Proper car review again. Love the format and the fact you take a proper amount of time to assess the car. I really like the looks of this car and like a few others have commented in a way it’s like a budget Polestar. However it’s hamstrung by the limited range (I drive an e208 so know it’s only 150 miles max in winter). I’m not really sure who will buy these though as the eC4 is a really nice car (and I seriously considered it over the e208) and more practical with exactly the same qualities. It is nice that Citroen are keeping to their ‘Being Different’ stance but it’s definitely a ‘sort of’ car and doesn’t quite hit the mark in any area.
Thank you Ian, as always its great to hear people's thoughts on the channel. I know we get a lot of criticism for the length of the reviews, but we feel its important to assess the cars properly, and give as much information as we can. A lot of people are using our reviews as almost a confirmation before buying a car, and so we need to get it right. We've had a lot of positive reaction to the reviews from the manufacturers themselves, who we constantly give feedback to about how our viewers are using us to buy cars. The Citroën. I do like it, but I'd buy the hatch C4. I love the way it reminds me of the old GS/GSA in its styling. What I will say is that this is a lot of car for the money, and this is what Citroën are now doing. They don't want to build cars that don't perform the basic task that their customers want. It needs to be fit for purpose, and I think that is a good way to build cars.
@@AutoEV Totally agree on Citroen. We went for an e208 as our second car but the eC4 was certainly a very comfortable drive and a bigger car for the same money. We didn’t need the room so a smaller car suited us and have not been disappointed. Will be looking for a family sized EV in a couple of years so will continue to watch the market (and your videos of course!).
As usual great and fair review. As an E C4 driver I am not sure when my lease runs out. From your video don't really like the boot but will have to see one. The only alternative for me is the Megane'. It has fantastic looks and tech I really enjoyed my test drive. One thing Citroen don't seem to make anything if is that the EC4 has a heat pump. as standard. Other manufacturers charge £1000 extra.
The best car reviewer in the business imo. I think the booted version looks more resolved around the rear lights. If the lack of range keeps the price down for private owners then it should be great value.
05:40 - This is dated because the C4X has 2 x ICE options and a hybrid version. The EV also comes with a 51 or 54kWh battery and 136 or 156bhp motor. 26:58 - Talking about the brake pedal feel with my wife yesterday and I likened it to a switch, i.e. no matter how gently you operate a light switch, nothing happens until the mechanism goes 'over-centre' and then 'click' and the light comes on! The brake pedal on my 71 plate C4 is exactly the same. It's an analogue control and not a digital one! I'm looking to replace my 71 plate C4 1.2 with the hybrid C4X in a couple of years.
About the brake pedal.. I had my 2005 C4 at the shop to replace my windscreen and got a free of charge VW Polo to get around in . I was surprised that I got that feeling of 'nothing happens' at first when braking and then when applying a little bit more pressure it braked very abruptly. My Citroen C4 has a perfectly progressive feeling and I like it much better. Like your reviews ☺
Same battery as my wife’s Peugeot e208. In January driving Sussex to Isle of Wight starting at 2’C driving into the wind, range dropped to 140 miles. This car looks like a rep company car and therefore the range in winter would be totally inadequate. It looks like a Polestar 2 that’s been eroded by the wind. Same stupid low position of rear camera ; after a few miles in winter you wouldn’t see anything while reversing. Glad I went for the Kia Niro EV4 for not a lot more with a friends’ discount.
Love the design! love your reviews, enjoy them a lot and already subscribed for some time now. And thank you for the long form instead of the 15-20 minute reviews I normally find on UA-cam. I think bigger batteries are overrated, especially when In massive mastodons, defying the purpose of EV’s. On average I would like to see higher energy output for all EV’s but is they stand, it seems alright to me, as I thought for the smaller brother, the E-C4. Well done mate. Enjoyed it, looking forward to the next video!
