Providing drivers with clear, basic information about speed and range close to their normal eyeline, instead of packed onto the central touchscreen along with everything else, is a very welcome choice by Citroen and one I wish other EV makers would consider.
Fun fact: e-C3 is based on the so called "Smart Car" platform, derived from PSA's CMP platform, which is was jointly developed by the Dongfeng motors back in the 2010s. And both e-CMP and Dongfeng are proven losers of the Chinese market.
I never did like the trend for huge TFT screens 30-odd degrees off the driver's eyeline so I'm glad someone's offering the option to do without. How much information do you need in an EV anyway? Engine rpm - don't care Oil level/ temperature - irrelevant Boost pressure/ vacuum gauge - irrelevant Just give me a speedo/ trip computer/ range indicator and I'm good. Phone can do satnav & music 🤷
Bought a new C3 back in 2008 for less than £8k, still have it brilliant car, though £20k is totally unaffordable for many, the price of EV’s are heading in the right direction, the question is what would the price of this car be if not for Chinese competition?
a lot of them are expensive now, except for Dacia or even those with higher specs are maybe 17k euros... so cheapest car you can buy which is like this is 17k.... if they sell this EV at 23, it is not that much of a difference, that are the prices now... Still if the Chinese wished, they could match the price of ICE already. Ora 03 (Good Cat, Funky Cat) here in Baltics started to sell at 24 995 euros, it is a bigger car than this@@MasinacCcC
@@MasinacCcC Many people have 20-30k to spend on a car. If you never bought new ICE cars, electric cars won't change that. For example I paid 28k for my Scala, but if this was available I would've bought this instead. I want to go EV, but I don't want to spend 40k to get there or go chinese to get there.
This is a breath of fresh air. No Chinese shady deals. No over-the-top, mandatory "luxury" options of European brands. Just simple, practical, affordable, frugal. Just what I need. Hopefully the build quality is good, for now this car is #1 on my list
@@toyotaprius79 Kinda agree with your first point... not so much with your second. In this case, the 'SUV factor' just means they raised the ride-height and the roof-line slightly, and slapped some plastic cladding on the wheel arches. Growing vertically may - marginally - impact efficiency, but it's also why it's got reasonable boot-space (deep boot, vertically, rather than extending further into the car). Given the e-C3 is not about 'sporty handling' or performance, the downsides to the increased ride height are less significant - and they give more travel for the squashy / comfortable suspension, etc.
Are you serious? It has very little autonomy, ridiculous performance and derives from a model for emerging markets, so a step back from the outgoing c3. I don’t understand all your enthusiasm.
Half the cars we have purchased over the last 35 years have been Citroen's , nice to see they are back on track for cheap and cheerful cars for the masses.Lets hope the price stays sensible when it gets here,
I can not afford to buy Citroën. I had 2 Citroën in the year 2016 one C4 2013 and a C4 Gran Picasso 2016. I managed to have just one car the whole year, Since one always was on service for faults. It totally drained my economy so I got rid of them both and bought 2 Skoda instead and ran them 100 000km without any problem.
One of the craziest things is, that this car is actually looking good. Always had a thing for Citroen for being the oddball of the automotive industry. I might actually get one. Hope it’s a big hit - maybe the other brands will see that a car like that works too.
This is what all the manufacturers should have focused on from the start. EVs that everyone can afford. Now EVs are seen as rich peoples toys and are hated just because of that.
This little car makes a lot of sense. I've always thought the automaker which produces an EV under 25k with a half decent range will sell considerable volumes.
I've been saying for a while that we don't need EVs to have hundreds of horsepower and every bit of new technology, Keep it simple, make it so it can work on a road just as any other car, and you get more range, quicker charging, lighter weight, cheaper price!
my very first car, in 1985, was a golf 2, 55 hp diesel, 3 doors, 3m98 cm. At that time this was a standard family car in Belgium, with many families having the even smaller Peugeot 205 as their only car. no rev counter, no right side mirror, no abs, no electric powered windows, no power steering, no airconditioning, 155r13 wheels, 0-60 about 17 seconds. I did 270 000 kms in 9 years with the little bugger. Maybe scaling back a little bit wouln't hurt. 110 hp and 0-60 in 10 was GTI territory, then.
@@Joinusinfranceit might be a '2CV for today'. I look forward to hearing more about the suspension - I doubt it will be as good as the old two-shove (or anywhere near the old hydropnumatic floating DS/CX/BX/Xantias I've driven/had)
@@FFVoyager Less than that. The cheapest is only £4000, it’s a bit like the Citroen Ami but much cheaper. There are quite a few around £10,000 but we would have to add VAT and duties.
My Chevy Bolt 2017 Premier has a screen but no navigation, however you can plug in your iPhone or Android and then you'll get to use the entire screen for navigation. Smart way to reduce cost.
Excellent price and particularly pleased to see it come with an LFP battery. That means you can charge it to 100% all the time. This is very important for a car with a smaller battery as you are at least getting all the range it can give. Would be interested to know if it had one pedal driving and the charging speed but aside from that this is a no-brainer. Our current main car is a model 3 with our second car being an aging Prius. Would seriously consider this as a replacement for the Prius.
That LFP battery, the 320km range (and the price) pulled me over the line of buying. When no competition arrives before sales date, Our next car will be this Citroën.
This is the same for me and my family. We also have a model 3 for our main car, and my wife has an ageing petrol Skoda Fabia for short journeys. This little Citeron could be a great replacement.
Let’s put things into perspective: 44kWh is not a small EV battery. It’s average. I have a Hyundai Ioniq 28kWh. This is small, and yet has a range of 115-150 miles. Enough for most people. 😁
Announced charging power : 100 kW. Assuming this LFP battery is good, You might get a pretty decent fast charge to 100% on your highway trip, allowing for 200km stages. Very much relevant.
@@Nikoo033 Very true. I get by in my Mini Electric (29 kwh useable) just fine. Even for road trips its not too bad - if you like a coffee break every 180 km that is :-)
Excellent! Gimme that base-spec screenless version, which means they'll never have to sell a buttonless eC3 no matter what. Also, let's have more of the fun stuff - I'd take the 2CV themed paintwork over boring monochrome white/black/grey schemes (especially that awful trend of what I can only describe as 'lacquered primer' non-colour). Waiting for the option with a cloth full length slide-back sun roof and different colour wheel arch plastic for further 2CV 'nuss' !
In many European countries you can get a few thousand euros discount for EVs. So if that's not already counted in the price, this can be well below 20k euros to buy
Finally ! Tesla & VW have lost first to market for volume car. eC3 likely to be my next daily commuter. Agree with you Jack, fantastic that the base car comes without the screen! Admire the eUp for that too. Look forward to your drive review with less journo ... competition ... rudeness. Funny moments for us. Great review
"Finally ! Tesla & VW have lost first to market for volume car. " That's nothing to cheer. Nissan Leaf entered the market before Tesla. See how that turned out.
@@-_James_- "All three of those points are very very subjective." No. Only the style can be considered "very very subjective". The rest can be measured in a more objective way.
@@vale461mitoMedia "no they are subjective. " I never claimed the opposite. Let me repeat myself. Only the style can be considered "very very subjective". The rest can be measured in a more objective way.
What I also like is how they choose to use a classic key to "start" the car rather that all these "keyless" thing, that have been proved to be easy to bypass by carjacker (easier at least).
this looks like genuinely good news! this makes it realistic for many of us to buy a new BEV car with a decently sized battery, and that is SO exciting :) cannot wait for these to hit the market!!!
I would get this tomorrow if my area had a decent public charging network set up as theres no way I can charge at home. Thats the main thing holding me back
I notice dealers advertising Vauxhall Corsa electric pretty much new but the original model for under £20k now. A lot less than list and it appears good discounts appearing all over the place now. The C3 a step in the right direction though 😊
I love the idea of optional center screen... They become stale really fast and just take space... I can use a tablet or my phone which would be very very easy to upgrade well maintained and up to date apps responsive and etc... Just give a bluetooth connection to speakers, actually not need that either just pass it through usb-c
I love the cars shape. It does have a unique character about it. It does not have to look like a stylized egg on wheels. I only wish it could come to Canada.😊
@@dsp4392 But since it's not a road trip vehicle, and more than half the population of the country lives in places where they might get one or two days in five years where it even gets as cold as -25˚C, and that at night, they could still sell into those areas. I had a 40 kWh LEAF before I traded up to a 62 kWh one. And yeah, NRCAN mixed cycle rated range was 242 km while at -22˚C with a cold soaked battery, I didn't want to do a round trip of more than 115 km (so I'd have some buffer in case of detours etc...) on a charge, but you know, even for suburbanites, that's quite a lot. Now, who knows what the price would be here. At current exchange rate, £20,300 is about 34,000 CAD, which after federal rebate would be 29K, BC and Quebec can get a bit more from provincial programs. A Corolla hatchback starts at 27K, and can be optioned to 33K. Not bad comparitively. Though, obviously straight exchange rate isn't an accurate reflection of what a car would cost in a different market with different costs for the manufacturer and retailer.
