2024 (74) Citroën C4 X 1.2 PureTech [130] Max 4dr EAT8

By Jonathan Crouch

Introduction

The C4 X is 'the best of a hatchback, with the modernity of an SUV and the timelessness of a saloon', according to Citroen. Or you could simply see it as a sedan version of the brand's quirky C4 hatch. Either way, it's an ambitiously styled EV or combustion-powered four-door family saloon that's compact yet spacious, with a simply enormous boot. Here, we look at the pre-facelift 2022-2024-era versions of this model.

History

X seems to mean different things to different brands. Citroen doesn't see the letter as designating an SUV. Instead, for them, it references what the brand calls 'the crossroads of different universes', a melding together of different genres, the sort of thing that by 2022 we'd already seen in the company's large C5 X. With the C4 X, the styling brief was rather less ambitious, but it still hoped to blend hatchback, crossover and sedan genres together into one appealing compact shape that a first glance, could fall into any of those three categories. By 2022, we'd seen something similar (but rather more dramatic) with cousin Stellantis Group Gallic brand Peugeot's 408, but the C4 X was a more straightforward design that sat on a different, simpler, CMP platform and was eventually offered with a wider variety of powertrains, available in petrol, diesel or full-electric forms. As you might expect, everything is based on the C4 hatch, but from the B-pillar back, things are a great deal more spacious and interesting. This C4 X model was first launched in 2022, with the combustion versions following in 2023, at which point a larger 54kWh battery option was also added to the e-C4 X line-up. The C4 X in all its forms sold until late 2024, when the line-up was significantly facelifted. It's the pre-facelift versions of the C4 X we look at here.

What You Get

True to its name, the C4 X is what Citroen describes as a 'cross design' - an integration of a Fastback saloon body onto the raised hatchback-cum-crossover design of the C4 hatch. Where things change with this C4 X saloon body shape is from the B-pillar back, where a different roof line takes over and there's an extra 240mm of length. All C4 variants feature smart 18-inch diamond-cut 'Crosslight' alloy wheels. And the matte black-finished wheel arches surrounding them aren't for arduous tracks but to prevent supermarket car park dings. From here you can better appreciate the sleek aerodynamic shape of this saloon variant, rated at 0.29Cd. At the rear the sedan styling's smart, with a small duck tail-like spoiler and distinctive LED tail lights designed to look like arrows pointed towards the centre of the boot lid. Red reflectors are combined with reversing lights lower down. The front-of-cabin experience is exactly the same as in an ordinary C4 hatch, which means you get thickly padded 'Advanced Comfort' seats. Through the oddly-shaped three-spoke wheel, you view a pared-back version of the quite innovative digital instrument panel used in the brand's MK1 C5 Aircross SUV of this era, whose read-outs you flip through by jabbing the left indicator stalk. The lower part of the centre console stretches broadly away in front of you into a deep smartly backlit area at the base of a centre stack topped by a large, glossy 10-inch infotainment touchscreen which includes virtually all the media features you could need. Avoid base trim and you're favoured with a rather unusual inclusion - the 'Citroen Smart Pad Support' package. This must have been expensive to engineer, giving you a novel slide-out tablet mount in front of the front passenger, plus a lower drawer (standard on all models) in which to keep your device. No other car on the market offers anything quite like this. And rear seat space? You might hope for an improvement there given the body length increase this C4 X enjoys over its hatch counterpart, but that ignores the fact that this saloon model's wheelbase length of 2,670mm is unchanged over the hatch. So things are much the same in the back, apart from the fact that headroom is slightly compromised by the sloping rear roof line. In compensation, Citroen claims best-in-class second-row knee room (198mm) and a more reclined (27-degree) rear seatback. Plus the exterior width of 1,800mm means that three people can comfortably sit side-by-side across the rear bench, with a total of 1,380mm of width at the shoulders and 1,440mm at the elbows. Let's finish with a look at the boot. Which turns out to be surprisingly large at 510-litres in size (much bigger than the 380-litres you get in the C4 hatch). There's a little room beneath the floor too - useful on this e-C4 X model for the storage of charging leads. If you need more room, then the rear seat backrest folds 60:40. You'll have to stretch right up to the very top of the range to get a ski hatch.

