Skoda Citigo Review (2012-2020)
Skoda Citigo cars for sale
5.0
Expert review
Pros
Better value than a VW Up
Fun yet comfortable to drive
Cheap to run
Cons
Interior not as posh as VW Up's
Equipment can feel a little basic
Limited performance
The CarGurus verdict
The Skoda Citigo is one of the best small cars around. You can really take your pick from this, the VW Up and the Seat Mii since all are fantastic used buys that promise to be fun, practical, reliable and efficient. The Skoda has always been the cheapest of the three and that reflects in fractionally lower used values, so it really is low-cost motoring at its cheapest and best.
Don’t discount the electric Skoda Citigo-e iV, either. If you have a lifestyle that will benefit from a pure electric car, it’s a really great example of a small EV: swift, fun and no-nonsense. Used prices are still high enough at the moment that you’re likely better off with an older Renault Zoe or BMW i3, which you can pick up for much less cash, but when the Citigo-e iV starts to fall in value, it promises to be a great used buy.
What is the Skoda Citigo?
The Skoda Citigo is one of a triplet of city cars from the Volkswagen Group, its siblings being the Seat Mii and the Volkswagen Up. All three were renowned for being good value, spacious for their size and fun to drive.
Offered in both three- and five-door variants, and for most of its life it came with a petrol engine, though shortly before it was removed from the market, it was offered with an electric powertrain instead.
The Skoda Citigo was discontinued in 2020 and there was no direct replacement.
How practical is it?
There’s enough room for four average-sized adults to sit quite comfortably. You can only seat two on the rear bench, though: you’ll have to look to alternatives like the Hyundai i10 or Dacia Sandero for a three-person rear bench in this budget, small car class.
Storage is good elsewhere in the cabin, too. There’s a number of useful cubbies, and later cars even offered the option of a hidden umbrella under the driver’s seat, and an ice scraper on the inside of the filler cap.
A 251-litre boot offers plenty of space for a couple of cabin bags or a light buggy, and the rear seats split and fold (though the most basic S trim has a one-piece backrest to its rear bench seats). Adding the optional variable boot floor helps to make the Citigo’s boot a little more versatile, and it’s fitted to plenty of used examples. Critically, this was one of the roomiest and most practical cars of its type when compared with direct rivals.
What's it like to drive?
With the exception of the later electric model, the Citigo was only ever available with a 1.0-litre MPI engine; a three-cylinder non-turbocharged petrol with a choice of 59bhp or 74bhp, both with a standard five-speed manual gearbox.
A five-speed automatic ‘ASG’ model also joined the range for the last few years it was on sale, but it’s best avoided as the slow-shifting, clunky ratio changes are at odds with the otherwise easy and enjoyable little Skoda.
Having said that, Skoda Citigo is not quick even in its more powerful form, but both variants feel willing around town, with the light action of the steering, gearshift and clutch making easy work of traffic and awkward roads. It’s a brilliantly wieldy little car, that also rides comfortably over most roads and has something of a ‘big car’ feel thanks to its planted, wheel-each-corner stance and secure handling.
Technology, equipment & infotainment
Safety standards are very decent. The Skoda received the full five-star Euro NCAP crash test rating when it was launched in 2011, thanks to an extensive suite of six airbags, two sets of Isofix fittings in the back seats, a passenger airbag that can be switched off and traction control. It was also one of the first cars in the small car class to get the option of autonomous emergency braking, which brakes the car automatically and without driver input if it senses an imminent collision with another car at town speeds.
Avoid the rather spartan, base S trim since it had manual windows and steel wheels, and felt distinctly basic. SE got electric front windows, air-conditioning and remote central locking, and Elegance got alloy wheels, heated seats and a removable navigation and media device. More style or sports-oriented trims joined the range later, including the popular Monte Carlo trim, and a mild facelift in 2017 brought some new colours, and swapped the removable nav module for a simple dash-top phone holder and USB connection. Sounds like a cheap infotainment solution, but in a budget city car like this, it works well with any decent smartphone and has an appealing future-proof aspect to it.
