Citroen C4 review – a quirky, comfortable family hatchback

Verdict – is the Citroen C4 a good car?

Nowadays, many cars try to succeed at everything and end up becoming a jack of all trades, but a master of none. The Citroen C4, on the other hand, solely focuses on offering comfortable and practical family transportation for a good price. Citroen’s family hatchback isn’t for everyone, and hasn’t really changed on the inside since its facelift, but if it ain’t broke, don’t try to fix it, as they say. 

Citroen C4 models, specs and alternatives

If you’re looking for a family hatchback with comfort as the order of the day, then the Citroen C4 has long been a strong option. The brand is also budget-focused, so you can expect great value for money with the C4. 

While the previous Citroen C4 was rather forgettable and blended into the background, Citroen got back to its quirky origins with this generation. It’s higher-riding and slightly more SUV-like to look at compared with its predecessor and rivals like the Volkswagen Golf, Ford Focus or SEAT Leon, and the 2025 model year saw the arrival of a facelift giving it a new look.

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In keeping with the rest of the Citroen lineup, the updated C4 gets new retro-inspired branding and badging. The design is rather less fussy than before, with straighter lines on the headlights and rear lights that still look quirky but are arguably more palatable. The main updates with the facelift are these aesthetic changes, but an updated mild-hybrid 136 powertrain had already been added towards the end of the pre-facelift car’s life.

Under its dramatic bodywork, the C4 has a lot in common with the closely related Peugeot 2008 and Citroen C3 Aircross, but this time they’ve been stretched to give the C4 family car dimensions. The car is available as a petrol, mild-hybrid petrol or as a standalone electric e-C4 model, which we’ve reviewed separately.

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The petrol models use a tried-and-tested 1.2-litre turbo engine with 128bhp and blends decent performance with fuel economy of well over 40mpg. It’s now purely automatic, with no manual version available.

Equipment levels are pretty generous, with even the entry-level You getting a 10-inch touchscreen, rear parking sensors and Advanced Comfort seats. The Plus trim adds a head-up display, a reversing camera and connected navigation. Max brings keyless entry, adaptive cruise control, rear privacy glass and 18-inch alloy wheels.

The Citroen C4 achieved a rating of four stars out of five when it was crash-tested by Euro NCAP in 2021. While this is behind rivals such as the Skoda Octavia, every version of the C4 should be perfectly safe for families, thanks to a suite of safety systems including autonomous emergency braking (AEB), lane departure warning, driver attention alert and hill-start assist.