E-C4

[osx]

Looking to add an electric vehicle to the family car fleet. Sold my last Citroen last year and thought of trying one of the newer ones as I don't do much driving now.

I've seen the E-C4 and will test drive it next week. Any known issues or versions/manufacture years I should avoid? I believe Shine Plus is the top trim but didn't see it having electronic seats.

Don't think I'll be keeping the car for more than 3-4 years and with the battery warranty being 8 years I don't think that will be an issue.

[NewcastleFalcon]

Looking to add an electric vehicle to the family car fleet. Sold my last Citroen last year and thought of trying one of the newer ones as I don't do much driving now.

I've seen the E-C4 and will test drive it next week. Any known issues or versions/manufacture years I should avoid? I believe Shine Plus is the top trim but didn't see it having electronic seats.

Don't think I'll be keeping the car for more than 3-4 years and with the battery warranty being 8 years I don't think that will be an issue.

I don't think many will have first hand experience, so you will mostly have to rely on the journalist reviews (although personally the presentation style of these on youtube I find mostly identikit or trying too hard to be quirky, "top gear esque" in other words), or maybe on something like SpeakEV for real world user experience.

SpeakEV Citroen eC4
https://www.speakev.com/forums/citroen-ec4.400/

They do come in nice colours, and have quirky tail-lights and should you go for one, your experiences would be most welcome. I have written some stuff like this myself.

FCF Member aneesh from Lisbon, has posted up a very good commentary on his recent experience of driving a Citroen. Starts "Today I test drove a Citroen e-C4 X with the progressive hydraulic cushion. "
I have copied the post here into this thread "Electric Cars What's Available", because the e-C4 is some way off making its way into the Bargain Basement Electric thread

The Citroen e-C4 comes in a colour I thought striking enough to elevate to an entry on "favourite colours for cars" back in May when I spotted one

Falcon Original May 28th 2023

Today I test drove a Citroen e-C4 X with the progressive hydraulic cushion. I must say i was really impressed with the suspension, and this is something I could accept as a replacement for my C5. Very stable ride, slightly wafty and smooth over all kinds of bumps with good dampening. I find the leaf very comfortable too but slightly underdamped.
Its a pity the e-C4 X has only a 50 Kwh battery compared to many cars with bigger battery out there (eg. Kia e-Niro with 64 Kwh Battery). I will probably wait a few years till i find the perfect C5 electric replacement at a reasonable price.

I love the sofa like wide seats and the soft ride of my C5 2005. Car design has been getting worse and worse with the passing years. I just cant understand these trends:

- Making the front of cars Boxy/SUVish and less aerodynamic and ugly. I wonder if people really like these boxy fronts! Why are car makers making them!

- Making cars wider and then wasting all that extra space on a huge centre console. Centre consoles are getting higher too making for lesser leg room.

- The seats are just getting worse and worse. Why do regular cars need thick side bolstering that presses your butt. The seat backs now have now those side protrusions pressing against your arms. Why cant i get my C5 like seats, open wide just like a sofa.

- Putting bigger and bigger screens so that doing basic tasks become more cumbersome. And all that sun reflection to deal with off the big screens.

- Making ergonomics worse and trying to fix things that arnt broken. While test driving a Tesla Model S, I just couldnt use the Yoke that replaces the steering wheel and the indicator buttons that replace the indicator stalk. in the roundabout, balancing the stalk with one hand you must chase the left indicator button as the steering spins around. How come people pay so much money for these ill designed toys.

- The more expensive the car the rougher it rises and the harder the suspension.

Sometimes I wonder, if I am an outcast for liking simple comfortable cars. Or is it that I am too out of touch with the tastes of the masses.

Neil

[RichardW]

Make sure you can live with the pretty abysmal range!

[GiveMeABreak]

I've driven the auto petrol version and will be having the electric version tomorrow.

Comfort suspension-wise is fantastic - very good handling and very comfortable - soaks up the bumps and potholes without a nod.

Petrol - thirsty with an Auto.
What I don't like about it - the new IVI infotainment screen and worse the steering wheel controls. The flip style toggle buttons on the steering wheel are a confusing mess and trying to get cruise working and resuming after pause requires a PHD in using braille. The centre instrument cluster is also horrible with page after page of menus that are unintuitive and confusing to operate.

I had to pull over several times last I had one to work out how the hell to even get the cruise working as the system was that useless.
The last one I had (the Auto) was better as when I did work out how to get the cruise on, it maintained the speed to the point of coming to a full stop and restarting again after taking my foot off the brake, safely increasing the speed to the desired speed or speed limit in force.

