Citroen C4 review

The C4 range starts at a very reasonable £22,295 for the entry-level YOU! spec car with the 99bhp hybrid powertrain. PLUS trim ditches that weedy engine and replaces it with the 129bhp non-hybrid at £23,385, or you can have the 134bhp hybrid for £24,735. Top spec is MAX trim, with the 129bhp petrol costing £25,275 and the more powerful hybrid at £26,625.

The e-C4 is also keenly priced despite its more premium powertrain. YOU! trim is £26,295, PLUS is £27,360 and MAX is just the other side of £30,000, although that’s because the latter is also the only way of getting the bigger battery and more powerful motor. If you frequently drive out of town, you’ll be needing that one.

If you want the big-booted X then you can only have PLUS or MAX trims here in the UK, with prices kicking off at £24,735 for the 134bhp hybrid and £27,360 for the 50kWh EV.

What are the trims like? 

Entry-level YOU! actually gives you a decent spec. This is no rental car trim level. You get 18in alloys, auto headlights and wipers, dual zone aircon, rear parking sensors, that 10.0-inch touchscreen with Apple and Android connectivity, cruise control, keyless go and a wealth of safety equipment. 

PLUS adds more stuff to your infotainment and brings a larger 7.0-inch dial display, plus a reversing camera, a head-up display and a thing for your front seat passenger to attach their tablet to.

MAX trim does get quite a bit more gear, with extra active safety systems, blind spot detection and active cruise control. There’s also heated front seats, an adjustable boot floor, heated and folding side mirrors and fake leather trim. Oh, and you unlock the opportunity to spend an extra £500 on a ‘Techno Pack’ which adds a 360-degree parking camera, ‘Highway Driver Assist’ and a wireless phone charging pad.

For the EVs, a heat pump to improve efficiency is a £450 optional extra no matter which trim level you go for.

Ah yes, are they efficient/economical?

We haven’t had a chance to properly test any of the C4s on a long run on UK roads just yet, but in the e-C4 with the 54kWh battery in ideal Spanish weather, we managed 3.7 mi/kWh. Some very basic maths would suggest that means a real-world range of just under 200 miles, vs a claimed WLTP figure of 257 miles. It’ll rapid charge at speeds of up to 100kW to get juice back in, and if you’ve got excess then a V2L adaptor is available to power your kettle when camping. Can’t beat an al fresco cup of tea.

Citroen reckons its mild hybrid application provides a 20 per cent improvement in fuel economy, and both the 99bhp and 134bhp iterations claim between 51.1 and 62.1mpg, with 107g/km of CO2 emissions. Not bad, although we only just topped 40mpg on a mixed run.

Which one should I pick?

Well, our favourite powertrain so far is the more powerful hybrid as opposed to the EV, and we prefer the looks of the C4 hatch over the funky C4 X. With our practical hats on, we’d be tempted to go for the PLUS trim to keep the list price below the £25k mark.