It's based on the C4 and has a range of engines but Citroen reckons the best selling will be the 2 litre 4 cylinder turbo diesel engine that produces 163bhp. It's a great engine that produces lots of useable torque at a low number of revs. This allows the car to hit 60 in 8.6 seconds and then go on to do 136mph. It's not meant to be a quick car this but it's certainly meant to be better and more involving than the standard C4, which it is. To be honest there isn't much to be said about the engine as the DS3's main strength lies in its handling.
So to live up to the DS name it has to be good in the corners. The first major indicator of it's handling abilities lie in the front wheel drive setup. France is rather good at these types of things. The DS4 likes to grip corners with ease, which is impressive to say the least considering of course what it's based on. The most important thing about the handling is the steering. The C4 is dull and lifeless in the way it feels when you turn the wheel. The DS4 isn't. I'm sorry but that's all I feel I need to say about it. It is the opposite of the C4 which is a good thing considering that Citroen pitches this as a sporty SUV crossover.
A weird combination of things that and I suppose after reading that you'd expect it to look weird. It doesn't. It's not a style icon like the DS3 but it does have an appealing taper at the rear giving it a real coupe looking outline. There is a fair bit of chrome look going on at the front and there are some flared wheel arches. But it rides a little bit higher than the C4, only a little. Most of the time it's hard to notice and it looks like an ordinary hatch but at other times you really do notice the change and the car looks a little bit strange. It confuses your brain, you see a hatch but you also see a big SUV. The last thing to note are the concealed rear door handles. They are hidden behind the rear window and help to give the car it's two door coupe look, a similar technique featured on the Aston Martin Rapide.
The interior doesn't receive any major changes. The wheel gets a new DS badge and to be honest this is the biggest giveaway that you're sitting in the DS4 and not the C4. The interior is laid out roughly the same with a new high res sat nav screen. You also get full leather, a new hi fi system and a choice of colours for the instruments. You also get blind spot warning and parking sensors, just in case your eyes are of no use to you when parking. The dash is solid and has a feel of genuine quality to it and the wheel has so many extra buttons your head will explode with confusion. The most sporting change? Drilled aluminium pedals, other than that it goes for luxury rather than sporty.
It's not a bad car the DS4 but I think there will be inevitable comparisons between it and the DS3 which is detrimental. The DS3 was compared to the C3 which made it look better than it actually was, if that is possible. The 4 wasn't designed with the same frame of mind the 3 was and by comparison the changes look less dramatic and less characterful. It's not meant to be another 3, it's a spiced up C4. And yet it will be compared to the DS3 which means it'll be judged as boring. It's a shame because as a matter of fact, it isn't.
Thankyou for reading and feel free to comment rate and discuss and all that fun stuff.
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