I just wish the interface and the large screen was designed by normal people and not 2 year olds that just got out of a pram.
One other thing - getting in and out of the thing can be a nightmare. I nearly knocked myself out 3 times trying to get in the ting as it has high sills that you have to step over to get in and if you're tall you can get your foot caught in the door aperture - but whilst you're watching all that palaver you knock your head against the door headlining. Never had a car so hard to get in and out.

Telematics are very hit and miss - the updates are OTA, but they've had issues recently with failed updates leaving the car in panic mode where half the systems don't work! Dealerships have been going back and forth with tech support in France as they can't update them. I think they've not got the initial issues sorted - but who knows. I think the issue is OTA updates where the vehicle is out of comms range or in a bad area or some other reason why the update gets screwed up. You can't get a USB update as far as I'm aware at the moment on these. Same as the new C5 & C5X and likely will be the same system on all new models.

But driving it is the only saving grace.

I will have a better idea of the EV version tomorrow - unless of course they've forgotten to charge it up.... and I've then got no app or electric charging account to top the bugger up, so having range anxiety already and I don't even own one!

[osx]

Make sure you can live with the pretty abysmal range!

It's a 40 mile max return commute so I am sure it will be ok from that end.

[osx]

I've heard about the interface not being very intuitive so will have to do some homework before I test drive!
What I am clear about is that it's going to be a lease for 2-3 years max as there is plenty of room for improvement. There should be an option to disable updates or only allow them to happen at predefined times (3am seems right!).

[GiveMeABreak]

Good luck with finding that little nugget!

But seriously, a very nice drive indeed and goes like 's' off a shovel if warp speed is your thing. At least you have it on lease, but if on a personal lease, do watch out for the depreciation - which at the moment is too early to tell on these on how they will pan out, but I do see a lot of people getting rid of them (EVs in general) after 3 years or so before they loose too much value.

[osx]

There are already enough cars in the family so it will go back to the dealer after 3 years unless they make a sensible offer. I am seeing quite a few 3-4 year old ones that have depreciated by 50%.

[GiveMeABreak]

Indeed, but there are at least some new EV models in the marque that are becoming more realistically affordable like the ë C3 in 2 choices at £22k and £23k for the longer range:

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new- ... e%20market.

So at those prices people may decide to keep it for the 8-10 years or the long term. This was due out in the first quarter this year in the UK, but no sign of it yet....

[Sloppysod]

There are already enough cars in the family so it will go back to the dealer after 3 years unless they make a sensible offer. I am seeing quite a few 3-4 year old ones that have depreciated by 50%.

Yes some EV's have dropped a lot since new but they were initially overpriced, but I think they have not dropped any more (percentage wise) than any other car.
Also, try to get the 54kw version as well as a bigger battery it has a bigger motor that gives a better range, another tip if it has the cabin temperature displayed along the top of the screen and not big square blocks either side of the map, then it's the newer version of infotainment system, a-la C4X /C5X

I agree with other comments and have driven both electric and petrol versions, but personally think the electric version is more comfortable, possibly due to the extra weight.

[GiveMeABreak]

Update from me: no EV vehicle today during my service = there was an issue! So I was running about in a new C3.

Anyway, whilst in the showroom, I noticed a used ë-C4 for sale - couldn't tell the age as there was no sticker on the car as yet, but couldn't have been very old, but was up for £14.9k - on a par for used, but these new, are slated to lose value quickly.

[osx]

What year did the infotainment system change?

[Lenny]

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-detail ... 24&fromsra

List price new £33005
Pre-registered with delivery mileage £18867
So that's 42.8% depreciation in 10 miles

An EC4 at this sort of price makes a lot of sense.
Lovely car in just about every way and as a second car the range would be largely irrelevant. On a long journey you'd fall back on the fact that you can charge to 80% in 30 minutes.
I fancy replacing the wifes Duster with one but I'm not sure she's quite convinced.

[Lenny]

It's not just the EC4 that drops value like a stone either. There are plenty of similar deals to be had on similar cars from other manufacturers.
Nissan Leaf, Vauxhall Corsa-e, Peugeot E-208 are all well below £20k pre-registered but over £30k new.

(In comparison a petrol C4 can be had at about 22% less than new list price with delivery miles.)

[Lenny]

...and that Nissan Leaf is absolutely gopping to look at. Ruddy awful.