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2016 DS3 Cabrio Prestige THP 165 Review

When the Citroen DS3 first entered the market back in 2010, it was met with – well let’s say not much tail wagging but more head shaking. The reason – well that’s simple, many people remember the old DS and many were struggling to see the significance.

Back in the day, the original DS was chic and iconic and many people thought the Citroen DS3 looked ugly and had no place using the iconic DS branding, but that soon changed – because actually it sold like hot cakes soon after launch and became a sales success.

Finally in 2016 there was a branding change away from Citroen because DS Automobiles wanted that upper market theme to shine through on all its core line up models and with that change, the now rebranded DS3 was finally free to compete with the very niche looking BMW Mini.

Power and Efficiency:

Engine; 1598cc petrol engine with 120kW of power (165HP) and 240Nm of torque is a good starting point, although, I am not a fan of the petrol engines in this model and I would always pick the Diesel version if It was available – but if you are in the market for a petrol version, then the 120kw engine Is the one that offers the most refinement.

Fuel consumption also comes in around 50mpg combined and CO2 emissions of around 129g/km. Although I have to say the DS3 0-62 time of 7.6sec is very respectable indeed.

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On the road:

Being a Cabrio, you would expect it to be very floppy and soft into the corners, but you would be wrong. The DS engineers have adding a lot of body stiffing into DS3’s chassis and it actually felt very well planted – even in some of the hard cornering areas, although, I would of liked a bit more feedback from the steering and a little bit more feel as to what the road surface beneath me is doing.

Interior & Technology

I’m only going to talk about the DS3’s party piece- that clever niche Cabrio roof system. According to the booklet that come with the car it clearly stated that it only takes ’16 seconds to transform DS3 Cabrio from a cosy coupe to sophisticated sun trap with the push of a simple button on the centre console, you can open or close the roof at speeds of up to 70mph’ Ok groovy, but what about the technology then?

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The New DS3 benefits from a centrally-mounted 7-inch touchscreen along with cruise control, RDS radio with 6 speakers and AUX socket, DAB digital radio, Bluetooth® handsfree and media streaming with USB socket. Add in Mirror Screen and you have the ability to use Apple CarPlay™ and MirrorLink® for Android to seamlessly mirror compatible smartphones on the vehicles 7” touchscreen.

Safety:

ABS with Electronic Brakeforce Distribution, Emergency Braking Assistance, Electronic Stability Control (ESC) Switchable on THP versions, Hill Start Assist function, Active City Brake, driver and passenger front lateral and curtain airbags, remote central locking with deadlocks, two rear ISOFIX mounting points and factory fitted Immobiliser and Alarm.

To sum up:

I like it. I don’t like the boot, as it’s a little small, but it’s still a better size than a Mini. In fact it maybe even better than a Mini all round. Now there’s a surprise.

Price: (from) £21,595 OTR as tested – not including fitted options.

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