Citroen C4 X Review 2025: Price, specs & boot space

If you want to be comfortable without spending a lot of money, the Citroen C4 X is right up your street. It's an especially good if you're not keen on the hatchback-style body of the normal C4, and/or you need a bit more boot space. Just bear in mind that the saloon-style boot does offset some of that additional practicality. 

Choosing a Citroen C4 X will be easier than a C4, as the X drops the entry-level You trim and sticks to Plus and Max. Even if You was available, though, we'd have still recommended going for at least the Plus grade - it's very well equipped. 

As for whether you choose the combustion-powered C4 X or the electric e-C4 X, a lot of that will come down to personal circumstances. If you're getting one as a company car, the e-C4 X is a no-brainer, with its benefit-in-kind (BiK) tax rate making for considerably smaller monthly payments. How far you'll tend to be driving in one sitting and whether or not you can easily charge at home will also be factors. 

The e-C4 X is the more pleasant one to drive of the two, with the smooth electric powertrain going brilliantly with the car's focus on comfort. If you do go for an e-C4 X, it's probably worth upgrading to the Max trim, as in this form, the car comes with the larger battery pack. Otherwise, we reckon a Hybrid 136 in Plus trim will tick all the right boxes for most. 

The most similar car to the C4 X is, of course, the regular C4. But as a high-riding saloon available with electric power, the C4 X is a unique proposition. 

While the C4 X has no direct competitor, there are a host of more conventional combustion and electric rivals. The Ford Focus, Renault Arkana, Hyundai Kona Electric and Kia Niro EV could all be considered alternatives. 

Calling this the most upmarket modern Citroen interior may seem like damning the e-C4 X with faint praise, but it does demonstrate the progress the company is making.

Previous Citroen models have been rather light on quality, but the e-C4 X has plenty of soft-touch materials throughout its cabin. This certainly doesn’t elevate the e-C4 X into premium territory, but it improves the ambience for the driver and passengers. The DS Automobiles brand exists for those who want a genuinely upmarket Citroen experience.

Go hunting around the lower parts of the cabin of the Citroen e-C4 X and you will find some cheaper plastics, although some at are a more prominent level, particularly what's surrounding the digital instrument cluster. And while it looks good fresh out of the factory, the shiny piano black trim might well be quite scratched up after a few years of use. 

Despite the interior of the Citroen C4 X being one of the company’s more upmarket offerings, the infotainment system is arguably a bit low-rent by comparison.

All versions come with a central 10.0-inch multimedia touchscreen, which is decent, with slick graphics and a responsive display. Citroen’s own operating system takes some adjusting to, but at least Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone connectivity is standard across the Citroen C4 X range.

DAB radio and Bluetooth connectivity are also included, with all versions coming with at least one USB-C port. Wireless smartphone charging is only available on the Max, and disappointingly, it's a £500 option. 

All Citroen C4 Xs come with built-in satellite navigation, along with a head-up display for the driver. Voice commands and gesture control can be used on more upmarket versions, and there's now a ChatGPT virtual assistant. 

We'd need to spend some more time with the ChatGPT integration to make a judgement - our main experience on the launch of the facelift model was the system triggering accidentally through idle chit-chat, prompting a graphic to cover the navigation instructions for an annoyingly long time. 

The Citroen C4 X measures 4600mm in length, with a width of 1834mm. It stands 1525mm tall. This makes it a notable 240mm longer than the Citroen C4 hatchback, although both cars share the same wheelbase of 2670mm.

There is no hiding where the Citroen C4 X wears this extra bodywork, with the addition of its Fastback-style boot. Whereas the Citroen C4 hatchback has a boot capacity of 380 litres, the saloon trunk of the C4 X boosts space to a considerable 510 litres.

The boot shape is square, with room underneath the boot floor to store items such as charging cables. However, the saloon-style boot opening does limit practicality, making it more awkward to fit bulkier items inside.

Space for passengers is unencumbered in the front, with decent headroom and legroom, along with the supportive and comfortable seats.

In the rear, legroom is particularly generous, so the car can accommodate passengers with the longest of limbs. Conversely, the coupe-esque styling of the Citroen C4 X does eat into rear headroom. This won’t be a problem unless you regularly transport passengers over six feet tall, but is something to keep in mind. There is a third centre seat, but this is best reserved for short journeys only.

Unlike some other electric SUVs, the electric Citroen e-C4 X does not have a front storage ‘frunk’ beneath its bonnet. You don't lose any luggage space by picking the electric version of the petrol-powered car, though.

As is the case for trim levels, it's easier to pick a powertrain option for the C4 X than it is for the regular C4 hatchback. In terms of combustion engines there's the 136 Hybrid, and, well, that's it. As the name implies, it's good for 136PS, although the 'Hybrid' bit is a little disingenuous, because this is what's known as a 'mild' hybrid with only a small, 48-volt battery to give limited electric-only running, typically when you're manoeuvring slowly. 

