Citroen e-SpaceTourer - long-term review

If there was ever a time for Top Gear’s verdant family van to shine, it was... recently. Due to a logistical FUBAR, I needed something very big, very practical, and very free, very fast. And there was only one car in Top Gear’s stable that could fit my hefty list of demands; enough seating for six and capacious enough to swallow camera gear for a commercial video shoot, all the while ensuring warmth, safety, and comfort over two night shoots in London. Thankfully, I had Sam’s Citroen ë-SpaceTourer to rely on.

Hilariously, Citroen’s official press release mentions that it's the ‘ideal large MPV for all types of tribes’. Which made me wonder how they’ve verified this. As part of its development programme, did they lend a 52kW battery 'You!' spec to the Yanomami tribe in the Amazon? Have Inuits had a 75kW XL over winter? I’d like to think so. But one tribe they may not have thought of is one of the most destructive, rapacious, and unhealthy tribes on the planet: film crews.

These savages have no regard for mechanical sympathy, interior materials, or cholesterol readings. And they weren’t impressed when I opened the top-hinged rear hangar door to see six individual seats, rather than the ë-SpaceTourer’s potential 4,554 litres of boot volume if the seats were removed. Luckily, each seat slides independently, so we could shuffle them back and forth and then play Peli-case Tetris to make things fit. Which, amazingly, they did. I have to say, the modularity is really quite the luxury, as you can tailor it to your demands and fertility, given you can choose between five, seven, and eight-seater configurations.

But you can tell there’s been some thought to how this thing will be used. Especially inside. The optional wireless smartphone charger is handily located on the centre console, within reach of the two front passengers. It’s one of the most ergonomic wireless chargers I’ve used. In many cars, they’re hidden under your armrest, or in the DB12 we’ve just got, it’s behind the dash, which means it’s impractical if you ever do need to reach for your phone and is easily left behind when you park – which you only realise when you pat your pockets down and swear loudly.

What isn’t practical is the coffee cup placement. They’re bored into either end of the dash and nowhere else. Not good when door bins quickly fill with lens caps, half-drunk water bottles, and boulders of black tac.

Driving around London is where the e-SpaceTourer should excel. Like all van-based cars, your driving position is imperious. And the fact there’s no diesel chugging away means it’s relaxing too. Plus, with no gearbox to deal with, there’s no calf ache – even less so if you ramp up the regenerative braking and let the motors do the slowing down for you. Which I would recommend, as very early on I realised the ë-SpaceTourer’s 217 miles (WLTP combined cycle) range was... let's say 'optimistic'.

My 120-mile journey should’ve been well within the SpaceTourer’s limit – a bit of motorway, then straight into the congestion and 20mph speed limits of London. But it was -1 degrees. And forgetting to pack my Atlantic trawler gear to drive in, I whacked up the heating (and massage seats). I assume this is the equivalent of heating a Georgian manor house because it destroyed my range, and therefore my wallet – I lost 30 per cent battery in 20 miles and over two days managed 1.2 miles per kWh, having to charge twice at a wonderful 70p a kWh. Citroen claims to have doubled the previous model's range, yet practicality demands a further doubling, especially for those intending to exploit its capabilities as a crew van.

See, you have to be mindful if you want to utilise the four USB-C sockets (two on the dashboard and two in row 2) as well as the two 12V sockets because they suck vital juice. On this shoot, the dream would have been vehicle-to-load (V2L) charging, like Hyundai and Ford offer. That’s how these vans become even more useful than their ICE counterparts as they go out of the realm of vehicles and morph into tools. But that would have left me stranded.

When you do come to charge (which you will be doing a lot) the good thing about having all that space in the back is that you can plug in, hop in the back, pull back the blinds of the glass roof, put the table down and have yourself a stargazing picnic... in Beaconsfield services. With a 100kW DC rapid charger, Citroen say it only takes 38 or 45 minutes to charge the battery from 0-80 per cent. But no charger runs reliably that quickly, and that also doesn’t account for the time you need to wait for someone else to get off an occupied charger.

Saying that, it limboed into London’s car parks. And the power steering now being electrically assisted (instead of electro-hydraulic), means it’s light as anything to go from lock to lock and do multiple three-point turns. Oh, and thanks to balloon tyres, you can bump it up and off kerbs without troubling the 17in alloys. And our fancy metallic Kapari Green is a welcome change to the monochrome tones of van world. Normally you have to work for British Gas to get a jazzy paint scheme.

So, the Citroen got us out of a sticky situation. But just like its predecessor, its range is the limiting factor. So did the big kid come off the bench to score a screamer? Unfortunately not – he may have hit the crossbar this time.