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Thread: Citroen DS3 Adivce wanted

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    Senior Member AledJ's Avatar
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    Citroen DS3 Adivce wanted

    So its time to say good buy to my BMW 320 CI which although great to drive, its fuel economy is not great for the driving I do now. So been looking at the Citroen ds3 on a lease hire purchase or maybe the PCP option direct with Citroen, but unsure what option to take (any advice on which option?)

    Main question- Is there anything else is the so called super min range (basically a hatchback) that I should consider? My reason for the DS3 is that all the reviews seem to rate it well in all categories, and also it does look very nice.

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    Treasure Hunter extraordinaire herulach's Avatar
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    Re: Citroen DS3 Adivce wanted

    coming from a 320 the DS3 will feel like a tonka toy, or actually like a cheap chinese knock off of a tonka toy as the real ones are pretty well built.

    I've just recently bought a new car, sp have fairly recently been testdriving (for about a week) in that range. Obviously you might favour different things to me but (these are all 2l diesels I drove by the way)
    Astra GTC - Dull interior, not that well built, kind of dull to drive
    Megane - Nice outside, dull interior unless you chuck spec at it, then it gets very expensive very fast, seats not that great.
    Volvo V40 - Lovely drive, built like a tank. Big diesels with spec are very pricey,
    New A class - great car, looks good, nice to drive but gets very very spendy very quickly in the decent trims, the bottom trims aren't much to write home about.
    1 series - nice enough to drive, couldn't look at it everyday
    A3 - too expensive
    Golf GTD - Nice car, burberry interior put me off
    Octavia - Great if you need the space, lots of spec for not a lot of money in the elegance trim, vRS has all the nice cosmetic stuff but no satnav etc.
    Leon SC - what i ended up with. Ideally would have had the 184 engine, but the 150 i got is plenty punchy and frugal (I'm in scotland at the moment, and it averaged 61.1mpg on the trip up from bolton this morning even with the tuning box on) tonnes of spec vs. Golf/A3 (FR with every option is about the same price as a base GTD).

    Just my two penneth. To be honest, money no object I'd have had the volvo or the merc, with a possible preference for the volvo as the 5 cylinder diesels sound great, but, unfortunately it is an object but I'm very happy with what I have.

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    Senior Member Andy3536's Avatar
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    Re: Citroen DS3 Adivce wanted

    Toyota Auris and Honda Civic have gotta be good choices. Both offer 1.33 engines for excellent fuel econemy, and even the Auris 1.6 V-matic and the Honda 1.8 engines still get late 40s MPG on combined mileage.
    Honda and toyota will both be bullet proof aswell. Cheap servicing for Toyotas at the main dealer is a plus aswell, unsure on Honda...

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    Banhammer in peace PeterB kalniel's Avatar
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    Re: Citroen DS3 Adivce wanted

    Golf platform cars are great but kind of the same size category as the 3 series. DS3 is kind of a category below so alternatives would include the A1 and if you want petrol then a Fiesta 1.0 125ps is absolutely worth a shout.

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    Senior Member AledJ's Avatar
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    Re: Citroen DS3 Adivce wanted

    Thanks guys! Looking at a 1.6 and most likely a diesel. At moment have some many fact sheets I fear I may drown....

    If go on a lease hire option then i'm looking at £160 ish a month, with my current car paying the up front cost.

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    Re: Citroen DS3 Adivce wanted

    I had a new one as a hire car last week. I had briefly considered getting one a while ago as liked the "funky" looks. It was very small actually, we could only get one holdall sized luggage in the boot and struggled to get someone lanky in the back. It had a built in SatNav but I decided to use my own as I had pre-programmed the locations before I left (programming SatNav's in France are a PITA) and when I went to remove it, the cigerette lighter came out with it...

    TheAnimus has/had one so he should be able to give you a better review of it. In addition to the other suggestions above, how about a Mini for something similar in size but with better build quality (I assume)?

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    Senior Member AledJ's Avatar
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    Re: Citroen DS3 Adivce wanted

    Not a fan of the Mini really (hate the dashboard and where everything is placed). I know the DS3 is small as when I sat in one it felt very weird.

    Also been looking at the Kia Cee'd.

    Going to have a look around on Saturday and maybe consider a used one from a dealer.

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    Treasure Hunter extraordinaire herulach's Avatar
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    Re: Citroen DS3 Adivce wanted

    Quote Originally Posted by kalniel View Post
    Golf platform cars are great but kind of the same size category as the 3 series. DS3 is kind of a category below so alternatives would include the A1 and if you want petrol then a Fiesta 1.0 125ps is absolutely worth a shout.
    Thats a fair point, although I'd say they're smaller than a 3 (octavia excepted). Fiesta etc is so portly now that you might as well buy a bigger size it really doesn't impact fuel economy much at all.

    With regards to OP however, I'd be very wary of buying a 1.6 Diesel. For motorway driving at least fuel economy will be the same as or worse than a 2l (based on my comparison of a C30 D2 vs a D4 I had for a week and a 1.6TDI Golf in comparison to my leon) whilst being a long way down on power. For town driving the small turbo charged petrols feel better, have similar (or better) fuel economy and you don't have DPFs etc to faff with.