The Skoda didn’t offer quite the material quality that the VW Up offered, but it feels durable, looks smart and could be had with gloss finishes and bright colours to keep it interesting. The front seats are comfortable enough even for longer journeys, while visibility is usefully better than in rivals like the Citroen C1, Peugeot 108 and Toyota Aygo.
In 2019, the Skoda underwent an identity change that saw it drop all petrol offerings in favour of a 36.8kWh battery, giving the car pure electric running of up to 161 miles: it's the same setup that was offered in the VW e-Up and Seat Mii Electric. The 82bhp electric motor made it usefully quicker than the petrol cars ever were, and the seamless power delivery (courtesy of standard direct drive system, which you operate just like an automatic gearbox) was perfect for the ebb and flow of town or suburban traffic.
It even felt happy on the motorway, and with optional (standard on top-spec SE L) 50kW rapid charging fitted, it could take a 10-80% top-up of charge in around 50 minutes. A standard 7kW home wallbox would do a full charge in under six hours, and a three-pin plug for charging at a normal domestic socket was provided as standard, and would trickle-charge the electric Skoda Citigo-e iV in some 18 hours. Real-world range is more like 140- to 150 miles in everyday varied driving and mild temperatures, while winter conditions and motorway miles can see a worst-case scenario of 100 miles between charges.
It was only on sale for a few months, during which time it was officially the cheapest five-door EV in the UK. It sold out so quickly that Skoda couldn’t keep up with demand, and both the electric Skoda Citigo and VW e-Up were removed from sale. Used examples are holding their value exceptionally well and still cost virtually what they did when new, although prices will start to fall as other small EVs start to filter onto the used market. These include the new Fiat 500e, the Mini Electric and Honda e, and the (usefully bigger) Peugeot e-208 and Vauxhall Corsa-e, all of which have been launched over 2019 and 2020.
Ultimately, while the Skoda isn’t as stylish as the Fiat 500, as sporty as the Mini hatchback, or as spacious as the Hyundai i10, we’d still rate it above all of these options if you simply want a fun, comfortable, safe and versatile small car for the best possible money.
Skoda Citigo running costs
The Skoda Citigo, like the VW Up and Seat Mii, will be about as cheap to run as a car can be. Expect fuel economy of around 45- to 50 mpg regardless of which of the engine outputs you get, although the automatic car will see substantially worse economy. Servicing is required every year, but Skoda tends to be affordable for servicing costs. Expect to pay between £184 and £300 depending on whether it’s a major or minor service, and there are often deals running to reduce these costs further.
You will need to factor in a new cambelt every three years or 30,000 miles, which costs around £400, so if you’re looking at a higher mileage used car be sure to check if this has been done.
Insurance is extremely low; the Skoda is rated between groups 2 and 4, so a Seat Mii may cost a fraction less since some versions fall into the lowest group – Group 1 – but even learners will be able to get insured on the Skoda Citigo. Road tax is very low on the Skoda. Cars registered before March 31st 2017 – or the electric iV model – are free of VED road tax. Those registered after that date cost £150 per year in road tax.
Depreciation is a bit steeper on the Skoda than on the VW Up, but it still holds its value well next to other small cars including the Ford Ka, Kia Picanto and Citroen C1.
The electric Citigo-e iV will cost just over £5 for a full charge from a home charger, assuming a rate of some 14p/kWh: roughly the national average cost of domestic electricity. On a cost-per-mile basis, that works out at around half the cost of fuelling the petrol Skoda, but for the best possible savings you should find an EV-specific tariff or make use of cheaper overnight charging, since that can halve the cost per mile of running the Skoda Citigo-e iV.
Skoda Citigo reliability
There are no significant major faults reported with the Citigo: in fact, it was rated the most reliable small car in the 2020 What Car? used car reliability survey (which covers cars up to five years old). The occasional sticky gearbox has been noted, but generally it’s a really solid, dependable little car that also promises to be cheap to fix if it does go wrong given the abundance and affordability of parts.