I'll believe that price once it's launched in the UK. Look at the Citroen Ami, that was going to be under £5,000 but turned out to be over £8,000 here.
Great to see some of the most innovative car brands in europe shows this progressive, affordable AND beautifully crafted EV "for everyone" Highly appreciate their efforts and it's a nice surprise this will come rather soon than in "some longer time ahead" as most of the announcements these days from the traditional car makers. Love the Fully Charged Show to always be ahead of the time trends and share this with our community.
"Great to see some of the most innovative car brands in europe shows this progressive, affordable AND beautifully crafted EV "for everyone"" For everyone? Nope. I would hardly call Citroen an innovative car brand either.
@@yourcrazybearCitroen may not have had the best cars all throughout its history but it really has done some really innovative things. I had a lot of lectures on mobility history and Citroen really did some amazing things
I love it and Citroën successfully hit the right comfort and autonomy, for a reasonable price. Only thing I wish it had is a chargeable V2H/V2L option (500€ / 1000€) to be able to use it to store solar energy during the day, and reuse it during the morning/night. It seems that the future Renault 5 will have V2G functionality built-in so that makes the choice a bit difficult between the 2 of them…
But the Citroen C3 ICE is £14k OTR - so this isn't cheap by comparison . Still a long way to go until price parity in the show room. If you can charge at home and you do higher than average milage then you can save maybe £2k per year - so in 3 years it will have closed that gap and made it worth the difference. So overall it is worth it. But wouldnt call it cheap.
This is what VW promised the ID.3 would be but of course VW broke that promise. Let's see how adamantly Germans will stay loyal to VW when facing the e-C3.
I feel no matter the price, if you are going to use the e.v. for anything other than short journeys. One, it is much more expensive to charge away from home. Two, when and if more buy these cars then trying to find an empty charger will be a nightmare. I buy a car to get me where I want to go and get me back. I do not want to spend half my life at charging stations. When I can get a petrol/diesel and do 400 or so miles and then spend 5 mins refilling and on my way. I do not have to worry if I have to switch my headlights, air con, windscreen wipers on or tow a trailer or caravan to see my range drop substantially because of it to. E.v's for the masses are decades away from being anywhere near practical. I feel it's just a good excuse by governments to get rid of affordable vehicles from the masses that cannot be controlled remotely.
You wouldn't fit in, just as you wouldn't fit in even a VW i3. So the manufacturers aint going to the huge expense of sending them over and marketing them to you.
I think if anyone is serious about pollution and energy you’re going to have to go light as well as being affordable, so to me this seems a good idea,just think less weight means less particulates in town as well.
@@Nikoo033 Just the real harmful PM 2.5 ones that come from rubber and road surface wear, the same as ICE vehicles .The thing is you get some real nasty particles from tyres because they are made from oil.(polyaromatic hydrocarbons ,benzothiazoles, isoprene and heavy metals like zinc and lead).
Yes, tyres give off some particulates (and yes, I would love for them to be eliminated, but that's unlikely in the near future). However, even with heavier EVs, the tyre particulates are on par with ICE tyre particulates (or less, depending on which ICE you compare to... many ICE these days are as heavy - or heavier - than EVs)... but iirc tyre particulates are only a couple of percent of overall particulates from a Desiel ICE (petrol ICE particulates are lower). So if your concern is particulates, then *any* EV will be orders of magnitude better than an ICE (especially given that EVs also don't generate particulates from slipping the clutch, and generate far fewer brake-dust particulates too).
@@logicalChimp A modern turbo diesel car is responsible for 13% of PM 2.5 roadside particulates in towns, 3% of which comes from exhaust emissions,now if you use ultra low sulphur fuel such as shell v power this halves this figure to 10 ppm (1.5%)now you can go even further and use Biodiesel this is then reduced to 5 ppm (0.75%)So the original 3% is now only 0.75 of one percent which is nothing compared to the tyre and road surface particulates, but I suppose you don’t want to know that .
😂😂😂 Of course the heavyweight battery fans don't want reminding. In their world they're all eco warriors. The concept of less than perfect road surfaces is entirely forgotten. The concept of having an enormous battery weighing in at hundreds of kGs is forgotten too.
LFP battery equipped is the trump in its sleeves. It can be charged in a planned trip with supercharging... right??? Although it is good for the city, it may go for a province road trip with no problems.
for your everyday commute or supermarket run it will be ok. forget about it taking you on any roadtrip though. I have met one too many cars like this on the road and it is a pain having to stop every 2 hours and try to find a charger for a 1 hour charge.
There are a lot of people in the comments saying that £20K isn't cheap, and that's true, but if that becomes the normal price for a new EV, it should cut down the price of second hand EVs. Though I'm personally still waiting for reliable V2G tech to make the most of my solar panel array...
The upcoming Renault 5 should come with V2G capabilites included. In the base, which should start at €25k it should come with a 42kWh NMC battery. There is an option for a bigger 52kWh battery for a bit over €30k. The final presentation is end of February 2024.
@@swecreations I haven't really run the numbers on new cars since I only do a few thousand miles a year and I do all my own maintenance on a '58 plate car, though I think if you are comparing like for like on new cars a £5K difference in purchase price will take a fair amount of distance/maintenance/number of years to balance that out. My car sits on the drive probably an average of 22 hours a day and it covers maybe 60 miles a week so being able to optimise the times at which I sell the electricity I generate by using the car as a power bank with V2G tech is what would make my own very specific use case viable.
@@haukionkannel There is no real way to establish those numbers, there are cars that can go twice as far on the same charge as others... Not to mention what ICE car you're comparing it to...
Let’s face it EV prices are like the first mobile phones that were £3k and a fortune to make a call and people were shouting “ How stupid you can go into a Phone-box or any building and find a phone why would you need this” “it weighs a ton” “You need to charge it” “These are only for the super rich and will never be anything more than that” “Maybe one day there could be one or two mobile phones used for work in a street” “What are you saying every house will have a mobile phone in years to come - don’t be silly” Remind you of anything…….
All those things you say where true for the first gens of phones and if phones stayed that way they would never have caught on. Worth watching both Nokia and Blackberry films to see the long hard road the tech went though to get to where we are today. The thing is phones and cars are not directly comparable as investment is much much higher. After your home, your car is an average persons biggest purchase. Lots of people change phone every 2 years and this moves the tech on at FOMO pace. The killer apps and replacement of mp3 player, sat nav, pager, radio. Electric cars don't have one killer app. Mobile phones where the perfect storm of technical development driven by need and wants. I don't need an electric car and only one I want is the 50k Tesla. Electric cars are the slow trickle as most people just don't buy new cars at the same frenetic pace as phones. I am 42 and have never bought a new car and kept a Focus MK1 for 8 years and drive a 10 year Golf GTi, 6 years old and a pleasure to drive. No tech will ever develop as fast as phones have. Battery Energy density improvements are badly needed and batteries and represent a high percentage of electric cars cost. The C3 is not magic. It's the same tech made entry level.
An interesting addition to that is that the thing that made phones so much better was the network of radio towers. Always being near a tower means your phone needs less power, can have more bandwidth and there can be more phones in the same area. Compared to building a network of phone towers, EV charging infrastructure is easy.
Im so pleased that the new c3 comes with its own Werner Herzog. Imagine pootling around town being told that Every man should pull a boat over a mountain once in his life. ...
@@mraidymaddful the power from that single motor is a bout the same as the Citroen Dispatch/Peugeot Expert 2.0l diesel, so will pull the weight in the vehicle, sure the range is only half of a diesel version but you can live with that, provided it costs less to do the same mileage with the price of electricity against diesel, and of course keep the price around the 20k mark they would clean up
I really REALLY hope they sell these a lot! So that all other car makers finally wake up! This is exactly the type of product we need to make the transition to a more sustainable mobility! Simple, affordable, essential, cleaner than gasoline car for everyday use! Have to say: French people have quite a story on making Revolutions! Maybe they’ll start a new one if they keep doing this products! As a matter of fact, with this car Citroen will join Dacia (Renault really) on being the only affordable electric cars produced in Europe! 😮 Volkswagen, are you listening?
