Citroën DS4 a class act

WE could keep you here all day banging on about how Citroën has developed so many technologies and combined that with the sort of design élan which is all too uncommon within the broader automotive industry across so many decades.

Sadly, we could also bang on at length about how Citroën backed itself into a corner in terms of its sales reach by virtue of the fact that once a customer bought one, he or she was effectively married to the brand for ever more. It was next to impossible to find any dealer other than those within the Citroën network who would take one as a trade-in.

But that is all in the past, hopefully and Citroën is now in a much better place than has been the case down the years. This week I drove a new car from the company that astonished me.

Citroën has, in many ways, been trying for a long time to revitalise the days when it was such an iconic brand and, with this in mind, it has revived the name which probably made it such an icon in the first place. The original DS range was a car which stood Citroën apart for so many years and now the company are re-introducing specific DS models — the DS3, the DS4 and the DS5.

We drove the DS3 a while back and were impressed, if not overwhelmed by what was on offer; the new DS5 is being launched in Ireland today; but this week we test the DS4 and I have to tell you that I have not been as impressed with a car for quite a while.

Now, while Citroën did a decent job in transforming the C3 into an altogether more engaging product with the DS3, they have really out-done themselves turning an average C4 into the DS4; this thing really is good. Aside from the truly striking good looks of the car, the DS4 makes an immediate impact with startling refinement, top drawer build quality and really decent performance.

The DS4 shares little with the C4, particularly so with regard to the body design; only the bonnet and front lights are common to the two cars and every other body panel on the DS4 is new. Similarly, underneath the skin, the suspension has been completely re-tuned and the steering recalibrated to reflect the sporty nature of the DS bloodline.

It also sits considerably higher than the C4 and thus, in essence, has much more of a SUV feel and look about it. The driver sits considerably higher than in the regular car and this will definitely add to the potential appeal for many buyers. The interior is much more bespoke too and from the moment you wrap your fingers around the chunky leather steering wheel, you can feel that this is a car which takes itself very seriously indeed when it comes to making a statement to you about its class.

But it is its refinement on the road that really gets your attention; the genuine elegance of the exterior and interior are thoroughly underlined by attention to detail in terms of acoustics. ‘Meticulous’ is a word which springs to mind here because the design crew has so obviously gone into the serious minutiae of wind noise, road noise and every other element of intrusiveness which contributes to a level of overall refinement which I have not yet experienced in a motor in the small family car segment.

The engine is the familiar and proven two-litre eHDi turbodiesel with some 82 kW and 270 Nm of torque on tap, resulting in a top speed of 189 kph, a 0-100 kph time of 12.4 seconds and a 4.7 l/100 km economy figure over the combined cycle.

It is certainly not the most powerful unit available, but it is a decent runner, doesn’t need to be flogged and has excellent mind-range punch.

On the road the DS4 displayed excellent levels of grip and roadholding and the handling in general was well above anything I might have expected. The electric steering was a little on the numb side, but did not dilute the overall driving experience which was well up with the best in class.

There were a few down sides, I have to admit. I found some of the switchgear fiddly and hard to use and I thought the steering wheel was over loaded with switches, some of whose functions were confusing and not quickly assimilated. Strange too was the fact that there appeared to be no function to lower the rear windows, either by the driver or the rear seat passengers.

While the front seat passengers were well accommodated in terms of space, the same could not be said of those in the rear, where the coupe lines of the roof cramped headroom; legroom was not great either.

The DStyle trim, as tested, was comprehensive and sophisticated and added stuff like parking sensors, automatic lights and wipers, climate control and BlueTooth to a standard package which already offers alloys, cruise control, LED running lights and cornering fog lights.

In this instance the sum of the whole is definitely greater than the sum of the parts. This was, I found, one of the few Citroëns I would actually consider buying. I really liked this car and am delighted to report that this iconic brand has once more found something special to offer its buyers.