The Citroën ë-C4’s spacious, boldly featured and imaginatively laid-out interior helps the ambience transcend the influence of some of the cabin’s cheaper-feeling materials. The seats are comfortable, the instrumentation and infotainment systems clear and navigable enough. There’s a wide variety of materials and finishes, from traditional graining to modern technical graining and fabrics, including a bold sash down the door.
Physical (rather than exclusively touchscreen-activated) climate controls are an aid to usability, and when you’re driving, the downsized digital binnacle screen gives you all the information you really need, in line with the car’s simplified, functional ethos.
The driving position is sound, there’s quite generous space in the rear, and the boot capacity is a competitive 380-1250 litres. The C4 is 4.35m long, so not huge for a car in the Volkswagen Golf class, but it still offers plenty of cabin space, albeit with a higher-rised driving position than some hatchbacks have. (Rumble around with your heels under the driver’s seat and you’ll feel the moulding within which the car’s drive battery is carried, which you’re effectively sitting above.)
All versions of the car get a 10.0in touchscreen infotainment system with smartphone mirroring as standard (not the easiest to navigate, although it has a few useful physical shortcut buttons) and a 5.5in instrument screen. Higher-trim versions add connected navigation, heated Advanced Comfort front seats, premium audio and wireless device charging.
On the passenger side of the car, there’s also a storage drawer hidden in the fascia that’s suitable for tablet PCs, and a pop-out dock you can use as a tablet holder, assuming your device fits inside Citroën’s optional case.