DS is certainly one of the quirkier, more left-field carmakers that you could shop with here in the UK. Among the many other entry-level luxury brands out there, DS might not usually stand out as much, but for people looking at driving something different and feeling special doing so, DS is a rather interesting option. The new DS 4 is likely to be a volume-seller for DS, given its comparatively accessible price point and crossover form factor. And, you could spec your DS 4 to be powered by one of three powertrains… A plug-in hybrid flagship model, as well as a petrol and diesel-only variant, too.
The one that we have here features DS’s PureTech petrol motor, and having experienced so many of its rivals, is the DS 4 worthy of your attention? Well, spoiler alert, it’s not going to excite you in terms of performance, nor is it going to light your hair on fire once you get behind the wheel. Yet, for what you pay, I struggle to think of any other car that has this much cool factor and swagger, with its Parisian fashion house style and sheer attention to detail. For the money, you get a lot of tech as well, from DS’s clever real-time scanning of the road ahead to automatically tweak the suspension damping or the inclusion of Level 2 semi-autonomous driving.
What Is The DS 4 Performance Line About?
As I noted earlier, design is one of the best things about any DS car, and the DS 4 is no less of a fabulous looker than its siblings. The DS 4 is hands down one of the best-looking mass-market crossovers on the market today, and I reckon it’s the sort of car that you can’t help but glance at as it passes by you on the road. Moreover, as DS is a bit of a niche brand here in the UK, the novelty of the badge alone ought to invite even more attention. Looking around the DS 4, there’s a lot going on from a design perspective, and the longer you peer at the DS 4, the more of its body lines and contours you begin to notice, and appreciate.
From the sharp creases in the body panels to the hard edges that look mean enough to cut you, the DS 4 is a beautifully muscular car. There’s the almost jewellery-like lighting signature, particularly in the taillights, not to mention that big front grille, which all help to give it a strong presence on the road. Depending on what trim you choose, DS throws in varying designs to complement those 19-inch alloy wheels, but I quite like these blacked-out rims. Additionally, on our Performance Line trim car here, there’s a lot of glass black.
You’ll notice gloss black on the front grille, the DS badges, and the window surrounds, as well as the black two-tone contrasting roof, which further adds to its sportiness. And, how can we forget just how classy that bonnet emblem is for any DS vehicle? The eagle-eyed among you might’ve also noticed that the DS 4 does carry a bit of DNA from its sister brand, Peugeot. Most notably, you can see those lion’s claw-esque vertical lightbars on the front. All in all, in this Lacquered Grey paintwork, the DS 4 strikes me as an extremely attractive and elegant car.
How Does It Drive?
Ironically, the DS 4 here has the ‘Performance Line’ trim. But, don’t let that fool you, because while it may have ‘performance’ in its name, speed isn’t a strong suit of the new DS 4. It has a 1.2-litre turbocharged inline-3 petrol engine. It should be good for a very modest 131hp and 230Nm of torque. Now, give it a stretch of road long enough, and the DS 4 here will hit 62mph from a standstill in 10.4 seconds, before reaching a top speed of 130mph. Not very impressive figures, I’m sure you’ll agree. As for how it’s putting that power down, the DS 4 sends it to the front wheels through an 8-speed automatic, the latter of which is really smooth.
As you can imagine, putting this small of an engine in a crossover hatch of this size, the DS 4 does feel rather underpowered. The engine has almost no torque, especially at lower RPMs. Thus, it forces you to rev it out just to get a semblance of power. Once you get going, there’s really nothing you get here that’ll excite you from a performance point of view. And, given how sharp and athletic its looks are, you almost kind of expected and hoped for a bit more power from it. If you are looking to burn rubber, you’re going to have to fork up a bit more cash to get the DS 4 plug-in hybrid, with its 225hp E-TENSE powertrain.
However, if you’re willing to forget for a moment that it’s not a performance car, the DS 4 will excel at just regular, day-to-day driving. It’s a very pleasant, easy-going car to drive, whether you’re commuting across the motorway, or are ferrying the kids to school. The drive is superbly refined, quiet, and comfortable. I could also imagine the DS 4 being the perfect car to get stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic, and still emerge as fresh as a daisy, thanks to its lovely interior. More on that later though, but on the flipside, there are some benefits to the DS 4’s seemingly sluggish performance.
