DS 3 Crossback review: A small car that will fill you with joie de vivre

We here at Examiner Motoring have an oft-expressed fondness for small and smaller cars. There can be a joie de vivre about a small motor that’s hard to find anywhere else and when you came across a really good one, it can be as much fun as you can have with all your clothes on.

Diminutive machines are often much better fun to drive than larger counterparts and this is because they enjoy things like a great power-to-weight ratio, they are excellently balanced, they handle like demons and are invariably hugely practical despite their size.

This week’s tester is a case in point, although its maker might take exception to the car being called ‘small.’ The vehicle in question is the DS3 Crossback, which has something of a curious and confusing past, considering that it was originally badged as a Citroen, but is now firmly in the camp of the DS sub-brand, which was initially created by the former PSA Group as a premium brand challenger for the likes of BMW/Mini. Audi and Mercedes.

The Citroen DS was, of course, one of the most beautiful and revolutionary cars ever made and the DS name was chosen by Citroen when it decided it had to go upmarket with a completely new brand.

Of course the waters were somewhat muddied when the PSA Group (formerly Peugeot, Citroen and DS) merged with the FCA Group (formerly Fiat, Alfa, Chrysler Jeep etc.) to form Stellantis, a new motor industry conglomerate, but within that format the DS brand is expanding rapidly and the DS 3 Crossback is a very important part of the brand’s plans.

To give it its full title, the car is a subcompact luxury crossover/SUV and while it does not – partly because of its size and price – bear as many luxury elements as others in the range, such as the DS 7 we wrote about not so long ago in these columns, it is nevertheless a realistic contender against its’ main opponent, the Mini.

We first saw the car at the 2018 Paris Motor Show, but its arrival on Irish shores was delayed greatly by production hiccups and the small matter of a pandemic. As of the start of this year, however, the DS brand is now fully up and running here and the DS 3 Crossback will now play an important role in the brand’s marketing strategy.

It comes with three power sources – petrol, diesel and electric – but it was the uncomplicated 1.2 Pure Tech petrol we got to drive and it was a treat.

With the growing electric presence everywhere, it was actually a delight to take something of a step-back in time with this car and its’ completely straightforward operational characteristics and the absolute absence of stress caused by such as range issues.

Sure electrics are getting better practically by the minute but, unless you have an entirely predictable schedule and a pre-planned route to take you where you need to be for work, then they are a stressful companion. With a non-nonsense petrol like this, there are no such concerns.

The engine in question is a 1.2 litre three cylinder turbo which produces 130 bhp (as well as a 0-100 km/h time of 9.2 seconds and a top speed fractionally over the 200 km/h mark) and it develops its maximum torque of 230 Nm at just 1,750 rpm. It will also deliver a consumption return of 6.1 l/100 km (nearly 46 mpg).

There is a lesser powered Pure Tech 100 version of this engine on offer which comes with a six-speed manual ‘box, but for the ‘130’ version we tried, there is only an eight-speed automatic.

As a three-pot, of course, it has a characteristically enjoyable aural soundtrack and essentially that’s a big part of the attraction of the car in this guise. 

Some might complain that the engine is a tad too noisy for a luxury car, but you have to accept some trade off and you also have to realise that the only silence you’re going to enjoy with any DS 3 Crossback is either when the petrol or diesels aren’t running or you’re driving the electric.

So, let’s not get too over-fussed here. The little three-cylinder has a unique set of sound characteristics; that being so, you should just enjoy them for what they are. In other words, embrace it and don’t bicker about it.

It’s a quick-ish little engine too. Sure the 0-100 km/h time is far from staggering, but once you’ve discovered and accessed the sweet spots available, you can spin it along at a fair rate of knots.

The eight-speed auto and the turbo contribute greatly to this and allow the car compete pretty evenly with others with bigger capacity engines.

The supple ride and agile handling also allow for a bit of hooliganism when you feel the need and the light but very precise steering works very well when you feel the need to press on. That said, this is a very comfortable partner when you’re just tooling around and it doesn’t lose its’ poise when you get the hammer down.

It is also extremely comfortable thanks to its relatively lavish interior and typically French seating which, with typically French aplomb are called ‘Premium Comfort’ and covered with a diamond quilted soft leather. The ‘diamond’ design theme is continued elsewhere in the cabin, with the dash-mounted buttons sharing the same shape.

So too the centre console buttons which control the windows, driving modes and door locks. These are fine, but take a little getting used to as most these days are door-mounted so for quite some time you’re instinctively looking right to open and close the windows, rather down and to the left, which is where they are.

Both rear passenger and boot spaces are adequate rather than outstanding and while the rear seats do fold down to open up more space, you still have to navigate quite a big lip to get stuff in there, which isn’t totally ideal.

It has to be said that the DS 3 Crossback is swish, but not as swish as some of its siblings. For all that, however, it is quite the eyeful – from both the exterior and interior viewpoints and, one suspects, that’s going to be one of its’ biggest selling points.

As things move forward it will almost certainly be the case that the electric version is the big seller – certainly so in urban areas. But, even if you do live in the sticks and want something stylish that stand out from the crowd but still doesn’t cost the earth, this petrol version offers al that without the evident stresses that go with electrics.

The DS brand is finally finding its feet in the face of many set-backs along the way and, so, if you’re a Francophile with a need for stand-out looks and quite a decent helping of haute couture, then look no further.