’ve been controlled better, especially at highway speeds. 

• Unfair to compare the engine with the 1.5-litre Turbo options in the segment. This is closer in terms of numbers and performance to the 1.5-litre naturally aspirated engines available in the Creta/Seltos, Hyryder/Grand Vitara and Elevate. 

• Performance isn’t exciting, but feels fit for purpose. For relaxed city and highway drives, it will work just fine. 

• The automatic gearbox feels slow to respond, especially when the accelerator is pressed fully. Takes a while to downshift and give you the acceleration you need. Therefore, overtakes on the highway require some planning. In stop and go traffic, the gearbox chooses to hold on to lower gears longer. 

Ride and Handling

The Basalt’s comfort game is quite strong. The suspension setup works silently to keep the thuds and jerks from irregular road surfaces from disturbing occupants. In fact, the comfortable ride quality almost makes you forgive Citroen for offering 16-inch wheels with high profile tyres. While we mostly tested the Basalt on good roads, we’ve got no real doubts on its bad road capabilities given how well the C3 and C3 AirCross fared. 

But, the Basalt is no driver’s delight. The steering is slow to turn in and there’s noticeable body roll too which will have you back off from attacking those twisty ghat roads for fun. It is one of those cars that you’ll have to find a comfortable pace with and while the coupe styling may make it look sportier it prefers a relaxed driving style.

Verdict

The Basalt is not the most exciting car to drive. Also, the feature misses just seem uncalled for. Prices for the Citroen Basalt start at Rs 7.99 lakh. We expect the top-spec versions to be priced around the 13.5-14 lakh rupee mark. Which makes it lower than the base automatic variant of the Creta, and on par with a mid-spec Elevate. For this price, Citroen is ticking the right boxes. 

It has a few but very well-defined strengths. It looks like nothing else there is. Love it or hate it, you won’t ignore it. The rear-seat experience is roomy, and comfortable. Pair that with the massive boot and the fabled ride quality and you’ve got a comfortable large family car right there.