What to Look For

As usually with family models of this sort, check for child damage inside and alloy wheel scuffs outside. And of course you'll want a fully stamped-up service record. What else? Well we've heard reports that the infotainment system can be glitchy and various customers have had electrical issues, including non-engine electrical faults relating to the air conditioning and warning lights. Check that the air conditioning works and that the pixels on the centre display are all good. Also check for rear bumper scrapes. Finally check that the Bluetooth pairs reliably with your phone handset. As we said, electrical glitches are relatively common, so make sure everything electrical in the car works and double-check that there are no unexplained warning lights on the dashboard. Citroen's infotainment touchscreen software can sometimes cause the monitor to freeze or fail completely. A software reset may solve the problem, but some owners have had to replace the entire unit, which is not a cheap operation. The drive battery in used e-C4 X models should have quite a bit of life in it, unless you happen to be looking at one of the very earliest '20-plate versions. When the battery is on its way out, you'll obviously find that it won't go as far on each charge - and when it starts to run low on charge, you'll find that the car will particularly start to struggle going uphill. When it gets old, the lithium-ion battery used here can suffer from the ionised liquid in the battery freezing certain cells; those cells are then unable to receive charge. Before going to all that trouble though, make sure the issue really is the battery. If the car won't charge, it could be a problem with your home electrics (or those at the public charge point you're using). Check the charge light to make sure that electricity really is going through the charge port. And make sure there really is charge in the socket you're using to power from - plug something else into it to see - say, your 'phone. If that charges OK, it could be that your charging cable is demanding too much power, so try another power source. Another problem could be that the circuit may have tripped due to a circuit overload. Or perhaps there could be a problem with the charge cable: this needs to be cared for properly. Repeatedly driving over it (as previous owners may conceivably have done) will damage it eventually. Make sure you do a charge-up before signing for the car you're looking at. When you do this, make sure that when you plug in to start the charge cycle you hear the charge port and the cable locking and engaging as they should; that's all part of the charger basically confirming with the car's onboard computer that everything's good to go before releasing power. But if the charging cable fails to lock as it should, then that won't happen. If there is a failure to lock, the issue could be actuator failure, caused by a blown fuse.

Replacement Parts

(approx based on a 2021 e-C4 X excl. VAT - autodoc.co.uk) A pair of front brake pads are between £23-£75 depending on brand. A pair of rear brake pads are between £17-£53. A pair of front brake discs start in the £23-£74 bracket, Rear shock absorbers are in the £83-£100 bracket. Cabin filters cost around £7-£24 and wiper blades cost from around £7.

On the Road

Whether you prefer this C4 X with PureTech petrol power, a diesel or full-electric drive, you'll find that it offers an uber-laid back approach to what a C-segment hatch should be. Primarily, this comes courtesy of what Citroen calls its 'Advanced Comfort programme', the pillars behind which are more thickly padded 'Advanced Comfort' seats, and, rather more significantly, the brand's heavily patented 'Progressive Hydraulic Cushion' suspension. Here, the car's springs and shock absorbers work in concert with hydraulic compression and rebound stops, which are supposed to slow body movement over bumps and tarmac tears. It's not quite as good as an air suspended set-up, but in terms of ride comfort from conventional springs, it's the best set-up we've tried. But not one conducive to cutting edge levels of handling or body control; that's not the kind of thing this this Citroen really prioritises, though it doesn't float about through the turns as much as you might fear it might. And you're compensated with exemplary cruising refinement, even in the combustion-engined models. There are three of those. A pair of PureTech variants use Citroen's familiar three cylinder 1.2-litre petrol turbo engine - it comes in either a 100hp manual guise or in 130hp form (where it's available with manual or 8-speed EAT8 auto transmission). Citroen also offered an auto-only 130hp version of its 1.5-litre BlueHDi diesel. As for the full-electric e-C4 variant, well there were two BEV versions of this model, the most affordable of the pair featuring the older Stellantis Group EV powertrain consisting of a 134hp electric motor powered by a 50kWh lithium-ion battery capable of a claimed 219 mile range figure. You'd prefer though, if possible to stretch to the newer package, which pairs a slightly larger 54kWh battery with a faster 156hp motor to offer a driving range WLTP-rated at up to 260 miles. Charging an e-C4 X will take around 7.5 hours using a 32amp home AC wallbox. Those preferring to buy forward motion from a fuel station rather than a plug socket may want to know that the PureTech 130 auto petrol model returns WLTP-rated stats of up to 50.2mpg on the combined cycle and 130g/km of CO2.

Overall

Citroen really wanted this C4 X to be seen as a Coupe-SUV, which was a bit of a stretch because it wasn't a clean sheet design; merely an C4 hatch with a rather stylish boot. Still, because the third generation C4 hatch in question has a rather crossovery vibe, the C4 X confection kind of works. And the way the stretched rear has been configured means that you get more luggage space than any other compact saloon of this size we can think of. Fashion and practicality are attributes the C4 X needed because mainstream brand sedans rarely sell well in our market. This one didn't break that trend, but the right kind of used customer might well like it very much indeed. It delivered the saloon body style Citroen needed in its line-up for Middle Eastern, African and Southern European markets. But there's much wider appeal here. Enough maybe, to make you want to try this car.