Citroen C4 hatchback - Reliability & safety

The Citroen C4 holds the accolade of coming in first place overall in the latest 2023 Driver Power customer satisfaction survey, which ranks the top 75 cars in the UK. It scored well in all categories, but performed particularly well in the ride and handling category (third place), running costs (fourth place) and for reliability (fourth place). That said, Citroen is likely to be disappointed with its four-star score in Euro NCAP crash testing, meaning there are safer rivals out there.

Citroen C4 reliability

While the C4 is a new model for Citroen, it's based on the same underpinnings as the latest Peugeot 208 and 2008, along with the Citroen C3 Aircross. While those models are also fairly fresh, there haven't been any major reliability alarm bells so far. Citroen's 1.2-litre petrol and 1.5-litre diesel engines have also been very widely used, having proved reliable in other models. 

The fact that the C4 came in fourth place in the reliability section of the owners’ survey is very encouraging – in fact, just 14% of Citroen owners as a whole reported an issue with their car in the first year of ownership, which is less than Peugeot owners (16%) and on par with Lexus, a brand renowned for its dependability.

Overall, Citroen came 11th out of 32 brands in our 2023 Driver Power owner satisfaction survey – a marked improvement over its 28th-place result in 2021.

Safety

Citroen is very proud of the fact the C4 is available with 20 driving aids, which equals the number in the larger and more expensive Citroen C5 Aircross SUV. Along with safety features like autonomous emergency braking, they can also include Highway Driver Assist, which combines adaptive cruise control and lane-keeping technology to drive the car in its lane, so long as the driver keeps their hands on the wheel ready to take over at any time.

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The C4 will also evaluate how the car is being driven to check the driver is alert, and suggest a break if they drive in a certain manner, or spend more than two hours at speeds over 43mph. Cameras and sensors can flag up road signs in the instrument display, monitor the car's blind spots and allow the headlights to switch between main and dipped beam automatically. 

Despite all these features, the C4 received a four-star score in Euro NCAP tests, missing out on a top result. It achieved 80% and 83% respectively in the adult and child occupant categories.