Citroën Ë-C4 test: the electric compact SUV tested over 1,000 km
For its third generation, the Citroën C4 swapped the compact sedan outfit for that of a small SUV, at least on paper.And above all, the Frenchwoman comes for the first time in an electric version, called Ë-C4, which we tested over 1,000 km.
The Citroën Ë-C4 exists in three finishes: Feel, Shine and Shine Pack.We took the wheel of the Shine declination for more than a week and traveled in total 1,000 kilometers.The opportunity to better understand the qualities and defects of the electric car with rafters.
Citroën Ë-C4 design and ergonomics
The design of the new generation of Citroën C4 marks a major change compared to the previous iteration.A assertive and sharpened lines, plastic rocker, larger checkout and imposing wheels: the compact is stunned and displays an air of SUV, however a little more refined.
On the side of the lights, the light signature is very fine and rather complex, without doing too much.The belt is high, and the doors benefit from sculptures allowing not to increase its cut line too much.
This electric version receives a few blue inserts around the designs of the bumper and the rockers-these can receive another color.We find this blue on the ë logo which is on the front doors, under the mirrors.
The quality of the paint is very satisfactory, specially with the platinum gray of our test version.This reduces the contrast of the plastic parts and gives the whole a certain elegance.
The 18-inch rims on which the Citroën Ë-C4 rests are also of good quality.Their design with four geometric shapes is highlighted by the silver color on a black background.
Interior: Electric C4 qualities and defects
As usual, Citroën is focusing on the comfort of the occupants of the vehicle, and it starts with a good volume in the passenger compartment.At the front, the feeling of space is correct and the place of the legs for the passenger is also.
We regret the position tilted towards the back of the passenger seat when it is set to the lowest.This can be unpleasant in the legs, and a tall person will still have to raise the seat, at the risk of lacking space above the head.
Its cash height and its profiled line let us fear a lack of space in the back, and this is not the case.Adults will easily find a comfortable position on the bench, despite the cut line.
Three adults can take place there, but comfort will be optimal with two people in the back, who will have room for the head and legs.Small bonus, the ski hatch will then be free, in the absence of a central passenger.
If the place is satisfactory, the volume of the trunk is a little less with 380 liters.A storage space for cables is present below the floor.The volume remains a little limited, even if it can reach 1,250 liters with an almost flat floor, by folding the rear seat.
The dashboard is sober, with a lot of hard plastics somewhat austere, and the steering wheel is ergonomic.The central screen overlooks a dashboard with a classic design, while there are several storage in front of the central armrest.
In addition, some finishing problems tarnish the whole.Besides the cutting of plastics not always perfect, we also noticed a poorly made collage of the ceiling light.
Betweens receive a bar with blue decoration, obviously to remind you that we are in an electric vehicle.In reality, this finish seems to be out of nowhere and does not particularly act the visual aspect of the interior.Sign that Citroën is only half convinced of this choice, a free option makes it possible to delete this aesthetic detail.
Citroën Ë-C4 specifications:
Comfort: Citroën faithful to its reputation
Like all self -respecting Citroën, the electric C4 offers very neat comfort.In addition to the quality of the seats, the rolling is soft, the suspensions absorbing most of the irregularities on the road.
The result is final, both on motorway journeys that the Ë-C4 swallows without flinching, as on urban routes.The soundproofing is somewhat lacking on the highway, including air noise marked up to the mirrors.
Comfort obviously comes with flexibility of suspensions which causes roll in the turns.People prone to transport evil can experience some discomfort on a winding road.
In terms of driving, it is once again the flexibility and the sweetness that prevail.In town, the compact is distinguished by a very flexible direction which makes it agile.The Citroën Ë-C4 is docile, but the front axle sometimes lacks sharpness in its behavior, if one increases the rhythm a little in the turns.
However, you must remain pragmatic at the wheel of such a car.Recall that this electric Citroën is cut for flexible driving and that it does not particularly call for excess.Agile, it is like a fish in town in town where the reversing camera with 360 degree vision is a real advantage.
A unique and not very playful motorization
Performance is not Citroën's priority for this first electric compact SUV.Acceleration and reminders are linear, whatever the driving mode chosen from Eco, normal and sport.
