Citroen Basalt X

The Citroen Basalt is one of those unique cars that had us all intrigued when it first arrived in the market in 2024 It promised a value-for-money package that delivered on all aspects of a family car, but fell short when it came to delivering a good in-car experience. Especially with rivals like the Hyundai Creta, Kia Seltos, Skoda Kushaq, Volkswagen Taigun, Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara, and Tata Curvv, the Basalt lacked that aspiration that one would expect at its price.

To change the narrative around, Citroen launched the Basalt X - a more premium and feature-loaded iteration of the standard Basalt. What does it bring to the table, and should you now consider the Basalt over its established rivals? Let’s find out:

The Citroen Basalt’s design is unique and eye-catching. It mixes the sloping roofline of a coupe with the chunky elements of an SUV to create a distinctive design that looks properly handsome. The nose of the Basalt looks bold and muscular. The resemblance with the Aircross is apparent in the way the chunky LED projector headlights and sleek LED DRLs have been integrated. It even gets LED fog lights now.

From the side, the car maintains a balanced look. The 16-inch alloy wheels, while fancy, seem small relative to the size of the Basalt.

I also don’t appreciate the fact that Citroen still hasn’t tried to hide the key hole on the door, which looks ancient alongside the flap-type doorhandle.

The Basalt's unique appearance continues at the rear with the sloping roofline and angular tail lamps, making it easily distinguishable from other vehicles on the road.

Nevertheless, from a rear three-quarter view, the Basalt can appear rear-heavy and somewhat awkward compared to a traditional sedan.

The 2025 Basalt comes in five color options: Polar White, Steel Gray, Garnet Red, Cosmo Blue, and Perla Nera Black. Both Garnet Red and Polar White can also be specified with a dual-tone contrasting black roof.

While Citroen hasn’t tweaked the design of the Basalt with this new X version, the full LED lighting setup along with the overall styling gives the Basalt a really unique road presence, and it won’t feel out of place between cars more expensive than itself.

For a car costing Rs 13 lakh (ex-showroom), the Basalt X’s interior has to be one of the best experiences you can get for the price. Where the design felt a bit dull earlier, it now feels properly modern. The new dual tone black and tan theme with the gold inserts looks rich. There’s even neatly integrated white-coloured ambient lighting that extends from the dashboard and into the door pads, which elevates the experience at night.

Also elevated is the quality of materials. There’s soft-touch leatherette wherever you see the tan colour, including the dashboard and door pads.

Even the seats are full leatherette now (it was semi-leatherette before). But the overall fit and finish still has scope for improvement as the plastics feel scratchy, and elements like the sun visor and indicator stalks feel light in weight. These things aren’t a dealbreaker, but if finished properly, it could’ve resulted in a cabin so well finished that it would feel exponentially more expensive than it is.

Front Seats

Getting in and out of the Basalt is easy, thanks to the large doors that open really wide. The seat height is also well-suited for easy ingress and egress, making it convenient for elderly passengers as well.

As for the seat comfort, there’s nothing to complain about. The side supports could’ve been more supportive for people with a small waist, but feel absolutely fine for people with wider frames. Seat height adjustment is available from the mid-spec variant (Plus) and finding the ideal driving position is easy, but some drivers may find the steering wheel is a bit farther away than ideal, as it adjusts only for height and not reach. 

Rear Seats

At this price, the Citroen Basalt offers one of the best rear seat experiences, and is a great option if you’re going to be chauffeur driven. There is ample knee and footroom, allowing two six-foot individuals to sit comfortably one behind the other.

Although the backrest is not adjustable, its angle is comfortable, and the real highlight is the adjustable under-thigh support. This simple yet effective feature helps people of different heights find their ideal seating posture and comfort.

Despite the sloping roofline, headroom is sufficient, even for six-footers, and I found the head supports to be great for taking a nap. There’s nothing missing here, but I can’t help but think that rear seat ventilation and sun shades would’ve made this an outstanding rear seat package.

Storage and practicality

In terms of in-car practicality, the Basalt is hard to fault. You get large front door pockets, space in the centre console for a wallet if the wireless phone charger is not in use, two cup holders, and a cubby under the sliding front armrest. 

The glovebox opening is a bit small, but the storage area is surprisingly deep and can be useful for keeping your laptop sleeve.