On the basis I have probably commented a fair few times on the cost of cars you have reviewed, I will say this is definitely a step in the right direction, but let us see exactly what it does sell for in the UK… assuming it will come to the UK in EV form 🤔
@@tagg8233UK C3 starts from the equivalent of 16€ in the UK, so a bit of a premium but we often get slightly different specs compared to the mainland.
well done citroen.. this car is a turning point for many... for those who are entering the EV world for the first time, for taxi drivers, for those who want to have another car, for those who want to have an EV but don't have 40-50,000 euros for dry electric ones ... I have an e-c4 and I am delighted with it. If I have the opportunity next year, I will also buy this one...
I love no screen option. The only thing I would miss is music trough speakers. So just put option to have speakers connected to phone using Bluetooth and that is all i need.
But prices are never converted......... So call it £23.3k! But, obviously, still cheap! I'm guessing there'll be a Pug 106 type version and an Adam type version coming for a couple of thousand more? And, hopefully - as the initial PCP on the Ami was £1.5k upfront then £20/month, therell be one on this for c.3 times this amount!?
@@origin178Don't quite know about ICE comparibility yet? Jack did the usual thing of comparing it to 'better' quality ICE cars. The cheapest ICE C3, is £14k RRP new, so a way off yet!
@@computerbob06 But something like the Corsa e starts at £32k. Other manufacturers are going to have to stop being so greedy with competition like this.
My Tesla Model 3 SR+ 2020 that can do about 300km in real world which I got for 42000eur feels more painful with every year.... which is to be expected and a good thing as EVs become more mainstream but my wallet screams with every monthly payment.
Having bought one the first tranche of MG ZS EV, I can say that this car should be a huge seller. But the reluctant folks need to be shown that 200 miles range is enough but the long holiday journey or folks who drive for a living. And when you do go on an extended run the proper facts of public charging need to be explained. Two hundred miles is the furthest anyone should drive without a break and provided it can recharge fairly quickly evening the cold all should be good.
@@JB9000x Not sure where you live but in the south east the only time you do 70 mph on a motorway is after 20:00 at night. Two hundred miles or 150 with kids in tow will be enough for most folks. And that is the point. How often do you do 200 miles on a motorway, most folks don't except 2-3 times a year. I currently have the loan of a Hyundai hybrid whilst mine is at a bodyshop, I have never driven anything so bad. The elective drive is snatchy as the battery gives up and the engine starts up to recharge it. And, of course, I miss the braking when I lift my foot of the accelerator.
I hope this comes to the US - that's a fantastic price! I'm blown away that it's basically equivalent to a 2023 40kWh Nissan LEAF in terms of specs, but so much cheaper...
Makes you wonder why Nissan left the current Leaf AZE1 with a 60KwH passively cooled battery when they could have very easily delivered a 40KwH LFP battery with liquid cooling, a slightly more efficient package and have a runaway sales success. But no. You do you Nissan
the intresting thing about that Citroen E-C3 is, that it had "more range" (320km estimated) by a little bit expensiver price (23.300€) as the "actual cheapest Electric car", a Dacia Spring 45 (230km Range (WLTP), costs about 22.700€ - but had "only" 44ps/32kw) - but, to be fair, the Spring doesn't had anything to work with. Even if you put a different color (only olive-green and silver; green costs 550€, silver costs 650€ more) on it, the Dacia Spring costs more - by "less attractivity" for Electric Car Owners. when you get the "bigger" Spring (65), you pay more then the Citroen - and only get then a 3.rd color (a blue-ish tone), and only then you can get a "30kw DC-charging port" - what you can't get on the Smaller Dacia Spring 45. with that option - what costs 800€ - you'll hit literally 26.000€. If citroen gives a few tings "more" than dacia Does - only the DC-charging port "inclusive" might be the best point - you'll get a way better car from Citroen then from dacia, and that with a cheaper price.
It's great to finally have a decent, cheap EV. Looks like something only a mother could love, however. I hope we'll see other Stellantis versions. The platform would make for a great Fiat Panda EV.
Hurrah, 20k is still a lot but once these hit the used market they'll really start to make a difference. P.S i don't always agree with the FC show but i can't help but feel this is the show that should have taken over from Top Gear when Clarkson, May and thingy trotted off..
Apparently there'll also be a smaller battery version (probably 29kwh) with 200km/125m range. Which is more than adequate for a city car. This will sell massively and is actually a proper car unlike the dacia spring.
Very interesting but given how much you were raving about price, I actually expected cheaper still. It looks like we have a bit of a trend now with different manufacturers trying to produce a cheap EV in their line-up & Citroen have obviously done this to compete with Renault/Dacia. i.e. You seem to be 'selling' it as the cheapest in it's segment but isn't the Dacia Spring which came out quite a while ago now cheaper than this (albeit maybe with a little less range)?
There are a load of people in this world that are looking for a relatively inexpensive, reliable EV. It's got the right battery chemistry and size to make it a bulletproof little runabout. Let's hope it's reliable.
That group is very very small in reality. Because most people in the world don't have a charger at home or even €22.000 to spend. Or can't think of spending that amount of money on a small car, while they could spend the same amount on a much bigger, much more equipped second hand gas car. I don't understand everyone saying in the comments "everyone was waiting for this!". Because all the sales & usage number contradict that immensely. 90% of the EV buyers are company based, so only buy for tax cuts. And in the countries where this tax cut is fading out, they are renewing their fleet with... hybrids or gas cars. If people are going to continue to live in a fantasy bubble and be overly optimistic or generalising and speaking on behalf of every single person in the world, but really just talking from their own situation & needs... this EV revolution is going to take way way much longer. Me, as a photographer who sometimes does two weddings in two days and hits 250km easily without meeting any charger, this is not an option for me. Not even close. Let alone offer enough space for my gear. And I'm sure you & me can think off a lot more people and professionals who also can't use this. And this are just the easy examples that pop up into someone's mind.
I must have missed the bit where the presenter or commenters were talking on behalf of "every single person in the world", as you claim above. Regardless, if you want to talk stats and majorities...data shows that almost every country in the EU has average annual driving distances of under 13,500km per year (down from 19000km in 2000). That's about 37km per day, well within the capacity of this vehicle. And well within the capacity of overnight charging on a standard household plug. You seem to be drawing inferences from your own needs: a photographer who needs to travel over 250km a day with strict time deadlines. I'm sure there are quite a few people with similar needs...but it's hardly the majority! Stats for most countries that aren't massive like the US do show that the biggest segment is drivers who do under 60kms a day. This car would fit that fine. Comparing it to a second hand ice vehicle - no new vehicle warranty, far greater running and maintenance costs, pollutants and particulate emissions, and - depending on the 2nd vehicle, possibly less mod cons, safety and joy to drive - seems very backward looking. Yes, £20,000 pounds is still a lot. But it breaks into that bracket where a lot of people will be looking at banks offering 1% interest loans for EVs and going "well, with the running/maintenance savings, and having a new vehicle... I'm in!" So I do think it will do very well. (I agree: not with photographers with daily 250km driving needs though) Out of interest, do you have any citation for the statement that 90% of EV sales have been to companies as a tax cut thing? Was that a study posted online?
@@caleidoo "That group is very very small in reality. Because most people in the world don't have a charger at home or even €22.000 to spend. " Nonsense. €22.000 for a new car is nothing. Everyone with a normal job could afford one if they wanted to. It's just a regular budget prioritization.
I like most things about this car, not least the price and the no-frills attitude. I won't lie though, I would really like to see a Citroën Oli at the dealerships. There were so many things I got excited about with that concept car.
And it comes with hydraulic cushion active suspension. Never have to slow down over speed bumps again. The perfect city car. I might buy 2 at that price😊
Citroen gets it with the e-C3. Its a basic transport for the rest of us. Other automakers should pay attention. That Said, the problem with "ornamental" roof racks is eventually someone will try to use it as one.
Definitely a step in the right direction. Certainly reasonable considering other offerings. I really like how the screen isn't used to control the AC. I hope there are options without LED lights as well.
@@rinnin If they're selling it at that price in 8 EU countries, I'd suspect that yes, it does. In fact, that price includes France. There is no way you can sell a car in France these days without AC.
