Home News Citroen DS3 165 THP

Citroen DS3 165 THP

Let me start by pointing out the single best thing about the new Citroen DS3. It has, or at least it’s designers have, OCD. Never have i been more pleased to be sat in front of a dashboard doing a constant 70mph, in 6th gear, 2 and a bit thousand revs and an open road laid out in front of me. Normal behaviour when presented with such situations is to nail the throttle, feel the power and the torque surge as you race towards your redline and aim for a heady 71mph (cough). Yet here, in the DS3 you want to do none of that. You simply want to sit there, as if rolling in an average speed camera trance, at seventy….miles…an hour.

Why? Well at exactly that speed and that gear, and given the car is fully up to temperature, the speedo needle is perfectly vertical, the temp guage is perfectly vertical below and the tacho is totally horizontal. It sounds ridiculous but it is utterly mesmerising. It’s pure DS. I love it.

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That is not to say that the car itself is a dull place to be. Far from it. 163 bhp (at 6,000rpm) and 177 lb ft (at 1,750rpm) from the 1.6 litre 4 pot turbo, coupled with 6 well spaced gears and a kerb weight of only 1,175kgs equate to a feisty little animal that likes to punch above it’s weight. You’ll hit 60mph in 7.5secs and top out at 135mph if you have the room to run. You’ll certainly give those Mini Coopers a good run for their money. What really wakes you up when you press on though is the front end. It is light without being floaty and very easy to place on or around an apex as you see fit. The turn in is border line electric. It feels like you are running a huge amount of camber on the front wheels and the rear end follows like a well trained puppy. Citroen have worked some magic on what should be an overly square chassis.

The ride is supple and the interior well finished. Seats are on the comfortable side and the exhaust doesn’t drone. To be honest the exhaust doesn’t do much at all, certainly not for these ears. You’ll quite happily scoot around and enjoy the 50mpg economy until you find yourself a nice little b road to let some of your frustrations out on.

ds3 table

(Picture : ds3club.co.uk)

The purple haze that’s been selected for the test car is a lot less painful to live with than it sounds. You have an absolute myriad of choices for body and roof colours available so this shouldn’t be an issue, speccing each area to your unwavering superior tastes. Sport Red with a Polar White roof if you’re asking. One thing you are stuck with is the twist style allow wheels. This man is not a fan but there must be a committee somewhere that knows far better than i.

£18,880 is the entry point, putting the DS3 slightly above both the Mini Cooper and the Fiesta ST which it has to compete with. A couple of options, such as LED headlights, will see that creep over the £20k mark fairly easily. The DS3 is all about quirky style though and you’d be missing out if you didn’t have it exactly the way you want it.

It’s been another fun filled week for me and i would not be too upset if i went home tonight and found a DS3 on the drive. Manufacturers seem to be finding a balance between fun and economy these days, so long may it continue. Time to get my hands on some more warm hatches and keep the research going. That dash layout won’t ever be beat though. Thank you Citroen, i had no idea i liked right angles quite so much.

PRICE: from £18,880

ENGINE: 1.6 THP i4

POWER: 163 BHP

TORQUE: 177 lb ft

PERFORMANCE: Top speed 135mph,  0-62mph 7.5 secs

ECONOMY: 50.4 mpg combined

CO2 EMISSIONS: 129 g/km

TT Rating:

TT Rating 3½

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