CITROEN E-C3

Would C3 buyers be better off with our EV or the similarly priced hybrid?

- JACK WARRICK

MILEAGE 3564

WHY WE'RE RUNNING IT Can Citroën's new small EV challenge the class-leading Renault 5?

I'm not in the saddle of our ë-C3 but something feels familiar. Déjà vu? Kind of. This time, though, the C3 I'm driving is a calming Monte Carlo Blue and a surprise lurks beneath its familiar blocky silhouette.

This is the C3 Hybrid, which sits (nominally at least) between the entry-level petrol C3 and the ë-C3. Priced from £20,615, it's in fact priced slightly above the ë-C3 once you factor in the government's recently revived EV purchase grant and comes with pretty much all of the same equipment, save for what's under the bonnet. In the hybrid, there's a 1.2-litre turbocharged petrol engine, along with a dinky battery and a gearbox-mounted electric motor.

An ideal opportunity, then, to find out how a powertrain alters a car's character and see if a hybrid supermini can compete with an electric counterpart when price parity is reached.