Divorce is rarely stress free, what with the need to decide on what happens to the kids, the house, the dog and - most importantly - the collection of obscure 1990s action film DVDs.
Citroen's separation from newly independent DS was as friendly as these things come, and there was never any doubt who the kids were going to live with. Newly single Citroen is doubtless polishing its Tinder profile - "seeks value carmakers for no-strings good time" - but we're told from DS's point of view the split is far more than a rebranding exercise, rather a relaunch about turning DS into a proper luxury player.
Leading to the obvious issue that, while DS as a brand might be fresh and new, the cars it sells are not, with the DS 3 being the post-separation equivalent of the truculent teenager in all this; it was originally launched back in 2010. DS-ification has seen the removal of all Citroen branding and a major refresh, the equivalent of the post-divorce surname change, but it's fair to say that most remains entirely familiar, from the shark-fin side-on profile to the unchanged dashboard layout.
Same engine as the Racing, with less orange
From Racing to Performance
The new emphasis is best summed up by the car I've come to France to drive, the new
DS 3 Performance
. On paper this occupies the same part of the chart as the old
DS3 Racing
- with a similar 208hp power output from PSA's familiar 1.6-litre turbocharged engine and almost identical 0-62 and top speed numbers. But compared with its brash predecessor - which looked a bit like a toddler had been let loose on it with an orange market pen - the new Performance is a far more subtle proposition, something we're told to expect in the driving experience as well as the exterior styling.
It's still a handsome little beast. Admitting to liking the looks of the DS3 probably calls my manhood into question, but I've always had a soft spot for its let-me-at-'em stance and even those big goggly headlamps. And now that the Mini seems to have taken a couple of laps through the ugly tree it seems even better, especially sitting on those 18-inch black alloys.
Interior refresh largely successful
The cabin has had lots of attention as well in a mostly-successful mission to disguise its cheap underpinnings with a leather steering wheel and gear selector and soft-touch panels stuck onto most of the interior's hard plastics. Bits of it look and feel old: the ventilation control panel flexes as you press its buttons, and the DS 3 has the odd combination of a proper needle for the temperature gauge that sits below the speedo but digital bars for its fuel level. The central display screen now features the latest version of PSA's user interface and - when that gets too irritating - also now boasts Apple CarPlay integration. It doesn't feel like a miniature S-Class, but neither does it feel lacking on quality compared to any obvious rivals.
The driving experience has also been refocused as part of this new-found emphasis on comfort. Springs and dampers are both softer and it sits on a wider track front and rear. It also gets a Torsen limited-slip differential for the first time, the same one that makes the Peugeot 208 GTI 30th (now sold as the 'by Peugeot Sport') better, so there's certainly hope.
The basics are all very much as before. The DS 3 is a decent steer at lower speeds, with the 1.6-litre turbo engine pulling with less lag than I remember from the DS3 Racing and the controls, apart from the over-light and high-biting clutch pedal - having the sort of weight that most buyers seem to associate with dynamic prowess these days. On well-maintained French urban roads the suspension coped well with bumps, and at higher speeds it the DS 3 feels secure and stable and reasonably refined, despite lowered ratios compared to the standard car.
Mike doing his best luxurious and refined look
At this point, strangely, the organisers chose to demonstrate the DS 3's emphasis on luxury and refinement with ... a special stage. A 12km length of French mountain road had been closed to all other traffic and even given some marshals to increase the sense that we'd wrong-slotted into a round of the French tarmac championship; they even seemed to be setting cars off at one minute intervals, although with no evidence we were actually being timed.
To be fair to the DS 3, it made a decent fist of what I suspect will be a pretty atypical challenge: it's fast, grippy and dependable, suspension coping well with sudden changes of direction and crests and the differential helping to stave off understeer impressively well. The brakes deserve particular praise, with the chunky 323mm front discs mounting a dogged French resistance towards fade despite some fairly major abuse. But the stage also demonstrated that the DS still has very little sense of fun, the steering's linear weighting giving away nothing about grip levels and with little of the adjustability or tail-tweakable fun that rivals like the Fiesta ST would (probably) have demonstrated on the same road. It grips and it goes and it stops impressively well, but there's no sense that it enjoys the sort of caning you might reasonably expect a hot hatch to relish.
It's good, but why so serious?
Of course, DS says that it explicitly didn't set out to produce a hot hatch, and in that regard it's definitely succeeded. If you want speed and style and reasonable comfort then it's a perfectly justifiable choice; the touchscreen interface and Apple connectivity will probably be appeal enough for many potential buyers. It's usefully cheaper than the DS3 Racing was too, although still more expensive than Fiesta ST or Cooper S; the Performance is £20,495 and the Performance Black £22,495. It's hard not to feel a bit short-changed by a car that looks so good on paper, and in pictures, yet which manages to feel so unexciting when driven hard.
DS 3 PERFORMANCE
Engine: 1,598cc, four-cylinder turbo
Transmission: 6-speed manual, front-wheel drive, limited-slip differential
Power (hp): 208@6,000rpm
Torque (lb ft): 221@3,000rpm
0-62mph: 6.5sec
Top speed: 143mph
Weight: 1,175kg (unspecified manufacturer figure)
MPG: 52.3 (NEDC combined)
CO2: 125g/km
Price: £22,495 (Performance Black, regular Performance £20,495)
