00:00when first evs hit the market their high price and limited range discouraged prospective buyers
00:05however we were promised that after a period of high prices and large batteries and luxury models
00:11time will come for the cheap evs for the people the time is now sort of and the wind of
00:18change
00:18has arrived not from germany but from france this is the citroen ec3 and it's cheap ish
00:33oh
00:47Reveillé pas endormi demi-lune à qui je crie à tous mes rêves qui sont vidés dans mon cerveau malade
00:55today
00:58malade today
01:03faut pas arrêter car c'est la vie on sait jamais alors respire les problèmes qui nous mènent nu y
01:09'en a toujours d'autres on continue
01:12in the fall of 2022 citroen presented the ollie concept a play on words o l e but also all
01:20e as in
01:21all electric a year later citroen launched the fourth generation of the c3 city car perhaps it
01:26doesn't look as revolutionary as the only concept but it's good enough for a budget supermini the new c3
01:33is ever so slightly longer and wider than the previous generation the wheelbase remained unchanged
01:39but the height increased more than 10 centimeters which is officially supposed to make it easier to
01:44get in and out but in fact the traction battery had to fit somewhere the new smart car platform was
01:50designed with different powertrains in mind so six months after its debut citroen announced the c3 would
01:56also get an internal combustion engine variant there is a choice of a modified 1.2 puretec motor which
02:02allegedly no longer suffers from the peeling cam belt issues and a slightly more powerful mild hybrid
02:08based on the same engine despite the electric powertrain we don't get a frunk and here it would
02:15have been useful since the ec3 is a city car that may often use the public type 2 outlets which
02:20at
02:21least in europe don't always come with a cable instead the ec3 is the first citroen to feature
02:26the new oval logo we also have the new large oval logo in the rear and it's in a place
02:35that i find
02:36myself touching quite often when closing the tailgate and it turns out that the logo moves ever so
02:43slightly it seems i could easily pick it out with a pocket knife or some other innocuous tool
03:01back in the day compact cars boasted 310 liter boots this is especially impressive on the c3 because
03:08its exterior dimensions are almost identical to the previous generation and yet citroen managed
03:12to add 10 liters to the boot capacity unfortunately there is only space for a tire repair kit there is
03:19no place to store the charging cable without losing cargo space on the plus side there is a shopping bag
03:25hook the backrest split 40 60 but when the backrests are folded there is a hump
03:34there is good leg room behind the driver's seat set to my driving position i'm 175 centimeters tall
03:42some of the extra 10 centimeters in height also went into headroom although the seat is mounted
03:48quite low and i have my thighs up in the air there is a small tunnel running through the middle
03:53but a
03:54tunnel nonetheless there are usb-c ports and a 12 volt outlet there are no air vents there is no
03:59armrest
04:00so if you have a bottle door pockets are your best bet also there is none of that rear
04:09jacket hanger that replaced the grab handles back in the day and yeah but we get a mobile phone pocket
04:17here in the rear seat now the seat itself is quite comfortable despite being mounted low and these
04:25comfortable seats debuted in citroens about 10 years ago in the c4 cactus oh and by the way there are
04:32only
04:32isofix anchor points in the rear but not on the front passenger seat so bear that in mind if you
04:38have
04:38kids the front seats are also very comfortable but the adjustment range for the steering wheel is so
04:48modest that i have to sit too close to the dashboard and bend my legs more than the correct position
04:54behind the wheels requires the cockpit is minimalist citroen decided to make a small display just under
05:02the windscreen instead of a traditional gauge cluster and a heads-up display i don't expect advanced data
05:08presentation from a city car so all in all this should suit me unfortunately whoever was given the
05:14task of simplifying the dashboard has most likely never driven a car as a result the outside temperature
05:19is displayed only along with the total mileage data other than that there are two trip meters range and
05:26an eco gauge why aren't the temperature and the range visible all the time and where's the screen
05:34showing you the average energy consumption even if citroen wanted to go all retro like in the days
05:40where anything except a speedometer was an option this is the top trim
05:46speaking of the top trim called max we get a display with navigation multimedia and very basic settings
05:52i'd probably settle for the base u trim where you have a phone cradle and you pair your phone with
05:59the
05:59car audio system but when i tried using my citron app and failed to pair it with the car i
06:05decided it's
06:05probably better to have a screen after all the max trim gets satnav as standard it features route planning
06:13with charging stops an alternative is the stellantis e roots app but this is something you have to pay
06:19for and if it works anything like the oem satnav it'll be easier to start using a sextant and let
06:25the stars guide you this is a city car so google will guide you to the nearest charging station meanwhile
06:33route planning with charging within the oem satnav doesn't seem to take into account the speed at which
06:39you travel on different types of roads more on that later when we talk about range hi this is future
06:46marek i just handed over the citron ec3 and i found out that it doesn't have route guidance with charging
06:57hence e roots app which is a premium app why is there an app instead of route guidance within satnav
07:08because it's the same satnav regardless of the powertrain so sextant and stars it is brilliant
07:19beneath the screen are physical buttons to operate the ac max even gets automatic climate control see
