interested in buying new DS3 petrol

[Tati]

I just test drove an HDi 1.6 DS3 D Style, which I really liked although found the steering pretty light. However I want a petrol engine. In my neck of the woods, there aren't any to test drive. It seems hard to find one to buy if I do decide to go ahead too.
I am wary of diesel as don't do a lot of mileage, am London based so the car would not get a decent 50mph+ burn off very often at all. I know VW make London owners sign a disclaimer, agreeing that the filter's not part of the warranty! Citroen say they don't do this, but it remains a potential issue.

Any advice on the best, reasonably priced petrol engine - 1.4 or 1.6 (prob D Style, can't afford the top spec). I fancy one in white with black roof, minimum of bling. What should I be paying - not sure if we will do finance or try to buy outright (price dependent). Is it worth buying a service deal?

One other question: Citroen has put the 12V tom tom socket in a daft place, in between the driver and passenger seats. Does this mean that the cord gets in the way when you change gear?! I am carless at present as my Renault died, and a long trek back just to check that, with a dealer who has no cars anyhow, would be a pain. I also don't fancy Citroen's very expensive sat nav option!

I have other issues around resale values (would not keep it beyond its warranty), insurance (London) and reliability issues, but it's fun to drive.

thanks for any help and advice.

[Mr.C]

Hi and welcome.

Not sure how much you want to spend, but I have just carried out extensive research into the cost of a DStyle+ 1.6 Vti 120 manual, petrol model and have managed to get the price down to £14018 OTR less £1500 Citroen contribution buying through their Elect3 finance, and which includes a set of carpet mats and is in Sports red. i.e. a net cost of £12518.

However, I believe that the white is standard and would reduce this figure by the cost of Sports red finish which I believe is £440.

Can't help you with the rest of your post unfortunately as I haven't taken delivery of mine yet.

[Tati]

thank you and I hope that you get your red DS3 asap

did you go via the Citroen website and could you post the link, if so, please?

any thoughts on how difficult it is to change gear with a tomtom plugged in? And more importantly, What Car's depreciation scale has the car going down to only 6k in year 3 which is a bit worrying as would not want to keep the car much after the end of the warranty period (once bitten, twice etc)

[Mr.C]

I've sent you a pm with the details.

Hope they're helpful.

[KazziKaz]

Hello there I have had my 1.6 VTI Dstyle plus for about a month now and would definitely recommend it. I have mine set up on the Elect 3 finance so I will pay £200 per month for 3 years then I can either buy the car outright or give it back and get another brand new car. Personally for me this is a fantastic way to get a new car as Im only 20 and on a stores person wage! Citroen also provided me with the MOT and servicing pack so I get all this free for 3 years and also if something were to break unexpectedly, they would also fix it for free. I did trade in my C2 which they gave me a grand for (ahhhhhh!!) so this knocked some money off. I think the dstyle plus is the mid range version and to be honest its well worth the extra few quid for the awesome gadgets.

On the tomtom thing, I have recently used my sat nav in the car and the jack is in a silly place but it didn't really get in the way of the gear stick, I personally find the arm rest more annoying than the satnav cable.

On resale values Citroen did say that the car is so versatile and appeals to everyone so the resale isnt going to be to appaling. Our sales man said that he had just sold a yellow/black DS3 to a 92 year old man!!

I think I got a pretty good deal with my insurance as I only have 3 years no claims. My insurance was £500 outright so I was chuffed to bits.

I hope this helps

[Mr.C]

Citreon have given me a Guaranteed Future Value at the end of the 3 year Elect 3 agreement of £6339 on 10,000 miles per annum, but hopefully it will be worth a bit more.

[KazziKaz]

That's pretty much the same as mine I think.

[Ablyth]

and mine

[Tati]

thanks for the messages guys. The local dealers here (London, SE area) are not good at all, which is a major issue for us. They don't return calls or emails and that's when they are trying to sell you a car, so we are worried about the after sales.
We also tried Mini and they treated us like royalty.
Mr C, have pm'd you. Not sure how long you are waiting for the car? The cheapest quotes in SE England we can find are £1000 more than yours, for sport red/black. The wthie one's cheaper but we're not sure about Citroen white - looks blander than say, Mini's pepper white which is creamy colour.
If it's a factory order, we love the cherry red.

The dealer wants £120+VAT to put a 12V in the glove box; suppose a Parrot bluetooth connection would be a good idea too - would that go in the same place? So it's not working out that cheap with the add-ons.

[Mr.C]

I've sent you a reply to your PM.

You mention Supaguard in your PM to me and I have asked about this on a previous thread and the consensus of opinion is that it is overated and overpriced and not worth it. I'm not having it done.

[metalmorgan]

Citroen after sales and general response times etc. is generally shockingly poor up here too. So you're not alone with that one. But at very least you have this forum as a resource & there are peeps on here who will answer your questions for you if you do not get a quick response from your dealer.

Put it this way - there schockingly poor & frustraitingly sub-standard service has not put me off getting a DS3 one bit.

I noticed your thinking of supa-guard. Don't bother with it. Not from the dealer anyways. It's a essentially a sealant that will probably be poorly applied & overpriced. Getting in touch with a decent detailer if you don't wanna take it on yourself is the way to go.

[Tati]

I live in London. It's pigeon crap like you have never seen round here in our communal flat's parking. My neighbour's Porsche had to be resprayed as he left the car unwashed for a week or two.
I'm just concerned that if I don't go with the Citroen diamondbrite (they seem to have diff names at diff dealers), I could get into a long and stressful fight with Citroen over paint warranty issues. I am less worried about the interior protection.

Local muppets quoted on the phone this am and have still not confirmed their quote in writing. In terms of the Citroen warranty, can anyone fix the car using genuine Citroen parts (and I'd get reimbursed by Citroen) or would I have to use the muppets? They are a bad joke. I thought Renault were bad with my previous car but this lot are fully worse.
Is the service deal worth having (3 yrs £249) as am not sure that's included in the deal or not, although think it's a national Citroen offer at present on elect 3.

Have to decide on sport red/black or belle ile blue/black if we go ahead. I wish they did the D style+ in cherry red

[ZACK]

Is the service deal worth having (3 yrs £249)

Yeah It's Well Worth It !

[Mr.C]

Don't feel as though it's worth it for me. Will be doing about 8k miles a year and the service interval is 2 years or 20k miles and I understand from previous threads that the first service is circa £199.

[Tati]

my mileage is low too. I wonder if the service pack has little fine print exclusions too so you end up paying for parts anyhow? I didn't realise the service intervals were 2 years. The germans make you service your car on an annual basis no matter what the mileage.