American here... I was stationed in Holland back in the 80s. My first car there was a bright orange Citroen that had a rusted out floorboard that allowed exhaust fumes to billow into the cabin through and I could always check to see what kind of pavement I was going over, at any time. And the shocks had this weird air suspension that allowed you to raise and lower the car. It was bouncy as hell. Definitely the quirkiest car I've ever owned. They've come a long way since those days.
It seems to be a nicely designed, practical and good looking car, which is more than can be said of most EVs today. Nevertheless, £20,000+ is not "cheap as chips", remaining very much over expensive, especially when we consider the high depreciation, etc of EVs generally.
I do have a soft spot for quirky Citroens. I had a C3 1.6 auto for four years and it was great - bags of space, quick and handled well, economical and my mum went on to have it for another 5 years before some scrote drove into it while parked and wrote it off. I do hope they do very well with this latest effort - it deserves to succeed.
This is the best option to replace my Dacia Spring, will give me some extra range, almost same maneuverability in town due to small size, but more power and definitely extra security. Brilliant job Citroen! Was thinking that Chinese EVs will take over EU but it seems that Stelantis found a way to compete with them.
All the cars you compared it too are a size segment bigger than this car. That would be like saying a Fiesta is cheap because it's less than a Focus or a Golf.
Suggestion: having an overview chart of the stats at the end would be nice. It might not be a long range traveller, but showing the 10-80% charge time would still be interesting to know.
@@t3hpwninat0r Sure. Not the point though. If you go beyond the max range that day, how long does it take to add 70% (140 miles) range when you charge along the motorway? If it takes half an hour and you can drive in the motorway for 2 hours, a 1:4 time ratio is not great, but okay once in a while.
44 kw/h battery, 100kw DC charging, 11kw AC charging, charges from 20% to 80% in 26 minutes on DC, 320km WLTP range, max speed 135km/h, 4.01m length, 1.57m high, 1.79 width, 1.4 tons weight, made in Slovakia
Now, if we can just get Stelantis to supply an entry-level vehicle at this price point in the US, which is $25,000. We would have a great city car for the first time buyers. That and we need to convince them that an electric car doesn't need a 500-mile range to satisfy most peoples needs. It's always amazing to analyze how many miles you actually drive a vehicle in a week and then realize that unless you're a delivery driver, practically every vehicle range is adequate.
At last, a reasonably priced European EV! This is a game-changer. The only drawback is the slightly low range for longer journeys - the 199 mile WLTP probably means around 175 miles if it is driven at any kind of speed.
I think this can work for many ppl for typical longer range journeys as well. The one longer distance trip I do care about with any regularity is the one to the capital city in my country, which is 185 miles away -- which should be fine w one brief stop with this, and ppl tend to take one on that trip anyhow.
Glad to hear that Citroen’s EC3 will start at just over £20,000. I’m so fed up with EV manufacturers (and car journalists) harping on about how £30,000 is such a great price for EVs. Here’s hoping Citroen have made a good EV for the masses. Also hoping the EC3 has a good NCAP Euro safety rating.
No such thing as free lunch. You get what you pay for, mg4 might be couple grand dearer, but it also does 0-60 in under 8 seconds, it's roomier and comes with 51kwh battery
Always thought an integrated phone set up was better than a built in screen especially if you are buying second hand in 5-10 years when the built in tech is embarrassingly obsolete.
Providing drivers with clear, basic information about speed and range close to their normal eyeline, instead of packed onto the central touchscreen along with everything else, is a very welcome choice by Citroen and one I wish other EV makers would consider.
Came here to say exactly that - I really like that gauge cluster!
Probably it is done like this because it is also an ICE car. For some reason most purely EV cars have stupid layouts.
Pretty sure Toyota has done the same thing with their gauge cluster in the Prius and bZ4X but everyone loses their mind
That and sticking to actual buttons you can feel without moving the eyes off the road. Also a safety feature if you ask me.
, 2:14 2:14
I didn’t think Citroen would just take the Chinese EV onslaught without a fight, it appears they have proven they are up to the challenge. Well done 👍
Fun fact: e-C3 is based on the so called "Smart Car" platform, derived from PSA's CMP platform, which is was jointly developed by the Dongfeng motors back in the 2010s. And both e-CMP and Dongfeng are proven losers of the Chinese market.
@ndukasmithLet me guess from US?💀
@ndukasmithTesla, Polestar, MG, some BMWs… all popular EVs in the UK market that are made in China.
@ndukasmithdo you realise they litteraly just started to sell in Europe, plus the price is double than the exact same model in China, right?
They won’t 😂 the chinese still better value for money😂
Finally the option to save money and skip an unwanted fancy TV screen - will be interesting to see how this takes off in UK
I think the e-Up!/Mii/CityGo were quite successful with just a phone holder. 🤔
Would love to know how much extra the screen costs 🤔
The phone holder version won’t sell
I never did like the trend for huge TFT screens 30-odd degrees off the driver's eyeline so I'm glad someone's offering the option to do without. How much information do you need in an EV anyway?
Engine rpm - don't care
Oil level/ temperature - irrelevant
Boost pressure/ vacuum gauge - irrelevant
Just give me a speedo/ trip computer/ range indicator and I'm good. Phone can do satnav & music 🤷
Eat some beans
Bought a new C3 back in 2008 for less than £8k, still have it brilliant car, though £20k is totally unaffordable for many, the price of EV’s are heading in the right direction, the question is what would the price of this car be if not for Chinese competition?
£8000 in 2008 is the same as £13000 today, so yes £20k is still a bit pricey but not as bad as you make it sound.
If not Chinese competition, it would cost 40k+
Extactly.. I don't know when 23k euro became cheap and affordable... Wish my salary raised quickly as car prices.
a lot of them are expensive now, except for Dacia or even those with higher specs are maybe 17k euros... so cheapest car you can buy which is like this is 17k.... if they sell this EV at 23, it is not that much of a difference, that are the prices now... Still if the Chinese wished, they could match the price of ICE already. Ora 03 (Good Cat, Funky Cat) here in Baltics started to sell at 24 995 euros, it is a bigger car than this@@MasinacCcC
@@MasinacCcC Many people have 20-30k to spend on a car. If you never bought new ICE cars, electric cars won't change that. For example I paid 28k for my Scala, but if this was available I would've bought this instead. I want to go EV, but I don't want to spend 40k to get there or go chinese to get there.
This is a breath of fresh air. No Chinese shady deals. No over-the-top, mandatory "luxury" options of European brands. Just simple, practical, affordable, frugal. Just what I need. Hopefully the build quality is good, for now this car is #1 on my list
It's not fresh. It's not as shady as your yellow peril mantra.
It would be so much better if it weren't an SUV wannabe
@@toyotaprius79 Kinda agree with your first point... not so much with your second. In this case, the 'SUV factor' just means they raised the ride-height and the roof-line slightly, and slapped some plastic cladding on the wheel arches. Growing vertically may - marginally - impact efficiency, but it's also why it's got reasonable boot-space (deep boot, vertically, rather than extending further into the car).
Given the e-C3 is not about 'sporty handling' or performance, the downsides to the increased ride height are less significant - and they give more travel for the squashy / comfortable suspension, etc.
Same
You got to explain what shady deals you’re talking about!
Are you serious? It has very little autonomy, ridiculous performance and derives from a model for emerging markets, so a step back from the outgoing c3. I don’t understand all your enthusiasm.
Well done Citroen, one of the underrated makers with a great history of delivering a good level of vehicle for a vey accessible price point.
Half the cars we have purchased over the last 35 years have been Citroen's , nice to see they are back on track for cheap and cheerful cars for the masses.Lets hope the price stays sensible when it gets here,
"Lets hope the price stays sensible when it gets here," my heart sank a little when i read this sentence. "oh yeah, it wont be so cheap here"
So you bought 2 cars and one was a Citroen?
@@n49o735/5=7 cars??
If only this e-C3 was remotely a Citroën by design
I can not afford to buy Citroën.
I had 2 Citroën in the year 2016 one C4 2013 and a C4 Gran Picasso 2016. I managed to have just one car the whole year, Since one always was on service for faults. It totally drained my economy so I got rid of them both and bought 2 Skoda instead and ran them 100 000km without any problem.
One of the craziest things is, that this car is actually looking good.
Always had a thing for Citroen for being the oddball of the automotive industry.
I might actually get one.
Hope it’s a big hit - maybe the other brands will see that a car like that works too.
