CITROEN E-C4 X

Easygoing electric crossover makes way for something completely similar

- JACK WARRICK

WHY WE'RE RUNNING IT

Can you believe we're already into April? Well, the intermittent showers confirm as much, and I started my spring cleaning with the inside of my ë-C4 X, as a man from Citroën was coming to swap it with a petrol-engined version of the same model.

I mentioned before how the general vibe of our electric saloon/ hatchback/crossover was genuinely relaxing, and I still think that today. From charging its battery to taking long-haul trips to the coast, it was a pretty easy thing to live with.

Outputs of 134bhp and 192lb ft of torque were always enough for me. The ë-C4 X took a relatively pedestrian 10sec to get to 60mph, but I didn't feel like it needed to be quicker. Most of the time I would just stick it into Eco mode, sit back and cruise.

That said, range was hit or miss even in that most frugal setting. Shorter city drives would match with ease the advertised efficiency (which leads to the 221mile official range), but stride out onto a motorway and that figure would soon plummet.

One time I dwindled the battery down to 10%, which, according to the digital driver's display, equated to just 14 miles left in the bank. I know it's all dependent on driving style, speed and weather, but if 10% equates to 14 miles, that's just 140 miles in all, which is somewhat below the claimed average. It's also an average of around 2.8mpkWh, which is poor compared with some other, heavier EVs I've driven before, including the BMW iX1 and even the Ssangyong (now KGM) Korando E-Motion.