Citroen Ami6kW Ami 5.5kWh 2dr Auto
2025
300 miles
Electric
£6,995
EX28NP
If you want to traverse a city with minimal environmental impact and maximum attention, then nothing short of stripping down to your birthday suit and riding around on a bicycle beats the Citroen Ami. Wildly compromised in some ways and perfectly suited to city life in others, it’s the most unusual vehicle to hit the roads since 2012’s Renault Twizy.
The Ami isn’t technically a car at all but a quadricycle, so it shouldn’t really be considered a rival for traditional city cars. A low top speed and limited range mean it really is constrained to city limits, but it’s simple and fun to drive and makes anything larger look incredibly wasteful.
In fact, it’s hard to think of traditional rivals - beyond a used Twizy or a maxi scooter, the only real alternatives to the Ami are public transport or that aforementioned naked bicycle ride…
With a 28mph top speed and a 47-mile range, there is a very clearly defined line beyond which a Citroen Ami isn’t worth considering. As soon as the roads get faster and distances get longer, the Ami is completely out of its depth, and this will rule it out for a lot of buyers.
If you’re still reading though then maybe the Ami will work for you. Your first big decision will be whether to buy new or used, and while we usually cover used cars in these sections, being able to put down just over £1,300 and then pay £99 per month means buying new can be very affordable indeed. As the Ami is still relatively new, the most you’re likely to find off the roughly £7500 new price for a used one is maybe £1,000 or so.
Citroen offers a limited range of trim levels, which are primarily colour themes, with only the Ami Cargo being notably different - swapping the usual two-seat layout for a single driver’s seat (all Amis are left-hand drive, but in a car this tiny it’s not really an issue) for a storage area.
That brings us on to the unusual layout of the Ami. The car is largely identical front to back, keeping costs low, and identical side to side too - right down to the door hinges, so the left-hand driver’s door opens from the back, and the right-hand passenger door opens from the front. The interior is basic in the extreme - there’s no aircon, though you do get a (rather noisy) heater. The split side windows open upwards, like on a classic Citroen 2CV, and the passenger seat is fixed in place.
Stiff suspension and a tiny turning circle make the Ami feel nimble, though that suspension means it’s far from comfortable. A tiny 8PS electric motor gets you from zero to the 28mph maximum in around 10 seconds so it’s not quick and can struggle on hills, but in heavy traffic, even 28mph is more than enough.
Accept the Ami’s compromises and it’s a likeable vehicle, and at current energy prices a full charge is less than 50p, so it’s hilariously cheap to run too. Other than Renault’s old Twizy, which could cover 50 miles and did 50mph, but wasn’t fully weatherproof, there’s really little else like it.
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As all Amis are basically the same, the best Ami to buy is whichever one you like the look of and suits your budget. If you suspect you’re unlikely to ever carry a passenger though and feel more cargo space would be useful, then the Ami Cargo is the natural choice, and will stop friends bugging you for a lift…
The Citroen Ami’s trim levels are largely visual. Picking a Colour or Pop over the basic Ami gets you little more than a set of wheel trims and some contrasting colour elements to some of the plastic trim. They’re not worth paying over the odds for, in other words, but we’ve summarised them below so whether you’re buying new or used, you have a better idea of what you’re looking at. The biggest departure from the standard model is the Cargo, thanks to its large luggage area alongside the driver.
The Citroen Ami’s dimensions are:
The Citroen Ami’s boot size is:
It would be grimly ironic if the Ami somehow cost an absolute fortune to tax, but being an electric vehicle, tiny one or otherwise, you won’t currently be charged a single penny to renew the VED or ‘road tax’ each year. There’s little chance of it succumbing to punitive fees if the government ever decides to charge tax based on size or weight, either.
As the Citroen Ami isn’t technically a car, it doesn’t get the insurance group rating you’d expect to find on a car either. We’d not expect it to cost much to insure either way, though the Ami’s lack of conventional safety features may count against it for some providers.
Read our full Citroen Ami review