From £23,0958

Can one of the cheapest electric SUVs on the market compete with pricier rivals?

Affordability is the new focus for Citroën. We like the cut-price C3 and ë-C3 superminis, and now we’ve tested the larger and more obviously SUV-inspired Citroen ë-C3 Aircross.

Unlike the C3 Aircross (with its hybrid or pure-petrol powertrain) you can think of the ë-C3 Aircross as more like an ë-C3 estate. Whereas the hybrid can be had with seven seats, the EV is a strict five-seater and as such looks and feels like a stretched version of its supermini sibling, even though it’s officially an SUV.

Nothing else with an electric powertrain offers this much space for the money.

The affordability focus is the result of Stellantis's new Smart Car platform, which also underpins closely related (and £1000 more expensive) Vauxhall Frontera and smaller but more personable Fiat Grande Panda

Including the UK government's recently announced Electric Car Grant (ECG) the ë-C3 Aircross starts at just £21,600 in Plus trim with the Standard Range 43.7kWh battery, good for 188 miles per charge.

Max trim is another £2000 and adds various niceties like heated seats, steering wheel and windscreen, while the Extended Range 54kWh battery improves the range to 249 miles for a £2000 step-up on either trim level. 

In terms of rivals, the undoubtedly more stylish Renault 4 kicks off at £25,500. It's good for 247 miles of range but is priced in line with the top-spec ë-C3 Aircross.

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The BYD Atto 2 doesn’t qualify for the ECG, being built in China; it costs £31,000 for 214 miles of range but offers a little more performance. Neither does the Jaecoo 5 BEV (£27,500 for 248 miles). 

On finance the ë-C3 Aircross is cheapest too, currently available for just £140 per month with a £4500 deposit.  

But is there a reason it's this cheap? We find out.

DESIGN & STYLING

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The ë-C3 Aircross is all but identical to the C3 Aircross, a car Citroën has completely redesigned for its second generation. 

Design boss Pierre Leclercq describes it as a "clean sheet" design that brings a fresh perspective to the market segment. Citroën anticipates attracting many customers from other brands.

The design is reasonably distinctive, but it’s not what you’d call pretty and it doesn’t look expensive.

However, to our eyes, the slightly awkward small-wheels-and-big-body proportions prevent the SUV from looking particularly butch or expensive. That can be blamed on the fact that it's actually based on a different C3, designed for the developing world. 

Nevertheless, there are some neat touches, including the split headlights, squared nose and sculpted side panels. It does have some plastic cladding around the wheel arches and chunky roof rails to accentuate its ruggedness, but we wish Citroën had retained the funky and mildly helpful Airbumps it used to place around its cars. 

No matter, though: there is nothing offensive about the design, nor anything daring – which is a theme we’ll return to.

INTERIOR

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Like the outside, the inside of the ë-C3 Aircross is all but indistinguishable from the C3 Aircross. That’s no bad thing, however: it’s funky and modern with a split dashboard that is centered around a 10.25in touchscreen. 

While the screen is a little low-res (not to mention the Nintendo 64-spec reversing camera), it’s intuitive to use, with big icons and logical enough menus. We do wish you could adjust the brightness without having to put the headlights on though. 

This interior could pass at a great price tag than what it’s actually bestowed with, only details like messy exposed cabling for the rear window heating element tell where costs have been cut.

The best bit, though, is that you rarely have to use the screen at all. There are real physical buttons for the temperature, fan controls, heated bits and bobs (if you upgrade to Max trim) and cruise and radio controls on the steering wheel. To the right of the steering wheel are buttons to turn off the ADAS functions, while the stalks control the automatic lights and wipers. 

Citroën calls the second screen a head-up display, but while it's not far from your line of sight, it's still only built into the dashboard. It gives you all the information you need to know, and this clever solution (reminiscent of the old C4 Picasso) proves more effective than the similar i-Cockpit display found in most Peugeots. Its high positioning ensures clear visibility over the small, square steering wheel.

We would prefer a round steering wheel, as it would be more natural to manoeuvre with, but at least this one has plenty of adjustment. 

The windscreen aperture is quite narrow, because of the raised dash. Combined with a not particularly high roofline, this can make it feel like you’re looking through a postbox at times, which means the rear-view mirror can get in the way of visibility. At least the driving position has a good range of adjustments and is pleasingly commanding. 

The seats initially feel superbly squishy and comfortable, but for some testers the support they provided over longer drives was lacking, leading to sore rearends after an hour in the driver’s seat. It’s another contributing factor to why the ë-C3 Aircross feels more comfortable on shorter journeys. 

The overall ambiance is definitely more one of cheerfulness rather than drearyness, though, which is an achievement in itself at this price point. We will happily take the useful buttons, well-screwed-together feel and pleasant fabric touches, even if it means some of the other plastics are of the hard and scratchy variety. 

