Citroen C3 2021 review

The auto-only C3 is $28,990. That's a drag because it's a lot of money for a small hatchback, eclipsing pretty much everything in its segment from Mazda and Kia and Suzuki. The only car more expensive is the Swift Sport auto.

The auto-only C3 is $28,990, which is a lot of money for a small hatchback.

As I've said a number of times, you don't roll into a Citroen dealer by accident, you're looking for something specific, not a run-of-mill hatchback.

That's not a defence of the price, but the French maker's volumes are small here, so it's just nice to have them along.

You get 16-inch alloys, a six-speaker stereo, climate control, keyless entry and start, front and rear parking sensors, cruise control, auto LED headlights, LED daytime running lights, sat nav, auto wipers, leather shifter and steering wheel, folding powered mirrors and a space-saver spare.

The 8.0-inch touchscreen has Android Auto and Apple Car Play.

The 8.0-inch touchscreen is fairly ho-hum and everything is crammed into it, which makes for some tense moments when you just want to change the fan speed or something equally innocuous.

It does have digital radio and sat nav, as well as Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, neither of which are wireless.

What isn't interesting about the C3? Australian disinterest in the Cactus is criminal because as someone who writes about cars, one of the main complaints I hear is, "Cars all look the same."

That's not especially true at the moment, the industry is in pretty good shape as far as styling goes, but the Cactus, and now the C3, certainly deliver on distinctiveness.

As I've already mentioned, this is an influential design given its obvious resemblance to the Cactus - the slim upper LED driving lights stacked on top of the larger headlights with a fairly bluff, upright front end.

This is an influential design given its obvious resemblance to the Cactus.

It's pretty obvious this will go down as a bit of a cult classic. Seems like Citroens are condemned to that status here in Australia.

Around the side you have Citroen's signature 'Airbumps', which act as side bumpers. Although, ironically, the Aircross version doesn't have these despite its more rugged appearance.

Not sure what's going on at Citroen design but I won't complain because I'm a bit in love with the way the C3 looks.

the C3 has 16-inch alloys.

The 2021 C3 has new alloys, two new body colours ('Spring Blue' and 'Arctic Steel') and a new roof colour ('Emerald').

The interior is a tale of two halves - specifically the dashboard design. The upper half is a bit retro with the rectangular air vents and body coloured strips.

A surprisingly conventional steering wheel frames an old-looking instrument cluster, but it all looks pretty good and works well.

Underneath the halfway line it's all flimsy grey plastic and dark, dingy impractical spaces that aren't at all interesting. Those funky 1960s suitcase style door pulls are present and correct, though.

As this car is from a time before the French dropped their trenchant opposition to sensibly-sized cupholders (or having them at all), the beverage restraining situation is... poor. The two in the front are too small to hold anything but a Red Bull can and the solitary cupholder for the rear seat is too shallow to be useful when the car is moving. 

The front seats are possibly the most comfortable front seats in the business.

More than making up for all of that are the front seats. An evolution of the chair I have more than once declared the most comfortable front seats in the business, they're now even better, according to Citroen.

I don't know how they're better, but they're a little more shapely to look at. They're still enormously comfortable and you could sit in them for days at a time and never feel a pinch.

Cargo space is flexible thanks to the sliding back seats.

Perhaps in a push for redemption, each door has a pocket, with the fronts carving out a section for a bottle. You can also put bottles in the rear door pockets and they'll be just fine.

For a car this small, the 300 litre (VDA) boot with the seats in place is pretty good going. Drop the 60/40 split backrest and you have 922 litres. There is a bit of a drop once you're past the high loading lip and the floor is most definitely not flat with the seats down, but that's not unusual at this level.

For a car this small, the 300 litre (VDA) boot is pretty good going.

When you step up to the Aircross, you get between 410 and 520 litres courtesy of the sliding back seat, and the overall seats-down boot capacity is 1289 litres.

The C3's high, flat bonnet hides one of my favourite engines of all time, the 'HN04' 1.2-litre, three-cylinder turbo. In the C3 it's effectively de-tuned to 81kW/205Nm. A six-speed automatic transmission sends the power to the front-wheels only.

The C3 weighs just 1090kg. While the 10.9 second run to 100km/h seems, and is, leisurely, although it never feels that slow, especially in the gears.

The C3 has a 1.2-litre, three-cylinder turbo.

The official combined cycle figure for the C3 is a scant 5.2L/100km on premium unleaded.

After a week with the petit Citroen, covering mostly suburban and urban kilometres, the trip computer told me I used 7.9L/100km, which is a fair way off, but unexpected given the hellish humidity and heat of the week I drove it.

I should also point out, the C3 I had was fresh off the boat so probably had a little loosening up to do.

Based on my figure, one you will most likely improve upon, you should be able to cover 560km between fills.

The C3 ships with six airbags, ABS, stability and traction controls, forward collision warning, low-speed forward AEB, lane departure warning, speed sign recognition, blind spot monitoring and driver attention detection.

For the little ones, there are two ISOFIX points and three top-tether anchors for baby capsules and/or child seats.

Last assessed by ANCAP in 2017, the C3 scored four from a possible five stars.

Sadly, the C3 is missing high-speed AEB and rear cross-traffic alert.

Last assessed by ANCAP in 2017, the C3 scored four from a possible five stars, but when tested did not have AEB.

Citroen offers a five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty along with roadside assist for the duration. 

Servicing is subject to a 12 months/15,0000 interval, with five years of 'Service Price Promise', or capped-price servicing to you and me.

Annoyingly it's not easy to find on the website, but we've got the service pricing right here.

The least you'll pay is a solid $415 and the most a fairly eye-watering $718, which isn't cheap for a small car, but at least you now know what you're up for. The total cost over five years is $2736.17, or just over $547 per service.

At the time of writing, Citroen was offering free servicing for five years on MY20 models.

There is much to like about the way the C3 goes about its business. Citroen has returned to its roots with its recent hatchback and compact SUV range, unashamedly going for ride comfort and user-friendliness.

The C3's ride has to be the best in the class, with a plush, much larger car feel over smooth and bumpy roads. It feels almost completely unflappable and even when cornering... er... enthusiastically, the body remains well-controlled.

The C3's ride has to be the best in the class.

It's also very quiet and the only thing that unsettles the rear torsion beams are nasty mid-corner bumps or those horrible rubber speed bumps in car parks.

The 1.2-litre engine is a cracker. While the numbers aren't super big, the torque curve is nice and chunky and makes the C3 remarkably good on the freeway, cheerfully tackling hills and overtaking with little fuss. 

My only complaint is the weird take-up of transmission on first gear. I feel like the C3 is gaslighting me into thinking it has a dual-clutch, but it's a normal torque converter auto.

It can lurch a bit, especially when coughing into life as the stop-start has activated and it's the only thing that reminds me this is a tiny three-cylinder hatchback. 

On the move, the steering is super-light and geared perfectly to urban and suburban agility. It's great fun to thread through tight inner-city streets as you sit a bit higher than, say, a Kia Rio GT-Line.

It's also a doddle to park, even more so now with the newly-fitted front parking sensors.