Citroen C3 Review & Prices

The Citroen C3 is a great-value small car. It’s the baby of the Citroen range, but compared with the old C3 it’s undergone a total overhaul - from a conventional hatchback into a small and upright car with a bit of an SUV flavour about it.

It’s one of the best small cars you can buy, so good that the C3 earned a ‘Highly Commended’ gong in the Urban Living category of the 2026 Carwow Car of the Year Awards, alongside the mechanically similar Fiat Grande Panda.

There is an all-electric model called the Citroen e-C3, which we’ve reviewed separately. This page focuses instead on the petrol and hybrid-powered versions, which are just known as C3.

The C3 is built from a different set of mechanicals than the rest of Citroen’s cars - they’re components originally designed for developing countries, but here they’ve been used to great effect to lower cost without feeling like you’re driving around in something chucked together after the January sales. With clever design and generous standard equipment, the C3 is a bit like IKEA furniture - the components might be cheap, but the result is effective.

Other low-priced alternatives to the C3 include the Fiat Grande Panda - which shares its engines and mechanicals with the Citroen - as well as other small cars such as the Dacia Sandero, Kia Picanto or Toyota Aygo X.

This C3 is certainly much more stylish than the model it replaces. It’s upright and a bit square, looking like a miniature version of the larger C5 Aircross. There are cool, C-shaped LED headlights, a big Citroen roundel, a flat clamshell bonnet and the option of cool two-tone paint schemes. All models even get LED headlights, which goes a long way to making the basic car look not-so-basic.

Inside, the upright silhouette means there’s much more space in the C3 than you might expect for such a cheap car. Two adults can sit comfortably in the rear seats, and the 310-litre boot is a respectable size, even bigger than some cars from the class above. If you want more room, though, you could consider the Citroen C3 Aircross, which is basically a stretched C3 with up to seven seats.

Up front is where the clever design is best used. Sure, it’s built out of inexpensive and scratchy plastics - but Citroen’s added a fabric strip across the centre of the dash, which looks cool, brightens up what would otherwise be a sea of black and provides a pleasantly soft surface where your hands might usually touch. It’s a clever move.

Equally clever is the use of a really basic touchscreen - it only does the bare minimum - and just making wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto standard on all trims. Better yet, all C3s retain discrete climate controls, so you don’t need to keep hopping in and out of menus.

The seats are comfortable, visibility is great and the digital instruments - which are set high up under the base of the windscreen - are clear and easy to read, though it’s a shame there’s no way to see a rev counter.

There are two engine options for the C3. The cheapest is a 1.2-litre petrol engine with a six-speed manual gearbox and 100hp on tap. It’s not rapid, but it’s peppy enough - and light controls mean it’s actually really fun to dart about town in. You’ll get an easy 50mpg, too.

There’s also a 110hp hybrid available, which has an automatic transmission and should return even better economy.

Whichever you go for, the C3 is a very comfortable small car - it doesn’t mask smaller bumps like a limo, but it copes admirably well with the large speed humps, potholes and dips that litter the UK’s roads. It’s even a pretty good motorway cruiser.

If this sounds like the budget model for you, then check out our best deals on the Citroen C3 - or find a great deal on another Citroen model. You can also browse our used Citroens for sale, and remember that when the time comes you can even sell your car right here on Carwow through our network of trusted dealers.

The electric e-C3 may be the car stealing the headlines with its starting price, but don’t let that detract from the regular C3’s value proposition. With a starting price of less than £19,000, it’s only a couple of thousand pounds more than you’d pay for most city cars - which tend to have barely two-thirds of the power, much less space, far less standard equipment and nowhere near as much charm.

The exception to this would be Dacia, which offers a well-equipped and good-to-drive Sandero for less than the C3, though it’s not exactly brimming with personality.

The C3’s kit list is also significantly more modern than any current Dacia. The infotainment screen feels up-to-date, and features niceties like wireless smartphone mirroring. All models come with a full raft of safety equipment, and if you step up to the Max trim the C3 comes with big-car features like a wireless charging pad, tinted windows, and heated seats, steering wheel and windscreen.

Light and easy to drive, though not very fast or very fun

In town

The C3 feels like it was made for the city. You sit up much higher than in most cheap cars, for a start, and visibility out of the upright windscreen and large windows is pretty good all-round with just a small blind spot over your shoulder.

The 99hp petrol engine feels peppy at town speeds, but the six-speed manual gearbox does feel a little bit loose and baggy - a Dacia Sandero has a more precise shift.

The other option is the C3 hybrid. This feels even perkier than the petrol thanks to the electrical assistance adding low-down shove, and it's an automatic too, so it's great for town driving.

The C3’s steering is super-light and makes short work of nipping into tight spaces or parking. It’s easy to judge the car’s extremities, too, as it’s pretty much a box. You even get rear parking sensors as standard, or a reversing camera on the higher trim level.

The best part, though, is the C3’s suspension, which has some clever hydraulic components built into it. It’s so forgiving that it easily soaks up any lumps, potholes or other road imperfections. It copes brilliantly with speed bumps, too.

