Citroen Ami Review (2023-present)
Citroen Ami cars for sale
2.0
Expert review
Pros
Easy to drive in town
Stands out from the crowd
Cheap to run
Cons
Highly limited use
Crudely built
Uncomfortable
The CarGurus verdict
The Citroen Ami is not a car, and it cannot do most of the things a car can do. As such, we can only recommend it in any capacity to prospective buyers who are fully aware of its incredibly narrow remit. Indeed, even then, before signing on the dotted line, we’d recommend dwelling on its crude build quality, uncomfortable ride, inability to maintain speed up even modest gradients, and its limited range.
In short, the Ami is a vehicle that oozes charm and originality. But it’s not one you’d necessarily want to own.
What is the Citroen Ami?
Before describing what the Citroen Ami is, we should start by saying what it’s not: i.e. a car. Rather, the Ami is technically classed as a quadricycle, or a four-wheeled micro car. It has a top speed limited to 28mph, a tiny turning circle, and a total range from a battery charge of 46 miles (although expect that to drop in cold conditions). Clearly, an Ami is going to be of limited use to the vast majority of drivers.
In terms of rivals, forget anything from BMW, Peugeot or even Mini: or indeed any new car at all. There really is nothing else quite like the Ami. The now-discontinued Renault Twizy is the closest you’ll find, but also consider the G-Wiz as a potential alternative to Ami ownership. Prices start from just under £8,000, or if you put down a deposit of around £2,800 on a finance deal, you could pay as little as £19.99 per month for your Ami.
How Practical is it?
The Ami’s tiny dimensions (it measures just 2.4m long by 1.7m wide) and exemption from the congestion charge (courtesy of its emissions-free electric powertrain) make it a hugely practical city car. Its primary benefit is its diminutive size, which means an Ami can be parked in gaps you wouldn’t even think are parking spaces.
However, there are also a huge number of compromises to make. It’s only a two-seater, which brings with it some obvious limitations in terms of practicality, although it must be said that there’s loads of legroom and headroom. There’s also no boot, although you can store 64 litres of stuff in the passenger footwell. For those who do need additional cargo space, Citroen offers a one-seat Ami Cargo, which can carry a payload of up to 140kg, and has a total load volume (essentially in the space where the passenger seat would normally be) of 400 litres, including a lidded modular storage area of 260 litres.
Expect crude build quality and few creature comforts, regardless of which of the various Ami specs you go for.
What’s it Like to Drive?
If you’ve ever used a Golf buggy, you’ll have a fair idea of what the Ami driving experience is like. There’s no gear-lever or even gears, just a trio of buttons (drive, neutral and reverse) in a panel on the side of the driver’s seat base. The pedals (one for go, one for stop) are offset a long way to the right of the steering wheel which, incidentally, sits on the left-hand side of the cabin, rather than the right. Not that being left-hand drive is much of a hindrance in such a small car. There’s a conventional handbrake, and you’ll need to remember to use it because the Ami has no brake hold or creep function built into its drivetrain (as you’ll be reminded by a near-constant beep if you don’t have your foot on the brake when stationary).
The unassisted steering wheel is heavy to turn at parking speeds, but becomes lighter once on the move. The lack of any self-centring effect to the steering does take some getting used to, however.
You’d expect performance from the 8bhp motor to be modest, and it is. There’s the briefest flash of the famous EV zip away from the line, but only until about 5mph, after which the Ami’s acceleration is slower than erosion. Reckon on around 10 seconds to get to the 28mph top speed, assuming you’re on the flat. Throw in any sort of incline, and getting to 28mph at all becomes impossible.
On the move, you’ll hear lots of whine from the electric motor, as well as knocks and creaks from the vehicle’s body as it clatters over drain covers and through potholes. True to the Ami’s cheap-and-cheerful nature, the seats are very thinly padded, which is great for saving weight but not so good for comfort. Expect numb bum to kick in well within the car’s 45-mile range.
