Living with a Citroen e-C3: my honest final verdict after six months

I’ve been living with the Citroen e-C3 for more than half a year, and when I took delivery I wanted to find out if a small, cheap EV could work for a family living in London with no off-street parking.

To a degree, yes it can. However, the e-C3’s real-world range is so poor that it really limits its usability. You can check out all the pros and cons in my penultimate report, but here’s a brief summary along with my final verdict.

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Final verdict on my Citroen e-C3: should you buy one?

There’s a lot to like about the Citroen e-C3. On the potholed streets of London, the supple suspension does a great job of soaking up the bumps. For a car costing just over £20,000, it’s really comfortable.

I also think it looks cool, especially in this pale blue paint. The interior is just as stylish, although the mechanically-similar Fiat Grande Panda has a slightly cooler cabin.

Space in the back seats is impressive, but getting in there is a faff thanks to the narrow, awkward door opening. Loading child seats or elderly relatives is a challenge.

But the biggest issue is the range. The e-C3 is meant to do 199 miles between charges, which isn’t a huge amount to begin with. A Renault 5 will do around 250 miles, but the Citroen’s figure should’ve been enough for my day-to-day needs.

However, in the real world you’ll be lucky to get 150 miles – dropping to around 130 miles in colder weather. It’s been fine for local trips, and I’m lucky enough to have a car park around the corner with chargers in it. But going further afield, such as to visit family in Essex, requires planning and a charging stop on the way back.

The predicted range readout also shows the full 199 miles on a full charge every time you set off, then it drops dramatically after a stint on the motorway. It’s hard to calculate when you’ll need to stop, and I never really trust what the dashboard says.

So if you need an electric car which will actually do close to 200 miles on a charge, you’ll need to look at a Renault 5 or a Hyundai Inster. Or, if you’re set on a Citroen C3, you can opt for the hybrid version instead for long distance driving.

Should you buy a Citroen e-C3? Well if you’re looking for an urban runaround as a second car, it’s a great choice. But as your only car, the range makes it hard to recommend unless you tackle longer trips very rarely.

Living with a Citroen e-C3: pros and cons

Here are three pros of the Citroen e-C3, as well as three cons for you to think about before taking the plunge and buying one.

Three things I love about the Citroen e-C3

1. It’s really comfortable

For a car which starts from less than £20,000, the e-C3 is super-comfortable to drive. The suspension soaks up bumps better than some much more expensive electric cars, and it’s even pretty refined on the motorway. The seats are also worthy of a mention, because they’re nice and supportive.

2. The tech is easy to use

The 10.3-inch touchscreen may not look all that impressive, but it’s really simple and easy to navigate. But my favourite thing about the screen is that the climate controls are not on it. They have their own dedicated switch panel with proper buttons. It’s a simple thing, but something you don’t see much in modern electric cars.

3. It looks good

Styling may be subjective, but I reckon the Citroen e-C3 is a really stylish little car. I like the chunky cladding and jacked-up ride height – it’s like the car is trying to act all tough, but it’s too cute to quite pull it off. The blue and white paint scheme is a nice touch as well – it helps the car stand out in a sea of grey and silver.

Citroen e-C3 prices and deals

The Citroen e-C3 starts from just under £20,000, rising to £23,800 for my top-spec Max version. I think it’s worth paying the extra though, because you get heated seats, a heated steering wheel, wireless phone charging and a reversing camera.

And you can get this version for as little as £19,800 through Carwow at the time of writing, saving you more than £4,000. New offers are coming out all the time, so make sure you check out the latest Citroen e-C3 deals to see how much you can save.

Three drawbacks to the Citroen e-C3

1. Range anxiety

The claimed range of my Citroen e-C3 is 200 miles, but sadly I’ve not been getting anywhere near that figure in the real world. You can check out my previous report for a full rundown of my charging antics, but in short I’m lucky if I see 140 miles from this car.

And what’s even more annoying is the predicted range readout, because it’s wildly optimistic. I can set off with 180 miles showing on the dashboard, drive 50 miles and arrive with 90 miles remaining. The maths doesn’t add up there, and it can make longer trips pretty nerve wracking.

