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Well, we collected the DS3 on the 19th September after ordering in August. Managed to get hold of a car already going through the factory so the wait was minimal.
We went for White and Black as we liked that colour best, given the few colour options for the Dsport+. Nearest contender was red and black, but as my Insignia is Red, the wife decided she wanted white instead.
For the first few weeks it just sat in the garage as we went on holiday. Now we are back, it's swung into daily use with ease.
I quite like the DS3 for a small car. Suprisingly quick at low speeds and effortless low speed performance. Compared to my diesel 160bhp Insignia (HEAVY car!) it feels really perky, although the insignia is slightly quicker, the DS does it with ease.
I am a bit annoyed by the LEDs going off when you turn the side lights on, so going to speak to the dealer after reading the threads on here about getting the settings changed. I was thinking about then removing the sidelights altogether so it was just LEDs and rear lights. Seems pointless to me to have side lights as well. IMO the LEDs should stay on at night, but at half brightness like they do on my insignia. Citroen missed a trick there... No one would mistake what was coming towards them!
I am shocked at how bad the headlights are. I am a big fan of xenon's, however the DS3 is like driving with candles up front! Citroen should have made these an option as I'd have paid whatever for them, especially as their halogen headlights are atrocious! I have a good HID kit lying around which I have trial-fitted with both H7R and H7 bulbs. I tried both (one in each headlight) and the difference is immediately apparent. Not only that, the H7R does not give off half as much glare as the H7 HID bulb, and compared to the standard bulb imo was not that bad at all. I'll take some pictures when I fit them properly so you can see the difference. I only use OEM rated HID colour - i.e. 4300k because it doesn't look suspect then, or chavvy. I have some 6000k bulbs and never used them as they were too blue for my liking...
I actually do not like HID's in halogen headlights due to the glare issue; but the standard are so poor it needs something, and given the positive results with H7R bulbs this may be an option. On previous cars I've tried uprated headlight bulbs and IMO they don't improve things much despite the claims. I used the HID kit I had in our Megane R26. That had halogen headlights behind a projector unit, with leveling and headlamp wash so it was almost like they were xenon anyway, but without the xenon bulb!
Leather seats that aren't heated... what is that about? We very nearly cancelled the order because of this (no joke) because the wife hates leather when it is cold. Luckily the DS will live in a heated garage, so it shouldn't get too cold come winter, but again, what they hell were Citroen thinking!?!
Finally, I am a bit disappointed with the location of the USB input, the lack of a light for the glove box and general poor interior lighting, the quality of the HiFi system and general quality of the interior materials which look and feel very cheap in places.
HOWEVER... I love the seats, very comfortable and supportive. The steering wheel looks and feels good. The side profile of the car is just epic... looks stunning. The black wheels set the car off a treat. Folding mirrors very useful for tucking away in the garage, and like how they fold on locking the car. Handling is damn good as well and you can really chuck it about. It's covered 400 miles and has averaged 50.3mpg and covered 400 miles so far, with about 60 left on the range which seems good already. Very frugal!
I've not taken any pictures yet because the Dealer's attempt at cleaning the car prior to delivery was questionable. The interior needs a good wipe down on the plastics and the exterior a good wash, but once I've done those I'll snap some piccys.
Not really going to make any significant changes to the car. I may add an alloy foot rest to protect the carpet from excessive wear, change some bulbs to LEDs where possible, and upgrade the headlights. Otherwise no other changes as it looks great as it is.
Other cars considered were Fiesta Zetec S TDCi, Mini Cooper D (Clubman and hatch), and a VX Corsa CDTi fully loaded. I let the wife decide what she wanted without involvement as she's only blame me if she didn't like it! Although I secretly wanted her to choose the DS. Mini was nice but felt slower and was overpriced and the option list was confusing and again made the car very expensive. The boot was pointless unless you went for a Clubman, and we have a dog so the boot needs to be useable with the rear seats up. Fiesta painfully slow and too common. Vauxhall Corsa... need I say more! Actually very well put together, and fully loaded actually very impressive, but the exterior is dull as dish water even with the VXR pack. And, you'd have to tell people you drive a Corsa...
I think she made a good choice. My only other contender was a Mini clubman, but to get that looking good and to a similar spec to the DS3 (i.e. with stripes, decent alloys, xenons, interior upgrades) you're pushing £20k!!
