The sporty-yet-practical Citroen DS4 crossover is a car that shows off the French manufacturer’s quirky inventiveness at its best, and it deserves its place on Irish roads.
Is it a coupé or is it a five-door hatchback? That’s a simple one to answer – the DS4 is both. And the good news is that in order to bring us their take on the sporty, stylish, quirky crossover car, the good people at Citroen have arrived at a vehicle that is the best of both rather than being a ‘not quite there’ hotchpotch.
Clearly, this is a good thing. But then they were starting from a pretty good place thanks to the undoubted success of the car that launched Citroen’s return to making sporty, stylish, quirky stuff – the DS3.
I loved driving the nimble head-turning DS3 and while I was never going to be as bowled over by the DS styling a second time around, the chunky proportions of the DS4 help give the sense that this is a pretty, but in no way girly, piece of kit.
It’s based on the ok-but-hardly-exciting Citroen C4 but you’d hardly know it. It sits higher on the road and is a world apart in the funkiness stakes. In a few ways it’s inferior to the C4 – there’s not quite as much space in the back (although more than their appears at first sight and plenty enough for a couple of grown adults to sit comfortably enough) and the 359 litre boot isn’t quite as bit, but these are small niggles that are worth putting up with in order to accommodate the curvy rear styling.
Other styling features include aluminium pedals and a smart steering wheel that puts pretty much everything a driver could need to fiddle with on a journey at his fingertips.
Some of the design features offer form over function: the windscreen gives good visibility, but if the sun’s shining you’ll need the visor to be pulled right down to avoid serious glare. Not that often an issue for us Irish, admittedly. Also the rear doors feature triangular windows with hidden door handles (to give the coupé effect), which means that when the doors are opened they look sharp and pointy enough to have someone’s eye out.
Superior
The DS4 is based on the C4, but in so many ways it’s a superior car. The DS badge appears mostly to be about the smart styling but the drive has also been tweaked and refined a little. The steering gives plenty of feedback, the gearshifts feel solid and assured and the gear ratios are well spaced to take into account the decent amount of torque in the diesel version.
At speed it doesn’t over rev meaning you get a quiet ride when cruising down the motorway and, this being a Citroen, the ride is also smooth despite the suspension mechanism itself not being particularly sophisticated. That it drives better than the C4 despite being higher up from the ground is impressive.
Citroen have produced a range of both petrol and diesel versions, but here in Ireland it’ll be the diesel versions that sell.
The petrol version can go faster and, thanks to an artificially enhanced exhaust note, sounds sportier, but the diesel wins out on the all-important efficiency front. The entry level 1.6 HDi 110bhp will be the bigger seller, but if you can go for the 2-litre 163bhp version its worth it.
The manual 2-litre will set you back €29,895. With emissions of 134 g/km it falls into Tax Band B (€156 per year). It’ll do 0-100km in 8.6 seconds and gives 340Nm of torque at 2,000 revs. The car has a six-speed manual gear box (an ESP automatic box is also available) and you’ll do 100km on 4.3 litres of fuel (combined) – in other words 66mpg.
Inside the leather, sporty interior you’ve got all the bells and whistles you’ll need to enjoy your drive.
The DS3 has yet to sell as many in Ireland as it should, which gives an air of exclusivity to DS3 owners here but which must be worrying for Citroen. Hopefully the DS4 will fare better and will have a bright future here, as Citroen’s DS adventure deserves to be celebrated on our roads.
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