Hi from Johannesburg, South Africa

[Alex]

I'm not currently a DS3 owner, but I should be by this time tomorrow.

I ordered my DS3 almost two months ago, and the dealership told me I can pick it up tomorrow afternoon. I originally ordered a THP 150 in white with a black roof, but found out that there had been a mix up and only one of that colour combo was on the ship. It had already been promised to another customer. So instead of waiting another month for the next shipment, I decided on shark grey with a carmen red roof.

I popped into the dealership yesterday and got to see it while they were busy doing the pre-delivery inspection. I'm really happy with the colour, but I think it will probably be a bit of a pain to keep clean. I was also told that it's the first shipment to South Africa of the THP 155, confirmed by the sticker on the window stating emissions of 139g/km and the lower fuel consumption figures.

Planning to try to post regularly to give prospective buyers some info on the ownership experience, especially from a South African point of view. Hopefully I won't be contributing to the "THP power loss" and "Bellone wheel corrosion" threads

I'll take some photos and post them over the weekend.

[foul bachelor frog]

Greetings and hope you enjoy the car. Awesome colours you plumped for BTW!

[WTF]

Lekker!!

Welcome!

Hope you are pleased - did you get to test drive anything?

Look forward to seeing the shark grey - not seen much of it yet.

[sarah ds3 black]

Hello n welcome to the club

[Yellow]

welcome to the shark cage and be careful of the whites

[Alex]

Hope you are pleased - did you get to test drive anything?

I did test drive a THP before I placed the order. I took it on one of the worst surfaced roads that I knew of, and was pleasantly suprised at how well it soaked up the bumps for a car with a "sporty" suspension. All the comparisons with the Mini (of which there are many) rate the Mini as the sharper handler and more focused on the track, but I'm buying a car to drive on actual roads, and so getting from A to B in relative comfort was on my list of requirements.

I feel right at home on the forums now, with a "Lekker!!" in a reply to my first post

[AJ07]

Nice choice Alex had mine for four weeks now and love it. We are a very rare breed as Shark Grey replaced the Thorium which was my first choice.

See my photos. Looking forward to seeing your photos as soon as you get to pick her up.

Keeping her looking clean is not a problem. Enjoy

[WTF]

I test drove the 150, <3'd it!! Was quite the change from my 1.4 C3

Sounds like you have made a good desicion based on your thoughts. It is a really comfy car to be in for any distance driven.

Spent so many drunken nights with all my SA mates, camping trips and SO many braai's and too much boerewors. Ugh and the braai salt!!

[Arlow]

I did test drive a THP before I placed the order. I took it on one of the worst surfaced roads that I knew of, and was pleasantly suprised at how well it soaked up the bumps for a car with a "sporty" suspension. All the comparisons with the Mini (of which there are many) rate the Mini as the sharper handler and more focused on the track, but I'm buying a car to drive on actual roads, and so getting from A to B in relative comfort was on my list of requirements.

I wasn't able to test drive a version of my car as none had been built in September 2010, however before placing my order I test drove a Black Edition 120VTi. This gave me a good impression of what being in the car was like, seating position, view of the road from the driving position etc. Anyway after picking up my Racing 7 months later I was impressed with how good the ride was on the UK's top quality roads I've had her over a year now and never found the ride too harsh, I've done over 360 miles without stopping & got out the other end fresh as a daisy. As for handling, I've regularly traveled over a stretch of road in various cars (see here) & the Racing is easily the best, inspiring confidence even in the trickiest sections of the road. The only car I've driven that handles better is the Lotus Elise which I hired for a week before deciding to buy the MR2 Roadster, but you couldn't use it as an everyday car unlike the Racing You've certainly made a good choice

[cyclone]

Welcome!

[Alex]

Picked up the car on Thursday afternoon. By the time I had signed the hundreds of pages of contracts, and terms and conditions, the roads were pretty busy so I drove a total of a kilometre (less than a mile) back home. Went out again after 7pm to pick up some KFC from the drive through around the corner. I took the scenic route, so that took about 2 hours

Woke up at about 5:30am on Friday to take her out for a drive while the roads were quiet, (Friday was a public/bank holiday here in South Africa) and discovered much to my dismay that my front drivers side tyre was flat. I managed to get a nail through it in under 75kms

Luckily, the Tiger Wheel & Tyre near me was open, and they repaired the puncture. I also asked them put nitrogen in all the tyres including the spare while I was there. I've now put just over 200kms on the clock and I still can't get the smile off my face. What a fantastic car!

My folks were so impressed with it that they're off to the Citroen dealership this morning to take a look at the DS4. They need something a bit bigger with space for the dogs!

[pauljack]

welcome alex and hope you enjoy many miles of smiles!