The electric Skoda Citigo-e iV also promises to be very reliable. It’s too new to have featured in any owner surveys, but electric motors have far fewer moving parts than combustion engines, and have proven to be far more reliable. You can still get issues with ancillary electrics such as the radio, heater etc, and charging hardware can also play up on EVs, but by any measure an electric car promises to be more reliable than a petrol or diesel car. The Skoda originally came with a three-year, 60,000-mile warranty, and its battery is covered by an eight-year, 100,000-mile warranty.
- Don’t panic about the three-star Euro NCAP rating that the electric Skoda Citigo-e iV received when it was tested in 2019. Euro NCAP has made its tests much more stringent since that original five-star test was awarded to the petrol Skoda in 2011, and it’s now not uncommon for cars to receive three- and four-star ratings. The Skoda suffered for pedestrian safety and driver aids, but we’d still confidently say that the Citigo is safe by class standards. The 2020 Hyundai i10 also received three stars, for instance, while even the Honda e - with its raft of standard semi-autonomous driver aids - only managed four stars.
- The Type 2 cable that you really need for connecting the electric Skoda Citigo to most home wallboxes (those that haven’t been installed with a cable tethered to the charger itself, at least) and many of the slower public chargers you typically find in town centres, was a £170 option. That’s a bit like charging a few hundred quid for a fuel filler flap on a petrol car, but nonetheless it was an option so make sure that any used Citigo-e iV you’re considering has it included. If it doesn’t, you can buy a Type 2 cable very easily from many reputable websites, normally for around £200. The Type 2 socket in the Citigo-e iV is European standard and is compatible with most AC public chargers. The CCS rapid charger was a £720 option on SE, or was standard on SE L. You need this to plug into any rapid charger, so we’d always say it’s worth having even if you don’t expect to do quick top-ups on the motorway very often.
- The Skoda Citigo Monte Carlo was launched in 2017, and included sporty details like a chequered flag decal, black alloy wheels, LED daytime running lights, red stitched steering wheel and racing stripes on the seats. Most importantly, it also received 15mm lowered suspension, which made the ride noticeably firmer than on other versions. It still delivered a well controlled ride, but given how much fun you can have in a more comfortable, completely standard Citigo, we’d recommend you avoid the Monte Carlo despite its appealing styling. It was also only offered with the 59bhp petrol engine, so if you do want to have fun in your dinky Skoda, spend the extra money on an example with the 74bhp engine rather than the extra styling swagger of the Monte Carlo.
- On a budget: a used Skoda Citigo SE is the best used version in terms of value. It gets air-con, electric front windows, remote locking and the essential comforts that you expect, and there are numerous second-hand examples around so you should be able to find one in the spec and price range that you’re after. Either engine will do just fine, but the 59bhp tends to be a touch cheaper to buy, so if you don’t go on the motorway often then stick with that.
- First car: If you can stretch to SE L for a learner or novice driver, it’s worth doing. This trim added rear parking sensors, fog lights, heated seats and heated, electrically controlled mirrors, making it a bit more confidence-inspiring in a tight spot or on a cold morning. Also look for an example that’s had the optional Autonomous Emergency Braking system added, as this can be useful for preventing a bump around town.
- City commuter: The electric Skoda Citigo-e iV is well worth considering if you would benefit from the savings on London congestion charge, as well as fuel and tax savings. However, it is vastly more expensive to buy than the petrol. If the electric car is for you, go for SE L for the same reasons we list above. The parking sensors and electrically controlled mirrors are always useful for awkward multi-storey car parks.
- Motorway use: If you do expect to do motorway miles in the Skoda, go for the 1.0 MPI 75 Greentech (both versions of the petrol Citigo were called Greentech), which is the 74bhp engine. The extra power doesn’t make much difference up to 30mph, but it does make the Skoda more confidence-inspiring at motorway speeds or in fast merging. That SE L trim, with its heated seats and wing mirrors, is again tempting if you’ll be spending time on early morning A-roads.
- School run: For the school run, any model with five doors should do you. Avoid the S, since it’s short of key comfort features, but the 1.0 MPI SE is a seriously cheap used buy, or SE L is a bit more comfortable for the driver if the school run means a fair bit of time in the car, and the parking sensors can be useful for squeezing into a cheeky space near the gates.