This is what all the manufacturers should have focused on from the start. EVs that everyone can afford. Now EVs are seen as rich peoples toys and are hated just because of that.
This little car makes a lot of sense. I've always thought the automaker which produces an EV under 25k with a half decent range will sell considerable volumes.
Let's hope you're right!
That's not a little car
No they won't its overpriced.
And light weight. 👌
should be 11k
I've been saying for a while that we don't need EVs to have hundreds of horsepower and every bit of new technology,
Keep it simple, make it so it can work on a road just as any other car, and you get more range, quicker charging, lighter weight, cheaper price!
The Indian version doesn't have cooling.
@@Elaba_damn… the only country that definitely needs cooling
@@NerdyLlamaFarmer It has got only passive cooling.
At last, some really positive news on EV prices, rather than laugh-out-loud incredulity.
An electric 2CV which is a good thing. 320 km on WLTP is fine for most daily usage.
This is weird - a French car that isn't weird.
@@fallinginthed33p even if its 200km real life its a good one - I don't really need much more
@@JeanBaklazan that's what we need for new cars really, these medium range EVs for city driving
It's 20 grand. That's not cheap especially for a Citroen 😂
my very first car, in 1985, was a golf 2, 55 hp diesel, 3 doors, 3m98 cm.
At that time this was a standard family car in Belgium, with many families having the even smaller Peugeot 205 as their only car.
no rev counter, no right side mirror, no abs, no electric powered windows, no power steering, no airconditioning, 155r13 wheels,
0-60 about 17 seconds. I did 270 000 kms in 9 years with the little bugger.
Maybe scaling back a little bit wouln't hurt.
110 hp and 0-60 in 10 was GTI territory, then.
That's fabulous. Citroen are doing the right thing. An EV for everyone.
The 2CV of the future perhaps?
@@Joinusinfranceit might be a '2CV for today'. I look forward to hearing more about the suspension - I doubt it will be as good as the old two-shove (or anywhere near the old hydropnumatic floating DS/CX/BX/Xantias I've driven/had)
They need to. Unless they get economy’s of scale they will be unprepared to deal with the Chinese EV’s that are coming, at half the price.
@@davidlazarus67 £11k cars from China? 🤔
@@FFVoyager Less than that. The cheapest is only £4000, it’s a bit like the Citroen Ami but much cheaper. There are quite a few around £10,000 but we would have to add VAT and duties.
My Chevy Bolt 2017 Premier has a screen but no navigation, however you can plug in your iPhone or Android and then you'll get to use the entire screen for navigation. Smart way to reduce cost.
Excellent price and particularly pleased to see it come with an LFP battery. That means you can charge it to 100% all the time. This is very important for a car with a smaller battery as you are at least getting all the range it can give. Would be interested to know if it had one pedal driving and the charging speed but aside from that this is a no-brainer. Our current main car is a model 3 with our second car being an aging Prius. Would seriously consider this as a replacement for the Prius.
That LFP battery, the 320km range (and the price) pulled me over the line of buying. When no competition arrives before sales date, Our next car will be this Citroën.
This is the same for me and my family. We also have a model 3 for our main car, and my wife has an ageing petrol Skoda Fabia for short journeys. This little Citeron could be a great replacement.
Let’s put things into perspective: 44kWh is not a small EV battery. It’s average. I have a Hyundai Ioniq 28kWh. This is small, and yet has a range of 115-150 miles. Enough for most people. 😁
Announced charging power : 100 kW. Assuming this LFP battery is good, You might get a pretty decent fast charge to 100% on your highway trip, allowing for 200km stages. Very much relevant.
@@Nikoo033 Very true. I get by in my Mini Electric (29 kwh useable) just fine. Even for road trips its not too bad - if you like a coffee break every 180 km that is :-)
Excellent! Gimme that base-spec screenless version, which means they'll never have to sell a buttonless eC3 no matter what.
Also, let's have more of the fun stuff - I'd take the 2CV themed paintwork over boring monochrome white/black/grey schemes (especially that awful trend of what I can only describe as 'lacquered primer' non-colour). Waiting for the option with a cloth full length slide-back sun roof and different colour wheel arch plastic for further 2CV 'nuss' !
In many European countries you can get a few thousand euros discount for EVs. So if that's not already counted in the price, this can be well below 20k euros to buy
I've seen them previewed at 17.666 € which I guess is the subsidised price here in Austria.
@@marcusott2973wow that is a good price for the Austrian people then!
should be around 12k euros in Romania
That would be about €16K here, in Spain. There really aren't many new cars that come in at that price.
In Belgium you get 5000 euro's when you're ev cost less than 40000 euro's .
It will be more like £25k in the UK. Mark my words!
Glad to see "Braking system fault" illuminated on the dash. Wouldn't be a Citroen without an electrical fault! I say that as a Citroen owner.
...and the Tyre Pressure Monitoring System lamp is illuminated on his car 10 seconds earlier
Hahaha I admire the honesty. My sister did absolutely love her Citroën C3, built like a tank (made of baguettes)
You’ll probably find it was running a demonstration, many new cars do that now.
Wonderful. I am British but live in France and have owned several Citroens. The best ride of any car. Well done Citroen.
Grumpy people still in the comments about the price...😂
Grumpy you will be if you’re unfortunate enough to have a serious accident in this appallingly zero rated car.
Finally ! Tesla & VW have lost first to market for volume car. eC3 likely to be my next daily commuter. Agree with you Jack, fantastic that the base car comes without the screen! Admire the eUp for that too. Look forward to your drive review with less journo ... competition ... rudeness. Funny moments for us. Great review
Indeed, no screen that can break, no software that will be outdated in 4 years time. Let me just slap my phone onto the dashboard, and I'm good.
"Finally ! Tesla & VW have lost first to market for volume car. "
That's nothing to cheer. Nissan Leaf entered the market before Tesla. See how that turned out.
@@woutdezeeuw1604
True… if you phone gets outdated in 5 years… you buy new 200€ phone and good to go next 5 years!
Wow, great price, decent range and it's not even ugly
All three of those points are very very subjective.
@@-_James_- "All three of those points are very very subjective."
No. Only the style can be considered "very very subjective". The rest can be measured in a more objective way.
@@yourcrazybearno they are subjective. 320km is too low, 23k€ is too high and it's bad design
@@vale461mitoMedia "no they are subjective. "
I never claimed the opposite. Let me repeat myself. Only the style can be considered "very very subjective". The rest can be measured in a more objective way.
@@yourcrazybear sorry. The right phrase is they are obkective
What I also like is how they choose to use a classic key to "start" the car rather that all these "keyless" thing, that have been proved to be easy to bypass by carjacker (easier at least).
this looks like genuinely good news! this makes it realistic for many of us to buy a new BEV car with a decently sized battery, and that is SO exciting :) cannot wait for these to hit the market!!!
I would get this tomorrow if my area had a decent public charging network set up as theres no way I can charge at home. Thats the main thing holding me back
I notice dealers advertising Vauxhall Corsa electric pretty much new but the original model for under £20k now. A lot less than list and it appears good discounts appearing all over the place now. The C3 a step in the right direction though 😊
One very good choice of Citroen. One thing about this video, though : show yourself LESS and show the car MORE !
I love it, the idea not to have screen and have phone there (if the car has also bluetooth speakers/mic) is amazing!
I love the idea of optional center screen... They become stale really fast and just take space... I can use a tablet or my phone which would be very very easy to upgrade well maintained and up to date apps responsive and etc... Just give a bluetooth connection to speakers, actually not need that either just pass it through usb-c
I love the cars shape. It does have a unique character about it.
It does not have to look like a stylized egg on wheels.
I only wish it could come to Canada.😊
Range in Canada on a -40°C day: about 3km.
@@dsp4392 But since it's not a road trip vehicle, and more than half the population of the country lives in places where they might get one or two days in five years where it even gets as cold as -25˚C, and that at night, they could still sell into those areas. I had a 40 kWh LEAF before I traded up to a 62 kWh one. And yeah, NRCAN mixed cycle rated range was 242 km while at -22˚C with a cold soaked battery, I didn't want to do a round trip of more than 115 km (so I'd have some buffer in case of detours etc...) on a charge, but you know, even for suburbanites, that's quite a lot.
Now, who knows what the price would be here. At current exchange rate, £20,300 is about 34,000 CAD, which after federal rebate would be 29K, BC and Quebec can get a bit more from provincial programs. A Corolla hatchback starts at 27K, and can be optioned to 33K. Not bad comparitively. Though, obviously straight exchange rate isn't an accurate reflection of what a car would cost in a different market with different costs for the manufacturer and retailer.
