Citroen e-SpaceTourer - long-term review

So how vast is the e-SpaceTourer? Parked up on a regular British streetside, I’ll admit it looks pretty huge at first glance. But I have a theory: it’s actually slightly smaller than meets the eye.

Recently I spent a few days with an Ineos Grenadier. Very different flavour of car to the e-SpaceTourer, obviously, but still interesting to compare the two for size. Despite offering two rows of seats to the Citroen’s three, the Ineos is only six centimetres shorter nose-to-tail, and slightly taller and wider for good measure.

OK, so part of the Ineos’s unlikely longness can be blamed on its tailgate-mounted spare tyre, but let’s look at some other automotive big lads for comparison. The e-SpaceTourer is 8cm shorter than a Volvo EX90, 10cm shorter than a modern Range Rover or Tesla Model X, and over 20cm shorter than a BMW X7 – and offers a hell of a lot more space inside than any of the above.

The reason the e-SpaceTourer reads so large is, I think, its unapologetically cuboid profile, with no creases or curves (or indeed much beyond right angles) to lessen its visual proportions. But point is, it’ll squeeze in spaces smaller than you might expect: with shortish overhangs front and rear, I’ve found it far less of a pain to get parked than I expected – and certainly easier than the limited-lock Grenadier.

And, of course, with sliding rear doors, the e-SpaceTourer’s back-seat passengers can escape from even the tightest of supermarket parking spaces. Its driver, meanwhile, must exit through the side window.

While we’re on the subject of competitors, let’s talk about the rival that demonstrates where the e-SpaceTourer’s missing a trick: VW’s ID Buzz.

Not because the battery-powered Volkswagen is a better vehicle, necessarily – I’ve not driven one for a couple of years, but I don’t remember it being noticeably more refined or characterful than the Citroen, and it definitely doesn’t represent stronger value – but because YOU CAN ACTUALLY BUY IT IN SOME INTERESTING COLOURS.

The ‘Kapari Green’ shade worn by our long-termer is – no joke – the most exciting colour available for this generation of e-SpaceTourer. Your other options are white, grey or black. It’s a far cry from the two-tone array of yellows, bright blues and turquoises offered for the ID Buzz, which shamelessly riff off the Love Bus’s hippie-California heritage.

This seems a shame. Because Citroen’s got its own alternative-bus history to draw upon, in the shape, of course, of the classic H-type van. Which, if you’ve been to any festival or pop-up food event in the last decade, you’ll know can be found in every shade of pale pink, baby blue, mint green and fetching beige under the sun.

If the e-SpaceTourer wants to escape the utilitarian world of airport transfer vehicles, and break into the glamorous world of ‘lightly pretentious family transport’ (and who doesn’t?), why not tap into this happy heritage?

I’m not talking a full retro pastiche like this vile desecration, just offering the e-SpaceTourer with some upbeat colours and juicy wheel choices. Some options to lighten up the relentless black of the e-SpaceTourer’s interior wouldn’t hurt either, Citroen…