I thought I was well abreast of the gap between reality and PR spin in the motoring industry. I am used to being told that unsporting cars are exceedingly sporty and that cars designed for Sainsbury’s are fun to drive and full of emotion.

To me and most who do this job, it’s just another form of white noise that accompanies most product launches and can be mentally tuned out while you wait in the usually forlorn hope that they’ll tell you something you haven’t read in the press pack.

But with this, the C-Crosser, Citroën has taken the reality gap and stretched it so so wide that no suspension of disbelief, willing or otherwise, can bridge it. For this is a car which, we were told without the merest hint of irony, is “a pure Citroën product” with “Citroën DNA” running through it. It is nothing of the sort.

The C-Crosser is, in fact, not a Citroën in any conventional sense save the badge on its bonnet. This “pure Citroën product” is a Mitsubishi, designed, engineered and built in Japan.

And as for the DNA, not only does it contain none of the quirky design touches that have distinguished key Citroëns throughout the company’s history, it is an SUV, a genre noted for its absence from the Citroën lineup ever since it hit the market.

True, the new car does have a 2.2 litre diesel engine used in other Citroëns and Peugeots, while the Mitsubishi on which it is based, the Outlander, uses an inferior VW unit, and yes it has been given its own nose and detail changes to the rear styling so it doesn’t look exactly like an Outlander. But none of this makes it a Citroën any more than dressing up like Elvis and slapping on some sideburns makes you the King.

The pity is this sort of nonsense threatens to cloud the fact that what Citroën has been able to lay its hands on is a pretty capable and impressive machine. At £22,790 for the VTR+ model and £25,490 for the Exclusive version I drove, it’s not cheap, but I’d place it a step ahead of most cars that could be called competitors.

Sensibly, it recognises that people are increasingly buying cars such as this not to go yomping through the jungle but as something that works like an MPV or an estate without the homespun image. And in these roles it does well.

The fact that its third row of seats is fiddly to raise and lower and will accommodate only children is dwarfed by the fact that these seats exist at all: you won’t find them in a Land Rover Freelander 2, Toyota RAV4 or BMW X3. It has a split tailgate to provide a weatherproof vantage point or simply somewhere for children to change muddy wellies or football boots. The middle row of seats doesn’t merely fold, it slides and reclines too.

And it’s fair that Citroën takes a share of the credit for the refined and punchy motor under the bonnet. The VW equivalent in the Outlander is not only 10% less powerful, it sounds like a hardware store being fed through a blender. In contrast the 156bhp Citroën engine is smooth and flexible while offering reasonable fuel consumption and emissions. Sadly no automatic is available and the standard (Mitsubishi) six-speed gearbox is a little rubbery and obstructive.

The C-Crosser rides and handles surprisingly well, too. Citroën claims to have had some influence over Mitsubishi in the choice of suspension settings for the car (though the architecture itself is all Mitsubishi’s). It has a strong appetite for the open road, steers notably well and can be switched between two and four-wheel drive on the move. And if all you want to do is cruise, its all-round independent suspension and muted noise levels make light and comfortable work of long journeys.

It’s not an off-roader in traditional terms, but with reasonable ground clearance and the ability to lock up its four-wheel-drive system, it should have no problem extricating itself from muddy fields at sports day, a point-to-point or a country wedding, which, frankly, is all almost anyone is going to ask of it.

Inside, however, it is less successful, particularly when you consider the steep pricing points Citroën has chosen for it. Almost all the interior plastics are hard, scratchy and have no place in a car costing so much – you can spend less and have an Audi A6.

The instruments are unattractive, the steering wheel lacks reach adjustment (an extraordinary omission these days), which compromises your driving position, and the sat nav that is standard on the top of the range car provided such dreadful graphics and proved so useless at navigating me through the Pyrenees that I seriously question its value.

I also question the car’s positioning in the market: Citroën has always been aware that value is an integral part of its brand, yet it is charging big money for this car while Mitsubishi will sell it – albeit with a considerably less pleasing engine – for less than £20,000.

Even so, the C-Crosser is good enough to deserve to succeed. Whether it does is another matter. People are used to Citroën hatchbacks and Citroën MPVs but the evidence is that when Citroën wanders into a market where its face is less familiar, life can be tough.

Even Xavier Duchemin, the managing director of Citroën UK, admitted that sales of its big C6 saloon were disappointing. Clearly his marketing men are going to have to work hard to acclimatise the car-buying public to the idea of a Citroën SUV.

Perhaps they should exploit the fact that Mitsubishi is, in contrast, one of the biggest and longest established names in the SUV world and rename the C-Crosser with a view to describing it a shade more honestly and accurately. I’ve come up with the Citroën-Mitsubishi Cross Dresser. If you’ve got a better idea, perhaps you’d let us know.

Vital statistics

Model Citroën C-Crosser Exclusive

Engine type 2179cc, four cylinders

Power/Torque 156bhp @ 4000rpm / 280 lb ft @ 2000rpm

Transmission Six-speed manual

Fuel/CO2 38.7mpg (combined cycle) / 194g/km

Performance 0-62mph: 9.9sec / Top speed: 124mph

Price £25,490

Verdict A Citroën in name only, but capable

Rating

Date of release September

The opposition

Model Land Rover Freelander 2 2.2 TD4 GS £23,460

For Image, spacious interior, rewarding drive

Against Pricey, lacks a third row of seats

Model Hyundai Santa Fe 2.2 CRTD CDX+ £24,877

For Seven seats, strong all-round abilities, good looks

Against Interior design not up to class standard, name lacks cachet