I'll believe that price once it's launched in the UK. Look at the Citroen Ami, that was going to be under £5,000 but turned out to be over £8,000 here.
Exactly!! And they are all LHD.
Just go to calais & drive one back, then it’s 5k & no parking tickets.🤣.
If that’s under £20k it gonna put the hotcake seller out of business .
New favourite expression, will be using in an upcoming vid
@@JackScarlett1 Cool , great review Jack .
Great to see some of the most innovative car brands in europe shows this progressive, affordable AND beautifully crafted EV "for everyone" Highly appreciate their efforts and it's a nice surprise this will come rather soon than in "some longer time ahead" as most of the announcements these days from the traditional car makers. Love the Fully Charged Show to always be ahead of the time trends and share this with our community.
"Great to see some of the most innovative car brands in europe shows this progressive, affordable AND beautifully crafted EV "for everyone""
For everyone? Nope. I would hardly call Citroen an innovative car brand either.
@@yourcrazybearCitroen may not have had the best cars all throughout its history but it really has done some really innovative things. I had a lot of lectures on mobility history and Citroen really did some amazing things
I love it and Citroën successfully hit the right comfort and autonomy, for a reasonable price. Only thing I wish it had is a chargeable V2H/V2L option (500€ / 1000€) to be able to use it to store solar energy during the day, and reuse it during the morning/night. It seems that the future Renault 5 will have V2G functionality built-in so that makes the choice a bit difficult between the 2 of them…
But the Citroen C3 ICE is £14k OTR - so this isn't cheap by comparison . Still a long way to go until price parity in the show room.
If you can charge at home and you do higher than average milage then you can save maybe £2k per year - so in 3 years it will have closed that gap and made it worth the difference. So overall it is worth it. But wouldnt call it cheap.
This is what VW promised the ID.3 would be but of course VW broke that promise.
Let's see how adamantly Germans will stay loyal to VW when facing the e-C3.
Yeah still waiting for the people's electric car from the people's car company.
I feel no matter the price, if you are going to use the e.v. for anything other than short journeys. One, it is much more expensive to charge away from home. Two, when and if more buy these cars then trying to find an empty charger will be a nightmare.
I buy a car to get me where I want to go and get me back. I do not want to spend half my life at charging stations. When I can get a petrol/diesel and do 400 or so miles and then spend 5 mins refilling and on my way.
I do not have to worry if I have to switch my headlights, air con, windscreen wipers on or tow a trailer or caravan to see my range drop substantially because of it to.
E.v's for the masses are decades away from being anywhere near practical. I feel it's just a good excuse by governments to get rid of affordable vehicles from the masses that cannot be controlled remotely.
This looks fantastic, at an amazing price. It's a shame it'll never come to North America. We could use something like this, especially at this price.
Yeah, its just like ⅛ of a regular US car, so you would probably be the only buyer…
You wouldn't fit in, just as you wouldn't fit in even a VW i3. So the manufacturers aint going to the huge expense of sending them over and marketing them to you.
@@stephen10. of course they have now a good price, they aren't true off-roaders anymore. Jeep Renegade have the same platform of a Fiat 500X
It should be available in MX. Maybe not as a Citroen. But as a Peugeot/FIAT.
Heck, it won't surprise me if it sells as a Dodge.
@@oscaralbertoguerrero9143 This type of suspension can only be assembled on Citroen cars.
When did 20k become affordable? I must have missed that memo.
I think if anyone is serious about pollution and energy you’re going to have to go light as well as being affordable, so to me this seems a good idea,just think less weight means less particulates in town as well.
Which particulates are you referring to regarding EVs?
@@Nikoo033 Just the real harmful PM 2.5 ones that come from rubber and road surface wear, the same as ICE vehicles .The thing is you get some real nasty particles from tyres because they are made from oil.(polyaromatic hydrocarbons ,benzothiazoles, isoprene and heavy metals like zinc and lead).
Yes, tyres give off some particulates (and yes, I would love for them to be eliminated, but that's unlikely in the near future). However, even with heavier EVs, the tyre particulates are on par with ICE tyre particulates (or less, depending on which ICE you compare to... many ICE these days are as heavy - or heavier - than EVs)... but iirc tyre particulates are only a couple of percent of overall particulates from a Desiel ICE (petrol ICE particulates are lower).
So if your concern is particulates, then *any* EV will be orders of magnitude better than an ICE (especially given that EVs also don't generate particulates from slipping the clutch, and generate far fewer brake-dust particulates too).
@@logicalChimp A modern turbo diesel car is responsible for 13% of PM 2.5 roadside particulates in towns, 3% of which comes from exhaust emissions,now if you use ultra low sulphur fuel such as shell v power this halves this figure to 10 ppm (1.5%)now you can go even further and use Biodiesel this is then reduced to 5 ppm (0.75%)So the original 3% is now only 0.75 of one percent which is nothing compared to the tyre and road surface particulates, but I suppose you don’t want to know that .
😂😂😂
Of course the heavyweight battery fans don't want reminding.
In their world they're all eco warriors.
The concept of less than perfect road surfaces is entirely forgotten.
The concept of having an enormous battery weighing in at hundreds of kGs is forgotten too.
A bargain, especially with that guy in the front to chauffeur you around. As entertaining as always thanks Jack. Well done Citroen!!
Yay an EV without a TV on the dash
LFP battery equipped is the trump in its sleeves. It can be charged in a planned trip with supercharging... right??? Although it is good for the city, it may go for a province road trip with no problems.
Makes the Dacia Spring look like a poor deal (if it ever does come to the UK) and should give the BYD Seagull a run for its money.
I read somewhere that the Dacia Spring will arrive in the UK in 2024 at a lower price than this (but also with a smaller battery).
for your everyday commute or supermarket run it will be ok. forget about it taking you on any roadtrip though. I have met one too many cars like this on the road and it is a pain having to stop every 2 hours and try to find a charger for a 1 hour charge.
There are a lot of people in the comments saying that £20K isn't cheap, and that's true, but if that becomes the normal price for a new EV, it should cut down the price of second hand EVs. Though I'm personally still waiting for reliable V2G tech to make the most of my solar panel array...
The upcoming Renault 5 should come with V2G capabilites included. In the base, which should start at €25k it should come with a 42kWh NMC battery. There is an option for a bigger 52kWh battery for a bit over €30k. The final presentation is end of February 2024.
That's still at a price where literally any gasoline car will be more expensive to buy and own.
@@swecreations I haven't really run the numbers on new cars since I only do a few thousand miles a year and I do all my own maintenance on a '58 plate car, though I think if you are comparing like for like on new cars a £5K difference in purchase price will take a fair amount of distance/maintenance/number of years to balance that out.
My car sits on the drive probably an average of 22 hours a day and it covers maybe 60 miles a week so being able to optimise the times at which I sell the electricity I generate by using the car as a power bank with V2G tech is what would make my own very specific use case viable.
You need something like 80000km in total and after that EV is startin to get cheaper… if you can charge at home.
@@haukionkannel There is no real way to establish those numbers, there are cars that can go twice as far on the same charge as others... Not to mention what ICE car you're comparing it to...
I was obsessed with the Oli when I saw it, and I'm so happy that they're taking that concept and slowly turning it into a reality
Let’s face it EV prices are like the first mobile phones that were £3k and a fortune to make a call and people were shouting
“ How stupid you can go into a Phone-box or any building and find a phone why would you need this”
“it weighs a ton”
“You need to charge it”
“These are only for the super rich and will never be anything more than that”
“Maybe one day there could be one or two mobile phones used for work in a street”
“What are you saying every house will have a mobile phone in years to come - don’t be silly”
Remind you of anything…….
Remember too that was £3k then, in todays money its £15k…
All those things you say where true for the first gens of phones and if phones stayed that way they would never have caught on. Worth watching both Nokia and Blackberry films to see the long hard road the tech went though to get to where we are today. The thing is phones and cars are not directly comparable as investment is much much higher. After your home, your car is an average persons biggest purchase. Lots of people change phone every 2 years and this moves the tech on at FOMO pace. The killer apps and replacement of mp3 player, sat nav, pager, radio. Electric cars don't have one killer app. Mobile phones where the perfect storm of technical development driven by need and wants. I don't need an electric car and only one I want is the 50k Tesla. Electric cars are the slow trickle as most people just don't buy new cars at the same frenetic pace as phones. I am 42 and have never bought a new car and kept a Focus MK1 for 8 years and drive a 10 year Golf GTi, 6 years old and a pleasure to drive. No tech will ever develop as fast as phones have. Battery Energy density improvements are badly needed and batteries and represent a high percentage of electric cars cost. The C3 is not magic. It's the same tech made entry level.
