Citroen DS3: Stylish, sporty

Andre Citroen was not only a gifted and innovative engineer, he also had a lively sense of style. These attributes live on in the company he founded; all its products are distinctively different and the best have become true classics.

Only time will tell which category the DS3, launched in South Africa this week, will fall into but right up front I can tell you it's cute, quirky, clever and fun to drive.

South Africa is one of the first countries outside the EU to get the DS3 and it's here only weeks after its world debut in Paris in two basic variants. However, like the Mini which will be its main competitor, the car has an almost infinite range of colour combinations, trim options and add-on extras that make it extremely unlikely any two delivered units will be identical.

Start with 11 body colours and four roof colours, which are available in 38 mix-and-match combinations, each with one of four different patterns of roof graphics, and six rim choices (four 16" and two 17").

Add eight colour choices for for the interior trim components (fascia, console trim, and door panels), seven for the gear shifter, four for the fabric upholstery and three for the leather seats which are optional on the Style variant and standard on the Sport, and you'll begin to get the idea.

There's also a large selection of chromed add-on trim to bling up the grille, lights, windows and number plate surrounds, mud flaps in black or body colour, and, and, and...

And you can change your mind about some it: should you regret your original choice of interior plastic trim, or to increase its resale value, the fascia, console, door panels and gear-shifter knob can be quickly unclipped and replaced by your Citroen dealer.

To simplify the enormous variety of add-on extras, Citroen has compiled two accessory packages for the Style variant containing what it feels will be the most popular options.

The Techno pack includes automatic lights and windscreen wipers, rear parking sensors, automatic digital aircon, Bluetooth connectivity and a USB port. The Design pack adds 17" black, white or silver diamond-tipped alloy rims, sports seats and drilled aluminium pedals.

All of which is standard in the Sport model.

The DS3 is a little bigger than it looks in the pictures, although it's still a very small car that's less than four metres long, 1.72m wide and 1.46m high. The front styling is radical, with a big two-piece grille (slats above, mesh below), huge headlights and a vertical string of LED daytime lights in what looks like a fake brake-cooling duct on either side.

The side view is no less distinctive with the contrasting roof colour, blacked-out pillars and tinted side glass giving a "floating roof" effect, emphasised by what looks like a shark's fin in body colour sticking out above the waistline - although the effect is rather spoiled by the fact that the shark appears to be swimming the wrong direction.

The rear styling, by contrast, is bland and rather derivative; there's a little bit of Polo, some Fiat Stilo, even a bit of Daihatsu Cuore in there somewhere. It all hangs together, and the rear hatch is big and practical, but it looks as if it was penned on a Friday afternoon when the stylists had run out of ideas.

CLASSY SOFT-TOUCH MATERIALS

The interior is roomier than it looks from the outside, stylish rather than quirky with a very sporty instrument cluster under a floating binnacle and neat aircon and audio controls with an upmarket feel, sensibly laid out.

If I have a quibble it's that the audio controls are a too small - you have to look down to operate them - but satellite controls on the steering wheel take care of most of that.

The cabin is trimmed mostly in classy soft-touch materials, except for the replaceable, colour-coded bits (the fascia, console and door trim) which are hard, shiny and distinctly plasticky, even in conservative black.

The front seats, whether the standard items in the Style or body-hugging sports in the Sport, are very comfortable. Lifting one lever on the shoulder of the backrest allows it to tilt 'n slide the forward to step through to the rear seats.

Citroen says the DS3 is a five-seater; in reality, the rear accommodation is reasonable for two adults, cramped for three. Nevertheless, its 60:40 split rear seat backs and 285-litre boot (980 with the rear seats folded) make it a practical shopping trolley.

STIR THE VERY SLICK GEARBOX

At the launch in Gauteng I first drove the 1.6 VTi Style, for which Citroen quotes 88kW at 6000rpm and 160Nm at 4200rpm. As the latter figure suggests, it needs to be revved hard to get the best out of it and seemed a little short of joie de vivre below 4000rpm at altitude.

Stir the very slick, five-speed gearbox, however, keep the engine singing (a very nice soundtrack) and the Style is a fun car to drive.

The suspension is firm but doesn't jar on poor surfaces and the car sticks to its line through fast corners, although it can be made to skip sideways on long, bumpy sweeps, just enough to make you feel like like a hotshot driver but without scaring you.

The electric power steering is fingertip-light at car-park speeds, making the Style a pleasure in traffic, but a little too light (although still reassuringly precise) at the top end. Nevertheless, the Style invites spirited driving and rewards those with the skills to do it with precision.

ALTOGETHER MORE MUSCULAR

I returned from the lunch stop in the turbocharged 1.6 THP Sport, revelling in its claimed 115kW at 6000rpm, 240Nm at 1400rpm and close-ratio, six-speed manual gearbox.

This is an altogether more muscular set-up, easier to drive because it pulls strongly from 2000rpm, blessed with lots of accessible mid-range torque for pulling out of slow corners - or grabbing gaps in the traffic - and revving happily well beyond the red line when necessary, to avoid an unsettling gear-change in the middle of a corner.

Citroen says the power steering is the same on both models but the Sport feels considerably better weighted at all speeds and much more confidence-inspiring in fast corners.

I can only ascribe the difference to the wider tyres on the Sport (205/45 against 195/55 on the Style) and speculate that Citroen's test drivers fine-tuned the DS3's chassis dynamics on a test mule built to Sport specifications.

It's horses for courses, as they say; if most of your driving is around town and you like light, quick steering and agile handling, the Style will get you there in, well, style.

If, however, getting out of town and into the twisties is part of your getaway plan, you'll love the extra grunt and tauter steering feel of the Sport.