Citroën ë-C3 review

When it comes to electric cars, we hear lots of hype about "unparalleled efficiency", "supercar-rivalling performance", "ultra-rapid charging" and so on, yet concepts like simplicity and value for money rarely come up. So the Citroën ë-C3 feels like a breath of fresh air.

With the ë-C3, Citroën is offering a small electric car with SUV-inspired styling, a spacious interior, a decent equipment list and a near 200-mile range for less than the price of an entry-level Hyundai Inster or Renault 5. Indeed, there’s the even more affordable Dacia Spring and Leapmotor T03 – but they’re both smaller, less powerful and have a shorter range from a smaller battery.

How has Citroën produced such a cost-effective package? Well, traditionally, Citroën’s USP has been comfort, but now, under the Stellantis Group, the brand is also aiming for maximum value for money. Hence the development of new underpinnings that are simpler to produce and able to accommodate both the ë-C3 electric version and the petrol-powered Citroën C3.

Citroën ë-C3 video preview

Citroën is also proud of offering the ë-C3 with basic but essential features, rather than expensive kit you can do without. So don’t expect keyless entry, powered seats, a panoramic roof or even a starter button – you need to use a key to turn it on.

It’s all wonderfully sensible, but you do have to wonder whether tech-loving drivers will be well served by that austerity or be better off with, say, a BYD Dolphin or MG 4. Read on to find out how the Citroën ë-C3 stacks up against its electric car rivals...

At launch, the Citroën ë-C3 is available with a 43.7kWh (usable capacity) battery that’s good for an official range of up to 198 miles.

That’s usefully more than you get from a Dacia Spring and about the same as the entry-level Renault 5 120. It’s not far behind a BYD Dolphin or MG 4 SE either. In time there will be an even more affordable, smaller-battery ë-C3 (around 33kWh) with an estimated range of 124 miles.

The temperature was hovering around 11C when we tested the ë-C3 and it returned an efficiency of 3.8 miles per kWh, giving it a rough real-world range of around 170 miles. Not groundbreaking, but respectable. For reference, on the same day an MG 4 SE returned 3.6 miles per kWh and an entry-level BYD Dolphin managed 4.0 miles per kWh.

The ë-C3 has just 111bhp on tap and an official 0-62mph time of 10.4 seconds, while an MG 4 SE covers the same sprint in just 7.7 seconds, so we were worried it would feel hopelessly slow. In reality, it’s more than nippy enough from 0-50mph. It’s also incredibly easy to drive smoothly thanks to a linear, well-calibrated accelerator pedal.

While we suspect some buyers will be disappointed to learn that the ë-C3 doesn’t feature a one-pedal driving mode or different grades of regenerative braking, we found the brakes well-judged.

The e-C3 doesn’t suffer from a grabby pedal response that’s found in the Citroen ë-C4 and Citroen ë-C4 X. The initial response could be a little sharper, but a meaty pedal makes it easy to feed in your inputs.

When you lift off the accelerator, the car slows down gently, making it ideal for smooth, unhurried urban dawdling. If, though, you’re coming in hot toward a sharp bend or junction, you’ll need the brake pedal.

Despite being something of a budget option, the ë-C3 still gets Citroën’s Advanced Comfort suspension (hydraulically cushioned dampers). It delivers a pillowy ride over most surfaces, and while the rear axle sometimes crashes over nastier bumps, it’s much more comfortable than being in a Dacia Spring. 

That soft, comfort-biased set-up means you’ll feel a fair amount of body lean when cornering, but a good amount of grip means the ë-C3 remains composed. The light steering is accurate enough, allowing the car to flow along confidently at speed.

It’s certainly more engaging to drive than an equivalent BYD Dolphin and produces noticeably more grip in iffy conditions. Indeed, the Dolphin’s standard-fit Linglong tyres provide all the grip of a greased-up, er, dolphin. For something a bit more fun to drive, the sharper MG 4 remains tough to beat, while the Renault 5 provides a better controlled ride and handling balance.

On the refinement front, the ë-C3 does generate some suspension clunks from the rear axle and you’ll notice a fair bit of tyre roar over coarser surfaces. Not enough to wear you down, but it’s not as hushed as a Renault 5 on a longer journey. Then again, the Dolphin and MG 4 are not whisper-quiet either.

“The Citroën ë-C3’s official 0-62mph time of 10.4 seconds may not look impressive but it’s not a liability in traffic. In fact, it feels rather nippy below 50mph.” – Lawrence Cheung, New Cars Editor

The interior of the Citroën ë-C3 is not what you'd call plush but it doesn't feel too austere either. While plenty of hard plastics have been used throughout, the design itself is funky and modern – little motivational labels are stitched into the armrests on the doors for example.

Our top-spec ë-C3 Max model had an attractive swathe of material across the dashboard, along with grey inserts on the doors and seats to brighten it up. In other words, it’s a much more inviting interior than you’ll find in the monochrome MG 4. 

You even get what Citroën calls a head-up display, although it's not the sort you get on pricier cars. It’s simply a digital driver’s display integrated into the dashboard above the unconventional oblong steering wheel – Citroën’s take, in effect, on the i-Cockpit set-up in Peugeot car models. The display is easy to read and looks a little more modern than what's fitted in other Citroëns, with slightly sharper graphics and slicker animations.

