Citroen C4

Published · Researched 2026-09-21

The Citroën C4 asks a simple question: how much is comfort worth to you? Because the answer, on the used market, is "quite a lot less than you'd think" — and the reasons are written all over its reliability record.

The pitch is pure Citroën. A raised hatchback with the famous Progressive Hydraulic Cushions suspension, seats designed like armchairs, and a hushed cabin. Owners are consistent on this: the C4 rides like nothing else in the class, the ë-C4 electric is smooth and refined, and the whole car feels designed for people who find modern crossovers too shouty. One ë-C4 owner summed it up as comfortable, refined, and good value — then listed the app, the lane assist and a failed ABS sensor cable as the price of admission. That sentence is the whole car.

Here's what you need to know about the electric version, because it's where the serious money lives. Two documented pattern failures. First: the Mahle 11 kW onboard charger on 2020–2022 e-CMP cars can fail completely, killing all AC charging — the part alone is about €2,200, and fitted and coded at a dealer it can reach €3,800, because only a dealer can code it. Stellantis extended the charger's warranty to four years, retroactive to April 2021, and later cars use a better VMAX unit — but a 2021 car with a dead charger and an expired extension is a financial trap. Second: campaign NT2 recalled 8,726 ë-C4s built between May 2022 and March 2023 for a battery-control misconfiguration that can cause sudden loss of propulsion. The fix is free software. The failure, if it happened to you at motorway speed, is not something you shrug off.

The petrols aren't cleaner. The 1.2 PureTech carries the well-known wet timing belt risk, and warranty-claim data gives the C4 a poor reliability record in warranty-claim data, with engine problems the most common and gearbox repairs — rare but real — around £1,200. The 12V battery drains if the car sits, the infotainment glitches, and dashboard warning lights have a habit of coming on, going to the dealer, and coming back on again. Parts waits of several weeks are reported. The dealers, per What Car?'s survey, are a lottery.

And yet — and this is why the car survives this review — the used prices reflect all of it. A 2024 ë-C4 with the bigger 54 kWh battery, post-dating both the charger swap and the NT2 fix, sits in the high teens in euros. For a comfortable, quiet, genuinely pleasant electric hatchback, that's real value. The 2025 facelift adds new styling and Citroën's new 8-year/100,000-mile service-activated warranty, which is the kind of warranty that says "we know what you're worried about".

So here's the decision tree. Buying the ë-C4? Test AC charging before you buy — a dead onboard charger is the €3,800 surprise. Check the NT2 recall is done. Prefer 2023-onwards cars with the VMAX charger. Buying the petrol? Budget for the timing belt or buy one where it's been done. Buying any C4? Find the good Citroën dealer first, because you will meet them.

Who should skip it? If you need a car that never visits the dealer — buy a Kia Niro or a Toyota and accept the firmer ride. If the used price isn't at least a third below the equivalent Niro, the comfort premium isn't worth the risk premium. And if it's a 2021–2022 ë-C4 without charger and recall proof: absolutely not.

Sweet spot: 2024. Post-fix electric, the 54 kWh battery, pre-facelift pricing. The C4 is a comfort bargain with documented risks and documented fixes — buy the fixed one, at the discounted price, and it's one of the nicest cheap EVs in Europe.