Citroën ë-C3 Aircross review

If you love to complain about how expensive everything is these days, you might expect the Citroën ë-C3 Aircross to give you another reason to grumble.

After all, it's an electric SUV – an often heavy purchase, both in terms of cost and literal weight. However, the ë-C3 Aircross happens to be neither of those things. It costs less than a Ford Focus and weighs about 1.5 tonnes – a far cry from the near-two-tonne Audi Q4 e-tron. In fact, it’s lighter than a new BMW 3 Series.

Does that make it a master of range and efficiency among its peers, or does it suggest cheap, flimsy materials and a lack of equipment?

Well, in this review we’ll dive into those elements and tell you how well the Citroën ë-C3 Aircross compares with the Hyundai Inster, Vauxhall Frontera Electric and other rivals.

Or if you’re hesitant to go electric and want the option of seven seats, check out our petrol Citroën C3 Aircross review.

At launch, there’s just one battery and motor combination available for the Citroën ë-C3 Aircross: a 44kWh battery with a 111bhp motor driving the front wheels. A larger battery option is on the way.

The motor delivers enough zippy, instantaneous electric get-up-and-go around town, but as the comparatively sluggish 12.9-second 0-62mph time suggests, performance soon trails off and you end up craving more power as you pick up pace. If you’ve driven almost any other electric car – except the even slower Dacia Spring – you’ll likely be disappointed.

The ë-C3 Aircross's official range sits at 188 miles, which is better than the Spring’s 140 miles but not very competitive overall. The real range will be less in most driving situations. The larger battery option is expected to manage around 250 miles on a charge but that's yet to be confirmed.

If you need more range and are happy with a smaller car with some SUV style, then it’s worth noting that the Hyundai Inster is available with either 203 or 229 miles of official range. You might even be better off with the regular Citroën ë-C3 and its 201 miles of range.

On a more positive note, you and your passengers should be happy with how well the ë-C3 Aircross rides. Like many electric SUVs it can be a little bit thumpy over bumps, but there’s plenty of cushioning taking the sting out of such abrasions – more so than in the Fiat Grande Panda Electric.

What’s more, the body mostly stays upright over patchy surfaces, subjecting you to very little side-to-side sway by SUV standards. However, if you enter a tight bend with some speed you’ll encounter a lot of body roll.

 That, along with steering that’s more numb and spongy than wonderfully precise and natural-feeling, makes you inclined to drive more gently than some electric cars, including the Inster. If you oblige, there's enough grip and composure to tackle country roads with confidence.

The ë-C3 Aircross does a good job of isolating you from wind and road noise but there is noticeable buffeting around the pillars, although it never gets annoying.  

“The ë-C3 Aircross doesn’t glide like the lighter C3 Aircross but it’s fairly light for an electric SUV. I found it quite refreshing that I didn't have to wrestle its heft like in some cars.” – Oliver Young, Reviewer

Apart from some soft-touch material on the door and central armrests, and fabric on the dashboard, the Citroën ë-C3 Aircross is full of hard grey plastics. The Fiat Grande Panda Electric interior is more colourful and slightly plusher, while the Hyundai Inster feels a bit better screwed together.

The buttons and switches in the ë-C3 Aircross feel fairly cheap, but at least they’re logically laid out and easy to use. For example, rather than having the air-con controls on the infotainment screen – as is the case in the MG4 EV – you get a panel with physical controls, making it much easier to set the temperature and power. 

The seats in the ë-C3 Aircross are soft and comfy, while the driving position is suitably lofty – as you’d hope from an electric SUV – giving you a good view out front. Rearward visibility is good due to the car’s boxy shape and fairly slim pillars.

The digital driver’s display above the steering wheel is pretty basic and less modern-looking than the equivalents in the Grande Panda or Vauxhall Frontera Electric.

Likewise, the 10.25in infotainment touchscreen is bested by higher quality set-ups found in the Inster and Renault 5. On the plus side, it’s easy enough to use and responds fairly quickly to your inputs.

“The ë-C3’s driver display isn't very configurable or super flashy, but it clearly displays key information below your eyeline, and I didn’t find it impeded my desired driving position.” – Oliver Young, Reviewer

There’s lots of space in the front of the Citroën ë-C3 Aircross, and a six-footer can sit behind another with a little room to spare. You can fit three adults in the back, but it’s only really comfy for brief trips or if they're slender.

You get a decent amount of interior storage, with a pretty large glovebox and quite big door bins. Storage in the back is more limited, with no fold-down centre armrest let alone one with a cubby in it.

Unlike the petrol Citroën C3 Aircross, the electric version is not available as a seven-seater. That's a shame because it would make the ë-C3 Aircross the cheapest electric SUV with seven seats by quite a margin. It would be helpful to have sliding or reclining rear seats as well, like in the Hyundai Inster.

Anyway, at least that means you have the same amount of boot space that the five-seat C3 Aircross offers. At an impressive 460 litres, it gives you more storage room than in the Inster. The Fiat Grande Panda Electric and Jeep Avenger Electric have smaller boots too.

“For the money and among its electric SUV peers, I was quite astonished by how much space you get with the ë-C3 Aircross.” – Oliver Young, Reviewer

The Citroën C3 Aircross is very well priced, undercutting the Jeep Avenger Electric and Vauxhall Frontera Electric. The Hyundai Inster and Fiat Grande Panda Electric are cheaper buys, but are also smaller cars.

The maximum charging speed of the ë-C3 Aircross is 100kW, allowing a 20-80% charge in 26 minutes with a fast public charger.

There are two trims available – entry-level Plus and top-spec Max – and our pick is Plus, which comes with a good amount of kit. That includes 17in alloy wheels, cruise control, automatic headlights, electrically folding door mirrors, a rear-view camera and rear parking sensors. 

Max adds some luxuries such as heated front seats, a heated steering wheel and a wireless phone-charger, so if you want those and have the budget, it's worth considering. 

The ë-C3 Aircross has not appeared in our What Car? Reliability Survey yet, but in the 2024 survey Citroën came seventh out of 31 brands, beating Ford and Skoda but not Suzuki and Toyota. That's quite a confidence-inspiring result.

Citroën currently offers a three-year, 60,000-mile warranty and a 12-year anti-perforation warranty. That’s fairly standard, and doesn’t come close to Hyundai’s five-year, unlimited-mileage warranty or Toyota’s warranty (up to 10 years if you use an official centre for regular services).

The ë-C3 Aircross has not yet been tested for safety by Euro NCAP. Standard safety kit includes lane-departure warning, automatic emergency braking (AEB) and a driver drowsiness alert. Max trim adds blind-spot monitoring.

“We'll have to wait to see how reliable the ë-C3 proves to be but I’m glad to see Citroën towards the top of the brand reliability table. It instills some confidence.” – Oliver Young, Reviewer

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