An interesting addition to that is that the thing that made phones so much better was the network of radio towers. Always being near a tower means your phone needs less power, can have more bandwidth and there can be more phones in the same area. Compared to building a network of phone towers, EV charging infrastructure is easy.
where´s my flying car?
There.
Im so pleased that the new c3 comes with its own Werner Herzog.
Imagine pootling around town being told that Every man should pull a boat over a mountain once in his life. ...
Citroen is one of a few manufacturers, who bring concepts almost unchanged to serial production and in addition it's affordable! Well done, Citroen!
Be real, there's nothing conceptual about this e-C3 other than the Oli headlights
@@toyotaprius79 Indeed. I love the Oli concept. If you're going to make a cheap car, make it a statment. Nobody wants a cheap AND boring car.
8:00 The Quartic Steering Wheel from the Austin Allegro is back.
And when they put all this tech in a middle sized van at around that price they will conquer the tradesman market
It amazes me when they bring out say a Transit Electric with only 120 miles of range. I mean, what bloody use is that!!
@@mraidymaddful the power from that single motor is a bout the same as the Citroen Dispatch/Peugeot Expert 2.0l diesel, so will pull the weight in the vehicle, sure the range is only half of a diesel version but you can live with that, provided it costs less to do the same mileage with the price of electricity against diesel, and of course keep the price around the 20k mark they would clean up
I really REALLY hope they sell these a lot! So that all other car makers finally wake up! This is exactly the type of product we need to make the transition to a more sustainable mobility! Simple, affordable, essential, cleaner than gasoline car for everyday use! Have to say: French people have quite a story on making Revolutions! Maybe they’ll start a new one if they keep doing this products! As a matter of fact, with this car Citroen will join Dacia (Renault really) on being the only affordable electric cars produced in Europe! 😮 Volkswagen, are you listening?
On the basis I have probably commented a fair few times on the cost of cars you have reviewed, I will say this is definitely a step in the right direction, but let us see exactly what it does sell for in the UK… assuming it will come to the UK in EV form 🤔
Crossing all the fingers.
A regular C3 in Germany starts at €12k, I would imagine this would scale in the same way to whatever price the regular C3 goes for in the UK
@@tagg8233UK C3 starts from the equivalent of 16€ in the UK, so a bit of a premium but we often get slightly different specs compared to the mainland.
I like that the screen is optional
In most cases it is more than enough to have your smartphone as a center console for music and navigation
well done citroen.. this car is a turning point for many... for those who are entering the EV world for the first time, for taxi drivers, for those who want to have another car, for those who want to have an EV but don't have 40-50,000 euros for dry electric ones ... I have an e-c4 and I am delighted with it. If I have the opportunity next year, I will also buy this one...
I love no screen option. The only thing I would miss is music trough speakers. So just put option to have speakers connected to phone using Bluetooth and that is all i need.
But prices are never converted.........
So call it £23.3k!
But, obviously, still cheap!
I'm guessing there'll be a Pug 106 type version and an Adam type version coming for a couple of thousand more?
And, hopefully - as the initial PCP on the Ami was £1.5k upfront then £20/month, therell be one on this for c.3 times this amount!?
Exactly, or more... but at least it's finally comparable to a ICE car.
@@origin178Don't quite know about ICE comparibility yet?
Jack did the usual thing of comparing it to 'better' quality ICE cars. The cheapest ICE C3, is £14k RRP new, so a way off yet!
@@computerbob06 But something like the Corsa e starts at £32k. Other manufacturers are going to have to stop being so greedy with competition like this.
Lucky for the countries that stayed in the EU then. It will stay €23.500 for the rest of Europe.😁
@@BMWHP2 Not all members of the EU use the Euro as their currency.
My Tesla Model 3 SR+ 2020 that can do about 300km in real world which I got for 42000eur feels more painful with every year.... which is to be expected and a good thing as EVs become more mainstream but my wallet screams with every monthly payment.
Jack is a legend! Entertaining and informative all at the same time.
And he’s trying to bring back 90’s boyband haircuts!
Having bought one the first tranche of MG ZS EV, I can say that this car should be a huge seller. But the reluctant folks need to be shown that 200 miles range is enough but the long holiday journey or folks who drive for a living. And when you do go on an extended run the proper facts of public charging need to be explained. Two hundred miles is the furthest anyone should drive without a break and provided it can recharge fairly quickly evening the cold all should be good.
Problem is it won't be 200 mile range at 70mph, which is the only scenario where the top range stat matters. I'm guessing more like 150 or less
@@JB9000x Not sure where you live but in the south east the only time you do 70 mph on a motorway is after 20:00 at night. Two hundred miles or 150 with kids in tow will be enough for most folks. And that is the point. How often do you do 200 miles on a motorway, most folks don't except 2-3 times a year. I currently have the loan of a Hyundai hybrid whilst mine is at a bodyshop, I have never driven anything so bad. The elective drive is snatchy as the battery gives up and the engine starts up to recharge it. And, of course, I miss the braking when I lift my foot of the accelerator.
I hope this comes to the US - that's a fantastic price! I'm blown away that it's basically equivalent to a 2023 40kWh Nissan LEAF in terms of specs, but so much cheaper...
No, it charges to 80% in 26 minutes which leaves the LEAF standing for another 20 minutes.
Makes you wonder why Nissan left the current Leaf AZE1 with a 60KwH passively cooled battery when they could have very easily delivered a 40KwH LFP battery with liquid cooling, a slightly more efficient package and have a runaway sales success. But no. You do you Nissan
the intresting thing about that Citroen E-C3 is, that it had "more range" (320km estimated) by a little bit expensiver price (23.300€) as the "actual cheapest Electric car", a Dacia Spring 45 (230km Range (WLTP), costs about 22.700€ - but had "only" 44ps/32kw) - but, to be fair, the Spring doesn't had anything to work with. Even if you put a different color (only olive-green and silver; green costs 550€, silver costs 650€ more) on it, the Dacia Spring costs more - by "less attractivity" for Electric Car Owners. when you get the "bigger" Spring (65), you pay more then the Citroen - and only get then a 3.rd color (a blue-ish tone), and only then you can get a "30kw DC-charging port" - what you can't get on the Smaller Dacia Spring 45. with that option - what costs 800€ - you'll hit literally 26.000€. If citroen gives a few tings "more" than dacia Does - only the DC-charging port "inclusive" might be the best point - you'll get a way better car from Citroen then from dacia, and that with a cheaper price.
It's great to finally have a decent, cheap EV. Looks like something only a mother could love, however.
I hope we'll see other Stellantis versions. The platform would make for a great Fiat Panda EV.
Panda EV is the same underside
It's not good at all that the Panda will become so overgrown
@@toyotaprius79 I know right? The Panda should be the smallest, cheapest EV in Stellantis' lineup
Makes me think of the launch of the mini. The other manufacturers said "We can't see how it is making money" and it turned out it was not...
You guys have an absolute magic core, that inspires optimism and excitement. Love it
Very happy that they didn't stick bath mats to the doors - looks great value.
Hurrah, 20k is still a lot but once these hit the used market they'll really start to make a difference.
P.S i don't always agree with the FC show but i can't help but feel this is the show that should have taken over from Top Gear when Clarkson, May and thingy trotted off..
Apparently there'll also be a smaller battery version (probably 29kwh) with 200km/125m range. Which is more than adequate for a city car. This will sell massively and is actually a proper car unlike the dacia spring.
From the company that brought us the iconic 2CV, and the phenomenallly innovative DS, we shouldn't be surprised that Citroen have done it again.
Very interesting but given how much you were raving about price, I actually expected cheaper still.
It looks like we have a bit of a trend now with different manufacturers trying to produce a cheap EV in their line-up & Citroen have obviously done this to compete with Renault/Dacia.
i.e. You seem to be 'selling' it as the cheapest in it's segment but isn't the Dacia Spring which came out quite a while ago now cheaper than this (albeit maybe with a little less range)?
There are a load of people in this world that are looking for a relatively inexpensive, reliable EV. It's got the right battery chemistry and size to make it a bulletproof little runabout. Let's hope it's reliable.
