New Citroen e-C3 2024 review: French supermini is an electric sensation

Onto the drive, then, and the e-C3 feels like you hope a Citroen would. Rather than chasing sporty handling, the focus here is on comfort. It uses the “Advanced Comfort” hydraulic bump stops we’ve seen on several of the brand’s larger models already. Along with memory foam-padded seats, it makes for a very relaxing companion over most roads, soaking up bumps that would jostle many other slow cars. 

Downsides? Well the handling is just fine rather than fun, the steering offers little to no feedback, and a mix of low-speed motor whine and wind noise above 40mph or so take a slight shine off the refinement. But none of these is exactly a deal breaker.

Those used to the peppiness of EVs will feel a little short changed here, because the 0-62mph time takes 11 seconds. In reality, a lot of new EVs have somewhat skewed what seems like a necessary level of performance, with many matching figures that would’ve seemed great for a hot hatch only 10 years ago. The e-C3, on the other hand, merely matches petrol or diesel superminis that are available for similar cash. The only difference is that electric motor makes it more responsive at any speed than those cars, and the smoothness of the powertrain makes it much easier to drive.

The headline £21,990 starting price gets you the Plus trim, which gets Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, plus lane-departure warning, speed-limit recognition and cruise control. The top spec Max asks £1,700 more for the likes of a reversing camera, LED tail-lights, and a heated steering wheel, heated windscreen, and heated front seats. 

If it still somehow sounds a bit pricey, then fear not; Citroen plans to bring an even cheaper e-C3 to the UK next year. The range will become more limited, because it’ll come with a smaller battery that returns a WLTP range of 124 miles, but the benefit of that is that we expect it to cost somewhere in the region of £19,000.