The lack of outright pace does at least mean you get better fuel economy and low emissions. In the real world, you’re going to average somewhere in the low to mid-40s mpg. For a purely internal combustion powertrain, with no hybridisation or electric assistance at all, it’s pretty impressive. Other than that, the DS 4 packs a lot of tech to make your driving experience that much easier and more relaxing. We’ll get to that later, but as a daily driver that you could mindlessly and comfortably cruise around in, the DS 4 is more than good enough, and it excels at hoovering you around with ease.
What Is It Like Inside?
Just like the exterior, the cabin of the DS 4 has some of that Parisian haute couture vibe, which is no bad thing. Everything on the DS 4, inside and out, is designed to make a statement. For the price, you could almost argue that it looks and feels way more expensive than it really is. When you get the Performance Line trim, and the upholstery does change a lot between trim levels, there’s a lot of Alcantara in the DS 4. They’ve smothered all that soft Alcantara in all the right places. Most of your touchpoints, including the seats, door cards, centre console, and dashboard, are finished in that soft, supple Alcantara.
At night, particularly with the ambient lighting, the interior of the DS 4 feels like sitting in a fancy lounge. Also, leave it to DS to pay close care to the minute details, such as the gorgeous concentric patterns embedded into the metal and chrome trim throughout the cabin. DS calls this type of finishing and detailing ‘Clous de Paris’. In addition, I appreciate DS trying to break up the blackness of the interior with red and gold contrast stitching. Elsewhere, everything from the patterns on the seats, or the angular diamond-shaped buttons, and the many knurled surfaces across the DS 4’s metallic switchgear, are all extreme examples of attention to detail. Still, it does make for a more theatrical, special interior to spend time in.
It’s a really quirky style, that’s for sure, and it might take getting used to for some (or you might even entirely hate it), but you can count me as a fan. Tech, as we’ll get into more later, is another key focal point for DS and the DS 4. Although, the two main screens that you’ll actually be fiddling around with – the 10-inch infotainment system, and the 7-inch digital gauge cluster – are both quite average by today’s standards. The former does have everything you need, though. That includes Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, as well as satellite navigation. It even has voice recognition, with a built-in AI that’s powered by, of all things, ChatGPT. Furthermore, if that 7-inch gauge cluster is a tad small for you, there is a heads-up display to make your readouts a bit more legible.
The new DS 4 also has what DS calls their Smart Touch functionality, which is controlled through that small screen on the centre console. It’s placed here, right above the drive mode selector, where it’s more natural and way comfier to rest your hand on. As for how it works, rather than pressing buttons to interact with the infotainment system, you can assign specific shortcuts to it. Then, you’re able to manipulate certain controls using just gestures on that Smart Touch display.
For example, you can pinch to zoom in and out of the satnav (sort of like using your phone), or you could use your fingers to draw out letters to type in a street address. Aside from that, the DS 4 doesn’t just win out with style points, as it is a very practical car. You get a pretty sizeable boot space of 430 litres. Or, up to 828 litres with the rear seats down. Better still, even with the front seats pushed back to my comfortable driving position (and I am quite a bit taller than the average person), there’s still a good bit of rear legroom and knee room for passengers in the back.
The Experience
Speaking of tech earlier, the DS 4 is a technological tour de force for its price bracket. Among the coolest and most noteworthy is the DS Active Scan Suspension technology. This relies on using a camera located on the top of the windscreen, as well as a plethora of sensors around the DS 4, to then scan for imperfections on the road ahead of you in real-time. Within milliseconds, it transmits all this data back to the DS 4’s computers, which can then adjust the suspension on all four wheels independently. This enables it to soften or harden accordingly, ensuring that your ride quality is as comfortable and as well-poised as possible.
