The Coloni C3 (also known as the Coloni FC189) was a Formula One racing car designed by Christian Vanderpleyn for the 1989 Formula One season. Built to replace the Coloni FC188 used in the previous season, the C3 used a 3.5-litre Cosworth DFR V8 engine. Although not ready for the start of the 1989 season, the C3 made its début at the 1989 Canadian Grand Prix in the hands of Roberto Moreno and Pierre-Henri Raphanel. The C3 was not successful and frequently failed to pre-qualify for races during 1989. It was updated to the C3B for the 1990 season, with the Cosworth DFR being replaced by a Subaru 1235 flat-12 engine; however, this engine was large, heavy and underpowered. Bertrand Gachot, Coloni's only driver for 1990, failed to pre-qualify in any of the eight races that he drove the C3B. Following a fallout between Enzo Coloni and Subaru, the C3C was developed, once again using the Cosworth DFR; although Gachot was usually able to pre-qualify this version, he never managed to qualify for a race. In 1991, the C3C was evolved into the C4, but results did not improve and Coloni folded at the end of that season.

Christian Vanderpleyn designed the Coloni C3 as a replacement for the Coloni FC188 in 1989. One notable difference from the FC188 was the presence of an airbox in place of the older car's rollbar.[3] The C3 used a 3.5-litre Cosworth DFR V8 engine.[3] However, the car arrived late, and was quite underdeveloped; in particular, it was lacking in straight line speed, which was most noticeable at Monza and Spa-Francorchamps.[3] After Vanderpleyn quit the team, freelancer Gary Anderson was tasked with extracting some more performance from the C3; he developed a new nosecone and front wing, and this helped the team to its best ever qualifying position at the Portuguese Grand Prix.[3] Even with the new configuration, however, the car still lacked straight line speed, and results did not noticeably improve after Portugal.