Citroën ë-C3 Aircross review

If you love to complain about how expensive everything is these days, you might expect the Citroën ë-C3 Aircross to give you another reason to grumble.

After all, it's an electric SUV – an often heavy purchase, both in terms of cost and literal weight. However, the ë-C3 Aircross happens to be neither of those things. It costs less than a Ford Focus and weighs about 1.5 tonnes – a far cry from the near-two-tonne Audi Q4 e-tron. In fact, it’s lighter than a new BMW 3 Series.

Does that make it a master of range and efficiency among its peers, or does it suggest cheap, flimsy materials and a lack of equipment?

Well, in this review we’ll dive into those elements and tell you how well the Citroën ë-C3 Aircross compares with the Hyundai Inster, Vauxhall Frontera Electric and other rivals.

Or if you’re hesitant to go electric and want the option of seven seats, check out our petrol Citroën C3 Aircross review.

You can have your Citroën ë-C3 Aircross in two different flavours: the 44kWh Standard Range and the 54kWh Extended Range. As you might expect, the Extended Range’s larger battery means more range between charges, increasing the Standard Range’s weedy 188 miles to 249 miles. 

Both versions come with the same 111bhp electric motor running the front wheels, but the Standard Range is actually slightly faster on paper. You see, it can officially manage 0-62mph in 11.7sec, while the heavier, bigger battery version takes 13 seconds. 

You can certainly feel that extra performance in the former; it’s more eager to get off the line and feels nippier around town. Even so, once you’re on the move, both versions have enough power for everyday driving, even if performance does start to tail off once you hit motorway speeds.  

On a more positive note, you and your passengers should be happy with how well the ë-C3 Aircross rides. Like many electric SUVs it can be a little bit thumpy over bumps, but there’s plenty of cushioning taking the sting out of such abrasions – more so than in the Fiat Grande Panda Electric.

What’s more, the body mostly stays upright over patchy surfaces, subjecting you to very little side-to-side sway by SUV standards. However, if you enter a tight bend with some speed you’ll encounter a lot of body roll.

That, along with steering that’s more numb and spongy than wonderfully precise and natural-feeling, makes you inclined to drive more gently than some electric cars, including the Hyundai Inster.

The ë-C3 Aircross does a decent job of isolating you from road noise, but there’s a fair amount of wind noise at speed and considerably more motor whine than you’ll hear in rivals. 

“The ë-C3 Aircross doesn’t glide like the lighter ë-C3 but it’s fairly light for an electric SUV. I found it quite refreshing that I didn't have to wrestle its heft like in some cars.” – Oliver Young, Reviewer

Apart from some soft-touch material on the door and central armrests, and fabric on the dashboard, the Citroën ë-C3 Aircross is full of hard grey plastics. The Fiat Grande Panda Electric interior is more colourful and slightly plusher, while the Hyundai Inster feels a bit better screwed together.

The buttons and switches in the ë-C3 Aircross feel fairly cheap, but at least they’re logically laid out and easy to use. For example, rather than having the air-con controls on the infotainment screen – as is the case in the MG4 EV – you get a panel with physical controls, making it much easier to set the temperature and power.

The seats in the ë-C3 Aircross are soft and comfy, while the driving position is suitably lofty – as you’d hope from an electric SUV – giving you a good view out front. Rearward visibility is good due to the car’s boxy shape and fairly slim pillars.

As a result, you’ll have no issues when it comes to parking, something that’s made even easier by standard-fit rear parking sensors and a rear-view camera. Going for top-spec Max trim also adds front and side parking sensors. 

The digital driver’s display above the steering wheel is pretty basic and less modern-looking than the equivalents in the Grande Panda or Vauxhall Frontera Electric.

Likewise, the 10.25in infotainment touchscreen is bested by higher quality set-ups found in the Inster and Renault 5. On the plus side, it’s easy enough to use and responds fairly quickly to your inputs.

“The ë-C3’s driver display isn't very configurable or super flashy, but it clearly displays key information below your eyeline, and I didn’t find it impeded my desired driving position.” – Oliver Young, Reviewer

There’s lots of space in the front of the Citroën ë-C3 Aircross, and a six-footer can sit behind another with a little room to spare. You can fit three adults in the back, but it’s only really comfy for brief trips or if they're slender.

You get a decent amount of interior storage, with a pretty large glovebox and quite big door bins. Storage in the back is more limited, with no fold-down centre armrest let alone one with a cubby in it.

Unlike the petrol Citroën C3 Aircross, the electric version is not available as a seven-seater. That's a shame because it would make the ë-C3 Aircross the cheapest electric SUV with seven seats by quite a margin. It would be helpful to have sliding or reclining rear seats as well, like in the Hyundai Inster.

Anyway, at least that means you have the same amount of boot space that the five-seat C3 Aircross offers. At an impressive 460 litres, it gives you more storage room than in the Inster. The Fiat Grande Panda Electric and Jeep Avenger Electric have smaller boots, too.

“For the money and among its electric SUV peers, I was quite astonished by how much space you get with the ë-C3 Aircross.” – Oliver Young, Reviewer

The Citroën C3 Aircross is very well priced, undercutting the Jeep Avenger Electric and costing around the same as the Fiat Grande Panda Electric, Hyundai Inster and Vauxhall Frontera Electric. 

The maximum charging speed of the ë-C3 Aircross is 100kW, allowing a 20-80% charge on  a fast public charger in 26 minutes for the smaller battery and 28 minutes for the bigger one. Plug in at home on a 7kW charger, meanwhile, and they’ll take around four hours and five hours respectively. 

There are two trims available – entry-level Plus and top-spec Max – and our pick is Plus, which comes with a good amount of kit. That includes 17in alloy wheels, cruise control, automatic headlights, electrically folding door mirrors, a rear-view camera and rear parking sensors. 

Max adds some luxuries such as heated front seats, a heated steering wheel and a wireless phone-charger, so if you want those and have the budget, it's worth considering. 

The ë-C3 Aircross has not appeared in our What Car? Reliability Survey yet, but in the 2025 survey Citroën came tenth out of 30 brands, beating Skoda and Ford but not Suzuki and Toyota. That's still quite a confidence-inspiring result, though.

Citroën offers a generous warranty, too, giving you eight-years/100,000-miles of cover, providing that you service the car at an approved garage every year. That’s longer than Hyundai’s five-year warranty (although it offers unlimited mileage), but not quite as good as Toyota’s 10-year service-activated warranty. 

The ë-C3 Aircross has not yet been tested for safety by Euro NCAP. Standard safety kit includes lane-departure warning, automatic emergency braking (AEB) and a driver drowsiness alert. Max trim adds blind-spot monitoring.

“We'll have to wait to see how reliable the ë-C3 proves to be but I’m glad to see Citroën towards the top of the brand reliability table. It instills some confidence.” – Oliver Young, Reviewer

Buy it if…

- You want a practical electric SUV for a reasonable price

- You often carry lots of luggage

- You’re looking for an electric car with a smooth ride

Don’t buy it if…

- You prefer cars with a plush interior

- You want an electric car that’s quick off the mark

- You need an SUV with seven seats

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