The Citroen C3 is a great-value small car that’s surprisingly comfortable and good to drive. It has a practical interior, hardwearing and sensibly laid-out dashboard and a choice of efficient engines - just don’t expect it to be as good a motorway cruiser as something larger and more powerful. The C3 is the baby of the Citroen range, and stylistically it’s sort of halfway between a hatchback and an SUV - it has an upright silhouette, boxy bodywork and some rugged (ish) plastic cladding around the wheel arches to help it shrug off bumps and scrapes round town. It’s one of the best small cars you can buy, so good that the C3 earned a ‘Highly Commended’ gong in the Urban Living category of the 2026 Carwow Car of the Year Awards, alongside the mechanically similar Fiat Grande Panda. The C3 is built from a different set of mechanicals than the rest of Citroen’s cars - they’re components originally designed for developing countries, but here they’ve been used to great effect to lower cost without feeling like you’re driving around in something chucked together after the January sales. With clever design and generous standard equipment, the C3 is a bit like IKEA furniture - the components might be cheap, but the result is effective. Other low-priced alternatives to the C3 include the Fiat Grande Panda - which shares its engines and mechanicals with the Citroen - as well as other small cars such as the Dacia Sandero, Kia Picanto or Toyota Aygo X. There is also an all-electric model called the Citroen e-C3, which is identical to the petrol C3 in all but powertrain. This C3 is certainly much more stylish than the model it replaces. It’s upright and a bit square, looking like a miniature version of the larger C5 Aircross. There are cool, C-shaped LED headlights, a big Citroen roundel, a flat clamshell bonnet and the option of cool two-tone paint schemes. All models even get LED headlights, which goes a long way to making the basic car look not-so-basic. Inside, the upright silhouette means there’s much more space in the C3 than you might expect for such a cheap car. Two adults can sit comfortably in the rear seats, and the 310-litre boot is a respectable size, even bigger than some cars from the class above. If you want more room, though, you could consider the Citroen C3 Aircross, which is basically a stretched C3 with up to seven seats.