The powertrain is based around a 1.2-litre inline-three petrol engine which is widely used across the Stellantis brands. Such engines don't tend to be the smoothest, although this one isn't the worst offender in terms of passing vibrations through to the cabin. 

It's the fastest version of the C4 X, clocking 0-62mph in a very respectable eight seconds. It never feels all that fast, though, perhaps because the six-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox it uses to transfer torque to the front wheels is on the lethargic side. It doesn't sound that happy when revving high, either. 

The electric cars are slower but more satisfying to drive thanks to their smooth, seamless delivery. Which one the C4 X is fitted with depends on the trim grade - Plus has a 136PS motor and a 50kWh battery, while the max uses a 54kWh pack and a 156PS motor which trims the 0-62mph time from 10 seconds to 9.3.

As the difference in capacity between the two available batteries isn't huge, the range doesn't change that much either. According to the combined, WLTP-certified figure, the 50kWh battery-equipped car can travel up to 222 miles on a single charge, while the 54kWh car can manage 260. 

We say 'according to the figures' because you'll struggle to get anywhere near them. That's not a specific criticism of the e-C4 X - the official numbers rarely have any bearing on reality. The 50kWh car stands little chance of cracking the 200-mile mark, and you'd be doing well to get much over 200 in the 54kWh e-C4 X.

That's not a particularly impressive performance compared to a lot of rivals, but given the recent price cuts to the e-C4 X, we're more willing to let this slide. 

When designing the C4 X, Citroen has deliberately focussed on comfort and refinement instead of any sporting pretence. Combining this with all-electric power results in a high-riding saloon that is notably quiet to drive.

At motorway speeds the Citroen e-C4 X should be near-silent, save for a small amount of wind noise generated by its side mirrors. Along with the smooth suspension and comfortable seats, the only limitation on how far you can drive will be the battery range.

The C4 X hybrid's engine isn't hugely smooth (certainly nowhere near as smooth as VW Group's 1.5-litre inline-four), as mentioned earlier, which is why we think the car makes more sense in electric form to make the most of the relaxed character. That said, insulation from engine noise is good enough.

The Euro NCAP safety organisation has not yet crash-tested the Citroen C4 X. However, it did evaluate the related Citroen C4 hatchback, awarding it four stars out of five.

Citroen supplies the C4 X with a comprehensive amount of standard safety equipment. All versions come with active safety braking, speed limit warnings, lane-keeping assist, lane-departure detection, and forward-collision warning. These are in addition to a host of airbags.

Fancier versions gain radar-based active safety braking, blind-spot detection and adaptive cruise control with a stop-and-go function.

Citroen has not always had the greatest reputation for reliability, and the latest Honest John Satisfaction Index confirms this to still be true. Citroen was ranked in the bottom 10 car manufacturers for reliability, finishing just below Mercedes-Benz and Ford. 

The brand's more recent cars seem to have a better reputation though, and it's worth noting that as an EV, the e-C4 X has far fewer moving parts than a combustion-powered vehicle, in theory meaning there's less to go wrong. 

Each Citroen C4 X comes with a three-year or 60,000-mile warranty as standard. There is separate cover for the lithium-ion battery in the e-C4 X, with Citroen guaranteeing it will retain 70% of its charge for eight years or 100,000 miles.

At the time of writing, the C4 X's insurance groups hadn't been confirmed, but we're not expecting any deviations from the previous model. That means they should all sit around groups 23-24. It'd be wise to expect to pay a bit more to cover the e-C4 X, as insurance tends to be pricier for electric cars. 

Just like other battery electric vehicles, the Citroen e-C4 X is charged a zero rate of VED (road tax). You still need to remember to renew the VED each year, although there is nothing to pay.

With the government no longer waiving Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) for electric cars after 1 April 2025, you'll need to pay the same annual £190 rate for the e-C4 X as you will for the C4 Hybrid. The e-C4 will only have a first-year rate of £10, compared to £270 for the Hybrid, but this is accounted for in the on-the-road price of each so you effectively won't notice the difference. 

There's no such thing as a low-spec Citroen C4 X or C4-X. The Plus grade has 18-inch wheels, rear parking sensors, a seven-inch digital instrument cluster, heated electric mirrors, a 10-inch infotainment screen with 3D navigation and ChatGPT assistant and a tablet holder.

Max-trimmed cars get all of that plus a 'Metropolitan Grey' interior with synthetic leather, an upgraded parking assistance system, heated front seats, high beam assistance and adaptive cruise control. Ensuring the Max cars stand out from other C4 Xs, you get gold 'colour chips', tinted rear windows and chromed lower sill plates. 

All C4s are fitted with the Advanced Comfort Seats and Advance Comfort Suspension.