Alpine A290 vs Citroën ë-C4 (2021-2024)

The Alpine A290 costs £1,815 more than the Citroën ë-C4. For that premium it adds 30 kW more power and a 2.6s quicker 0-62mph time. The Citroën ë-C4 is not just cheaper - it also offers 54 litres more boot space. On EVcarsguide's combined category scores, the Citroën ë-C4 comes out ahead overall.

The Citroën ë-C4 is £1,815 cheaper to buy. Running costs are almost identical - about £168 a year either way, at 8,000 miles on an off-peak home tariff. Add 5 years of charging and the Citroën ë-C4 comes out roughly £1,895 cheaper overall. These figures cover list price and home charging only - insurance, servicing, tyres and depreciation will move the real total.

EVcarsguide estimates a real-world motorway range of about 155 miles for the Alpine A290 and 156 miles for the Citroën ë-C4 - effectively matched, and both well below their WLTP figures because sustained high speed is the hardest case for an EV. Both rapid-charge to 80% in a similar time, around 30-30 minutes.

The two are within 23 mm on width, so neither is meaningfully easier to thread into a tight space. In a standard 2,400 mm bay that leaves about 600 mm of total clearance for the Citroën ë-C4 and about 577 mm of total clearance for the Alpine A290. The Alpine A290 also turns in a 0.7 m tighter circle, which helps with U-turns and multi-storey ramps.

Over a 8-year ownership window EVcarsguide's degradation model projects roughly 84% battery health for the Alpine A290 and 84% for the Citroën ë-C4. That is close enough that capacity loss should not decide between them. Both use NMC-type cells, so for daily use keep the charge limit near 80% to slow degradation.