Citroen C3 review

The cheapest C3 on the books online with Citroen itself - the low-powered You! - is barely more than the best Sky Sports TV package at £149.00 per month over 47 months with a £2,267.17 deposit. But that’s only based on 6,000 miles per year and an APR of 9.9 per cent, so you’re looking at being charged £3,300-odd quid for borrowing ten and half grand on a car that can only be used by people who live close to the places they go. A better bet would be the Shine with the 110bhp motor (it’s better, trust us), and a few options, purchased via a more friendly finance plan.

Ah yes, the options. The big thing when buying is to keep an eye on the options list, which can quickly add to your overall cost and quickly un-cheap your value-for-money sums. The only standard spec is a soft sand body colour and a black cabin, with the premium Elixir red body colour setting you back £695, and the Techwood interior finish (including the excellent Advanced Comfort seats) £400.

That’s an additional £1,095 before you’ve even got started, and it can continue on from there. Opal White roof? Three hundred quid. Connect Nav? Four hundred. Red roof ‘decor’? A hundred. You can even get a ConnectedCAM Citroen dashcam for £150 - and that’s an option on all models.

Official fuel economy figures range between 44.2 and 51.4mpg, and in slow-moving London traffic, the M25 and country lanes, the 110bhp car returned a real-world 48.6mpg. That’s pretty impressive. Meanwhile, CO2 emissions are reportedly 139g/km. Less impressive.

The 83bhp/123g/km car is largely fine in town, but struggles with much else. We get that this isn’t a sportscar, but when you rock back and forth in the comfy seats on an A-road slipway to try and get the car up to speed, it’s probably a tiny bit underpowered. Go for the 110 or you’ll regret it.