Citroen e-C4 Review

Practicality and Boot Space

The e-C4 is comfortably larger than a VW Golf and a few millimetres bigger than the VW ID.3. The Citroen e-C4 boot space is just 5 litres shy of the ID.3 too. 

There are split-fold rear seats if you need a bit more luggage space, while the boot floor is height adjustable and underfloor storage for the charging cables. There’s a ski hatch as standard on Shine Plus trim, it, along with leather ‘effect’ and heated seats, coming as part of the Interior Ambiences package on the Shine model. 

It’s unlikely you’ll be taking it to the Alps, but the ski hatch is useful for a trip to a DIY store, and, more helpfully, the armrest it adds in the back is a useful addition between your rear-seat passengers.  

Passenger space is good throughout for four adults, a fifth being a squeeze in the rear, and that sloping roofline being a bit intrusive if you’re tall and sat in the back. It’s not compromised here, though, just not quite as airy in its feel in the rear seats as more conventionally hatchback-styled or SUV- and crossover-shaped rivals it competes with. 

Elsewhere in the interior there’s decent oddment stowage, including, unusually, a £100 optional flip out holder for a tablet (somewhat specifically, an Apple iPad Air 2 or Samsung Galaxy Tablet A 10.5-inch), which is a nice touch, should you want/need it. It all feels very nicely put together, and very modern. 

Technology 

Inside is where the e-C4 really starts to impress. Citroen interiors have come on in leaps and bounds over recent years and the e-C4 marks another step up. The seats are a highlight plus the dashboard arrangement looks and feels very intuitive. 

There’s a digital dash plus a 10-inch touchscreen and physical controls for the air conditioning underneath. Within that screen all e-C4s come with Citroen Connected Live, a suite of services including 3 years of TomTom Live which brings info like live traffic and destination info (weather and fuel prices among other details). There’s danger zone and speed camera alerts on a subscription basis, too, indeed, all the live services revert to a paid plan after the initial three year period. 

You’ll need Shine Plus for the best audio equipment and things like wireless (and more USB point) charging for your smartphone, so it’s worth checking the specifications carefully when you’re ordering, as adding better audio and wireless charging adds £600 alone – and that’s before you start adding the active safety kit, outlined below. 

Safety

As ever, there’s a whole raft of new systems to keep you in lane, beep and bong and generally try and stop you having a crash, if all that beeping and bonging doesn’t distract you into having one. There’s even a full HD camera, which can take photos or video stored on a memory card, built into the rear-view mirror. 

Not all e-C4s get all that safety kit as standard, though even the most basic e-C4 comes with an Active Safety Brake, Speed Limit Information, Lane Keeping Assist, Driver Attention Alert with lane departure detection and a Forward Collision Warning, a Post Collision Safety Brake along with a suite of front, side and curtain airbags, stability and traction control and tyre pressure monitoring. 

C Series Edition and Shine Plus benefit from a Safety Pack Plus, it adding Active Safety Brake 2.0 with night time and cyclist detection, extended traffic sign recognition among other active safety aids. That camera mentioned above is a £300 option on Shine and Shine Plus models.