That group is very very small in reality. Because most people in the world don't have a charger at home or even €22.000 to spend. Or can't think of spending that amount of money on a small car, while they could spend the same amount on a much bigger, much more equipped second hand gas car. I don't understand everyone saying in the comments "everyone was waiting for this!". Because all the sales & usage number contradict that immensely. 90% of the EV buyers are company based, so only buy for tax cuts. And in the countries where this tax cut is fading out, they are renewing their fleet with... hybrids or gas cars. If people are going to continue to live in a fantasy bubble and be overly optimistic or generalising and speaking on behalf of every single person in the world, but really just talking from their own situation & needs... this EV revolution is going to take way way much longer. Me, as a photographer who sometimes does two weddings in two days and hits 250km easily without meeting any charger, this is not an option for me. Not even close. Let alone offer enough space for my gear. And I'm sure you & me can think off a lot more people and professionals who also can't use this. And this are just the easy examples that pop up into someone's mind.
I must have missed the bit where the presenter or commenters were talking on behalf of "every single person in the world", as you claim above.
Regardless, if you want to talk stats and majorities...data shows that almost every country in the EU has average annual driving distances of under 13,500km per year (down from 19000km in 2000). That's about 37km per day, well within the capacity of this vehicle. And well within the capacity of overnight charging on a standard household plug.
You seem to be drawing inferences from your own needs: a photographer who needs to travel over 250km a day with strict time deadlines. I'm sure there are quite a few people with similar needs...but it's hardly the majority! Stats for most countries that aren't massive like the US do show that the biggest segment is drivers who do under 60kms a day. This car would fit that fine.
Comparing it to a second hand ice vehicle - no new vehicle warranty, far greater running and maintenance costs, pollutants and particulate emissions, and - depending on the 2nd vehicle, possibly less mod cons, safety and joy to drive - seems very backward looking.
Yes, £20,000 pounds is still a lot. But it breaks into that bracket where a lot of people will be looking at banks offering 1% interest loans for EVs and going "well, with the running/maintenance savings, and having a new vehicle... I'm in!"
So I do think it will do very well. (I agree: not with photographers with daily 250km driving needs though)
Out of interest, do you have any citation for the statement that 90% of EV sales have been to companies as a tax cut thing? Was that a study posted online?
@@caleidoo "That group is very very small in reality. Because most people in the world don't have a charger at home or even €22.000 to spend. "
Nonsense. €22.000 for a new car is nothing. Everyone with a normal job could afford one if they wanted to. It's just a regular budget prioritization.
The steering wheel of an Austin Allegro?!!
A one-spoke steering wheel would have been a 'throw-back'
I bet it has hydra gas suspension 😂
I like most things about this car, not least the price and the no-frills attitude. I won't lie though, I would really like to see a Citroën Oli at the dealerships. There were so many things I got excited about with that concept car.
Ending jab at the clueless gent sitting in the front seat? Pure gold, Jack.
The car is so intelligently designed, this is the Citroën spirit, cars for all in every ranges
And it comes with hydraulic cushion active suspension. Never have to slow down over speed bumps again. The perfect city car. I might buy 2 at that price😊
Citroen gets it with the e-C3. Its a basic transport for the rest of us. Other automakers should pay attention. That Said, the problem with "ornamental" roof racks is eventually someone will try to use it as one.
Cool! Cool! Still more expensive than Dacia Spring while being almost the same.
Definitely a step in the right direction. Certainly reasonable considering other offerings.
I really like how the screen isn't used to control the AC. I hope there are options without LED lights as well.
Does it come with AC? 😬
WTF wouldn't you want LED lights?
Maybe you're not aware that LEDs last between 10 and 100 times longer than any of the alternatives?
@@rinnin If they're selling it at that price in 8 EU countries, I'd suspect that yes, it does. In fact, that price includes France. There is no way you can sell a car in France these days without AC.
@@davidcolin6519 More to the point, they use a lot less battery charge...
That car is practically shivering with that tankzilla eyeing it up and down @09:12 :D
In what universe this is "cheap" ?
American here... I was stationed in Holland back in the 80s. My first car there was a bright orange Citroen that had a rusted out floorboard that allowed exhaust fumes to billow into the cabin through and I could always check to see what kind of pavement I was going over, at any time. And the shocks had this weird air suspension that allowed you to raise and lower the car. It was bouncy as hell. Definitely the quirkiest car I've ever owned. They've come a long way since those days.
It seems to be a nicely designed, practical and good looking car, which is more than can be said of most EVs today. Nevertheless, £20,000+ is not "cheap as chips", remaining very much over expensive, especially when we consider the high depreciation, etc of EVs generally.
It's the same price as a base model Fiesta, which used to be a cheap car
I totally agree, price of cars have become silly.
£7999.00 is cheap.
I do have a soft spot for quirky Citroens. I had a C3 1.6 auto for four years and it was great - bags of space, quick and handled well, economical and my mum went on to have it for another 5 years before some scrote drove into it while parked and wrote it off. I do hope they do very well with this latest effort - it deserves to succeed.
This is the best option to replace my Dacia Spring, will give me some extra range, almost same maneuverability in town due to small size, but more power and definitely extra security. Brilliant job Citroen! Was thinking that Chinese EVs will take over EU but it seems that Stelantis found a way to compete with them.
All the cars you compared it too are a size segment bigger than this car.
That would be like saying a Fiesta is cheap because it's less than a Focus or a Golf.
Suggestion: having an overview chart of the stats at the end would be nice. It might not be a long range traveller, but showing the 10-80% charge time would still be interesting to know.
being LFP you can do 1-100% charge as often as you like!
@@t3hpwninat0r Sure. Not the point though. If you go beyond the max range that day, how long does it take to add 70% (140 miles) range when you charge along the motorway? If it takes half an hour and you can drive in the motorway for 2 hours, a 1:4 time ratio is not great, but okay once in a while.
44 kw/h battery, 100kw DC charging, 11kw AC charging, charges from 20% to 80% in 26 minutes on DC, 320km WLTP range, max speed 135km/h, 4.01m length, 1.57m high, 1.79 width, 1.4 tons weight, made in Slovakia
@@romtebnice
Liking those charge stats.
The design language is a home run. It's splendid inside and out.
Another great episode from Jack. And we're looking for an affordable EV so this could definitely fit the bill ... 😊
Now, if we can just get Stelantis to supply an entry-level vehicle at this price point in the US, which is $25,000. We would have a great city car for the first time buyers. That and we need to convince them that an electric car doesn't need a 500-mile range to satisfy most peoples needs. It's always amazing to analyze how many miles you actually drive a vehicle in a week and then realize that unless you're a delivery driver, practically every vehicle range is adequate.
At last, a reasonably priced European EV! This is a game-changer. The only drawback is the slightly low range for longer journeys - the 199 mile WLTP probably means around 175 miles if it is driven at any kind of speed.
I think this can work for many ppl for typical longer range journeys as well. The one longer distance trip I do care about with any regularity is the one to the capital city in my country, which is 185 miles away -- which should be fine w one brief stop with this, and ppl tend to take one on that trip anyhow.
That is not cheap… 500€ is cheap… 15000€ for a car is normal…
So even 7000€ too much for beingnnormal priced new car.
Glad to hear that Citroen’s EC3 will start at just over £20,000. I’m so fed up with EV manufacturers (and car journalists) harping on about how £30,000 is such a great price for EVs. Here’s hoping Citroen have made a good EV for the masses. Also hoping the EC3 has a good NCAP Euro safety rating.
No such thing as free lunch. You get what you pay for, mg4 might be couple grand dearer, but it also does 0-60 in under 8 seconds, it's roomier and comes with 51kwh battery
@@EvilijoUK If you buy this for majority of city driving, which most people who buy EVs do, you dont care about 0-60 or too much room anyway.
This vehicle will surely survive and prosper IF Chinese autos are not allowed to be sold on the European market.
Nice to see a cheap EV. I'd be interested in a test drive so I hope they get to make this on scale and not go all preorder with waiting lists.
Always thought an integrated phone set up was better than a built in screen especially if you are buying second hand in 5-10 years when the built in tech is embarrassingly obsolete.
Exactly…you can buy new 200€ phone every 5 years and have up to date info system in the car!
Comb your hair, slow down and just give me the numbers.
Whoa! I finally found that guy with the great reviews of his GTi mk5, he's a journalist now. Awesome!