With the new and 3rd generation 2017 Citroen C3, this French car manufacturer tries to engage a new path. With this model they will try to achieve an important goal, one-third higher sales in the next five years. New Citroen C3’s felicitous design is in the style of C4 Cactus, with headlights in several rows and AirBumps on the sides.

New Citroen C3 targets younger customers

The 2017 Citroen C3 is a typical Citroën automotive school representative. It stands out with attractive design and is definitely bolder than the competition. It is comfortable and practical in the city, but also much less sovereign on rural roads.

With the new C3, Citroën wants to rejuvenate its range of customers. Until now, the majority of customers has been older drivers, the predecessor is also very popular among the female population.

In addition to colourfullness and being different, this car addresses young potential customers with technological solutions, such as the camera, mounted in the car.

2017 Citroen C3 exterior much more modern and likeable

As already stated, we praise the new Citroen C3 exterior design in the style of Citroen C4 Cactus. The most significant exterior features are definitely headlights in multiple rows and of course the unique AirBumps on the sides. Also fascinating is the combination of multi-colored bodywork. There are, for example, 36 different bodywork and roof color combinations.

AirBump protection, also a trademark of the new Citroen C3

AirBump protection is a trademark of the new C3. The design is somewhat better, less pronounced and even partially colorful, compared to the one in Citroën C4 Cactus. Protection of side parts of the car is not a serial piece of equipment, but proved to be a good protection against the inevitable bumps in parking lots. It consists of six air pockets, which work best in the urban environment.

The front part is the most courageous, while the Citroën C3 especially encourage diversity and colourfullness of the exterior.

The interior of Citroen C3 with many combinations

Citroen C3 will be definitely more popular among those who prefer tasteful interior equipment over state of the art technology. There will be four color-material interior design combinations to choose from:

• Standard interior equipment, distinguished by a simple design, with the use of a more neutral color lining and components, with yellow decorative seams for additional accents.
• Metropolitan Grey, with bright colors in the passenger compartment and warm textile fabrics.
• Urban Red, which emphasizes the contrast between dark and vibrant colors, which provides a more dynamic appearance of the passenger compartment.
• Hype Colorado gives the impression of more expensive and luxurious appearance, with softer materials, manufactured under a special procedure.

We need to mention that the overall appearance of the interior gives a very modern impression, with 7-inch touch screen infotainment system in the middle of the center console.

Minimalistic center console and dashboard

The center console is minimalistically refined. Under the 7-inch touch screen, which will be part of all equipment packages with the exception of the basic one, are only five buttons. We miss the physical button to set the air conditioner. We think that this button is much more frequently used than the power button for the rear window heater. Infotainment interface also enables mirroring of mobile applications. Because of that, many drivers will certainly prefer to use faster navigation system on their smart phones.

Hard plastic hidden behind leather accessories

The new Citroen C3 is designed on the platform of the previous generation, with many updates, of course. The car is certainly a classic representative of their automotive school.  The seats are soft and comfortable, the interior is modernly designed. Some accessories, such as leather door handles and leather upholstery, are giving a touch of prestige and at the same time obscure the considerable amount of hard and rough plastic in the interior.

A lot of French charm on one hand, and a large glove compartment that is very hard to open on the other. Nothing charming about that.

City toddler Citroen C3 now accepts three child seats with ISOFIX

The driver sits comfortably and the driving position is very good. We would wish adjustable seat height in the front passenger seat. Good news for families with three small children: relatively small Citroen C3 has three ISOFIX anchors for child seats! In this category, this small Citroen can even beat a lot of medium family minivans.

2017 Citroen C3 is made for the city, does not like open road bends

Undoubtedly, the new Citroen C3 is intended primarily for driving in an urban environment. The car feels like home in the city. The steering system is soft and the turning circle is small. The steering wheel turns with ease, which makes maneuvering through the city streets a piece of cake. The visibility out of the car is good thanks to the small vehicle dimensions, furthermore complemented by a rear view camera. Softer chassis also emphasizes its comfort and in this area Citroën certainly done a lot for emphasizing their traditional principles and strengths.

Citroen C3 is much less sovereign on winding roads. Especially on the poor quality asphalt. Even slower cruising is not particularly pleasant, due to the soft chassis and the fact that the front passenger misses the handle above the door to hold on in curves.