At the rear, you'll find seatback pockets, door pockets that can accommodate a one-litre bottle, a folding centre armrest with two cup holders, and a slot for placing your phone. 

Charging Options

Citroen has finally caught up to date in terms of charging ports. You still get a USB port and a 12V socket for the front passengers, but the rear occupants now get 2X USB type-C charging ports.

Boot space

The Basalt’s 470-litre boot is massive and the large hatch opening makes loading luggage easy. Although, bringing the luggage up to the loading point will require effort as the loading bay is a little high. 

The luggage area is wide with good depth so placing multiple large suitcases becomes easy. For more space, the rear seat folds but unfortunately you don’t get a 60:40 split folding function, which means you cannot carry long items with more than two passengers.

The Citroen Basalt’s biggest shortcomings were its missing functional features, but with this new Basalt X, that grievance has now been resolved. 

With the addition of functional features like keyless entry with push button start/stop, auto IRVM, and cruise control, the fundamentals of the Basalt’s feature package are now strong. In fact, moving beyond the basic features, this update has also added ventilated seats and 360-degree camera, further improving its feature package. 

Ventilated seats get three levels of cooling and work superbly well, however, the 360-degree camera is a dealer fitment and it feels like one. The camera quality isn’t great and the screen’s resolution doesn’t do it any favours either. The viewing angles seem distorted and the feed lags while parking. There are no dynamic guidelines either. I would’ve honestly stuck with the rear view camera instead of offering this half baked feature, which is clearly an afterthought.

But the rest of the feature package works as intended. The 10.2-inch touchscreen infotainment system is easy to use with large icons and you get wireless Apple Carplay and Android Auto as well. The user interface doesn’t feel aesthetic or rich, but is easy to navigate.

The 7-inch digital driver’s display is small, but crisp. It doesn't offer any themes or layouts, but the displayed information is easy to read.

For entertainment, there’s a 6-speaker sound system which has acceptable quality but can’t match up to the branded systems offered in the Kia Seltos, Hyundai Creta and the Tata Curvv.

While the feature package of the Basalt X is still sparse compared to a Creta with discretional misses like a sunroof, powered seats and branded audio system. But this car compares to the mid-spec variants of the cars like the Creta and Grand Vitara, and for that price, the Basalt X offers a great feature package. 

The Basalt comes with standard safety features such as six airbags, three-point seat belts, ISOFIX mounts, hill-hold assist, and seat belt warnings.

Unfortunately, as seen in many other cars, the rear seats lack load sensors. So, regardless of whether someone is sitting in the back or not, you'll need to either keep the seat belt fastened or endure the alarm for 90 seconds.

A tyre pressure monitoring system and 360-degree camera are offered in the higher trims.

As far as safety ratings go, the Basalt has scored a 4-star crash test rating in Bharat NCAP.

The Basalt’s 470-litre boot is massive and the large hatch opening makes loading luggage easy. The luggage area is wide with good depth so placing multiple large suitcases becomes easy. For added space the rear seat folds but unfortunately you don’t get a 60:40 split folding function, which means you cannot carry long items with more than two passengers. 

You get two petrol engine options: both are 1.2-litre units. The base model is a non-turbo engine, producing 82 PS of power and 115 Nm of torque, and it comes only with a five-speed manual transmission. The top-spec variant features a 1.2-litre, three-cylinder turbo petrol engine that produces 110 PS of power and 190 Nm of torque with a manual transmission and 205 Nm with an automatic. We drove the automatic transmission.

Compared to major competitors like the Creta or the Seltos, the Basalt doesn’t offer a large turbo petrol engine and has lower power. However, for regular driving, the car doesn’t feel underpowered. The automatic gearbox and engine response are good in stop-and-go traffic, allowing for smooth driving. However, during overtaking or quick acceleration, the gearbox can be a bit slow and may occasionally get confused about the right gear, requiring a bit of planning. 

In terms of high-speed performance, the engine has enough power to cruise comfortably at 100-120 kmph. However, there is no cruise control, which is particularly important given the strict speed regulations and penalties. Just like at low speeds, high-speed overtaking also requires a bit of planning due to the slow gearbox, which on occasions takes its own sweet time to downshift.

