Citroen e-C3 review

Lively. Because the preservation of your backside is the number one priority here, every e-C3 gets Citroen’s advanced comfort suspension, complete with hydraulic bump stops at each corner that Citroen claims provide a ‘magic carpet ride’.

Poppycock. When you pick up the pace in the e-C3 bounces every which way, but you go along with it because it’s fun and frivolous. It’s a little scamp, really.

When progress is slower – i.e. around town, where 90 per cent of these will surely live – it’s impressively smooth riding, ironing out all but the harshest of bumps and ruts. Although we did find it to be a little more fidgety compared to the petrol version, largely due to the added weight: the e-C3 packs an extra 230-ish kilos over the not-quite-1.2-tonne petrol hybrid.

Instead of a 'B' mode to up the regen, Citroen provides a 'C' mode to, er, lower it. Because 'C' in this case stands for coast. One for the hypermilists out there.

How does it corner?

Precisely as you’d expect. The steering’s nice and light and that compact wheel makes the car feel instantly chuckable, but if you go into a corner with too much vigour your passengers won’t thank you for it, such is the level of (and lack of resistance to) body lean. If that’s the price of being pothole proof, so be it.

What you really want to know is what it’s like pootling around in 30mph zones, and on that front it’s especially adept: nippy enough when you need it, and small enough to jink around cities. Tidy turning circle, too.

You might have a harder time of it on the open road. Don’t forget that 111bhp e-motor will need more than 10 seconds to get you up to 62mph, and if you do happen to be cruising along on the motorway you’ll be doing so with most of what the car’s got to give, topping out at 84mph. Hate to think what that’ll do to the range.

Oh yeah, what’s the range like?

Depends on your outlook. The WLTP claim is 199 miles of range from that 44kWh battery pack, or 130 miles from the 30kWh Urban Range, which on paper suggests 4.3-4.5 mi/kWh efficiency.

Generally, anything over 4.0 is tip top. But in the Standard Range we’ve only got close to that on a warm day, of the like we don’t tend to get many of between October and April (though that could all be about to change if the El Niño reports are to be believed…). And in the Urban Range in mid 20-degree temps with the aircon on full whack, we only managed 3.3 mi/kWh. Yikes.

In the winter you’ll be doing well to pull much more than 3.0 mi/kWh, which amounts to 130-odd miles, or under 100 in the Urban Range. Even if short journeys don’t pose a problem, the regularity with which you’ll have to plug in will surely get on your nerves.