In addition, there is an energy recovery mode to braking, which is close to offering a pedal operation.Unfortunately, the car deactivates this B mode and the Eco mode each time the contact cuts, which can play tricks when you try to optimize its energy consumption.
Based on the PSA E-CMP platform, this electric C4 has a 100 kW engine, or 136 horsepower, on the front axle.This develops 260 Nm of torque, and the car can reach 150 km/h at top speed.
The 0 to 100 km/h is shot in 9.4 seconds at best, which rather pushes reason than passion.And again, this is in no way a criticism, as an electric vehicle of this type benefits from pragmatic driving.
Citroën Ë-C4 performance:
Correct consumption ...
Despite the low temperatures during our test week, between 2 and 10 degrees, the consumption values of the E-C4 remain reasonable.Most of the routes on national roads and in the city have been made in normal mode, while the Eco mode has been favored on the highway.
On the other hand, except for forgetting linked to automatic deactivation, the B mode of energy recovery was always active.On the secondary network, at 80 and 90 km/h, we reached consumption between 16 kWh/100 km and 19 kWh/100 km.The values were also similar in town.
On the highway, consumption climbed to around 22 kWh/100 km at a speed of 130 km/h meter.At this speed - and at the temperatures of this early winter -, autonomy melted as snow in the sun, often pushing us to reduce the speed to 120, even 110 km/h.
… But a sometimes frustrating autonomy
Because indeed, autonomy is a real problem on this Citroën Ë-C4.There is no question here to criticize the efficiency of the model, rather satisfactory given the conditions, but its battery.Like the Peugeot E-2008 and the DS 3 Crossback, this “zero emission” C4 takes on a unique 50 kWh pack, including 46 useful.
The autonomy announced by Citroën is 320 km in the mixed WLTP cycle and just over 200 kilometers on the highway.In fact, we are a little below on the road, but especially very far on the highway.
At 130 km/h, despite the Eco mode and regeneration, we find ourselves obsessed with this gauge which only goes down, and by the announced autonomy which is reduced as a sorrow.On a journey - certainly night and therefore very cold - 200 km, it took two stops to arrive safely.
With 60 % of autonomy at the start, we quickly stopped for recharging on an ionity terminal, up to 82 %.Despite the desire to leave at 130 km/h once this recharge has been carried out, caution was quickly.Indeed, the autonomy decreased drastically and we ended up rolling at 110, then 100 and finally 90 km/h before a new recharge.
On the entire test, more than 1,000 km, we have seen an average consumption of 20.5 kWh/100 km.
Mixte | Ville | Autoroute | Route | |
Conso (kWh/100 km) | 20,5 | 16,8 | 23,1 | 16,9 |
Conso éco | 19,2 | 15,8 | 20,9 | 15,4 |
Autonomie max (km) | 275 | 340 | 210 | 350 |
Autonomie moy. (km) | 250 | 320 | 190 | 330 |
Note for the table above: On certain city portions, road and highway, we have reached values lower than our averages called "consumer" (line 1) and "eco consumption" (line 2).It is from these values that the maximum autonomies (line 3) are drawn in the table.However, it will be necessary to refer to average autonomy (line 4) to really know the distances that it is possible to travel with a Citroën Ë-C4, considering the starting point at 100 %.
A real lack of serenity on the highway
This famous nightmare on the highway highlighted two of the main problems of the Citroën Ë-C4: the estimate of the remaining autonomy and the lack of precision of the battery level.The brand has thus made the regrettable choice to place a gauge similar to a level of gasoline on the instrumentation behind the steering wheel.
This comes from the thermal version of the C4, but in addition to its old aspect, the lack of precision is not appreciable.The flow display allows you to have a more precise idea on the central screen, which cannot be displayed if navigation is activated for example.
Apart from when loading the car, it does not indicate at any time the percentage of precise load remaining remaining.In addition, the autonomy it displays as remaining before the next charge is based on the latest driving cycles.
On the highway, the constant update of these figures sometimes gives totally absurd values.We have noticed at one point that the battery was still a quarter, but that the car told us 30 kilometers remaining before the breakdown.Likewise, when we arrived at the "reserve" that the gauge indicates, there were 6 km left.
