The definition of a coupe is a car with a sloping roof and two doors. But carmakers have clearly thrown the dictionary out of the window when it comes to the Coupe-SUV, which is what the French carmaker Citroen is calling their latest offering in the Indian market, the Basalt.
This is a Sports Utility Vehicle—high ground clearance, big wheel arches and ‘big’ looks but one with a sloping roofline. Now, to be fair, the concept of the Coupe-SUV has been around in the form of the BMW X4/X6 and Mercedes-Benz GLC Coupe and GLE Coupe, but this is the first time this form is making it to the mass market.
Now, when reading the description, you might suppose this feels all wrong—like forcing a square peg into a round hole. But I will say this much, when I finally saw the Basalt, I liked the exterior design. The window line in particular, with a little plastic insert behind the rear window, reminded me of the ancient Egyptian symbol, the eye of Horus.
Sure, the raised ground clearance made it look slightly off; this car could have been the best-looking sedan in the market. But it is still a truly attractive-looking vehicle. There is a clear French sensibility to it.
And having seen the Tata Curvv, which shares the ‘Coupe-SUV’ moniker, this car is the better looking one. I appreciated the simplicity of the exterior, without the connected headlights and taillights dominating the profile. I’m not sure how much the average Indian consumer will appreciate it, though. Sure, I think the ‘lift-up’ door handles belie some sacrifices towards cost-cutting, but one can live with that.
So, are the looks of the Basalt the only redeeming feature of the vehicle? It comes with Citroen’s 1.2-litre Gen 3 engine, which produces 82PS in naturally aspirated form and 110PS in its turbocharged avatar. I drove the turbocharged version with a six-speed automatic gearbox. Citroen fits a torque-converter transmission on this car.
Driving on a combination of rural Goa roads, a Ghat section, and a brand-new stretch of four-lane highway, I got to experience a variety of driving conditions. And the Basalt was quite good to drive, on the ghats in particular. The pick-up from low speeds and the steering felt perfect. Yes, there was a slightly woolly feeling with the steering wheel at higher speeds, when you really push the car. And you do seem to run out of power at the top of the range, but those are not speeds anyone would be driving at normally.
Citroen sells their ‘Magic Suspension’ ride quality heavily, and the monsoons along with poor build quality on some roads gave me an opportunity to try it out, and it was pretty good.
The sloping roofline doesn’t impede read headroom either. I’m 5’11” and had no issues. They even give a three-step thigh support adjuster for the rear seat, which I found pretty darn awesome.
Also read: Tata Curvv is India’s newest EV. It’s broken the affordability barrier
Missing key features
So there you have it, a good-looking car that is great to drive. And Citroen had their new brand ambassador MS Dhoni announce that prices for the Basalt would start at Rs 7.99 lakh. But that was for the base model. The variant I drove is expected to be in the Rs 13-14 lakh range.
Given that the length of the Basalt is similar to the Maruti-Suzuki Grand Vitara and Honda Elevate, it significantly undercuts both, coming closer to the prices of the Brezza and Venue, both vehicles one segment below it in terms of size. So all things considered, it is a great car right?
I wish I could say that but the Basalt misses out on a lot of things. Indian consumers like the increasing gadgetification of vehicles. We want big digital instrument clusters with a ton of information, 360-degree cameras, Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), ventilated and electrically-operated seats, and for reasons I still don’t understand, we want sunroofs. And the Basalt has none of these. Yes, it has a pretty decent infotainment screen and wireless connectivity to Apple Carplay and Android Auto from a wireless charging point. But it misses out on many features.
And while I will admit, Citroen has fixed many things from their previous cars, including improving the quality of the key-fob and the overall plastic, it still doesn’t feel as great as its rivals.
At the end of the day, it does tick off the main boxes and the audio system does its job. I will however wait until the entire price matrix is announced to pass final judgement. If the price is right, buyers might be willing to overlook some of these issues.
@kushanmitra is an automotive journalist based in New Delhi. Views are personal.
(Edited by Theres Sudeep)