SMALL BUT CHIC (some text hidden) SECTIONED_new_ds3crossback_2019

By Jonathan Crouch

Introductionword count: 62

The DS 3 Crossback is hardly inexpensive but in compensation it's a satisfyingly desirable take on small SUV motoring. The design is individual, the cabin feels special and it's well equipped. Plus the combustion engines are willing and economical - and there's the option of full-electric technology if you want it. This is the car that really moved the DS brand forward.

Modelsword count: 11

5dr SUV (1.2 petrol / 1.5 BlueHDi diesel / E-TENSE EV)

Historyword count: 191

Automotive manufacturers wanting to be really profitable tend to focus these days on two things; premium brands and compact SUVs. Here's a car that aimed to satisfy on both counts, the fashionable DS 3 Crossback, introduced here in 2019. It shared most of its engineering with familiar PSA Group superminis like Peugeot's 208 and Vauxhall's Corsa, but packaged it all up with a stylised expression of Gallic savoir faire. Buyers were promised distinctive looks, jewel-like detailing and cutting-edge technology. There was also the option of a full-electric 'E-TENSE' version too. Size-wise, the car fits somewhere between supermini-based 'B'-segment SUVs and 'Qashqai'-sized 'C'-segment SUV models - positioning which might actually be ideal for some potential buyers. This model's combustion engines were amongst the most efficient on the market and there were some genuinely individual trimming choices to make this model really stand out. DS called it 'Haute Couture' and hoped potential buyers would find this car refreshingly different. The DS 3 Crossback sold in its original form until mid-2022, when it was facelifted and renamed simply as the 'DS 3'. It's the 2019-2023-era DS 3 Crossback models though, we look at here.

What You Getword count: 345

'DS' stands for 'Different Spirit' and the look of this car is certainly different, the idea being to offer a more interesting take on 'B'-segment supermini-based SUV design. Established DS themes include the LED fangs in the front bumper and the unusual shark fin between the side windows, but perhaps it's just as important to point out that the dimensions here position this car amongst the bigger contenders in this segment, targeting Audi Q2s and Honda HR-Vs rather than Jukes and Renault Capturs. At the wheel, it's like nothing you'll have experienced before. If diamonds are a girl's best friend, as Marilyn Monroe once assured us, then ladies are going to absolutely love this Crossback's cabin because that's a theme that reoccurs almost everywhere. Of course if you favour Teutonic simplicity and clarity of form, you won't like it at all. What's served up here is a glorious antidote to all that, a celebration, the DS designers hope, of everything that's cutting edge in French fashion. You can't help suspecting that the infotainment screen would have been diamond-shaped too, had it not been necessary to source it from the PSA Group parts bin. The dashtop-mounted screen is conventionally square and offered in either 7-inch form or, if you have it with navigation, a larger 10-inch size. Anything that isn't included on the central display (and much that is) can be found on the smart virtual instrument screen you view through the leather-bound three-spoke steering wheel. Rear leg room actually isn't bad at all, helped by the scalloped seat backs and the way that it's easy to slide your brogues beneath the chair in front. Thanks to the sloping roof line, head space isn't quite as good, but much more of an issue is the way that your side view out is so restricted by that 'shark fin' side pillar design. The boot offers 350-litres of space and is accessible via a low loading lip, so lugging heavy items in and out will be easy. Push forward the 60:40-split backrest and 1,050-litres of space is revealed.

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