► New e-C3 Aircross is the cheapest electric SUV
► New Smart Car platform helps to lower price
► But is it any good?
If you’re looking for the cheapest new electric cars, there has never been a better time to buy. You’ve got list prices being slashed left, right and centre and the emergence of cheaper, lower-cost EVs that the market has needed for some time. And now we have another: the Citroen e-C3 Aircross.
This new e-C3 Aircross is another contender for 2025’s new car bargain of the year. It’s an electric family SUV for £22,990, a fiver less than a new Renault 5 E-Tech costs. Impressive, right? But surely there must be a catch?
At a glance
Pros: Outstanding price, spacious interior, comfortable ride
Cons: Rather slow, electric range will be too short for some, noisy and unrefined
What’s new?
The new C3 Aircross uses the ‘Smart Car’ platform being rolled out across Stellantis’ cheaper EVs, essentially lower-cost underpinnings that offer a smaller range, less performance and generally fewer frills in the name of cost-cutting.
It’s used on the Citroen e-C3 and the new Fiat Grande Panda. But it also underpins the new Vauxhall Frontera, which I drove at the end of 2024. We were meant to drive the Citroen first but the launch was postponed by a few months, though the cars are fundamentally repackaged versions of each other. The important thing to note, however, is the Citroen is £500 cheaper than the Vauxhall.
Citroen shifted more than half a million examples of the first-generation C3 Aircross since 2018, and choice will be key to this new model’s success, with petrol, mild-hybrid and the electric e-C3 Aircross we’re focusing on in this review. It unsurprisingly looks like a stretched version of the e-C3 hatch, with both inspired by Citroen’s 2021 Oli concept.
What are the specs?
If you’re looking for the petrol or mild-hybrid version, we’ll point you in the direction of the standard C3 Aircross review.
As for the EV, there’s just one powertrain available currently – a 44kWh LFP battery paired to a comparatively subdued electric motor producing 111bhp and just 92lb ft of torque. It’s a significantly smaller capacity battery than similarly-sized SUV rivals, and as a result, the range takes a hit. Citroen claims 188 miles but 150 is more likely in the real world. On the plus side, you can charge at up to 100kW, meaning a 20 to 80 per cent charge can take place in 26 minutes.
Performance is unsurprisingly quite leisurely with such performance, with 12.9 seconds needed to hit 62mph. A Frontera, in comparison, can do it in a dazzling 12.1 seconds. Autobahn performance is limited by an 89mph top speed too.
A longer-range e-C3 Aircross is expected to arrive later in 2025 with a more usable range of 250 miles, and could prove the sweet spot.
How does it drive?
It’s a Citroen, so ride comfort is the main standout area. Despite being one of its cheaper cars, it is still equipped with the French firm’s patented ‘Advanced Comfort’ suspension, featuring hydraulic bump stops that help to absorb and dissipate this energy. It’s not quite as comfortable as some of the French firm’s other cars, such as the Citroen C4, and is unsettled most by expansion joints in the road or a change in surface. But for its price, it rides well indeed. You can also thank plenty of tyre sidewall for that. It doesn’t seem any more comfortable than the Frontera, though, with the changes between them in the way they drive hard to tell apart.
But despite its focus on comfort and its top-heavy looks, the Citroen e-C3 Aircross drives better than you’d expect. The steering is unsurprisingly light but is linear and easy to place through a fast, flowing corner. It stays flatter than you’d expect too, not having a lot in the way of body roll despite being as tall as it is.
Performance could be an issue, though. Granted, you don’t expect a car like this to be quick, but it struggles up an incline, and if you imagine it fully loaded with a family of five, it really would be slow. It’s perfectly fine around town but feels out of its depth anywhere remotely hilly. Similarly, refinement becomes an issue at speed with sound deadening seemingly not included as standard. At 70mph you question if a window is down while I’ve never driven an electric car where the electric motor makes such a whine. Think golf buggy and you’re not too far from the reality.
What’s it like inside?
It’s better than you’d expect for such a comparatively cheap car. There’s a fairly simplistic touchscreen and digital instrument cluster – the former being almost identical to the one in a Frontera – but both work well. Whereas the Vauxhall gets the firm’s merged twin-screen design, the instrument cluster is pushed further back into the dashboard in this Citroen – almost reminiscent of an old C4 Picasso – and looks good.
The general interior looks smarter than its price suggests, too, with a stylish black and white theme on the seats and door cards, and fabric on the dashboard. Look away from these bits and there are plenty of hard plastics, but most of the elements you will actually touch feel well-made.
But it’s the spaciousness of the e-C3 Aircross that impresses most. At just shy of 4.4m-long, it’s closer to the size of a Nissan Qashqai than a Juke, and the boxy design and high roofline equates to a very spacious feeling interior. Headroom is generous front and rear, and adults can sit comfortably in the rear seats. There are slight practicality compromises with the electric model over the petrol – such as a raised rear floor that means not quite as much space for your feet and there’s no option to have it with seven seats. But even still, with a 460-litre boot and ample storage, it ticks the right boxes for a family car.
Before you buy (trims and rivals)
I thought the Vauxhall Frontera was quite the bargain at £23,495 for an electric SUV, but Citroen has come in and managed to undercut, with the e-C3 Aircross available from an outstanding £22,990. You’ll struggle to find a roomier electric SUV for less money, regardless of what’s powering it.
Two trim levels are available – Plus and Max – and it comes with more equipped than the Frontera too, such as standard-fit alloys compared to the Vauxhall’s steelies. The Plus comes with LED headlights, electric folding mirrors, a 10.25-inch touchscreen, dual-zone climate control and reversing camera.
I don’t think you need to upgrade to the Max trim for its heated seats, heated steering wheel, two-tone roof and satellite navigation, though it’s still terrific value at £24,995. The fact the much larger Aircross is also only currently £1,000 more than the regular e-C3 hatchback only makes it seem more of a steal. That said, we await Citroen’s finance deals to see just how much of a bargain it may be.
Verdict
I came away from driving the Vauxhall Frontera Electric thinking what astonishing value for money it was, but the Citroen e-C3 Aircross takes things a step further with its further price cut and more generous equipment levels. No other EV currently offers such value for money.
Though you will have to live with rather weak performance and a short electric range, for many who only drive locally and predominently in and around town, it really shouldn’t be an issue. This is a comfortable, easy-going and practical EV that ticks the box of being an affordable electric family car better than perhaps anything we’ve seen to date.