Cheapand nice-y

VW Group’s triplet of tiny hatchbacks – the near-identical Volkswagen Up, Seat Mii and Skoda Citigo – are getting with the times. Now only the VW – traditionally the most expensive and indeed best of the three – is available with an internal combustion engine. With the other two it’s electric or nowt, as Seat and Skoda race to cut average CO2 emissions in the face of tough new EU rules.

The Skoda is the cheapest. It’s available in a bare-bones SE spec the others aren’t, costing from £17,455 inc govt grant and making Skoda’s first-ever EV one of the cheapest you can buy in Britain. But in like-for-like SE L trim, tested here, it’s the same price as the Seat and about £400 cheaper than the Up.

For your almost £20,000 (or about £285/month on a three-year, 30,000-mile PCP with £2,000 down) you get a 36.8kWh lithium-ion battery mounted under the floor. So, while there’s a weight penalty of a few hundred kilos, the Citigo has the same 250-litre boot and space for four as it did when it had an actual engine. Which is excellent news – to fill the Citigo’s boot with batteries would have robbed it of space it can ill afford to lose.

An 80 per cent recharge takes just over four hours on a domestic 7kW wallbox. If you think you’ll ever need to charge in public, make sure you get the CCS (combined charging system). Standard on SE L and optional on SE, it means a 40kW public charger can deliver a 0–80 per cent charge in an hour. With a full battery, you’re looking at up to 170 miles of range, which is more than you’ll get from a Mini Electric or Honda e. But don’t be fooled – with a top speed of 81mph and 0–62mph in 12.3secs, this isn’t a car for venturing beyond the confines of the M25.

Around town, the Citigo is in its element. City slicking is what this thing was designed to do, and it’s zipping away from traffic lights, slipping through width restrictors and darting around traffic snarl-ups where the littlest Skoda (and VW… and Seat) really excels. More so now than ever thanks to the electric drivetrain – 0–30mph punch is enough to see off all but the most determined of Uber drivers, and in its most aggressive setting, the transmission’s ‘B’ mode means most of the time you can leave the brake pedal well alone.

As well as introducing this electric version and killing the petrol ones, Skoda has tried to freshen up what is a nine-year-old design. Most obviously, the front grille has been fared-in to reflect the fact it doesn’t really need one anymore. Meanwhile, inside there’s a new instrument cluster displaying EV-specific info and some natty graphics on the dashboard itself. Like the Up, the Citigo still feels better screwed-together than other cars of this ilk, but the design is dated. And while having a built-in, perfectly positioned phone holder is very helpful, it would be good to have a bit more info from the car itself.

It’s all well and good having the added alloys, heated seats and CCS charging of the more expensive Citigo, but we’d argue it makes more sense as a cheaper car. Providing you’re not relying on public charging, the SE gives you everything you need – aircon, DAB, Isofix and so on. If you want all the fancy stuff, spend a bit more and get an Up, or, better yet, a Zoe, e-208, Mini or Honda e. After all, you’re buying the Citigo (which remember has the same powertrain and looks/feels almost exactly the same as the VW) because of its price, so you may as well get the cheap one.

“0–30 PUNCH IS ENOUGH TO SEE OFF DETERMINED UBER DRIVERS”