Used Citroen C1 cars for sale

Used Citroen C1 pros and cons

Is a used Citroen C1 a good car?

The Citroen C1 is a small and cute city car, with smiley-faced styling and bright cabins. With those big, round headlamps, it almost looks like an adorable road-going Pokemon. 

It’s a rival to the likes of the Volkswagen Up! and the Skoda Citigo, as well as the Peugeot 108 and Toyota Aygo, which were actually cars that shared their chassis and engines with the Citroen. You could also consider a Fiat 500, which isn’t as practical, but which is even more cute. 

The Citroen C1 came with a huge range of colours and ways to personalise it, and you could even spec it with a sliding full-length canvas sunroof — just like an old Triumph Herald. There were lots of colourful options for the interior too, and a whole slew of special edition versions if you fancy something a bit more… er… fancy. 

Almost all C1 models — except for the very cheapest versions — came with a handy touchscreen which does all the mobile phone connectivity stuff. The cabin looks smart, but it’s hard to hide the fact that it’s all quite cheap inside, and the C1 never felt as sophisticated as, say, a Volkswagen Up!.

There’s more space in the front than you might expect too, with a decent driving position even though there’s no reach-adjustment for the steering wheel, and no seat height adjuster too, if you’ve gone for the cheapest C1. 

The penalty for the space up front is that space in the back is really quite tight. If you’re being shown up for rear space by the likes of the Hyundai i10 and Volkswagen Up — and the C1 is — then you know that things are cramped in the back. That lovely sliding canvas roof also strips away rear seat headroom, so it really is a children-only space. 

The boot is tiny too — just 196 litres of space for bags or shopping, which isn’t great, and which again is out-done by the VW Up!. If you fold the back seats flat, there’s a fairly useful 780 litres of space though. Just be aware that the most basic versions didn’t include a folding back seat.
The C1 was designed as a compact car for city life, and that’s where it’s best kept. It’s small and light, so even though the little 1.0-litre three-cylinder petrol engine has just 71hp, it’s more than nippy and zippy enough for most needs. The turning circle is tight, and the small size of the C1 means that it’s a doddle to park.

All of that good stuff — size, low weight, revvy, happy-sounding engine — means that the C1 is also more fun on a tight and twisty road than you might expect. It’s on the motorway where the Citroen C1 feels somewhat out of depth. There’s enough power to take it to and keep it at the legal limit, but it never feels entirely happy doing so, and the ride comfort isn’t as good at high speeds as it is in town. If you need a tiny car that can do big journeys, get a VW Up. 

That little 1.0-litre engine is the your only choice in a C1, but there was the option of an automatic gearbox in place of the standard five-speed manual. Citroen claimed official fuel economy of 58mpg, and 50mpg is easily do-able in real-world driving, although long motorway runs will put a big dent in that.

Shop around carefully for a C1 as the cheapest versions didn’t come with air-con, a touchscreen, nor DAB radio. That said, there should be enough choice out there for you to pretty easily find one that suits your needs. Just bear in mind that the C1 is more expensive to insure than a VW Up or Skoda Citigo, something that might be crucial if you’re buying this as a first car, or a car in which to learn how to drive. 

What to look for when buying a used Citroen C1

The C1 was a car designed alongside the Toyota Aygo, and the two shared a lot of components, so it’s little surprise that it’s one of the more reliable small car options out there. Watch out for a recall that dealt with incorrect components used in the steering columns, but other than that the most commonly-reported problem is a leaky boot letting rain water in. 

Annoyingly, though, while Toyota offered a five-year warranty for the Aygo (meaning many will still be under the original manufacturer’s warranty) Citroen only gave the C1 a three-year warranty. 

The C1 didn’t feature in the most recent Driver Power ownership survey’s Top 50 Cars To Own list, but Citroen as a brand finished an impressive 7th out of 32 car makers in the overall customer satisfaction list, with only 15% of owners reporting a problem with their car. 

Citroen C1 FAQs