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While my car was being serviced yesterday we had a C3 as a courtesy car. As we walked up to it my wife noticed that it had a "VT" badge on it, so we assumed it was a reasonably upmarket version . . . wrong!!
First impressions of the interior was how cheap the same basic dash looked compared with the DS - painted in a totally unconvincing "aluminium" paint, no aluminium trim around the instruments, dull grey plastic centre console, tacky-looking instrument graphics & a weird choice of instruments - rev counter but no temperature gauge! The driving position was good - one of the few cars I've driven where I didn't need the driver's seat in its highest position.
Driving around town gave the sort of impression that maybe this wasn't one of the faster C3's - any lingering impression was quickly dispelled when joining the motorway! On the slightly uphill section at the end of the M67 it could just manage 70 with the pedal nailed to the floor! Turns out it's a 1.1 with a whole 61BHP!
The drive home was mostly in traffic so I didn't really have the chance to test the handling, but it didn't feel anything like as sharp as the DS. In the afternoon I took it out for a quick blast on a relatively twisty road. . . not impressed! The steering was totally lifeless - the sharp turn-in of the DS replaced by about 1/4 turn of nothing much happening, then a reluctant change of direction.The whole front end felt loose & underdamped, with no real control over what it was doing. The ride, on the other hand, was softer than the DS but the lack of damping made it feel uncontrolled - I suspect that driving for any length of time on bumpy roads would be an unpleasant experience.
Its "domestic appliance white" was an appropriate colour - it had all the performance & driver appeal of a fridge! One good point about the lack of power was that my wife commented that it was easy to keep it below 30mph. When I took it back the service receptionist, with a knowing look on his face, said "how did you like it?"; when I replied that it's not a driver's car, he grinned & agreed!
So why did I call it amazing? Because it's amazing that, using such a cheap-looking, ill-handling base Citroen managed to make the DS3 such a great car!
As an aside, the dealer had a DS3 Racing in the showroom - first one we've seen & we both agreed that the orange looks much better in the flesh than it does in picture.
First impressions of the interior was how cheap the same basic dash looked compared with the DS - painted in a totally unconvincing "aluminium" paint, no aluminium trim around the instruments, dull grey plastic centre console, tacky-looking instrument graphics & a weird choice of instruments - rev counter but no temperature gauge! The driving position was good - one of the few cars I've driven where I didn't need the driver's seat in its highest position.
Driving around town gave the sort of impression that maybe this wasn't one of the faster C3's - any lingering impression was quickly dispelled when joining the motorway! On the slightly uphill section at the end of the M67 it could just manage 70 with the pedal nailed to the floor! Turns out it's a 1.1 with a whole 61BHP!
The drive home was mostly in traffic so I didn't really have the chance to test the handling, but it didn't feel anything like as sharp as the DS. In the afternoon I took it out for a quick blast on a relatively twisty road. . . not impressed! The steering was totally lifeless - the sharp turn-in of the DS replaced by about 1/4 turn of nothing much happening, then a reluctant change of direction.The whole front end felt loose & underdamped, with no real control over what it was doing. The ride, on the other hand, was softer than the DS but the lack of damping made it feel uncontrolled - I suspect that driving for any length of time on bumpy roads would be an unpleasant experience.
Its "domestic appliance white" was an appropriate colour - it had all the performance & driver appeal of a fridge! One good point about the lack of power was that my wife commented that it was easy to keep it below 30mph. When I took it back the service receptionist, with a knowing look on his face, said "how did you like it?"; when I replied that it's not a driver's car, he grinned & agreed!
So why did I call it amazing? Because it's amazing that, using such a cheap-looking, ill-handling base Citroen managed to make the DS3 such a great car!
As an aside, the dealer had a DS3 Racing in the showroom - first one we've seen & we both agreed that the orange looks much better in the flesh than it does in picture.