Home News Citroen DS3 Racing Cabrio Review and Test Drive

Citroen DS3 Racing Cabrio Review and Test Drive

I’ve always been a fan of Citroens (and have thought about buying a C6 more than once!), the fact that they tend to be a bit different and quirky compared the average mainstream car has always appealed. Also I love a good hot hatch so I was really looking forward driving this, the top of the range Citroen DS3 Cabrio Racing.

IMG_5577

First impressions were pretty good, it’s a cool looking thing which doesn’t resort to retro influenced styling cues like some of the other current crop of supermini’s. All DS3 Cabrio Racings come finished in a dark grey matt wrap, with gloss black alloys, a red stripe down the side and carbon fibre detailing. It’s not subtle and may not be everyone’s taste but it’s definitely different and personally I think it looks great. It’s also an incredibly rare car, a total worldwide production of just 100 units and with only 10 of those allocated to the UK market the chances of seeing another one on the road are pretty much non-existent!

Inside it’s more good news, the interior is as stylised as the exterior with a nice mix of materials (including real carbon fibre) and without feeling overly done. Build quality is good (historically never the strong point of French cars!), the Citroen Racing seats are excellent and it’s easy to get a decent driving position. Equipment wise, it comes with all the usual toys, climate control, sat nav, Bluetooth, cruise control etc plus of course that retractable roof. Calling it a Cabrio is probably a bit misleading as the although the roof folds back, the pillars & roof rails remain in place so it’s effectively a huge sunroof. The rear window can also fold down allowing the roof to retract further but doing this results in pretty much zero rear visibility so it’s best left in place.

IMG_5585

On to the important bits… it’s powered by a 1.6 turbo charged four (shared with the Mini Cooper S) which produces 204 bhp taking it from 0 to 62mph in 6.5 seconds and on to a top speed of 146mph. It sits on lowered & uprated suspension, has an increased track and bigger brakes all which sound promising and overall the drive lives up to the spec – with one big exception but more of that in a mo.

Initial driving impressions are pretty good. In normal driving it’s comfortable, rides well, reasonably quiet and surprisingly good on fuel when taking it easy – I averaged 45 mpg on my usual commute to work which is impressive for a 200 bhp hot hatch. When you start driving it a bit harder though things aren’t quite so good. It’s quick, sounds pretty decent, corners nice & flat and initially turns in well, the problem arises when you try to put the power down and then the dreaded torque steer says hello.

IMG_5603

Unlike a lot of the recent high powered front drive hot hatches there’s no fancy diff or trick suspension to keep things in check – and it shows. Whether you’ve got some steering lock applied or it’s pointing straight ahead, under hard acceleration the torque steer and tramlining really does corrupt the drive to the extent at which it can be pretty severe especially on badly surfaced roads. In wet or greasy conditions it’s even worse when just small amounts of throttle can have the front wheels scrambling for grip. This aspect of the car is a real shame as otherwise it could be a great hot hatch. As it stands it’s still fun & fast but just a bit too furious at times. Other gripes, well the the throttle response isn’t the sharpest and the pedals aren’t particularly well placed for heel & toeing (not helped by Citroen’s trade mark over-servoed braked pedal) but these are minor compared the problem with actually transmitting the power to the road. Oh yeah, there’s one more thing I haven’t mentioned and that’s the price, are you sitting down? The list price is 30K which is pretty steep for a DS3, yes it’s a very exclusive DS3 but that amount of money can buy a lot of car!

IMG_5581

Overall I liked the DS3 Cabrio Racing a lot and it’s great to see Citroen making cars like this. It’s not quite as hard core as the ‘Racing’ moniker implies and not as involving as something from Renaultsport but it’s a fun, cool and individual car. It’s just a shame about that torque steer and price.

Mike.

Previous articleMonte Carlo Historique 2015
Next articleJaguar XF Sportbrake Diesel S Portfolio Review and Test Drive