The Citroen Ami is a quirky and fun vehicle with very limited use cases in the UK. With a short range and low maximium speed, it will be confined to use in dense urban environments.

The Ami may appeal to businesses that want to use its crowd-drawing looks to promote their brand, or for use in last-mile delivery services, but it costs more than other mobility solutions.

Overview

The Citroen Ami is quite unlike anything that you may have seen before. While the concept of a cheap, compact electric city car is not new – there’s been the Riva G-Wizz and Renault Twizy, to name just a couple – the Ami’s boxy styling gives it a unique appearance.

Within a few minutes of driving the Ami you'll notice that everyone is paying you attention. It's certainly a car that turns heads.

To save money, the front and rear panels are the same part. It’s the same story with the doors, which is why one opens ‘suicide’ style with a rear-mounted hinge and the other opens in a conventional fashion.

It’s officially a ‘light quadricycle’, developed to meet the needs of urban mobility and last-mile delivery. The lightweight, simplistic design means its well suited to car sharing and pool fleet use.

Prices start at £7,695, for the two-seater, and £7,995 for the single-seat Ami Cargo.

There’s a variety of option packs, which mainly include coloured plastic trim pieces, but also some useful storage solutions.

Comfort and practicality

The Ami has a surprisingly spacious interior, thanks to is boxy design. While it measures just 2.4m in length, there’s plenty of space for two passengers inside.

With no boot, luggage space is more limited. The Ami’s carrying capacity is restricted to whatever you can fit inside it. There's a large flat dashboard, which acts as a shelf, with numerous storage pockets. There’s also a hook that can be used to hang a bag or coat.

If you opt for the Ami Cargo then the passenger seat is replaced by a larger storage area offering 260 litres of space and a 140Kg payload.

There’s no sound insulation inside the Ami, or even carpets, so refinement levels are low. While driving the motor emits a constant whine, which can be a little irritating. The side windows are split and hinged, allowing the lower portion to be opened for airflow.

There’s no air conditioning on board, either, so the cabin will be very hot in the summer. A basic heater is fitted, however, to demist the windows.

If you find the prospect of the Ami a little claustrophobic, then Citroen also offers the MyAmi Buggy, which has no doors at all and a sunroof.

The Ami’s seats are made of plastic and have small padded sections to provide some comfort. The seats are very hard and unsupportive. Only the drivers seat can be adjusted, with a forward or back motion.

Safety and technology

As the Ami is classed as a quadricycle, it does not have to meet the same regulations as other cars. There’s no airbags, ABS or traction control. The car does not have a Euro NCAP safety rating. It's probably safer than walking or being on a two-wheeled vehicle, however.

There’s also not much in the way of technology. The Ami is unlocked and started using a conventional metal key, with no remote fob or central locking. In terms on infotainment, it’s as good as the smartphone you choose to attach to the holder fitted to the dashboard.

For audio, Citroen will sell you a Bluetooth speaker that sits in the car’s cupholder.

A small digital readout above the steering wheel provides speed and range information to the driver.

Driveability and range

The Ami is powered by an 8PS electric motor. Yes, eight horsepower! It uses a 5.5kWh battery, giving  WLTP range of 46 miles.

Countering the lack of safety measures on board is a maximum speed of just 28mph and don’t expect it to reach that quickly – the official 0-28mph acceleration time is 10 seconds.

If you do drive the Ami at Vmax, it’s range will deplete at a pretty alarming rate. When we were pootling around, it was estimating around 28 miles from a charge.

With a rudimentary suspension setup, the Ami rides harshly and crashes over bumps and potholes. Citroen missed a trick here by not applying its Advanced Comfort suspension technology to the Ami.

The steering is quite vague and isn’t power assisted, but the 14-inch wheels are not particularly difficult to turn.

In an urban environment the low seating position can leave occupants a little intimidated by other vehicles on the road. Although it does draw plenty of attention to itself, so it’s unlikely you won’t be spotted.

The Ami is very simple to drive, it’s essentially one tier up from a golf buggy. UK regulations mean it can only be driven on the public highway and can’t make use of cycle lanes, pavements or other pedestrianised areas. In dense areas it means the Ami doesn’t really have an advantage over other vehicles, as it’s not quite narrow enough to zip through traffic like a motorcycle can.

Company car tax and running costs

The Citroen Ami is technically the cheapest new car on sale in the UK, by a mainstream manufacturer. But, it’s still quite expensive given its limited capability on UK roads.

It’s unlikely that many user-choosers will opt for an Ami as their company car, but if they do it attracts a 2% benefit-in-kind tax rate and will cost about £2.50 per month for a 20% taxpayer.

Running costs over a four-year cycle are 23p per mile.

Charging speeds

The Ami takes around three hours to fully charge using a wallbox or three-pin plug.