On the motorway

The C3’s suspension makes it a very relaxing companion on the motorway - it deals with poorly surfaced roads better than many cars two or even three times the price. Getting it up to speed isn’t quite so serene, but with 100hp on tap the C3 is significantly more powerful than most entry-level cars of a similar price - think of the 75hp you get in a base Volkswagen Polo, or the 70hp of a Fiat 500 hybrid. This means it’s quicker to accelerate than those cars, and you have much more in reserve at the national speed limit.

The soft suspension, light weight and slab sides do mean that the C3 feels a little susceptible to cross winds and buffeting from larger vehicles, and the light steering means it can also feel a little twitchy. Both are perfectly acceptable compromises in a car this cheap.

On a twisty road

The C3’s light steering is pretty accurate and it grips surprisingly well in corners. However, the body leans a lot in the bends and there isn’t a lot of feedback about what the front wheels are doing - so you’d struggle to say it was much fun.

If you’re looking for a small car that’s really engaging to drive, you’ll need something like a Suzuki Swift or a basic Mini - otherwise, the C3 is well up to the standards of other cheap cars.

Lots of space - and not much else

The Citroen C3 is pretty big for a cheap car, and if you’re comparing it to something like a Kia Picanto or Toyota Aygo X you’ll find it positively palatial. The front seats are wide, comfortable and have enough adjustment for drivers of all sizes - though don’t expect anything beyond the usual fore/aft, backrest and height adjustment.

Storage in the front is pretty good, with two big cupholders and a phone shelf in the centre (with a wireless charging pad on higher trim levels), big door bins and a reasonable glovebox. Plus models don’t come with a centre armrest, but Max cars do and there’s a little extra storage under here. You can also leave things on the wide, fabric-covered shelf of the dash, though they won’t stay there under hard cornering.

Space in the back seats

Space for rear passengers is pretty good, especially next to the much smaller cars you’d be comparing the C3 against price-wise. The extra height of the C3’s boxy body means passengers can sit more upright, giving them more legroom, and so you can pretty easily squeeze four six-foot adults inside.

The central seat is really narrow, though, so you probably won’t fit three people abreast unless they’re all very skinny. The rear doors open nice and wide, and there are ISOFIX child seat mounts in the two outer rear seats. There are small door bins for rear passengers and, in models without a central armrest, access to the storage bin - but no cupholders or armrest.

Boot space

The C3’s 310-litre boot compares very favourably to most cars of a similar price - take the Toyota Aygo X (231 litres), Dacia Sandero (328 litres) or Hyundai i10 (252 litres). It’s a deep rather than long space, with a substantial lip to hoof items over - and the rear seatbacks don’t leave a completely flat floor when you fold them down. Don’t go expecting any clever storage solutions in the boot, either - there’s no false floor, the trim feels rather unfinished, and there’s only one hook for a shopping bag.

Some corner-cutting evident, but the C3 feels really good inside for such a cheap car

The C3 has an attractively designed interior, which makes a nice change when talking about a budget car - some of this model’s alternatives really feel as though they only have a dashboard so that there’s something to hold the speedometer in place.

Material quality is uniformly inexpensive and feels it in places, especially lower down on the dashboard. However, most of what you touch feels like it’s been quite well screwed-together, and a swathe of fabric trim across the middle of the dashboard brightens up what would otherwise be a sea of black plastic.

The dash is dominated by a 10.3-inch touchscreen which features as standard equipment on both C3 trim levels. It’s the same size as the one that features on some of Citroen’s other cars, but has a less complex interface with fewer features - not necessarily a bad thing, as it feels simpler to use.

Some functions are a little awkward, but the good news is that the C3 comes as standard with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto so you can bypass Citroen’s own interface if you prefer. This also provides you with navigation, which isn’t standard otherwise.

You get a discrete gauge cluster, which takes the form of a digital screen right at the top of the dashboard. It’s easy to read, but doesn’t have much in the way of functionality - you can’t get it to show data beyond basic trip computer functions, for example, where a Volkswagen Polo’s digital dashboard can display a full-screen map if you so desire.

During a week with the petrol, manual Citroen C3, we managed to beat the official 50.4mpg figure by several mpg, averaging around 55mpg on a mixture of roads. CO2 emissions are a relatively unimpressive 127g/km, though, so the C3 doesn’t make the most cost-effective company car.

For even better economy, the C3 hybrid claims 56.5mpg and 114g/km, and given its light weight that number should be pretty easy to match or even surpass.

The all-electric e-C3 still makes the better company car choice, though, thanks to its lower CO2 - but as petrol cars go, the Citroen C3 is about as cheap as they come.

The new Citroen C3 hasn’t been crash tested by Euro NCAP yet. The Indian-market model has been tested and scored very poorly, but for Europe Citroen has made some significant changes under the skin and to available safety equipment so we’d expect a better performance for the model you’ll be able to buy - if not necessarily the full five stars.

All C3s do get the full roster of EU-mandated safety equipment, and there's a neat shortcut button to switch off the most annoying two - the speed limit alert and the lane-keeping assistance.

Citroen’s historic reputation for unreliable cars is quickly being quashed, with impressive performances for several models in the Driver Power owner satisfaction survey including outright victory for the C4 in 2023.

The C3’s platform may be new to Europe but has been out in other markets for some time, and being designed for developing areas of the world means a certain degree of ruggedness and repairability. The C3 is covered by Citroen’s standard three-year, 60,000-mile warranty - unlimited in the first two years.