Visibility is also surprisingly challenging. The seats are positioned on top of the vehicle’s rear axle, meaning there’s well over a metre between the driver’s seat and the windscreen. There’s no rear-view mirror because quadricycles aren’t required to have them, but even if you decide to fit an aftermarket version it’ll be so far away that you’ll mainly be looking at a reflection of yourself rather than what’s behind. The door mirrors, meanwhile, are tiny, and the Ami’s bodywork (which is affixed to a crude metal frame) does a great job of blocking your view of traffic lights. Want more ventilation? The side windows fold open in much the same way as a Citroen 2CV’s.
For all those faults, there is an undeniable charm to driving the Ami. It’s not fast or even much fun, but it is completely unlike any other vehicle.
Technology and Equipment
The Ami does not come with much in the way of technology or equipment across any of its trim levels, which are named Ami, Ami Colour, Ami Pop and Ami Tonic, and are differentiated primarily by colour packs, stickers and wheel trims. The driver’s seat slides fore and aft on runners. There’s a horn and seatbelts, and an indicator, although it’s not self-canceling. Oh, and there’s a small yet noisy fan to prevent condensation.
A basic digital display behind the steering wheel shows the vehicle’s speed and range, although it’s hard to read when the sun shines on it. Infotainment is taken care of by the driver’s smartphone, which plugs into a cradle on the dash to provide mapping or music, although if you want the latter, you’ll need to bring a Bluetooth speaker.
Citroen Ami running costs
Purchase cost aside, the Ami can be run on the smallest of budgets. Depending on your electricity tariff, a full charge for its 5.5kWh battery will be just a couple of pounds and take around three hours (the Ami has a maximum charging speed of 2kW, so there's no advantage of using a faster charger). There’s no VED (or road tax) to pay, and its exempt from the London congestion charge.
One point to note is that the built-in charging cable and type 2 adapter supplied with the Ami will only work with home wallboxes that are untethered (i.e. have no cable attached). So if you currently have a tethered wallbox and are considering an Ami, you’ll also need to factor in the cost of changing to an untethered charger.
Is the Citroen Ami reliable?
The Ami is too new to have been included in any of the industry benchmark reliability studies, so it’s impossible to say how durable it’ll be. However, electric vehicles are inherently simple, with far fewer moving parts than a vehicle with an internal combustion engine. And, with its back-to-basics approach, the Ami is perhaps the simplest EV of all.
Citroen’s warranty covers the Ami for the first two years and an unlimited number of miles.
- How safe is the Citroen Ami? It’s a perfectly reasonable question, but not one that’s easy to answer because, as a quadricycle, the Ami is not subjected to the same kind of Euro NCAP crash tests as an ordinary car. The little Citroen’s reputation in this regard hasn’t been helped by its lack of airbags, not to mention online videos showing it tipping precariously on to two wheels during hard cornering or sudden changes of direction.
- All of which makes it all the more unnerving that you can drive the Ami in the UK from 16 years old, provided you’ve passed a test (the CBT, rather than a proper driving licence). In France, Ami drivers need only be 14. Whoever the driver, the Ami is not allowed on motorways. Good thing, too: frankly, it’s a nuisance on any road with a speed limit above 30mph.
- It’s not just the specifications and trims and options list that is restricted on the Ami: the exterior colour palette is also limited. There’s no denying, however, that this is a quirky design and one of Citroen’s most eye-catching models in years.
- For the lowest price: The entry-level Ami is simply called ‘Ami’. If all you’re looking for is the cheapest (new) electric urban runabout possible and you’re happy to live with the vehicle’s limitations, this is the one to buy.
- For added colour: Optional extras for the Ami are limited, but Citroen does offer a range of customisation packs and decals to brighten up the vehicle’s exterior, featured on the Colour, Pop and Tonic models.
- For the business owner: The Ami Cargo sacrifices its passenger seat in the name of extra space that’s carved into plastic modular storage to give 260 litres of space. Combined with the Ami’s existing ‘luggage’ space, this gives a total cargo volume of 400 litres.
- For most people: It’s worth reiterating here that the Ami is not a recommendable purchase for most people. Even if you love the quirky concept, it’s possible that the vehicle’s limitations will still be too much to stand.
