Citroen C3 review

Quirky is the first word that springs to mind. You see, Citroen has had a go at reinventing the cabin, while retaining its comfort focused approach.

All C3s get a compact steering wheel (similarly sized to that you find in a Peugeot), a head-up display in place of a traditional instrument cluster (viewed over the top of the steering wheel, as, er, you do in a Peugeot), a fabric-wrapped horizontal dashboard, plus Citroen’s advanced comfort seats (read armchairs).

Oddly on each of the door armrests there are also labels - similar to those on your T-shirt - which say ‘have fun’, ‘be happy’, ‘feel good’, ‘be cool’. A bit like having ‘live, laugh, love’ in your house; a bit cringeworthy. Nothing a pair of scissors won’t sort.

It does feel a little cheap in places, there’s a fair amount of hard plastic knocking about, but it’s quite unlike anything else out there, and the antidote to boring business-like cabins you find elsewhere. Your kids will love it.

Is it actually comfortable?

Very much so. The growth spurt has meant seating is raised by 76mm compared to the current version, while there’s now more legroom, headroom and elbow room.

Indeed, Citroen claims there’s 30mm more headroom and 21mm more elbow room for front passengers, and 19mm more elbow room and 20mm more legroom in the rear, “compared to market average”, whatever that means.

The armchair-like front seats have also been redesigned to be more enveloping and provide better lateral support, and we found them lovely and soft. There’s plenty of room in the rear, though you’d struggle to fit three abreast.

Boot space, meanwhile, is up by 10 litres versus the old C3 to 310 litres, and feels noticeably deep. Beware the high load lip, mind.

What's the tech like?

Well, where over the Channel entry-level models get a built-in smartphone holder (similar to entry-level Fiat 500s) that allows you to ‘dock’ your device in place of an infotainment display, all versions over here get a 10.25-inch touchscreen.

It’s simple enough to operate with handy shortcut buttons down both sides of the screen, but it’s not the most visually appealing, and the graphics are a bit... ordinary. Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto do however come as standard, which if you’re anything like us means you’ll never see the native system anyway.

Pleasingly, Citroen has also seen sense and there’s a dedicated climate control panel just below, with physical switchgear to adjust temperature, fan speed and suchlike.