Thank you for your kind words. We do sometimes get the odd comment about the length of our reviews being too long, but the thing is, we do it for a couple of reasons. First of all, we need to stand out against some much bigger channels in a very crowded space in automotive media. Secondly, we live with the cars and try to discover the foibles that actual owners may want to know about, and make it relevant. No point in subjecting a small family SUV to a 0-60mph drag race when what you really want to know is will my children be comfortable in it? And lastly, because of the way we do these reviews, we find a lot of people are now buying cars on the back of our reviews, mainly because of the detail we give. We know that it will cost us subscribers and views, but the quality of the feedback we get, and then can share with the manufacturers is invaluable. So, thank you for taking the time to watch the channel, and to share your thoughts with us. We have an absolutely epic triple test I'm just editing for our next video. Its our longest one yet, but it is a good one! Make sure you are sitting comfortably with a cup of tea (or something stronger if you like!). Bryan @ AutoEV
@@Hell-Hound1 well that is music to my ears!!! Thank you! We love hearing from viewers who have bought a car on the basis of our reviews. What did you go for?
Hi Bryan, Thx for the review. As a personal request will you be reviewing the new BMW i7 I have seen some reviews of it I'm thinking of getting one. Would really value your opinions on it. Mainly coz I respect your reviews more than any other. Yes of course I need to do my own testing but your thoughts are always important.
Hi Sean. You are in luck, the new i7 has been driven, tested, filmed and is due for editing next week! In fact, I drove the i7 to the launch of this Citroën! Good to have your support on the channel!
Its funny you should mention IKEA flatpack. The C4x reminds me a lot of the Polestar. Nice looking car but supply chain issues mean no chance of getting one for the next 12-18mths
Great review. Re: Stellantis breaking, I do know what you mean but I find in my Peugeot e208 (and assume in other Stellantis electrics) that with regenerative breaking, I am rarely using the break as I'm decelerating when my foot comes off the accelerator.....saying that, I'm not a speed merchant.
I really like your review. I'm currently trying to decide between c4 and c4 x. Do they have any differences in interior and chassis mechanics? at least in a short sentence. I understand that doing a comparison test is a lot of work.
No, both cars are mechanically identical. It’s purely bodywork where they are different. There’s a little bit more space in the C4X and you might find that it’s a bit quieter as it doesn’t have to rear hatch, but otherwise they are the same.
Looks a lot like the Arkana. Both could do with a standard ride height. Makes the design come out better. Suitcase crusher's on the bootlid is really cheap. Nice addition to the sedans.
Oh!, I really quite iike this, but it doesn't look like I'll see it in Australia. The short range means for the price I am more likely to go with the Cupra Born though.
If it wasn't for the really lacklustre powertrain I'd have this over our MG4 for the extra boot space; the performance and charging speed of the MG is around average at present, so this really won't cut the mustard now and would be like going back two years - which is a long time in the ev world. Slightly off-subject, we've had our MG all through the Winter now and never missed the rear wiper once; just saying...
Shame Citroen seem to have missed a trick and not built this ev from the ground up. Transmission tunnel? Come on! We liked the eC4 but bought an id3 instead, partly because it is a "proper" ev and partly because the range is so much better. This comparatively small battery and slow charging is a backward step. I don't mind the styling, and as for competition you didn't mention the the Tesla 3 which is also a saloon. I was excited to watch this review, as I always am Bryan, but disappointed with Citroen's lack of adventure. Perhaps the next model upgrade will excite me moe ....
It’s not a competitor for the Model 3 at all. It’s from the class below (C-Sector) so ID.3, Cupra Born, MG4, etc, but as a saloon. So as I alluded to in the video, it’s sort of a modern version of a Ford Orion, VW Jetta, etc. The Model 3 is a car from the class above.
It competes with other cars in the Stellantis group and it is significantly cheaper than most of those. How can Stellantis justify charging circa £40k for cars with the identical platform is beyond me. I will not be buying one of these because the battery is not big enough. Having owned a Corsa e for over three years now I have found that a useable 46 kWh is not enough. Nice car though.
