New Citroen e-C3 Aircross 2025 review: a talented and affordable small electric SUV

Verdict

The new Citroen e-C3 Aircross is by no means perfect. Performance is a little on the leisurely side, and the overall range will only be adequate for some. However, one look at the price makes these gripes much easier to forgive. Here is a car that’s as roomy inside as many SUVs from the class above, yet offers a fully electric powertrain for as little as £21,595 (once the Government Electric Car Grant is applied). With decent kit levels and a mostly smooth ride, its appeal only increases. We welcome any new affordable cars, but when they have genuine ability like the e-C3 Aircross, then they become hard to ignore.

This is the all-new Citroen C3 Aircross, and while it’s the second car to wear the badge, this latest version has taken quite a different approach to the one that was launched in 2017. And the decision to change the formula is a brave one, because, frankly, we thought the old model was rather good.

However, for all of the plaudits we gave it, the original did have its limitations. That’s why, with this second-generation model, Citroen is going bigger, it’s going more practical and it’s going more varied under the bonnet than was the case previously. 

Used - available now

2023 Citroen

C3 Aircross

45,075 milesManualPetrol1.2L

Cash £9,999

View C3 Aircross

2023 Citroen

C3 Aircross

17,659 milesAutomaticPetrol1.2L

Cash £14,499

View C3 Aircross

2023 Citroen

C3 Aircross

9,335 milesAutomaticPetrol1.2L

Cash £14,995

View C3 Aircross

2021 Citroen

C3 Aircross

15,604 milesAutomaticPetrol1.2L

Cash £12,180

View C3 Aircross

It’s an approach that seems to have worked so far. Customers haven’t even had a chance to see one in the metal, yet Citroen has already taken 3,000 pre-orders. So what are those buyers getting excited about? 

Firstly, that chunky body is hiding a lot of interesting design choices. The overall look is instantly recognisable beside the C3 supermini, but the C3 Aircross is larger in every direction, most significantly in length; at 4,395mm, it’s 380mm up on the standard C3. For context, that’s only a couple of centimetres shorter than a Nissan Qashqai. 

But unlike the Qashqai, the C3 Aircross is available with seven seats – at least it is with one caveat. To get the third row, you’ll need to choose from one of the petrol or hybrid engines available. In the fully electric e-C3 Aircross we’re driving here – which Citroen predicts will account for roughly a quarter of all Aircross sales in the UK – it’s five-seat only.  

Space has always been an Aircross signature, and here it’s no different. Up front, that’s aided by a dashboard design which is largely shared with its smaller C3 sibling; the two layer dashboard places climate controls – physical switches, thankfully! – beneath the central air vents, with all of the technology sitting above. This includes Citroen’s digital display panel, a slim unit which sits above the rim of the small steering wheel, which is flattened top and bottom. It works well in practice; unlike many Peugeots with a similar layout, we had no issues with the wheel obstructing the dials here, and the view ahead is great. A bit of fabric material on the dash does a reasonable job of distracting the eye from one or two hard and scratchy plastics elsewhere.

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Moving further back, Citroen claims class-leading kneeroom and headroom for this car. Without a third row of seats to accommodate in the e-C3 Aircross, the second row has moved slightly further back, granting even more space to stretch out. Despite this, there’s still plenty of boot capacity, too; Citroen quotes a very generous 460 litres. The seats fold almost flat, and form a level platform with the false boot floor.

Wherever you find yourself in the cabin, those seats are very supportive. Citroen’s Advanced Comfort design features a memory foam layer on top of the standard seat cushions, providing a sumptuously soft feel that’s great on longer journeys. 

While it’s very roomy, the electric model does mean a slight practicality compromise, and that’s under your feet. In order to accommodate the battery pack, the floor has been raised slightly compared to the petrol and hybrid variants. This makes it feel a little high relative to the base of the bench, and also restricts foot space under the front seats. So as roomy as the EV is, if you really want to stretch your legs, then the internal combustion-powered models are the ones to consider. 

The e-C3 Aircross needs a reasonable amount of distance in which to stretch its own legs, as power and performance aren’t high on the agenda. Under the skin, it shares its single motor with the e-C3 supermini, which produces a modest-by-EV-standards 111bhp and 125Nm of torque. 

Moving off from a standstill is very smooth and serene, but there’s not the urgency that you’ll find with most other electric cars. That’s reflected in the 0-62mph time of 11.7 seconds for the Standard Range model and its 44kWh battery we’re driving here. The Extended Range, which weighs more due to its larger 54kWh battery, takes 13 seconds to cover the same distance. 

It’s not a car to be rushed, then, but that’s not really the Citroen way. The suspension follows the same ethos, prioritising comfort over apex-clipping precision. This is helped in part by the brand’s progressive bump stops, which add an extra layer of damping through the suspension travel to make things a little more relaxing. 

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There are certainly situations where you can feel this system at work. When crossing a large speed bump or hitting a large compression on a country road, the Aircross is very adept at absorbing their severity. However, the ride still isn’t immaculate, because on broken surfaces, there’s a jittery feel which takes the shine off just a touch. 

Much like the performance, the handling is a secondary thought here. The steering is very light, which makes it easy to drive at low speeds, but it’s a bit harder to read what’s going on at the front tyres. With the fidgeting of the ride, it’s almost as if the car is filtering out the sensations you’d like to feel while letting through the ones you’d rather ignore. That aside, the handling is safe and predictable; not hugely grippy, but the front tyres give up long before the rears.

Officially, the 44kWh model we drove is capable of covering 188 miles between charges. Our test route, which covered a fairly wide spread of driving – but no energy-sapping motorway runs – averaged out at 3.5 miles/kWh (our calculated rating, as the trip computer doesn’t actually provide an indicated efficiency figure), suggesting a real-world range of 154 miles.

Temperatures were at roughly 15 degrees Celsius during our test, so expect that figure to improve in the height of summer, but drop even more once temperatures fall closer to zero. The Extended Range model’s extra 10kWh of energy results in the WLTP range increasing to 249 miles, so it will be the one to have for people who plan on taking longer trips more regularly. Both models charge at 100kW, which is respectable for this class of car.

Much like the C3, the Aircross range has been kept very simple. There are two trim levels to choose from: Plus and Max. While Citroen believes that Max will be more popular, it’s the entry-level car which has most of the kit buyers really need. The likes of LED headlights, rear parking sensors with a reversing camera, lane departure warning plus wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto displayed on the 10.25-inch touchscreen all come as standard. The Max adds built-in satellite navigation, wireless smartphone charging, a heated steering wheel, front seats and windscreen, plus a blind spot warning system. 

If you’ve reached this point of the review, you’ll be thinking that there’s plenty to like about the e-C3 Aircross, but also a few areas which could be better. But once we take the prices into account, the latter factors become much easier to overlook. In Plus trim, the Standard Range model starts from £23,095 and the extended range £24,995, with Max models adding £2,000 to each. However, all of these benefit from the Government’s EV grant, knocking £1,500 off, so the electric range is priced between £21,595 and £25,495. At that point, it costs less than the full hybrid model. 

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