Unlike the BYD Dolphin and MG 4, the ë-C3 has a plethora of tactile physical buttons for the ventilation controls and to turn off drive assistance systems such as lane-keep assist. That makes it much easier to adjust settings while you're driving than touchscreen-based controls.

You do, though, get an infotainment touchscreen – a 10.3in one that looks a little basic but has a straightforward menu lay-out. It responds more quickly to your prods than other Citroën systems and has Android Auto and Apple CarPlay as standard. The feature-packed system in the Renault 5 is much more impressive though.

In line with its SUV-inspired styling, the ë-C3's driving position is a touch higher than in a BYD Dolphin or MG 4. Combined with tall side windows and relatively narrow pillars, visibility is generally good. Rear parking sensors come as standard, while top-spec ë-C3 Max models gain a rear-view camera.

Speaking of the driving position, the seats themselves are worth discussing. Citroën calls them Advanced Comfort Seats and they use a top layer of high-density foam inspired by beds. We found them supportive and plush.

There's no adjustable lumbar support, but we didn't miss it thanks to the supportive shape of the backrest.

“I found the slightly odd shape of the steering wheel fine to hold when driving in a straight line, but it can be awkward to use when turning in to corners.” – Lawrence Cheung, New Cars Editor

The Citroën ë-C3 isn't the broadest car on the road but there’s still plenty of head and leg room up front, with enough elbow room to keep passengers from awkwardly bumping into each other.

In the back, the news is just as positive – you’ve got more head room than in a BYD Dolphin, MG 4 or Renault 5, and because Citroën has cleverly stashed the battery under the rear seat, the floor isn't raised. Translation? You can sit without feeling like your knees are auditioning for Cirque du Soleil.

Leg room is surprisingly generous for a car of this size too. Sure, the Dolphin and MG 4 give you a bit more space – as does the Hyundai Inster – but the ë-C3 holds its own and is more accommodating than a Mini Cooper Electric or Renault 5. And it has three rear headrests (the MG 4 has two). You’ll still be rubbing shoulders with three in the back but that’s par for the course, even with pricier rivals such as the Dolphin.

When it comes to boot space, the ë-C3 has a modest 310 litres. That’s less than the Dolphin and MG 4 but much more than the GWN Ora 03 offers. We managed to fit five carry-on suitcases under the parcel shelf with some space remaining for a soft bag – that’s the same number of cases as we squeezed into the Dolphin and MG 4.

That said, the ë-C3’s boot isn’t particularly clever. For example, there’s no adjustable boot floor like you get in a Dolphin. That’s a shame because the boot opening is quite small and it has a high load lip, which makes loading in heavy items a chore.

There’s also no hidden cable storage compartment under the boot floor or any storage under the bonnet, so the charging cables will have to go in with the rest of your luggage.

When you need more storage space, you can drop the rear seat backs in a 60/40 split. When folded down they leave a step up from the recessed boot floor, rather than creating a long, flat load area, like you find in the Hyundai Inster. 

“The Citroën ë-C3’s boot looks small on paper but it's deceptively deep. If you pack carefully, there's easily enough space for a family road trip.” – Lawrence Cheung, New Cars Editor

You'll struggle to find a new electric car that undercuts the starting price of the Citroën ë-C3, with it coming in under the BYD Dolphin, Hyundai Inster, MG 4 and Ora 03. The Dacia Spring is cheaper, but that's a significantly smaller car with a much cheaper-feeling interior.

It is worth noting that if you go down the route of PCP finance, the ë-C3 in our favourite Max trim is only a few pounds a month less than an entry-level MG 4 or an Inster in 02 trim. Meanwhile, an entry-level Renault 5 is slightly cheaper.

Two trims are offered for the ë-C3: Plus and Max. Plus gets the basics, including touchscreen infotainment, comfort seats, comfort suspension, LED headlights and rear parking sensors.

For a small outlay, Max adds 17in diamond-cut alloy wheels, LED rear lights, tinted rear windows, automatic air-con, wireless phone-charging, a rear-view camera, electric rear windows, electrically folding and heated exterior mirrors, automatic wipers and automatic high-beam. It’s the one we’d go for.

It's a shame you can't get an EV heat pump – the ë-C3's battery has lithium iron phosphate chemistry, which is typically cheaper but also heavier, and the range is more readily impacted by cold weather.

DC charging speeds for the ë-C3 are up to 100kW from a suitably powerful public EV charger, which is quicker than an equivalent BYD Dolphin or Hyundai Inster but less than an MG 4. That will deliver a 20-80% charge (around 90 to 100 miles of real-world range) in 26 minutes, but you have to remember the battery size is fairly modest. A standard 7kW home EV charger will fully charge the ë-C3 in around seven hours.

In terms of reliability, Citroën did well in our 2024 What Car? Reliability Survey, finishing seventh out of 31 brands. That should be good news for ë-C3 owners but we don't yet have specific data for this model.

Citroën gives you a standard three-year, 60,000-mile warranty on the ë-C3. The battery is covered for eight years and 100,000 miles, with a guarantee that it will be refurbished or replaced if it drops below 70% of the as-new performance in the warranty period.

The ë-C3 has not yet been tested by the safety experts at Euro NCAP but as standard it comes with lane-keep assist, speed-limit recognition, a driver attention alert system and automatic emergency braking (AEB).

"I find it quite novel the ë-C3 comes with either a black or white roof finish as standard and that you can opt to have it body-coloured as a no-cost option. Usually it’s the other way around." – Lawrence Cheung, New Cars Editor

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