In February 2009, the bosses of the PSA Peugeot Citroen concern "stunned" the international community with unexpected news - they announced plans to rebrand the Citroen brand, sending it to the "elite club". And the "entrance ticket" to it was the three-door premium hatchback "DS3", which in concept guise first appeared to the world in March at the Geneva Motor Show. In the serial status, the car appeared before a wide audience at the bride show in Frankfurt, which took place at the end of September of the same year.
In the spring of 2014, the French officially declassified the restyled Citroen DS3 - then the three-door improved the head optics, changed the "pattern" of the taillights and revised the engine range. A year later, the car was slightly modernized again, limiting itself to replacing the 4-speed "automatic" with a 6-range.
The next update overtook the “glamorous baby” in January 2016, and its leitmotif was the separation of the model from the parent brand Citroen: the “troika” lost its “double chevron”, trying on the logos of the premium sub-brand and, in general, transformed in the spirit of the “older” DS. In addition, the premium hatch has got a new multimedia system and modified engines.
Outwardly, DS 3 is pleasantly impressive - the French designers have turned out a truly bright, distinctive and attractive, but at the same time instantly recognizable car.
At the front, the three-door has a nicely aggressive look with menacingly "frowned" LED headlights, a hexagonal radiator grill and a sculpted bumper, and at the back it flaunts lean outlines with graceful lanterns and a neatly knocked down bumper.
But the most interesting, perhaps, the hatchback looks exactly in profile - the energetic silhouette "flaunts" the sloping contours of the roof, "combed against the grain" by the middle pillar and the embossed "influx" of wheel arches, which gives it a unique style.
In terms of overall dimensions, the DS 3 is a typical three-door hatchback of the European B-class with the corresponding dimensions: 3954 mm in length, 1458 mm in height and 1715 mm in width. The wheelbase of 2464 mm stretches between the axles of the car, and 130 mm ground clearance is visible under the "belly". The Frenchman contacts the roadway with wheels measuring 16-17 inches.
The interior of DS 3, on the whole, echoes the exterior and looks attractive, fashionable and of high quality, however, the scattering of elements from budget “representatives” of PSA concern slightly spoils the overall impression.
And, as often happens, convenience here is largely sacrificed to style - the sawed-down "steering wheel" with excessively intrusive tides is beautiful, but not entirely convenient in practice, and the dashboard with three "wells" looks modern, but confusingly branded odd digitization.
The expressive center console is "headed" by a 7-inch touchscreen of the multimedia system, just below which there are three "round" air conditioning units with a digital indicator in the middle.
The decoration of the car is not only tailored with good finishing materials, but also assembled at a high level.
"On paper" the interior of the three-door hatchback is five-seater, but in fact only four riders will be able to sit in it, and in the rear seats, even large people will tolerate even long trips without any problems - in this part, the "Frenchman" easily "puts on the shoulder blades" of his main competitors ... The front seats "flaunt" a relief profile with widely spaced side bolsters and solid adjustment ranges.
The DS 3 trunk can hardly be called an example of practicality, but its volume is worthy by the standards of the class - 285 liters in the "stowed" state. The backrest of the rear sofa, folding in two unequal sections, increases the stock of space to 980 liters, but in this case, a flat cargo area does not work. In the niche under the raised floor there is just a "stowaway".
Specifications. For the Russian market, the French premium hatch is equipped with an uncontested gasoline engine - the engine compartment of the three-door is filled with a 1.2-liter (1199 cubic centimeters) PureTech turbocharged “triplet” with distributed injection, a 12-valve arrangement and phase shifters at the outlet and inlet.
Its peak power reaches 110 horsepower at 5500 rpm and torque is 205 Nm, available from 1500 rpm.
The engine interacts with an Aisin 6-speed automatic transmission, which directs its full potential to the front wheels.
One should not expect miracles of dynamics from DS 3, but the car drives quite "briskly": its "maximum speed" is 189 km / h, and the starting acceleration from standstill to 100 km / h takes 9.9 seconds.
In the combined travel mode, the hatchback is content with 4.6 liters of fuel for every "hundred".
By the way, even when Citroen was still, this car was supplied to our country with three gasoline "fours": these were "aspirated" VTIs with a volume of 1.4-1.6 liters, developing 95-120 "mares" and 136-160 Nm of peak traction, and 1.6-liter turbo engine THP, which has in its arsenal 150 "stallions" and 240 Nm of available torque. They were combined with a 5- or 6-speed "mechanics" or 4-range "automatic".
The new "De-es-three" is based on the front-wheel drive "bogie" known from the Citroen C3 and Peugeot 207 models. The front axle of the car employs an independent architecture with MacPherson struts and transverse stabilizers, while the rear part uses an ordinary twisted beam.
All wheels of the hatchback are equipped with disc brakes (ventilated at the front), which are assisted by ABS, EBD and other electronics. By default, the three-door is equipped with rack and pinion steering and variable electric power steering.
Options and prices. On the Russian market, DS 3 can be purchased in three “saturation” variants - “Be Chic”, “So Chic” and “Sport Chic”.
- Prices for the basic equipment start at 1,255,000 rubles, for which the car can boast: six airbags, air conditioning, heated front seats, an audio system with AUX, USB, Bluetooth and six speakers, "cruise", ABS, ESP, EBD, 16 -inch wheels, two power windows and other "gadgets".
- The "intermediate" version costs from 1,325,000 rubles, and its equipment is much more attractive: there is a multimedia center with a 7-inch "TV", rain and light sensors, an air conditioner, 16-inch alloy wheels, rear parking sensors and some others options.
- Well, the "top modification" for 1 405 000 rubles is already LED headlights, 17-inch "rollers", front parking sensors, sports seats and other modern "bells and whistles" (plus the aforementioned equipment).