With such indications, fear of breakdown is inevitable, even for a person who is used to rolling in electric.And although it is not taken into account in the judgment of this test, the state of the network of charging stations does not help to drive in all serenity.
The unexpected breakdown of a terminal, however indicated as functional on ChargeMap led us to drive at 90 km/h on the highway to reach the next terminal, which was located about thirty kilometers.
Recharge complicates things
These difficulties on a route of only 200 kilometers also highlight another problem of the electric Citroën: its load speed.Perhaps it was because of the cold, but we never reached 100 kW of charging power announced.
On three fast load terminals with a power of 350 kW - two ionity and a CNR Energy - never the charging power exceeded 72 kW.And this value was only reached in crest, the average often being around 60 kW.
Under these conditions, it takes 30 minutes of recharge to go from 15 % to 80 % autonomy.This half hour thus allows you to recover 140 kilometers.With higher consumption because of the cold and a half full battery at the start, it took almost 45 minutes of stopping on the two breaks.
A complex infotainment system ...
The 10 inch screen that overlooks the central console is complete, but its operation will require a grip.The submenus present themselves in the lower part of the screen, which lacks naturalness when manipulating the infotainment system.
The latter is compatible with Android Auto and Apple Carplay, which will sometimes facilitate use.Indeed, the interface is classic for these two third -party systems.Otherwise, the central screen allows access to radio, navigation, heating and air conditioning system, car settings and applications.
A screen allows you to see the energy flows of the car, consumption, or even program the load.Again, it will be necessary to get used to the astonishing way of accessing it, since the button concerning this information is between the two front seats, behind the two driving mode selectors.
The display is rather fluid, with the exception of vehicle factory GPS, which has some slowness to display the card and search for destinations.In addition to this screen, the driver will benefit from information on digital instrumentation behind the steering wheel.
... but rather complete
This screen, a little small in size, is fully handled via the steering wheel and the commodos.This allows you not to leave your eyes.And to help even more vigilance, there is a very well -made up high display.It offers us the speed of the vehicle, that of the regulator, and displays the indications of the GPS.
The passenger can, thanks to a magnetic system that unfolds in front of him, install a touch pad.It can be practical to pass time, or even to navigate if the passenger wants to play the role of the co -pilot.Overall, this possibility remains more a gadget than a real advantage.
Finally, the car benefits from a series sound system that does the work, without doing too much.Pushed to a high volume, it is correct provided you activate the baoster of bass.At low volume, we will regret some weak frequencies lacking dynamics.A hi-fi pack at 350 euros can however offer better sound quality.
Conclusion and price/service ratio
The Citroën Ë-C4 begins at a rate of 35,800 euros, or 29,800 euros once the ecological bonus deduces.In the same finish, the petrol version begins at 23,600 euros and the BlueHDI 110 diesel is displayed from 25,900 euros.The bonus therefore makes it possible to erase more than half of the price difference.With the scrap premium, the difference can be less less.
Our test model, the Citroën Ë-C4 Shine with platinium gray body, is displayed at a price of 38,650 euros.Once the ecological bonus is deducted, the price of this electric C4 is therefore 32,650 euros.
For an electric car of this size and properly equipped - count an additional 200 euros for heated seats and 200 euros for the Park Assist - the price is rather attractive.Indeed, some electric city cars such as the Honda E and the Fiat 500 display higher prices.
But an invoice at more than 30,000 euros for an autonomy not exceeding 200 kilometers on the highway remains high.Despite its template and comfort, which encourage to make it a real road, the low battery capacity and the load speed give it limited use.
This Citroën Ë-C4 will be more at ease for a work-domicile journey, or in town.The space in the passenger compartment will make it an ally for families with children in particular, but it will be difficult to make it a main car if you regularly cover routes greater than 200 kilometers.
Obviously, the low autonomy can be explained by the cold conditions encountered during the test.But a buyer will want to use his car all year round, which also includes periods less conducive to optimal autonomy.
The price/service ratio is correct in itself, but we would have liked another alternative.Citroën could have proposed what Hyundai does with the new Ioniq 5, namely two choices of batteries.This would allow more flexibility for buyers.
Do not hesitate to give us your opinion on the format of the article and to suggest the models you would like to see in long -term test!
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