What's the point of building a car for comfort and family road trips but with only 180 miles of real world range... it looks big enough for a 60+ Kwh pack, if it fits in a Kona it should fit in this car. Also given the slow progress of charging infrastructure 250- 300 miles of range and a 150Kw charge speed is very important in a family coupe tourer, especially as the number of EVs on the road is swelling and charging stops are often backlogged. I foresee much frustration on the 2 or 3+ charging stops needed on a big road trip. Yes I do have charging anxiety!
TBH I really don't see the point of this car. It has two problems. No rear wiper & it has a boot instead of a hatch. They would have been better off making it as a full blown estate car with a rear wiper, something akin to the old Citroen DS / CX Safari - remember them? Then they would have created something worth considering & unique - a full size Estate EV for a half respectable price. I would prefer the EC4 over this EC4x except that it too does not have a rear wiper so that is also a no from me. When is someone going to make a full size estate EV?
Priced to high. Rane is small. Not a EV platform these 50kwh batterys killing it. Trunk unpractical. just like the Tesla Model 3 good volume but you need a stick to reach small crosserys that lay need the backseat. So there are better cars out there for less cash that give more range and offer the same or better practical use. that are build on dedicated EV platforms that are probebly going to be way more efficient than this strange duckling On a personal note i dont understand brands going for 6 or 8 head/rear light i realy dont like it but alteast it looks better than a Kona that you even have to recount on all the rearlicht places
Proper car review again. Love the format and the fact you take a proper amount of time to assess the car.
I really like the looks of this car and like a few others have commented in a way it’s like a budget Polestar. However it’s hamstrung by the limited range (I drive an e208 so know it’s only 150 miles max in winter). I’m not really sure who will buy these though as the eC4 is a really nice car (and I seriously considered it over the e208) and more practical with exactly the same qualities.
It is nice that Citroen are keeping to their ‘Being Different’ stance but it’s definitely a ‘sort of’ car and doesn’t quite hit the mark in any area.
Thank you Ian, as always its great to hear people's thoughts on the channel. I know we get a lot of criticism for the length of the reviews, but we feel its important to assess the cars properly, and give as much information as we can. A lot of people are using our reviews as almost a confirmation before buying a car, and so we need to get it right. We've had a lot of positive reaction to the reviews from the manufacturers themselves, who we constantly give feedback to about how our viewers are using us to buy cars.
The Citroën. I do like it, but I'd buy the hatch C4. I love the way it reminds me of the old GS/GSA in its styling. What I will say is that this is a lot of car for the money, and this is what Citroën are now doing. They don't want to build cars that don't perform the basic task that their customers want. It needs to be fit for purpose, and I think that is a good way to build cars.
Totally agree Ian, Bryan is my go to reviewer.
@@AutoEV Totally agree on Citroen. We went for an e208 as our second car but the eC4 was certainly a very comfortable drive and a bigger car for the same money. We didn’t need the room so a smaller car suited us and have not been disappointed.
Will be looking for a family sized EV in a couple of years so will continue to watch the market (and your videos of course!).
As usual great and fair review. As an E C4 driver I am not sure when my lease runs out. From your video don't really like the boot but will have to see one. The only alternative for me is the Megane'. It has fantastic looks and tech
I really enjoyed my test drive. One thing Citroen don't seem to make anything if is that the EC4 has a heat pump. as standard. Other manufacturers charge £1000 extra.
The best car reviewer in the business imo. I think the booted version looks more resolved around the rear lights. If the lack of range keeps the price down for private owners then it should be great value.
05:40 - This is dated because the C4X has 2 x ICE options and a hybrid version. The EV also comes with a 51 or 54kWh battery and 136 or 156bhp motor.
26:58 - Talking about the brake pedal feel with my wife yesterday and I likened it to a switch, i.e. no matter how gently you operate a light switch, nothing happens until the mechanism goes 'over-centre' and then 'click' and the light comes on! The brake pedal on my 71 plate C4 is exactly the same. It's an analogue control and not a digital one!
I'm looking to replace my 71 plate C4 1.2 with the hybrid C4X in a couple of years.