Further back, the second row boasts plenty of room. Head and knee room is excellent for the class (unlike in the C3 Aircross, a third row can't be added to the ë-C3 Aircross, and all five-seat models benefit from additional leg room). However, the floor feels high, so there’s not enough room to squish feet under the front seats and taller adults will lack under-thigh support.

The car's body is quite narrow, so three-abreast for adults will be uncomfortable and impossible for Isofix-mounted child seats. 

Boot space is larger than in the seven-seat hybrid C3 Aircross, at 460 litres, and bigger than almost anything else at this price point, although the ICE Dacia Jogger will be more spacious still. 

Overall, while the plastics generally look and feel cheap, especially the excess of piano black around the gear selector, this is excusable, because Citroën has priced the ë-C3 Aircross so keenly.

ENGINES & PERFORMANCE

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Performance feels surprisingly strong considering the 111bhp and 92lb ft of torque on offer, but it does tail off above 50mph. 

It’s less powerful than electric rivals, but if you’re coming from a petrol-powered B-segment SUV, it will feel pleasingly torquey and smooth, with no gears to interrupt progress. 

We wouldn’t say no to the option of the more powerful motor that Stellantis offers elsewhere.

Basically, performance is fine. It’s not the fastest, 0-62mph takes almost 12sec in the Standard Range and 13sec in the Extended Range, but it suffices for a car of this sort and doesn’t feel as slow as the numbers would have you believe (top speed is just 89mph).

RIDE & HANDLING

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11 ride and handling

The word that I thought of most when driving the e-C3 Aircross was 'fine'. It's fine.

The steering is very light but precise enough, although devoid of feel; the brakes are progressive, as is the throttle. 

Even in the top trim, the passenger seat lacks height adjustment, which may affect how comfortable they find the experience.

The light steering makes it easy to park around town, but on the open road it prevents it from being anything close to a driver's car. If that’s your cup of tea, the Ford Puma Gen-E will serve your needs better.

The brakes and throttle are easy to modulate, and although the regenerative braking is restricted to one setting, it's a nice compromise. 

The ride and handling are also fine: it's softly set up, so very little jars the ride, but unsophisticated damping means it never settles down completely either. 

On the Bridgestone rubber supplied, there is more grip than a customer of this sort of car will probably ever look for, and roll is kept adequately in check, unless you’re really going for it. 

Not even the ADAS spoil the unobtrusive vibe. They're so well integrated that we only remembered they were on about half an hour into our drive.

Refinement is generally reasonable, but wind and road noise pick up above 60mph, meaning it's not the best motorway cruiser.

MPG & RUNNING COSTS

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On paper, the 188-mile range and 3.6mpkWh efficiency offered by the Standard Range model are quite disappointing. On our 50-mile test drive, it returned 4mpkWh for a real-world range of 180 miles. 

That’s not a bad result and means the real-world range is almost as good as that offered by the Renault 4 or BYD Atto 2.

For £2000, you can upgrade to Max trim, which adds in-built sat-nav, heated seats, a DAB radio and wireless smartphone charging.

Expect the range to drop on motorway journeys, though, and especially in the winter, because a heat pump isn’t offered (not many rivals have one either, to be fair). 

We haven’t driven the £2000 more expensive Extended Range car yet, but it's good for 249 miles on paper. 

A DC charging rate of 100kW is fine for the class and an eight-year warranty (when the car is serviced by a Stellantis dealer) is very competitive.

VERDICT

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Citroën could have priced this pleasant, well-mannered electric crossover a few thousand pounds higher and it would have still been good value. At just above £21,500 in Plus trim, which includes niceties like a grainy reversing camera, cruise control and climate control, it’s a bargain – and even cheaper than the hybrid C3 Aircross. 

The kicker for some buyers will be a 188-mile range (which seems achievable with a light foot off the motorway), but then a 248-mile model is en route.

There is very little to dislike at this very competitive price, although the ë-C3 Aircross is by no means daring, as Citroën claims.

The words 'fine' and 'adequate' throughout this review are ultimately used positively when the ë-C3 Aircross undercuts rivals so significantly. 

Alex Wolstenholme

Alex Wolstenholme
Title: Editorial Assistant

Alex joined Haymarket, the publisher of Autocar, in 2023. A car fanatic, he loves to delve into the spec-sheet, especially when it concerns something obscure or quirky. He currently drives a 2007 Alpina D3 estate but is often seen in his mum's Ford Fiesta (much to her annoyance). 

In his current position, as an editorial assistant, Alex mainly assists in managing Autocar's presence on MSN, but also writes features for the magazine.

Will Rimell

Will Rimell Autocar
Title: News editor

Will is Autocar's news editor.​ His focus is on setting Autocar's news agenda, interviewing top executives, reporting from car launches, and unearthing exclusives.

As part of his role, he also manages Autocar Business – the brand's B2B platform – and Haymarket's aftermarket publication CAT.