Citroen C3 Review & Prices

The Citroen C3 has been totally reinvented, and this is it - Citroen’s new budget competitor taking aim at some of the cheapest cars on sale today. Despite this, it’s one of the best small cars you can buy.

It’s available in all-electric form as the brilliant e-C3, but this review focuses on the petrol and hybrid models, simply known as C3. Confusingly, the old C3 remains on sale for a while - it’s been renamed C3 Origin.

This all-new model is built on a cheap set of components originally designed for developing countries. But with clever design, and by loading it with generous standard equipment, Citroen’s managed to make the C3 feel rather more than the sum of its parts. It’s like creatively decorating using exclusively IKEA furniture - the components might be cheap, but with some smart touches you can have a really effective result.

If you’re looking at the C3, chances are you’re considering other low-priced alternatives such as the Dacia Sandero, the Kia Picanto or even the outgoing Citroen C3 Origin.

The new C3 has a boxy body and rides high - like a compact SUV. This means it has plenty of interior space - two adults can sit comfortably in the rear, and the 310-litre boot is a very respectable size, comparing favourably with some hatchbacks costing much more.

The dashboard is also largely a triumph. Citroen’s managed to mask its use of inexpensive, scratchy materials with a fabric strip running across the middle that not only looks cool but brightens up what would otherwise be a sea of black.

The 10.3-inch infotainment screen may not be the most high-definition, or run the very latest software, but it does just about everything you’d reasonably want - and it’s bang up-to-date with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone connectivity allowing you to circumvent Citroen’s own interface if you so choose.

Comfortable seats, great visibility and a very clear digital screen for driver information are all great additions too.

The C3 is powered by one of two engines. At the entry level, there’s a 1.2-litre petrol engine which gets a five-speed manual gearbox - good for an easy 50mpg fuel economy. Performance is relatively modest with just 100hp on tap, but it’s much quicker than most cars of this price.

Later on in the C3’s life Citroen will launch a hybrid model. This also has 100hp, but gets an automatic transmission and should return even more impressive economy.

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 £18,000, 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 five-speed manual gearbox does feel a little bit loose and baggy - a Dacia Sandero has a more precise shift. It’s the only gearbox on offer, at least until the C3 Hybrid arrives with its six-speed automatic.

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.

The C3’s 1.2-litre petrol engine doesn’t have any official fuel economy figures yet, but based on our fairly lengthy test drive we’d say that 50mpg is easy to achieve, with 55mpg possible if you have a light right foot.

CO2 emissions are a relatively unimpressive 128g/km, though, so the C3 doesn’t make the most cost-effective company car.

The forthcoming C3 Hybrid should have improved fuel efficiency courtesy of its electric motor, plus reduced emissions. We’ll update this review once official figures become available, and of course once we’ve had the chance to confirm them for ourselves.

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, but the early-build test car we drove had all of them disabled so we can’t report on their effectiveness.

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.