While other cars opt for electric hybrid drive, or even hydrogen power, the C1 is a city car that takes the conventional combustion engine and deploys it in an ultra-efficient manner, making alternative-fuelled rivals seem unnecessarily complex. As with its counterparts from Peugeot and Toyota - the 107 and Aygo that are based on the same platform - the C1 ticks all of the city car boxes: compact, light, enjoyable and extremely efficient.
We'd say the C1 loses out on style to its sister cars. It's just too saccharin, and doesn't have the sharpness and character of a bona fide Citroen design. You'll find some nice designs in the cabin, but being priced below the 107 and Aygo, the C1 has to make do with cheaper materials that feel short on quality, and also skimps on kit.
Space is good in the front, but adults will find the rear seats quite cramped. The boot is tiny, and you'll need to fold the rear seats down to carry anything approaching a normal load. The lack of splitting seats is a real hindrance in this context.
Specially designed for the urban environment, the car excels in town, with a free-revving engine, tidy gearbox, and quick, effective steering for easy close-quarter manoeuvres. Head into the wilds, though, and the ride becomes uncomfortably under-damped, while wind noise gets intrusive at speed and the lack of grip starts to tell pretty quickly.
The little 1.0-litre petrol engine is our pick, yielding decent pace while emitting less than 110g/km of CO2, which really is excellent, and while the diesel option is also economical, it's coarser and quite noisy when pushed. A significant premium over the petrol car also makes the diesel unattractive given the similar efficiency of the two engines.
While the C1 costs less than the Aygo, its cheapness shows, and basic trim levels are extremely spartan. Citroen dealers are known for being partial to bargaining, but even with a discount, the heavier depreciation on the C1 means the Aygo may well be the more sensible choice.