Citroen C4 Review (2020-present)

The Citroen C4 is a stylish contender in the family hatchback class. It’s offered with a 1.2-litre turbocharged petrol engine in two power outputs, a 1.5-litre diesel, and a pure electric powertrain with a range of up to 217 miles from a 50kWh lithium-ion battery. It takes on everything from the Volkswagen Golf, the Ford Focus, the Toyota C-HR and the Vauxhall Crossland, through to the Nissan Leaf, the Kia e-Niro, the Volkswagen ID.3 and the Peugeot e-2008, the Peugeot being the only other car to offer the same petrol, diesel and electric powertrain line-up in one model.

The styling is the result of a desire to offer something of an SUV feel to a car that retains the merits of a conventional hatchback, in much the same way as the Citroen C4 Cactus crossover did before it. However, the new C4 has more of a sloping roofline at the back, which gives it a sleek, coupe-like appearance. The busy styling is divisive, and it echoes the popular first-generation Nissan Juke, so there’s every chance that plenty of people will love the bold looks, even if they appear a bit confused to many eyes.

Comfort is an ongoing theme. Citroen wants to return to its roots by prioritising comfort and original design, and the C4’s neat cabin does both of those things. The driving position is fine, with a squidgy if supportive seat and enough adjustment to accommodate most drivers, even if some may wish the seat dropped a little lower and the steering wheel had a broader range of vertical movement. We like that Citroen has included some straightforward climate control buttons underneath the big, landscape touchscreen. In-screen climate controls – such as those you find in rivals and within Citroen’s own range – might make for a sleek, minimalist dashboard, but they are a faff to use compared to the simple, user-friendly rotary knobs on the Citroen’s fascia.

The C4 lives up to its comfort ambitions on the move, too. The loosely sprung ride means the body heaves and dips a lot, but it also means the C4 sponges up scruffy road surfaces with nonchalant ease. The electric e-C4 is a little heavier and, predictably, feels firmer and lumpier over broken Tarmac, but it’s still one of the more comfortable EVs and very settled on a motorway run.

There isn’t a bad engine (or motor) in the C4 range, either. Even the 1.5-litre diesel is quiet and more than punchy enough, but the petrol is cheaper to buy and more fun to drive, while the pure electric Citroen e-C4 is the best of the lot to drive, courtesy of its seamless acceleration and superior refinement.

Nobody’s likely to expect sparkling agility from the C4 (which is front-wheel drive) but it handles with reasonable deftness. There’s plenty of grip and it’s easy to place on the road, even in fast corners. The peculiar, squared-off steering wheel is a bit odd and doesn’t lend itself to big direction changes, while the throttle and brake pedal responses are both short on precision, but ultimately, the Citroen is appealingly comfortable for drivers and passengers alike.

The 10-inch touchscreen infotainment screen is standard on every C4, and includes Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, Tom-Tom satnav, Bluetooth, a digital radio and voice control. The graphics and screen response times are a way behind what you’ll enjoy in the Skoda Octavia, the Volkswagen Golf or the Kia e-Niro, and the menu layouts are frustrating since some obvious controls – screen dimming, for instance – are virtually impossible to find.

It’s far from class-best infotainment, but it has all the features you’re likely to want and, thanks to the straightforward ‘home’ shortcut button, it’s easier to use than Peugeot’s still more unfathomable version of the same system. With familiarity, and especially with use of the phone integration apps, the Citroen’s is a perfectly inoffensive system to live with.

The Citroen C4 is well priced, and represents better value for money than many of its rivals in most forms, mainly due to the generous equipment levels. The downside is that finance costs aren’t as competitive as the list prices or equipment levels, likely due to the C4’s residual values. In short, the lower the resale price, the higher the monthly rental, and this has historically been one of Citroen’s weaker areas.

We haven’t spent enough time in the petrol and diesel C4s to give accurate real-world economy results, but with an official figure of 61.4 mpg, we’d expect the real-world diesel to manage more 50 mpg fairly easily, while the petrol will likely average around 40 - 45 mpg in varied driving. This is all very competitive with the Citroen C4’s many rivals, although some might think it’s a shame that there isn’t a plug-in hybrid variant.

The pure electric e-C4 is the solitary plug-in offering and, as we’d mentioned, you should assume a 100-mile real-world range in a worst-case winter driving scenario (all EVs are less efficient in cold weather and at higher speeds), but up to 200 miles in summer.

A full charge in the e-C4 will cost less than £7 from a home wallbox, assuming a fairly average electricity tariff of 14p/kWh. Lots of utility providers offer rates of half this or less if you charge overnight, so you can save a lot of money by using the timed charging parameters in the C4’s touchscreen or associated phone app. Even if you don’t use off-peak tariffs, and if you’re getting a realistic average range of, say, 160 miles, you’ll be paying just over 4p per mile to run the e-C4. The petrol and diesel models will cost in the region of 10-12p per mile.

Insurance groups and servicing costs are all very competitive, and the Citroen is generally affordable on both purchase and running costs.

The Citroen e-C4 is too new to have useful reliability data available, and it sits on a new platform with many new parts. However, the combustion engines are well known from various Peugeot and Citroen models and have a decent reputation for reliability, while Citroen came a middling 11th out of 30 brands included in the 2021 What Car? reliability survey for cars up to five years old.

The manufacturer’s normal warranty is three years and 60,000 miles, which is very much the industry standard, but it offers a five-year, 100,000-mile warranty to those who buy its cars online. The latter is better than the warranties offered by rivals such as Volkswagen, Skoda, and Seat, but not quite as good as some of the industry’s best warranties from the likes of Hyundai and Kia. The battery in the e-C4 is covered for eight-years and 100,000-miles.