diff --git a/tests/Makefile.am b/tests/Makefile.am
index bc59d660..7a2139df 100644
--- a/tests/Makefile.am
+++ b/tests/Makefile.am
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ installcheck-local:
 # Be real mean with it.
 .PHONY: maintainer-check-g++
 maintainer-check-g++: $(TESTSUITE)
-	$(TESTSUITE) CC='$(CXX)'
+	$(TESTSUITE) --compile-c-with-cxx
 
 .PHONY: maintainer-check-posix
 maintainer-check-posix: $(TESTSUITE)
diff --git a/tests/atlocal.in b/tests/atlocal.in
index 8f5b1a90..11554b33 100644
--- a/tests/atlocal.in
+++ b/tests/atlocal.in
@@ -62,3 +62,10 @@ CONF_JAVA='@CONF_JAVA@'
 # Use simple quotes (lib/quote.c).
 LC_CTYPE=C
 export LC_CTYPE
+
+
+# Handle --compile-c-with-cxx here, once CXX and CXXFLAGS are known.
+if "$at_arg_compile_c_with_cxx"; then
+  CC=$CXX
+  CFLAGS=$CXXFLAGS
+fi
diff --git a/tests/local.at b/tests/local.at
index dd4cd555..462301db 100644
--- a/tests/local.at
+++ b/tests/local.at
@@ -629,4 +629,15 @@ m4_popdef([AT_COND_CASE])])
 
 AT_INIT
 
+# Cannot assign CC and CFLAGS here, since atlocal is loaded after
+# options are processed, so we don't know the value of CXX and
+# CXXFLAGS yet.
+#
+# Note that it also means that command line values for CXX and
+# CXXFLAGS will not be propagated to CC and CFLAGS.
+AT_ARG_OPTION([compile-c-with-cxx],
+              [compile C parsers with the C++ compiler])
+
+AT_COLOR_TESTS
+
 AT_TESTED([bison])