DS3 D SPORT 1.6 PETROL TURBO

page 3

DRIVING IT

On saturday I did a 250 mile each way trip from Oban, Scotland to HQ in Bedlington, Northumberland I encountered every type of road from narrow, winding patched up Highland ones to motorway, to fast A roads, and varying from damp to greasy to wet.

The grip from the Bridgestone's was superb under all conditions and the handling was hard to fault. I suspect that most owners will never reach the handling limit (at least with the esp engaged) on public roads. Ignore Car Magazines criticism of its cornering ability ("...DS3... doesn't do 'fast''.."): they were more preoccupied with Citroen's resurrection of the 'DS3' badge. I would not sacrifice the ride comfort and modest tyre roar for better handling which I'd rarely exploit.

There is negligible body roll, quick turn in and minimal under steer. When I did overcook it on a greasy open bend, the car drifted out in neutral fashion rather than plough nose on in massive understeer. Even when lifting off mid bend there is never any feeling of twitchiness - it feels very stable & controllable at all times. The seats hold you in place during daredevil cornering but you do need to use the gears - third is needed for rapid progress between bends as are those superb brakes! I've yet to drive it with the esp switched off, however, although it was impossible to tell whether it was doing anything even on tight wet hairpins.

The performance generally was superb and it was difficult to stop my speed creeping up. The last car I owned with similar performance was a Golf VR6 (175bhp/175lbs ft torque) but without a turbo, it was 'nothing special' until over 80mph in top gear and rarely returned over 30mpg.

One of the reasons for my high average speed shown on the dash display below, is not so much because I reach silly speeds on a straight road (unlike Mondeo man, who must have to catch up after he was left behind on the twisty bits) but because you just have no need to slow down significantly for the bends.

Fuel consumption was apparently ^{(see update below)} 43mpg over 438 miles which is impressive. Previous hot hatches I've driven (Pug 205gtis, R5GT Turbo, Golf VR6) have struggled to do 33 driven in the same manner.

Trip 2 shows the journey info from the dash computer. My average speed was 56 in one direction done in the early morning and had dropped to 51 due to the endless stream of sunday drivers pottering through the Highlands north of Callander, by the time I got back.

 

 

Trip 1 was reset when I refilled with Shell Clean Unleaded 66 miles from home.

 

 

 RON's Rant: Interestingly, the way most motorists drive and the speeds they drive at makes me wonder why manufacturers bother making ever more powerful diesels. Most of them would find a 1L 50bhp engine more than adequate. Those that do drive 'performance' diesels or 'sporty' versions are unable to judge overtaking distances anyway so may as well save a few  grand and buy a less powerful model.....No doubt there were many disapproving drivers between Argyll and Northumberland due to my 'queue jumping' in 3rd gear! Sadly some are completely thoughtless  or oblivious to the large queue that builds up behind them. Why they cannot pull into a lay by once in a while is beyond me.

UPDATE 12TH AUGUST.   

I'm coming to the conclusion that the mpg readout is a shade optimistic - about 10% in fact. The readout never varies much either side of 43 but I think the actual mpg is closer to 40mpg which is still very good. Otherwise it continues to impress with nothing to moan about.

CONCLUSION - This is one top notch hot hatch, with superb refinement, great performance and 40+mpg fuel economy making it a winner for Citroen. They have not fallen into the trap of trying to closely copy the Mini but instead, offer a stylish alternative with character of its own.  My advice is too ignore the motoring press comparisons with the Mini and BUY ONE - YOU'LL LOVE IT .   

next page - TUNING IT