Written by Alan Taylor-Jones Published: 26 March 2025

Overview

You no longer have to spend tonnes of cash to get one of the best electric cars out there, and the Citroen e-C3 is the perfect example. It’s a spacious supermini that has an official range of 199 miles, class-leading comfort and a list price of £22,000. There’s even a shorter range version on the way that’ll cost even less.

It’s a proper car too, being a fully usable option for 90% of EV buyers with no major compromises unlike the cheaper Dacia Spring and Leapmotor T03. A petrol Citroen C3 is still available for around £18k, and there’s also the related Fiat Grande Panda if you prefer your practical supermini with some retro vibes.

Citroen has taken great delight in offering only the features customer say they want and use. Much of the tech associated with the latest generation of EVs has been stripped out, which makes it a very different proposition to the plusher-feeling Renault 5 and MINI Cooper E.

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We’ve driven the e-C3 in Europe and around Oxfordshire over some typically challenging UK roads to give our verdict. If you’d like to know how we got to that conclusion, check out our how we test page.

What’s it like inside?

The Citroen e-C3’s interior is dominated by inviting-looking padded seats that prove just as comfortable as they look, if a little short on side support. There’s ample headroom, allowing you to crank the seat high to see over the flat bonnet. It’s a lofty driving position for a front-wheel drive supermini, something that many buyers appreciate.

Overall it feels airy and spacious up front, belying the C3’s supermini stature. The roominess in the front is reflected in the rear, too. The seats back there are just as inviting, with the same extra padding and handsome design. Space is surprisingly plentiful thanks to the high roof, meaning a six-foot passenger can sit behind similarly-tall driver without their knees touching the seat back.

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You’ll need to use a key to turn it on, and Citroen’s definition of a head-up display sits in a recess just beneath the top of the dash. It features a digital speedo, battery charge level, selected gear and can toggle through trip info and the like. Having just the one driver’s display reduces parts and cost whilst working well in the real world.

But it’s interesting inside – plastic sections are etched in wavy and straight lines, haphazard perforations adorn the light fabric trim and the headliner is a pale colour. Some gloss black trim offsets the scratchy plastics, the door bins have white inserts to help you spot things and little red labels with peppy messages – ‘Have fun!’ and ‘Be cool!’ – are stitched into the armrests.

The standard air conditioning system is controlled by physical toggles, there’s a silver rotary gear selector and that’s about it. There’s also a central touchscreen: the graphics are basic but Apple CarPlay and Android Auto is available as standard as an agreeable alternative.

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The boot has 310 litres of luggage capacity, but it has an awkwardly high loading lip, resembling looking into a wishing well. The rear seat splits 60:40, and you can stow 992 litres with both folded down, but there is no false floor trickery here, leaving a stepped boot floor, which can be quite inconvenient.

Range and charging

The Citroen e-C3 comes with a reasonably-sized 43.7kWh usable battery – more than enough for a small electric car, and a match for the Fiat 500e. It’s good for a claimed 198-mile range on the WLTP testing cycle and will return upwards of four miles per kWh in gentle driving. Throw in a bit of time on the motorway and this drops into the threes, so expect a real world range of 150-170 miles.

Citroen says the battery can be charged from 20-80% in 26 minutes, which sounds impressive but remember this is a modestly-sized battery. Maximum DC charging is actually just 100kW, which is on the slow side these days, but acceptable for the price and market it’s aimed at. A cheaper model with a smaller battery is also on the way.

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What’s it like to drive?

In a world of rapidly-accelerating EVs, the e-C3 sounds a bit underpowered by offering 113hp through the front wheels. But it’s more than enough to get up to speed quickly enough, offering decent mid-range overtaking power when needed. It’s far punchier than a Dacia Spring or Leapmotor T03, with the Renault 5 and MINI Cooper E offering far more urgent acceleration.

It has a small wheel that mirror’s Peugeot’s i-Cockpit arrangement, and its steering is light and responsive. It’s light around town, building just enough weight as speed increases, and is precise enough, but never feels keen or communicative. This is fine, as the car really is quite chilled to drive.

Citroen describes these laid-back dynamics as being zen-like, which aligns beautifully with the car’s comfortable and minimalist interior. The soft suspension is noticeable straight away with craters and bumps on our test route giving the C3 a thorough workout.

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The C3 is remarkably good at lessening the impact of these imperfections whilst retaining enough body control to stop it feeling wallowy. There is still a bit of fidget present on the motorway, but this is still a very comfortable car given the price. Soft suspension means plenty of lean in the bends without it ever getting too alarming, and grip levels are higher than you might expect. It can be hustled along briskly, it just doesn’t feel in keeping with the e-C3’s laid-back attitude. Pick the Renault or MINI for agility.

There’s little regenerative braking and and no one-pedal driving mode, and instead it keeps things simple. Lift off the accelerator and the Citroen smoothly slows, in a manner that resembles petrol engine braking. The brake pedal feel is better than many rivals making it easy to come to a smooth stop.

It’s not the quietest of EVs, though. Wind noise starts kicking in past the 50mph mark, and you’ll get added tyre grumble and some motor whine at motorway speeds. Drowning it out with the stereo is possible, if not very zen.

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What models and trims are available?

At launch the e-C3 is available in two trims with one 44kWh battery. Don’t think of entry-level Plus as the spartan option, it’s mid-range in the three trim European lineup. It gets 17-inch alloy wheels, two-tone paint, roof rails, auto LED headlights with automatic main beam, auto wipers, heated electric mirrors, air-con and rear parking sensors.

Plus is about £1,700 more and adds tinted rear windows, LED rear lights, rear electric windows, front fog lights, a six-speaker stereo, climate control, a rear camera, heated seats, a heated steering wheel and a heated windscreen. It seems a worthwhile upgrade to us.

What else should I know?

How has Citroen delivered a sub-£22,000 EV? By being obsessively focused on costs. Citroen has squeezed out complexity: it has 30% fewer parts than the outgoing Citroen C3.

Engineers describe it as a low-cost programme, which has lifted the philosophy from Citroen’s low-cost car programme for India and Brazil. That means a different, cost-saving approach for suppliers, manufacturing and to the equipment list, with a big red pen crossing out leather upholstery, powered seats, a glass roof, drive modes, paddleshifts and so forth.

Does this focus on value for money and Dacia-like pricing mean Citroen is on to a winner? Read our verdict to find out.