One area where the Basalt falls short is refinement. The engine sound is audible even at low speeds, and being a  three-cylinder results in some vibrations felt through the pedals and steering wheel. 

Engine And Performance

There have been no changes to the powertrains and their tunes in the X version of the Basalt. You get two petrol engine options: both are 1.2-litre petrol units, one naturally-aspirated and one turbo-charged. The Basalt X does not get a CNG or diesel engine option.

1.2-litre NA petrol

This engine is best suited for relaxed city commutes only. Anything more and it feels stressed, underpowered and overworked.

City Performance

This 1.2-litre NA petrol of the Basalt is made for people who don’t care about performance, but just want a mobility solution for two points within the city. It feels smooth and builds the speed in a relaxed linear manner, ensuring no sudden jerks or leaps. Using the 5-speed manual transmission is fairly simple, even in heavy traffic. It has enough performance for regular overtakes, but it is best to downshift if the overtaking window is too narrow. 

You can expect a fuel efficiency of around 12kmpl in the city.

Highway Performance

The Basalt’s NA petrol engine isn’t ideal for highway usage. Sure, you can do an occasional relaxed highway run in it, where it’ll cruise at 80kmph without any issues. But building speeds over 60kmph takes time, and the acceleration feels even slower with a full load inside. To make an overtake, you will have to downshift and push the engine to higher RPMs, and even still you will have to plan your moves well in advance. 

If cruising at a steady speed, you can expect a fuel efficiency of around 14kmpl on the highway.

1.2-litre turbo-petrol

Great performance and fuel efficiency balance for a three-cylinder turbo-petrol engine. Offers usable performance with good refinement and acceptable fuel economy.

City Performance

The turbo-petrol engine of the Basalt feels quick in the city. It builds up speeds quickly and you don’t really have to dial in a lot of throttle to make quick overtakes. Bumper to bumper traffic is handled well, but the throttle in the automatic transmission can feel a bit eager at crawling speeds of 20-40kmph. This is something that you can get used to easily, and won’t cause you any trouble.

In regular city traffic, the automatic transmission feels smooth and convenient to use. It keeps you in the right gear and the shifts feel almost non-existent at part throttle.

Despite the 3-cylinders and turbo-charged induction, the Basalt turbo-petrol returns a decent fuel efficiency of around 11kmpl even in heavy traffic, provided you drive it sensibly.

Highway Performance

The Basalt turbo-petrol is surprisingly effortless on the highway. It isn’t exciting or outright fun, but adequate and usable. The car reaches triple digit speeds with ease, and even continues to build at those speeds without much application of the throttle. Pickup above 100-120kmph isn’t quick but it is enough for your overtakes and it cruises at speeds of 120kmph comfortably. 

For overtakes while cruising, the transmission isn’t as quick as a dual clutch automatic (DCT) to downshift, but it isn’t slow. But in case you need to downshift quickly, you can slot the gearbox into manual setting and change the gears by tapping the lever itself. I just wish Citroen offered paddle shifters with the Basalt as it would’ve made the driving experience more engaging.

On the highway, you can expect a fuel efficiency of around 15kmpl.

Ride Quality

The Citroen Basalt X rides as if it is sitting on a magic carpet – we’ve seen it with other Citroen cars, and it is applicable to the Basalt very much so. Regular speedbreakers and potholes infesting our urban cities are dealt with as if they weren’t there in the first place. The bumps are absorbed well and movement inside is controlled.

Rough roads are tackled with ease, and in fact, increasing your speeds over a bad patch of road actually helps improve comfort. Even the ground clearance is plenty for you to not worry about that odd plus-sized breaker. 

At high speeds too, the car remains planted and maintains composure after going over an expansion joint or sudden undulation. Only the steering wheel is something that could be more precise and direct at higher speeds, but it’s not something you’d complain about in regular city usage as it feels super easy to use with its light weight.

The Basalt X is what the Basalt should’ve been from day one. It is now a complete package which delivers on all the fronts of a family car, with the plush ride quality and in-cabin experience now being two of its biggest highlights. The package is so strong that save for a few feel-good features, it is good enough to match the top trims of cars like the Creta and Curvv. 

If you were in the market for a family car that values utility over flash and offers a bargain for the price, then the Citroen Basalt should be on the top of your list.