Potential Citroen C3 customers can therefore not expect dynamic driving through bends. We must admin that in this case, the majority of the competition did a better homework. Starting with class sales champion Ford Fiesta, which rides much more convincing in this type of environment.

But again, the typical Citroën buyers will overlook that remark, because they are used to drive differently. Soft steering, which turns out in place in the city, does not provide real feedback and feel to the driver in the faster bends.

Well hidden camera in the new Citroen C3 that continuously records the traffic

The most interesting technical solution of the new 2017 Citroen C3 is an integrated camera behind the rear-view mirror, which constantly monitors and records the road ahead. The driver can press the button to save the current image or turns on the recording.

Recordings are stored on the internal memory. All the videos and photos can be downloaded via a wireless connection and a dedicated application to your mobile phone or tablet. Clips can be further processed there and easily shared on social networks. The video can be at most a minute and a half long. Unfortunately, or not, the camera does not record sound.

The camera does not obstruct the driver’s view  because it is hidden behind the rear-view mirror. This well hidden position also means that the hand blindly fumbles for buttons.

In case of collision, the camera knows the time, place and speed

2017 Citroen C3 opens a new way to use the on board camera. On one side, it offers a basic recording function, initiated by the driver or passenger. But the more important it may be its safety function. In a collision or traffic accident, sensors detect sudden deceleration and the camera saves the last 30 seconds of the recording before the crash and 60 seconds after the recording. Thanks to the built-in GPS transmitter, the recording displays the exact coordinates of the vehicle at all times, the date and time, as well as the current speed.

New Citroen C3 engines

New Citroen C3 can be motorized with three variants of 1.2-liter three-cylinder petrol engine. The difference is in maximum power. Starting with 68 hp, followed by 82 hp and ending with the most powerful 110 hp option. The most powerful petrol engine version is assisted with a turbocharger.

Moreover, the buyers can opt in for a 1.6-liter turbo-diesel engine with a max. power of 75 or 101 hp.

A five-speed manual gearbox transmits the engine power to the front wheels. Automatic gearbox will be available early next year.

2017 Citroen C3 technical details

Dimensions

• Length: 3,996 mm
• Width: 1,745 mm
• Height: 1,470 mm
• Wheelbase: 2,540 mm
• Boot volume / Luggage compartment: 300 liters

The luggage compartment in the new Citroen C3 measures decent 300 litres.

Engines

Petrol engines

• C3 PureTech 68 BVM.

  Capacity: 1,199 ccm. Maximum power: 68 hp at 6,000 rpm. Max. torque: 95 Nm at 3,000 rpm. Top speed: 165 km/h. Acceleration (0-100 km/h): 15,9 seconds. Fuel consumption (mixed): 4,7 litres / 100 km. CO2 emissions: 109 g/km.

• C3 PureTech 82 BVM.

  Capacity: 1,199 ccm. Maximum power: 82 hp at 5,750 rpm. Max. torque: 118 Nm at 2,750 rpm. Top speed: 173 km/h. Acceleration (0-100 km/h): 14,6 seconds. Fuel consumption (mixed): 4,7 litres / 100 km. CO2 emissions: 109 g/km.

• C3 PureTech 110 S&S BVM/EAT.

  Capacity: 1,199 ccm. Maximum power: 110 hp at 5,500 rpm. Max. torque: 205 Nm at 1,500 rpm. Top speed: 188 km/h. Acceleration (0-100 km/h): 10,9 seconds. Fuel consumption (mixed): 4,6 litres / 100 km. CO2 emissions: 103 g/km.

Diesel engines

• C3 BlueHDi 75 S&S BVM.

  Capacity: 1,560 ccm. Maximum power: 75 hp at 3,500 rpm. Max. torque: 233 Nm at 1,750 rpm. Top speed: 174 km/h. Acceleration (0-100 km/h): 15,1 seconds. Fuel consumption (mixed): 3,6 litres / 100 km. CO2 emissions: 93 g/km.

• C3 BlueHDi 100 S&S BVM.

  Capacity: 1,560 ccm. Maximum power: 101 hp at 3,750 rpm. Max. torque: 254 Nm at 1,750 rpm. Top speed: 185 km/h. Acceleration (0-100 km/h): 11,9 seconds. Fuel consumption (mixed): 3,7 litres / 100 km. CO2 emissions: 95 g/km.

Image credit: Citroen