Introduction
What Car? says...
While it’s fairly typical for an updated car to get a new engine, it’s not often that an entirely new propulsion system is introduced. The Skoda Citigo e iV is somewhat different, however; rather than just tinkering with the Citigo’s petrol engines when it was tweaked in 2019, they were ripped out and stuck straight in the bin.
In their place is an 82bhp electric motor that’s powered by a 36.8kWh battery pack. In English, that’s enough juice for 162 miles of range in official tests. That’s some way behind the likes of the Renault Zoe, but way more than the paltry range offered by the Smart Forfour EQ, and even the more upmarket – and considerably more expensive – Mini Electric.
Of course, there are a couple of rivals that are much closer to home; the Seat Mii Electric and the Volkswagen e-Up. If you think they all look a little similar, that’s because they’re all virtually the same car, just badged differently. By developing all three cars together, Volkswagen Group was able to save an awful lot of money to help make them cheaper to buy and more profitable. Not that this should be a surprise; they did exactly the same when they launched the original petrol versions of the Up, Mii and Citigo way back in 2012.
So, is the Citigo e iV the most impressive small electric car on sale? Are there any drawbacks to it? And what’s it like in key areas compared with other electric rivals?
Read on to find out. And to get a great deal on any new car, make sure you check out our New Car Buying pages.
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