Skoda Citigo Review (2012-2020)

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.