07:27not everything needs to be operated via touch screen yay depending on the trim and options we can also have
07:35a wireless charger if you have drinks in your cup holders access to the charger will be difficult
07:40however once you get there at least the charger works which is not always the case with citroen and
07:46peugeot cars next we have the drive selector with a mysterious c button about which more in a moment
07:54and the electronic parking brake which you better apply every time before opening the doors otherwise the
07:59car will make noises even if you're in park then there's a cabbie with a usb-c port the second
08:06one
08:06is on the passenger side of the dashboard a small storage compartment under the armrest the glove box
08:12is okay the door pockets are spacious but there is no molding to keep your bottle vertical
08:17and nothing says a budget car more in 2025 than a physical key to fire it up oh damn i
08:28shouldn't have
08:29said fire and an electric car should i
08:47the citroen ec3 has a bit of a dacia spring vibe about it i know it's a different group but
08:53the concept
08:54of a cheap city car is similar relatively small battery high efficiency at low speeds only basic
09:01equipment for example the winter package which includes heated steering wheel and heated seats
09:08is an option even on the top trim the three phase 11 kilowatt onboard charger is also an option it
09:15seems
09:16the french standard is the single phase 7.4 kilowatts which in some parts of europe will trip circuit
09:23breakers what's it like in your country however the ec3 can charge up to 100 kilowatts dc citroen does
09:33the chinese trick and provides the charging time from 20 to 80 percent state of charge 26 minutes rather
09:40than 10 to 80 percent peak charging power occurs around 20 percent state of charge and drops below 50
09:46kilowatts around 75 percent citroen promises a 0 to 100 kilometers per hour time of 10.4
09:52seconds not particularly relevant for a city car but i checked and i got 10.9 seconds it was cold
09:59the car
10:00was on winter tires perhaps in the summer it would have been possible to shave one or two tenths of
10:05that
10:05time instead of claimed seven seconds from 80 to 120 kilometers per hour i got nine and here i don't
10:13particularly see any room for improvement 30 to 60 in 2.4 seconds looks possible as does 60 to 90
10:21in 3.7 seconds
10:26so it's all you need in the city also the city range seems to be very good although i have
10:33no idea
10:34what the real energy consumption is i only know at speeds below 70 kilometers per hour the range disappears
10:41slower than kilometers traveled would suggest however above 80 kilometers per hour range disappears at an
10:48alarming rate on a 30 kilometer route where i drove about 10 kilometers through the city and in traffic
10:54and the remaining 20 on the ring road with speeds up to 120 kilometers per hour i lost more than
11:0060
11:00kilometers range yes this is a city car but citroen's claimed energy consumption of less than 12 kilowatt
11:09hours per 100 kilometers seems very optimistic indeed
11:17perhaps the car counted on recuperation and this is a nice segue to the mysterious c button next to the
11:24gear selector c stands not for what you think i think about whoever designed this car it stands for
11:30comfort and according to the car's manual it reduces the amount of regenerative braking
11:35maybe going downhill a steep hill you'll notice the difference on a flat road the difference is
11:43almost imperceptible
11:48if you drive this car outside the city don't expect more than low 200 something kilometers range
11:54around the city it should do the claim 300 something but pray for dense traffic which begs the question
12:00wouldn't you be better off using public transport or a bicycle in the press release citroen also boasts
12:07its magic carpet ride suspension with progressive hydraulic bump stops this tech debuted on the c4 cactus
12:14a while back it worked well in the cactus as well as in later citroen models however in the ec3
12:20the
12:21suspension is so crashy i can't believe it has those trick shock absorbers according to the specification it does
12:30like are you can only use a nice little car here on the rules and use the road wheel on
12:30the cart
12:30now the g bosch it annoys looks like the car was it pretty much minus dedicated set up for an
12:35exit grille enemies up for the 하�row in the�oric BMW four foot in the car bucks which is in the
12:56car about one saison car and tear engines it just opens it up for a try to stretch out for
12:58car can also tow up to 550 kilograms and take up to 61 kilograms on the hitch the roof railings
13:04can
13:04take up to 75 kilograms at the time of recording citroen offers only the 44 kilowatt hour battery
13:13version with wltp combined range of up to 326 kilometers later in 2025 smaller battery city
13:22variant will launch with a range of around 200 kilometers
13:40price of the citroen c3 started 15 990 euro for the petrol variant and 23 300 for the ev
13:49the smaller battery version is supposed to start around 20 000 euro that's before any local ev
13:55incentives this ec3 max with options costs 28 720 euro taking into account the prices of a larger byd
14:04auto 2 and the smaller hyundai insta i think citroen is tad too expensive for what it has to offer
14:13small evs for the city were supposed to be the answer to the increasingly expensive internal
14:17combustion engine cars however for the price of an ec3 i can either buy a pretty well specced toyota
14:24yaris hybrid or i can buy a petrol c3 and save myself seven grand how long will it take to
14:31make
14:32up the difference in fuel and taxes around where you live let me know in the comment section below
14:39if you like my sarcastic down to earth and possibly mildly amusing car reviews join me every friday 3
14:46pm central european time and don't forget to subscribe and like this video as it helps me with the youtube
14:52algorithm thanks for watching and i will see you in the next one