For nighttime driving, the DS 4’s matrix LED headlights guarantee improved visibility in low-light conditions. In addition, it can even rotate your headlamps to correspond to your steering inputs, thus lighting up wherever you’re turning into. On top of that, there’s an infrared sensor in the DS 4’s front grille, which helps you to spot pedestrians and animals far ahead of you, using its night vision system. It’ll then show these in the DS 4’s gauge cluster. If you’re ever concerned about driving at night or if you’re passing through roads with no lighting at all, the DS 4 offers you valuable situational awareness of what’s around you.
The DS 4 additionally features Level 2 semi-autonomous driving, where the DS Drive Assist system combines its adaptive cruise control, lane-keep assist, as well as stop-and-start for bumper-to-bumper traffic… All work together to make your drive even more effortless. If you want more, you could upgrade to the Drive Assist 2.0 system, which adds in semi-automatic lane changing, and it further adjusts your speed automatically based on the speed limit and signposts on the road you’re travelling on.
DS 4 Performance Line Cost
As you see it here, our car costs £32,840. That includes a handful of optional extras, like the black contrasting two-tone roof, that lovely Lacquered Grey paintwork, and electric seats. Luckily, you do get a lot of standard equipment for a really attractive and attainable price point. By default, DS throws in front parking sensors, a 180-degree rear reversing camera, and keyless entry and start. Moreover, you’ll get emergency automated braking, adaptive cruise control, traffic sign recognition, and more. It’s worth bearing in mind too, that this Performance Line trim is the entry-level trim for the DS 4.
Otherwise, for a starting price of £34,940 (and we’re focusing on the pricing of the petrol models here, not the diesel or plug-in hybrid), you can move one notch up to the Rivoli trim level. Instead of Alcantara, you now get a supple black leather interior, additional seat adjustments, and more consequentially, the aforementioned DS Drive Assist semi-autonomous driving system. You’ll also get a rear cross-traffic alert system, to boot. From there, for a starting price of £36,910, you can now move further up to the next trim level, Esprit de Voyage.
Aside from grey leather upholstery, you’ll gain fitment like heated and ventilated front seats, memory function for the driver’s seat, as well as massaging front seats. Additionally, DS gives you a heated steering wheel and an electric tailgate. Finally, there’s the range-topping Opera trim level, starting from £38,880. This time, you’ll get a brown ‘watchstrap’ leather interior, special stitching, an electric sunroof, and the aforementioned DS Active Scan Suspension system. Besides this, the Opera trim nets you a hands-free tailgate, a reversing camera with 360 degrees of vision, a wireless charging pad for your phone, and electric folding side mirrors.
Verdict
As a whole, the DS 4 is really good value for money, and between its attractive looks and swanky interior, it’s the biggest draw for this car. The level of craftsmanship and flair is impeccable, and that alone could be worth the price you pay. DS is one of the few mass-market, mainstream brands that I know of that relies on bespoke machinery to create special stitching patterns, incredibly ornamental Guilloche finishing that you’d find on fine wristwatches, and using the very finest leathers. As they say, seeing is believing, and I’d encourage you to drop by your local DS showroom to have a taste of just how much coolness the DS 4 exudes.
Stepping inside the DS 4 feels like a dramatic entrance into a five-star club, and I’m surprised by just how nice the materials and upholstery are for a £30,000 car. Likewise, I’m impressed with the amount of tech that DS has been able to pack inside the DS 4, which not only makes driving it safer and more confidence-inspiring, but it genuinely takes out a lot of the muscle and thought into driving a car. It all makes for a comfortable and easy-going machine to pilot, and the only thing I really can complain about with the DS 4 is its lacklustre performance. But, if you can look past that, the DS 4 is one of the coolest-looking and best-feeling cars I’ve driven all year.
Specification
DS 4 Performance Line Specs
- Price: £32,840
- Engine: 1.2-litre turbo inline-3 petrol
- Power: 131hp
- Torque: 230Nm
- Transmission: 8-speed automatic
- 0-62mph: 10.4 seconds
- Top speed: 130mph
- Weight: 1,352kg
- Economy combined: 48.6mpg
- CO2: 133g/km