This was filmed when the ëC4X first came out when Citroën said it would be an ev-only model. Things changed.
About the brake pedal.. I had my 2005 C4 at the shop to replace my windscreen and got a free of charge VW Polo to get around in . I was surprised that I got that feeling of 'nothing happens' at first when braking and then when applying a little bit more pressure it braked very abruptly. My Citroen C4 has a perfectly progressive feeling and I like it much better. Like your reviews ☺
Same battery as my wife’s Peugeot e208. In January driving Sussex to Isle of Wight starting at 2’C driving into the wind, range dropped to 140 miles. This car looks like a rep company car and therefore the range in winter would be totally inadequate. It looks like a Polestar 2 that’s been eroded by the wind. Same stupid low position of rear camera ; after a few miles in winter you wouldn’t see anything while reversing. Glad I went for the Kia Niro EV4 for not a lot more with a friends’ discount.
If it had a bigger battery and a range closer to the megan etech, I'd buy one of these without a second thought.
Love the design! love your reviews, enjoy them a lot and already subscribed for some time now. And thank you for the long form instead of the 15-20 minute reviews I normally find on UA-cam.
I think bigger batteries are overrated, especially when In massive mastodons, defying the purpose of EV’s. On average I would like to see higher energy output for all EV’s but is they stand, it seems alright to me, as I thought for the smaller brother, the E-C4.
Well done mate. Enjoyed it, looking forward to the next video!
Thank you for your kind words. We do sometimes get the odd comment about the length of our reviews being too long, but the thing is, we do it for a couple of reasons. First of all, we need to stand out against some much bigger channels in a very crowded space in automotive media. Secondly, we live with the cars and try to discover the foibles that actual owners may want to know about, and make it relevant. No point in subjecting a small family SUV to a 0-60mph drag race when what you really want to know is will my children be comfortable in it? And lastly, because of the way we do these reviews, we find a lot of people are now buying cars on the back of our reviews, mainly because of the detail we give. We know that it will cost us subscribers and views, but the quality of the feedback we get, and then can share with the manufacturers is invaluable. So, thank you for taking the time to watch the channel, and to share your thoughts with us. We have an absolutely epic triple test I'm just editing for our next video. Its our longest one yet, but it is a good one! Make sure you are sitting comfortably with a cup of tea (or something stronger if you like!). Bryan @ AutoEV
@@AutoEV It's because of you and your reviews that we have our first EV arriving in September. So thankyou.
@@Hell-Hound1 well that is music to my ears!!! Thank you! We love hearing from viewers who have bought a car on the basis of our reviews. What did you go for?
@@AutoEV A Niro4 + Heat pump. As a company car. Megane, and Born were close runners up.
@@Hell-Hound1 Great choice!
The best ICE car I ever owned was the C4 Picasso (5 seat) simply because it did and was everything I liked .
Hi Bryan,
Thx for the review. As a personal request will you be reviewing the new BMW i7 I have seen some reviews of it I'm thinking of getting one. Would really value your opinions on it. Mainly coz I respect your reviews more than any other. Yes of course I need to do my own testing but your thoughts are always important.
Hi Sean. You are in luck, the new i7 has been driven, tested, filmed and is due for editing next week! In fact, I drove the i7 to the launch of this Citroën! Good to have your support on the channel!
@@AutoEV Thank you. I will look forward to it .
Its funny you should mention IKEA flatpack. The C4x reminds me a lot of the Polestar. Nice looking car but supply chain issues mean no chance of getting one for the next 12-18mths
Great review. Re: Stellantis breaking, I do know what you mean but I find in my Peugeot e208 (and assume in other Stellantis electrics) that with regenerative breaking, I am rarely using the break as I'm decelerating when my foot comes off the accelerator.....saying that, I'm not a speed merchant.
Sorry, you covered that at 31.40. The ride looks very impressive which is what I'm after for some of our woeful roads in the UK.
I really like your review. I'm currently trying to decide between c4 and c4 x. Do they have any differences in interior and chassis mechanics? at least in a short sentence. I understand that doing a comparison test is a lot of work.
