Citroën ë-C3 – the cheapest in Norway

Vienna (engine): 219,900 is the starting price including costs. This means Citroën can name the most affordable car in Norway the ë-C3 – along with the range-topping blunder Mazda MX-30.

But if you want an acceptable level of equipment – ​​including heated seats, steering wheel, reversing camera, cruise control and electrically adjustable rear windows – you should opt for the more expensive of the two versions.

Then the paint in the picture is included, and you only need four winter wheels. It costs just under NOK 16,000 from a Citroën dealer.

Competitors are primarily newer used cars.

The aforementioned MX-30 is for people who are more interested in cars and design – and with less range. It's worse than 12 miles. They are unlikely to look at ë-C3.

The Nissan Leaf in its cheaper version is a large car in comparison. It represents a difference in length of approximately half a meter.

Alone in class

In terms of used cars, it competes with year-old versions of younger models from its own stable, the Stellantis, such as the Opel Corsa E and Peugeot E-208. Maybe it's a one-year-old MG 4, or around three-year-old versions of, say, the Kia e-Soul, Hyundai Kona and VW ID.3.

But the last four do not have the same dimensions as the small car.

As a completely new car – created as a reasonable alternative from the start, and not heavily discounted because it was either phased out or sold very poorly – the ë-C3 is currently the only one in this price range.

Mostly positive

After two days of test driving outside Vienna, we were left with a mixed impression. Most people looking for a car like this would probably think that the positive factors are most important. Here is the engine rating:

place: Back seat space is surprisingly good. The knee angle is better than many other electric cars, and headroom is very good. Luggage volume is 310 litres, which is just 30 liters less than the old – and much larger – e-Golf, for example. Unlike the Golf, the ë-C3 can tow a 550kg trailer. Only the most expensive version has a two-part rear seat.

comfort: Citroën is often good on seats. this too. We sit comfortably like in million dollar cars. This means that there is no need to adjust anything other than the length, height and angle of the back cushion. Of course, all this is done manually.

Special shock absorbers

The ë-C3 also gets Citroën's patented shock absorption solution with two small pads – one at each end of the shock absorbers – which compress and cushion pressure on movements on the ground. On the slightly larger ë-C4, this almost feels like air suspension. In the ë-C3, the effect is strangely absent at highway speeds where it would be noticeable.

But being so small, it's definitely comfortable. The noise level from the tires is also promisingly low. But here, as always, we refer to the experiences of many sometimes brutal transitions from fine-grained asphalt to coarse-grained Norwegian.

Anyway, everything points to a comfortable ride, even when you want to venture out for the long 30 miles the car allows in the summer months.

Driver position: We got a bit of the same experience as in the Peugeot cockpit – which Motor loves very much. The small, almost square steering wheel is taken directly from the stock Peugeot, with a few operating elements and slightly less exclusive leather.

Above the rim of the steering wheel, you get a screen neatly integrated into the rest of the horizontal bar across the entire dashboard. So a combination of the head-up display and the traditional instrument panel. Clear and good.

We recognize the gear selector in most electric Stellantis, with the exception of the Jeep Avenger and Fiat 600e – which have a much worse solution. In the test cars, you had to press the gear selector twice – causing great frustration. The experts present promise that this is something that needs to be fixed so that the cars are ready for production.

The button that cancels regeneration did not work on pre-production cars either. However, the regeneration process is simple, and we think very few people will turn it off at slightly higher speeds.

There is no driving mode

Otherwise, we point out that the ë-C3 is the first electric car from Stellantis in which three different driving modes have been cut, and where the car always starts in the middle – Comfort – giving less power. Here you get 113bhp and 120Nm whether you want it or not.

Sense of quality: The first thing we notice is how the lever used to raise and lower the seat rubs against the plastic underneath the seat cushion. We wonder how long this mechanism will last in a new car? A bad first impression makes you look for confirmation.

Learn from the Chinese

We stop at the fabric cover attached to the underside of the dashboard. It is glued crookedly. We compared with four other cars. They are all glued crookedly. Details – But why on earth would you be so clumsy with things that can be reached with both hands and eyes?

Here there is a lot to learn from Chinese manufacturers, who are good at building a sense of quality into their affordable cars.

Ranges: We averaged 12.9kWh/100km over two days of mixed driving tests at fairly ideal temperatures. This means a range of over 320 kilometers – which is WLTP– Number on the equipment version with 17-inch wheels. The corresponding figure for the less expensive version with 16-inch wheels is 326 km.

During city and suburban driving – where such cars are used the most – the range will naturally be much better. The car is not equipped with a heat pump. This is incomplete.

Driving characteristics: Of course, this is not a car for enthusiasts. It's relatively soft, and leans and misses a bit with the front wheels if pushed childishly at traffic lights.

113 PS and 120 Nm are good in this class. As an agile city car, it could have had less pedal travel. It feels like other Stellantis in Eco mode – you have to press the pedals awkwardly far before the effect comes.

Loss of appeal

Economy: The best-equipped version costs $266,000, including winter wheels and metallic blue with contrasting white on the roof. You can also get it for $236,000, but then you'll have to do without the comfort and safety equipment — and it will also likely lose its appeal on the used market.

Unfortunately, the concept cars showed signs that they were not ready for production. But this is technology that Stellantis knows well. Cars arriving in Norway at the end of the year are guaranteed to have the expected quality level.

design: There are some simple basic principles of good design. Citroën has navigated this before with great success. But it must have been a long time ago.

From the front, the lines move towards the center of the car – through the strange light strips of the large logo in the middle.

Not like the Awesome Avenger

If you have a narrow and long car, you should try to make it visually lower and wider. From the side you can see a long hood designed for internal combustion engines – and a very abrupt end. The result is not very successful.

Oddly enough, this comes from the same group that has the designers of the awesome Jeep Avenger in the stable. The Avenger has almost identical dimensions.

ë-C3 Not tested by Euro NCAP. This has been a bit of a painful exercise for some other Stellantis products, so here we are, waiting excitedly.

We find a lot of positive things about the ë-C3, not least the concept of a lot of car for not a lot of money. But we expect more from Citroen. Some special features It's not just another car from Stellantis that will also be sold with a combustion engine.