Compared to the Renault 5 with a small battery, is the electric Citroën C3 still a good deal?

The new R5 will become more accessible with a 40 kWh battery. Its base price will drop to €27,990. What calls into question the interest of the electric C3 at aggressive prices?

With its new electric C3, Citroën is hitting hard. Excluding bonuses, the car starts at €23,300. A very aggressive price for a versatile city car with a 113 hp engine and a WLTP mixed range of 320 km.

The other new star of the small electric market, the Renault 5, is still very far from this price! The Diamond brand has chosen to launch it with its most exclusive configurations, starting at €33,490 (410 km range, rich equipment). But Renault still promises an R5 at €25,000 for 2025.

Before that, it will offer intermediate configurations, with a new less expensive finish, the evolution, and a small 40 kWh battery. If the starting price will not be as aggressive as the Citroën, looking more closely at what is offered, the C3 risks suffering from the comparison.

Already, on a technical level, the more affordable R5 is equivalent. It has a 120 hp engine and a WLTP mixed range of 312 km, which is also penalized a little by the automatic presence of 18-inch wheels. On the charging side, the R5 comes with the 11 kW three-phase charger as standard. Its DC charging is limited to 80 kW. The C3 does better on this point with 100 kW. But as standard, its on-board charger is 7 kW. It charges €400 for 11 kW three-phase. In addition, the R5 has the heat pump and the V2G and V2L systems as standard, equipment completely unknown to the C3.

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Equipped with the small battery, the R5 will start at €27,990 in evolution. We therefore remain far from the 23,300 € of the basic C3, the You, which already has good equipment, with air conditioning, cruise control/speed limiter and all the driving assistance imposed by the new GSR2 standard, with therefore lane keeping assistance, sign recognition, active emergency braking or reversing radars.

So many elements that we find on the R5, which however also has the 10-inch touch screen as standard with smartphone replication and a more polished exterior/interior look. But the C3 then draws another card: the You Pack Plus finish. For €25,500, or €2,200 more, we have the 10.25-inch touch screen, the soft Advanced Comfort seats, the defrosting and folding mirrors and a neater look (aluminum-colored protective shoes, two-tone paint, 17-inch wheels). inches).

At €27,800, we have the Max, with navigation, induction smartphone charger and reversing camera. Renault has not fully detailed the equipment of the R5 evolution, but it does not seem that complete. As we wrote above, the 5 however has the heat pump and bidirectional charging in its bag. It is also the only one made in France.

If the R5 makes efforts to make electric accessible (an electric Peugeot 208 starts at €34,100 with 364 km of autonomy), the C3 therefore maintains good arguments on a financial level. The 5 assumes a more upscale side, Dacia having to be more opposed to Citroën. But its Spring deprived of bonuses is no longer a match for the C3.