No, both cars are mechanically identical. It’s purely bodywork where they are different. There’s a little bit more space in the C4X and you might find that it’s a bit quieter as it doesn’t have to rear hatch, but otherwise they are the same.
Looks a lot like the Arkana.
Both could do with a standard ride height. Makes the design come out better.
Suitcase crusher's on the bootlid is really cheap.
Nice addition to the sedans.
Oh!, I really quite iike this, but it doesn't look like I'll see it in Australia. The short range means for the price I am more likely to go with the Cupra Born though.
The MG 4 May be a bit worthy but it seems to offer a lot more for the money.
If it wasn't for the really lacklustre powertrain I'd have this over our MG4 for the extra boot space; the performance and charging speed of the MG is around average at present, so this really won't cut the mustard now and would be like going back two years - which is a long time in the ev world. Slightly off-subject, we've had our MG all through the Winter now and never missed the rear wiper once; just saying...
Shame Citroen seem to have missed a trick and not built this ev from the ground up. Transmission tunnel? Come on! We liked the eC4 but bought an id3 instead, partly because it is a "proper" ev and partly because the range is so much better. This comparatively small battery and slow charging is a backward step. I don't mind the styling, and as for competition you didn't mention the the Tesla 3 which is also a saloon. I was excited to watch this review, as I always am Bryan, but disappointed with Citroen's lack of adventure. Perhaps the next model upgrade will excite me moe ....
It’s not a competitor for the Model 3 at all. It’s from the class below (C-Sector) so ID.3, Cupra Born, MG4, etc, but as a saloon. So as I alluded to in the video, it’s sort of a modern version of a Ford Orion, VW Jetta, etc. The Model 3 is a car from the class above.
It competes with other cars in the Stellantis group and it is significantly cheaper than most of those. How can Stellantis justify charging circa £40k for cars with the identical platform is beyond me. I will not be buying one of these because the battery is not big enough. Having owned a Corsa e for over three years now I have found that a useable 46 kWh is not enough. Nice car though.
How does this compare to the Polestar 2? size wise that is. As it looks kinda similar but it's hard to tell.
I’d say it’s a little bit smaller. Not by much though.
What's the point of building a car for comfort and family road trips but with only 180 miles of real world range... it looks big enough for a 60+ Kwh pack, if it fits in a Kona it should fit in this car. Also given the slow progress of charging infrastructure 250- 300 miles of range and a 150Kw charge speed is very important in a family coupe tourer, especially as the number of EVs on the road is swelling and charging stops are often backlogged. I foresee much frustration on the 2 or 3+ charging stops needed on a big road trip. Yes I do have charging anxiety!
TBH I really don't see the point of this car. It has two problems. No rear wiper & it has a boot instead of a hatch. They would have been better off making it as a full blown estate car with a rear wiper, something akin to the old Citroen DS / CX Safari - remember them? Then they would have created something worth considering & unique - a full size Estate EV for a half respectable price. I would prefer the EC4 over this EC4x except that it too does not have a rear wiper so that is also a no from me. When is someone going to make a full size estate EV?
It's longer than the C4 and has a much bigger boot space. The lack of rear wiper isn't an issue
I am Taxi driver and i think is goed for Taxi..
Just battery 50kw....ik was 60kw thans best and best gor Taxi
You should have realized that a car this big should have a much better range, and in winter it would be totally inadequate, Period
I don t understand the Citroën design, certain points of view are horrible, they should finally wake up, like Renault does.
Priced to high.
Rane is small. Not a EV platform these 50kwh batterys killing it.
Trunk unpractical. just like the Tesla Model 3 good volume but you need a stick to reach small crosserys that lay need the backseat.
So there are better cars out there for less cash that give more range and offer the same or better practical use.
that are build on dedicated EV platforms that are probebly going to be way more efficient than this strange duckling
On a personal note i dont understand brands going for 6 or 8 head/rear light i realy dont like it
but alteast it looks better than a Kona that you even have to recount on all the rearlicht places