Category: Superminis 
Price Range: £10,840 to £14,445
Efficient engines, refined, big boot, huge windscreen's added visibility.
No ESP, limited space in rear, low-speed ride on 17" wheels, overly light steering, imprecise gearchange.
Sharper, better-made C3 is now well worth considering.
Citroen is famous for its small cars. The brand's most famous creation, the 2CV, trumped rivals with its ultra-low running costs, great versatility, bullet-proof reliability and sense of fun. Sadly, the modern C3 could not emulate its 60-year-old grandfather.
It's not that the C3 has been a failure for Citroen. Far from it: the firm has sold an astonishing two million since 2002, but it has been outclassed and overshadowed by more competent competition.
Instead of reinventing the 2CV the French car maker decided to stick with the C3 and give it a wash and brush-up.
A lot has changed, though. Although you can still see C3 silhouette if you squint your eyes, everything has been refined under the skin. Quality is boosted inside the plush new cabin and Citroen boasts increased comfort levels. Inside there's new soft touch plastics, but the party piece is the huge new 'Zenith' windscreen.
Three petrol and three diesels are available. We tested the new 89bhp 1.6 HDI that emits just 110g/km of CO2. An even lower polluting sub-100g/km version will be available later on from launch, as will the option of two new double clutch auto gearboxes and an even lower polluting three-cylinder diesel.
Pricing for the new C3 range starts at around £10,800 stretching to £16,200 for the plushest most powerful version. Read on to find out if the C3 has some of the old 2CV's magic.
Latest Readers' Drives About the Citroen C3
wrote on 11 10 2007
wrote on 10 09 2006