Entry-level Citroen C3 plugs gap left by C1
- Basic Citroen C3 You! revealed
- Specs include an 83PS petrol engine and Bluetooth
- On sale now, priced from £12,995
The new Citroen C3 You! has been revealed as an entry-level model tasked with appealing to buyers who would have bought the C1 supermini, which has gone off sale with no replacement planned.
>>> Best new cars coming in 2022 and beyond
The You! is priced from £12,995 – meaning you get a bigger, more powerful and better-equipped car for £265 more than you'd have paid for a basic C1. Pre the You!, the cheapest C3 was the £16,620 Sense model.
So the You! sounds like good value and you'd have to say it looks like good value, too. You get body-coloured bumpers and wing mirrors, snazzy 'You!' graphics, plastic wheel trims that appear to all the world like alloys, LED headlights and front fog lights.
Inside, things are a little more basic. The monotone five-inch touchscreen display is a clear giveaway that this is the cheapest car Citroen sells (AMI quadricycle notwithstanding) and there's no air conditioning.
That said, you do get cruise control, DAB and a Bluetooth phone connection, electrically adjustable door mirrors and electric front windows.
You also get significantly more interior space than you ever got in the C1 – the C3 can swallow five people without needing a Guinness World Record official to officiate, plus you get a 300-litre boot that is about 50 per cent bigger than in the C1.
The You! comes fitted as standard with Citroen's 83PS 1.2-litre three-cylinder PureTech petrol engine which gives you all the performance you need – 0-62mph in 12.5 seconds – while returning fuel economy of up to 54.3mpg.
Perhaps the C3 You!'s most compelling selling point is its price against same-size rivals – a basic Skoda Fabia will set you back £15,910 while even the ageing Kia Rio starts from £14,460.
