URBAN LEGENDS

Is a bespoke electric city car the best car for the city? The Ami and new Jeep Avenger go head to head

- PAUL HORRELL

A 'city car' defies easy definition. Given how many there are in London and how few on motorways, you might assume the best one is the Mercedes-AMG G63. 'Justifying' the mad expense of buying and running it, drivers cherish long travel suspension for speed bumps, tank-like robustness, a driver's seat high enough to prevent feeling intimidated. And it probably intimidates everyone else out of the way. But it's not for me - it's too bulky for narrow streets and too cumbersome for parking. Plus I don't fancy being thought an idiot.

The Citroen Ami is the G63's absolute antithesis. Tiny, friendly, light on cost and resources, it feels as slow and fragile as a snail. It's like getting around in a bento box. (Sorry, can't think of a French equivalent: it's a nation that prides itself on not doing takeaway.) But think of the Ami's advantages. No street is too narrow, no parking space too cramped, and the turning circle is shorter than the overall length of some panel vans.

It's £7,695 for the no hubcaps one, or just over £8k as dollied up here. Put down a £1,000 deposit and the repayments over three years are £25 a week. A London travelcard, to use public transport within roughly the area of the North and South Circular ring roads, is almost double that. And trust me, that's the Ami's geographic comfort zone. Its top speed is 28mph and you really wouldn't want to take it on a ring road. It's a city car with the emphasis on the city. Point of fact - and this is clear the first time you clap eyes on it - it's not a car at all.