2. Awkward rear seats

I have a seven-year-old son and an elderly mother who regularly need ferrying about, and loading them into the rear of the Citroen can be challenging at times. The rear doors don’t open all that wide, and the aperture is an odd shape as well. Slotting a child seat through the gap is a bit of a puzzle.

3. Annoying beeps

Incessant warning beeps are annoying at the best of times, but the e-C3’s chimes are especially grating. The speed limit warning sounds like a squeaky little mouse, and if you dare to open the door with the keys still in the ignition you get a really loud siren. At least the speed limit warning is easy to switch off with one button.

Overall I do like my e-C3, however the range is starting to become a problem. If it could actually do the 200-mile claimed figure, then it would suit my needs really well. I do most of my driving around town, with the odd 120-mile round trip from North London to Essex.

But because it falls so short of the claimed range figure, I think I’d have to go for the petrol or hybrid Citroen C3. That way I get the funky styling and comfy suspension without having to worry about running out of juice.

Report #2: Range anxiety is starting to dampen my spirits

After my first few months in the Citroen e-C3, I quickly learned that it’s not the best at long journeys. 

My first outing in the Citroen e-C3 was a baptism by motorway miles, necessitated by a 10-mile running race I had entered in Stebbing, Essex. The round trip from my home in Edgware, North West London, clocked in at 100 miles.

Having started with 180 miles of indicated range — just shy of the claimed 198 miles — this initially felt like light work. That assumption soon evaporated. Hitting the M25, I quickly noticed the battery percentage dropping at an alarming rate, far outpacing the actual distance covered.

The anxiety set in. Halfway through, the journey became less about the race I was heading to and more a desperate calculus of battery life; should I switch off the heating? Is my phone charging unnecessarily?

I checked the charging infrastructure around Stebbing before setting off, and fast chargers were pretty thin on the ground. This only heightened the tension, especially with a strict timetable to collect my son post-race. I spent the entire outbound leg constantly flicking between the road ahead and the rapidly declining range dial. The result of the first 50 miles? I arrived with just 90 miles of range left – exactly half of what I started with.

After completing the race (and smashing my PB), the elation was immediately replaced by a sobering realisation: I needed that remaining range to deliver me home. It was then I recalled the ‘C’ button on the gear selector, which boosts the regenerative braking effect when you lift off the accelerator.

Engaging this on the return leg provided a noticeable boost, especially over the final 15 miles as I transitioned onto the A and B roads. This mode seemed to regenerate an extra five to ten miles of range, enough to ensure a safe, albeit relieved, arrival at my local slow charging station.

The Great Bentley Run: learning to live with range anxiety

Planning for my next half marathon race in Great Bentley, a daunting 160-mile round trip, and I wasn’t prepared to gamble on the e-C3’s single-charge capacity again. Instead, I engineered a stopover with my sister in Braintree. Setting off with approximately 180 miles of range, I implemented immediate conservation measures: no heating and the ‘C’ button engaged.

Despite this, the experience was unsettlingly familiar: the range depletion was arguably quicker than the Stebbing run. For a relatively modest 54-mile journey to Braintree, 100 miles of range vanished, leaving me with just 80 miles remaining.

With an evening of relaxation sacrificed, the search for a rapid charger began. Gridserve proved the saviour. I squeezed in a 45-minute fast charge, pushing the battery back up to a comfortable 135 miles. That buffer proved sufficient, and I completed the final leg of the journey the following day, arriving home with approximately 35 miles to spare. The e-C3’s long-term test is already proving to be a masterclass in range management and forced charging stops.

In defence of the little Citroen, these trips were made in the depths of winter when the colder temperatures wreak havoc on an electric car’s real-world range. Now that the weather is getting a bit warmer, the range is going up slightly. I can make the 112-mile round trip from North London to my sister’s house in Essex with a bit of range to spare, and hopefully it’ll get even better as we head deeper into spring.

If you’re after a small car which you pretty much exclusively use in and around town, and you have easy access to charging, the Citroen e-C3 is a great choice. But with my semi-regular motorway slogs I’m starting to question if this car suits my lifestyle.

The good news is you can get this car with petrol and hybrid engines, the latter of which will do a whopping 59mpg. So if you like the look of this car, but cover longer distances, that’s the one I’d recommend.

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