Citroen e-C3 review

It’s the electric version of Citroen’s best-selling car ever, the C3. Now in its fourth-generation, this is the first chance you’ve had to equip it with an electric powertrain. The conventional petrol lives on, mind – click these words if that’s what you’re after.

Apparently the shape’s inspired by the Oli concept. It’s certainly far more SUV-like in appearance compared to its predecessor, from the skid plates to the wheel arches to the roof rails. But it’s by no means a bad looking car.

And it’s had quite the growth spurt too. At 1.57m high, it’s shot up by nearly 100mm (including 62mm extra ground clearance), while it’s also a smidge longer and wider. You guessed it, that means it’s roomier inside than before.

Paint me a picture. With numbers.

Very well. The e-C3 is the first car to be based on Stellantis’ new ‘cost-efficient’ Smart Car platform. No, not that Smart car. It gets a 111bhp electric motor good for 0-62mph in 10.4 seconds and a top speed of just 84mph, mated to a 44kWh lithium ferro phosphate battery pack for up to 199 miles of range.

A 20 to 80 per cent top-up takes just over 25 minutes on a rapid DC charger, or a little over four hours using a home wallbox. That’s reduced to two hours 50 minutes using the optional 11kW onboard charger.

Not the most eye-catching headline stats then, but the real biggie is that prices start at £22k. A cheaper, 124-mile version with a smaller battery is on its way too. That’s remarkably good value, when you consider a Mini Cooper Electric is five grand more than that and the Vauxhall Corsa Electric and Peugeot e-208 both blast through the £30k barrier.

It's still not nearly as cheap as a Dacia Spring, but it’s further evidence that carmakers can build affordable EVs if they can be bothered.

So what’s it like to drive?

Comfort is the keyword here, with every e-C3 getting Citroen’s fancy advanced comfort suspension as standard. One of the things we’ve always liked about the C3 is that it’s never pointlessly tried to chase handling smarts at the cost of ride quality. Clever Citroen. It’s a family hatchback, for heaven’s sake.

Think light but accurate steering, soft suspension that soaks up bumps like a mogul skier, and a fair amount of pitch and roll to match. As you’ll discover when you attempt to take a corner at virtually any speed. Accept it and just enjoy the e-C3’s languid attitude instead. And hey, you’ll make the range last longer too.  Full details can be found over on the Driving tab.

Is the cabin cheap and nasty?

Glad you asked. Obviously you can’t get hold of a £22k car these days without an extra large portion of plastic inside, but the good news is Citroen’s managed to avoid it looking drab in here.

Take a look at the pictures above. Note the compact steering wheel, the head-up display in place of a traditional instrument cluster, the fabric-wrapped dashboard, the armchair-like seats… It's certainly different. Perky even.

It even comes with a smattering of labels, like the ones on the back of your old school T-shirt. They say ‘have fun’, ‘be happy’, ‘feel good’ and ‘be cool’. Yeah, weird. No doubt those’ll be plastered all over SnapTok, or whatever it is young people doomscroll these days. But overall? It’s rather nice. Click through to the Interior tab for the full breakdown.

Any competitors?

There’s Mini, Vauxhall and Peugeot mentioned above, but the one to watch is the sensational Renault 5, which is both Rather Small and Rather Cheap. Not as Rather Cheap, but still bloomin’ close. From within the Stellantis empire, this platform also provides the foundations for the Fiat Grande Panda. That’s also a head-turner, just in a different way.

There’s a lot we really, really like about the Citroen e-C3… and not a lot we don’t. It retains all the qualities of the petrol version – namely the fun looks and the impressive ride comfort – and does so with a very attractive price tag. Tick, tick and tick. Dare we say it, it’s better than the petrol at the everyday stuff you’re likely to use it for.

And had it arrived on the market a year ago, it’d be bent over laughing at brethren like the e-208 and Corsa Electric. But instead it’s already looking over its shoulder at the Grande Panda and the reborn R5. Meanwhile the Spring will surely mop up a good chunk of the cheap-as-possible crowd.

That said, Citroen has stuck to its guns on comfort and that marks the e-C3 out from the crowd in a good way. Boom. What you really need to ask yourself is can you live with the sub 150-mile range when the going gets cold?