Pics to follow
We went for White and Black as we liked that colour best, given the few colour options for the Dsport+. Nearest contender was red and black, but as my Insignia is Red, the wife decided she wanted white instead.
For the first few weeks it just sat in the garage as we went on holiday. Now we are back, it's swung into daily use with ease.
I quite like the DS3 for a small car. Suprisingly quick at low speeds and effortless low speed performance. Compared to my diesel 160bhp Insignia (HEAVY car!) it feels really perky, although the insignia is slightly quicker, the DS does it with ease.
I am a bit annoyed by the LEDs going off when you turn the side lights on, so going to speak to the dealer after reading the threads on here about getting the settings changed. I was thinking about then removing the sidelights altogether so it was just LEDs and rear lights. Seems pointless to me to have side lights as well. IMO the LEDs should stay on at night, but at half brightness like they do on my insignia. Citroen missed a trick there... No one would mistake what was coming towards them!
I am shocked at how bad the headlights are. I am a big fan of xenon's, however the DS3 is like driving with candles up front! Citroen should have made these an option as I'd have paid whatever for them, especially as their halogen headlights are atrocious! I have a good HID kit lying around which I have trial-fitted with both H7R and H7 bulbs. I tried both (one in each headlight) and the difference is immediately apparent. Not only that, the H7R does not give off half as much glare as the H7 HID bulb, and compared to the standard bulb imo was not that bad at all. I'll take some pictures when I fit them properly so you can see the difference. I only use OEM rated HID colour - i.e. 4300k because it doesn't look suspect then, or chavvy. I have some 6000k bulbs and never used them as they were too blue for my liking...
I actually do not like HID's in halogen headlights due to the glare issue; but the standard are so poor it needs something, and given the positive results with H7R bulbs this may be an option. On previous cars I've tried uprated headlight bulbs and IMO they don't improve things much despite the claims. I used the HID kit I had in our Megane R26. That had halogen headlights behind a projector unit, with leveling and headlamp wash so it was almost like they were xenon anyway, but without the xenon bulb!
Leather seats that aren't heated... what is that about? We very nearly cancelled the order because of this (no joke) because the wife hates leather when it is cold. Luckily the DS will live in a heated garage, so it shouldn't get too cold come winter, but again, what they hell were Citroen thinking!?!
Finally, I am a bit disappointed with the location of the USB input, the lack of a light for the glove box and general poor interior lighting, the quality of the HiFi system and general quality of the interior materials which look and feel very cheap in places.
HOWEVER... I love the seats, very comfortable and supportive. The steering wheel looks and feels good. The side profile of the car is just epic... looks stunning. The black wheels set the car off a treat. Folding mirrors very useful for tucking away in the garage, and like how they fold on locking the car. Handling is damn good as well and you can really chuck it about. It's covered 400 miles and has averaged 50.3mpg and covered 400 miles so far, with about 60 left on the range which seems good already. Very frugal!
I've not taken any pictures yet because the Dealer's attempt at cleaning the car prior to delivery was questionable. The interior needs a good wipe down on the plastics and the exterior a good wash, but once I've done those I'll snap some piccys.
Not really going to make any significant changes to the car. I may add an alloy foot rest to protect the carpet from excessive wear, change some bulbs to LEDs where possible, and upgrade the headlights. Otherwise no other changes as it looks great as it is.
Other cars considered were Fiesta Zetec S TDCi, Mini Cooper D (Clubman and hatch), and a VX Corsa CDTi fully loaded. I let the wife decide what she wanted without involvement as she's only blame me if she didn't like it! Although I secretly wanted her to choose the DS. Mini was nice but felt slower and was overpriced and the option list was confusing and again made the car very expensive. The boot was pointless unless you went for a Clubman, and we have a dog so the boot needs to be useable with the rear seats up. Fiesta painfully slow and too common. Vauxhall Corsa... need I say more! Actually very well put together, and fully loaded actually very impressive, but the exterior is dull as dish water even with the VXR pack. And, you'd have to tell people you drive a Corsa...
I think she made a good choice. My only other contender was a Mini clubman, but to get that looking good and to a similar spec to the DS3 (i.e. with stripes, decent alloys, xenons, interior upgrades) you're pushing £20k!!
Pics to follow
- maybe a torch?
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