Info / feed back wanted

[Petrol_1]

Hi DS3R owners
I m on the edge of choosing which DS3 to go for

I need so advice re the DS3R ride characteristics,

I've tested a few 150 THPs and was impressed by the ride / handling, but as I drive into London every day from Kent , I spend far too much time crashing over too many speed bumps/ pot holes / POOR RDS etc

I was wondering if the firmer susupension in the R is still as supple as the std car or is it , or very much firmer , i have aset set kw3s on my present car and there firm but still Supple ( as there no cars to look at let alone get a test drive in , i need your experience / feed back.)

I do not want/ need a car thats crashing over every small bump in the rd and bending wheels on pot holes etc , but have falling in lust with the R version , but its too much to spend and be frustrated

As my local dealer has no detailed knowledge of them , do you have to run 98 ron/ super unleaded fuel , or will thay take 95 ron with out pinking ?
Are there any comman faults / things to check before before taking delivery on one ,( as i ve been burn b4 ,) with many dealers once you accept the car/ drive off , it can be hard getting things put right

Many thanks for you feed back

[Arlow]

I've never driven the THP so can't compare the Racing to that, therefore I will give you my impressions of the car against my previous cars. I was a little bit apprehensive when I first drove her but soon realised that the ride was nowhere near as bad as I was anticipating. I have done just over 2,600 miles in the 5 months I've owned her, this has included journeys over all sorts of road surfaces & I can say hand on heart that I do not regret buying my Racing. I recently visited my brother in Scotland, the drive up was 360 miles & I did this non stop, only stopped on the drive down to fill up with petrol & have a comfort break
Petrol wise, the owners manual Racing supplement & the inside of the petrol cap say 98 RON, however I fill mine up with super unleaded from various petrol stations most of these state their super unleaded is 97 RON, she runs fine & I've never noticed any problems. I know that at least one Racing owner runs his car on normal unleaded without any issues.

[Petrol_1]

Arlow
Many thanks for your reply
Its just the sort of feedback i need to hear( what was your prevoius car )

the dealers i ve been to , seem to have no detailed knowledge of these cars ie what options were avail etc , ive found out theres 4 on a ship coming to the uk at present and most seem to have the spirit kit and no sat nav fitted

what sort of mpg do you average in town , is it any thing like the 32 they quote ?

[DS3RACING96]

rides abit harder compared with the DS3 ive tested 150thp, fuel depends if you but your foot on the gas !!! ive had 53mpg on run 100miles doing 60mph round town 40mpg, hard driving 37mpg. only options are satnav and stickers thats it !! it runs fine on normal unleaded fuel . hope this helps .

[Stef]

I haven't driven the 150THP but I did test drive a couple of 110Hdi's and I think the suspension on those is pretty similar to the 150. In comparison, yes, the DS3R is firmer but I have no problems with it what so ever and believe me, Southampton has some of the worst roads in the UK!

I've done just shy of 6000 miles in 3 and a bit months and average 42MPG, best was 53MPG and worst around 37MPG, so fairly consistent with the figures above, always driven on Shell V-Power.

I've had a couple of issues on mine, the front top struts were replaced, I believe this was due to the supplying dealer not removing the transit spacers and I drove 3,000 miles with those in!

I had the front centre speaker blow which was replaced and currently have an engine running problem which they think is the crank sensor, that's going in on Monday for the week to be fixed.

Apart from these issue I absolutely love the car, perfect balance of power and handling and it certainly does handle well!

My Wife has a new Abarth 500 and the suspension between hers and mine are at the different end of the scale, the DS3R is very refined.

It may be a lot more money than the THP150 but I believe it's worth the extra, having said that, anyone would be perfectly happy with a 150THP Dsport.

Stef

[Arlow]

Arlow
Many thanks for your reply
Its just the sort of feedback i need to hear( what was your prevoius car )

the dealers i ve been to , seem to have no detailed knowledge of these cars ie what options were avail etc , ive found out theres 4 on a ship coming to the uk at present and most seem to have the spirit kit and no sat nav fitted

what sort of mpg do you average in town , is it any thing like the 32 they quote ?

I had a C2 VTS prior to the Racing & before that an MR2 Roadster, my complete car history can be found in this thread. I've done that trip to Scotland in both of those cars and the Racing is definitely the best of the 3 for that trip.

As DS3RACING96 said the only options are satnav and stickers, I ordered my Racing without both. Pictures of her can be found in various threads on the forum

Fuel consumption wise, general driving I normally see about 36mpg compared to about 32mpg in my old C2 VTS. On the long trip to Scotland & back I averaged about 45mpg & that was done at a pretty decent pace :cool:

[alexmj1]

I had the car for 9wks now and I wouldn't swap it for any other car on the road, the racing looks great, people just come over and have nice things to say about it, there no other car like it. The grip is good, corner as if on rails, suspension is firm but you can live with that, fuel consumption is good considering what the car can do.

[Petrol_1]

Many thanks for feedback ,all

I ve also Driven the 110 hdi (before i could arrange a THP one , it was v nice for a diesel) but i thought the extra weight of the diesel effected the amount of over steer though fast turns , and the feel of the car , but the have a v good job on it and its still fun to drive , but its no THP / Racing . I ve driven the DS4 d sport THP and liked the pick up/ torque of the remapped lump so assume i would be happy with the Racing
I also have the Abarth 500 on my list to drive , but Stef's feedback would appear it may not be the car i m looking for ( thanks M8 )
I ve aslo driven a cooper S , but preffer the DS3 ride / feel to that, so ive only got the Alfas to try next ,
Its a shame the £1500 cash back on e con flex on the THP model does nt apply to the R , but as there are still 27 un sold / new ( abeit built in 2010 ) Racings for sale , i m asumming theres good Deal out there for me some where !
many thanks all

[Stef]

We look forward to seeing you back here in your DS3R soon!

Stef