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    Re: Citroen DS3 Adivce wanted

    How many miles a year do you do? If it is high enough to justify the costs of a diesel, then I doubt I'd want to do it in something small. If annual mileage is not that high, then the lower complexity of a petrol car might be a good option - especially given the advances in fuel economy.

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    Seething Cauldron of Hatred TheAnimus's Avatar
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    Re: Citroen DS3 Adivce wanted

    I've had a DS3 for almost 3 years. It's a great car for a 3 door, it's not small, it's very comfortable up front, frankly more comfortable for 2 people, than most 5 doors. I'm 196cm, so this matters to me a lot.

    Fuel economy.... I've the eco desiel that is C-Charge exempt, I get anywhere between 55 to 75 mpg. It loves those average speed camera areas at 50mph, less driving at motorway *ahem* speeds. However it does fairly well at 70mph.

    Comfort wise, so long as your in the mid-range to high-range trim, it's really good, better than most Audi/BMW, so long as you are in the front, god forbid you are in the back.

    I got mine very cheap, £14.5k on the road with a whole bunch of upgrades. It honestly can't rate it highly enough.

    The eco mapping is frustrating at times, you get used to how the turbo lag works, and ultimately eat it with the clutch. But the fuel economy is excellent, I seldom pay more than 10p per mile. As I got the all servicing included for a few years upfront, I really have to say its great.

    Compared to other cars in that category, it's a no brainer.
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    Seething Cauldron of Hatred TheAnimus's Avatar
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    Re: Citroen DS3 Adivce wanted

    Quote Originally Posted by dave87 View Post
    How many miles a year do you do? If it is high enough to justify the costs of a diesel, then I doubt I'd want to do it in something small. If annual mileage is not that high, then the lower complexity of a petrol car might be a good option - especially given the advances in fuel economy.
    DS3 isn't small, it's a 5 door chassis, in a 3 door config. It's great in the front, and tiny, tiny, tiny in the back, not that that would be an issue for everyone

    It's got great creature comforts for motorway, cruise control, speed limit as standard etc. Last time I went London to Bristol, I got just over 70mpg.
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    Senior Member AledJ's Avatar
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    Re: Citroen DS3 Adivce wanted

    Quote Originally Posted by TheAnimus View Post
    I've had a DS3 for almost 3 years. It's a great car for a 3 door, it's not small, it's very comfortable up front, frankly more comfortable for 2 people, than most 5 doors. I'm 196cm, so this matters to me a lot.

    Fuel economy.... I've the eco desiel that is C-Charge exempt, I get anywhere between 55 to 75 mpg. It loves those average speed camera areas at 50mph, less driving at motorway *ahem* speeds. However it does fairly well at 70mph.

    Comfort wise, so long as your in the mid-range to high-range trim, it's really good, better than most Audi/BMW, so long as you are in the front, god forbid you are in the back.

    I got mine very cheap, £14.5k on the road with a whole bunch of upgrades. It honestly can't rate it highly enough.

    The eco mapping is frustrating at times, you get used to how the turbo lag works, and ultimately eat it with the clutch. But the fuel economy is excellent, I seldom pay more than 10p per mile. As I got the all servicing included for a few years upfront, I really have to say its great.

    Compared to other cars in that category, it's a no brainer.
    Seen one on auto trade from a trade seller for £3k with 20k miles, and its a 1.6 diesel DSport. Now I have seen others that have more millage + same version, going for £2k more and wonder if I should be worried. But it does have a full service history with the warranty lasting on it till September.

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    Re: Citroen DS3 Adivce wanted

    Quote Originally Posted by TheAnimus View Post
    DS3 isn't small, it's a 5 door chassis, in a 3 door config. It's great in the front, and tiny, tiny, tiny in the back, not that that would be an issue for everyone

    It's got great creature comforts for motorway, cruise control, speed limit as standard etc. Last time I went London to Bristol, I got just over 70mpg.
    Just to confirm what TheAnimus has said; I had absolute no issues sitting in the front and was quite good fun round some twisty roads around the south of France. However, I would consider it almost like a 2+2 hatchback. If I had more time and could be bothered to investigate, I think the spec was very good as well.

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    Seething Cauldron of Hatred TheAnimus's Avatar
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    Re: Citroen DS3 Adivce wanted

    Quote Originally Posted by AledJ View Post
    Seen one on auto trade from a trade seller for £3k with 20k miles, and its a 1.6 diesel DSport. Now I have seen others that have more millage + same version, going for £2k more and wonder if I should be worried. But it does have a full service history with the warranty lasting on it till September.
    That is very, very cheap. Very cheap!

    Going rate is about double that. Hell when mine was two years old, whilst buying another car, I was offered £11k trade in (I wasn't interested in a trade in...). Might be because mine is C-Charge exempt however and in London that makes a difference.

    However it has warranty... So I'd hazard a guess it's just a scam or a desperate fast sell.
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    Re: Citroen DS3 Adivce wanted

    Quote Originally Posted by kalniel View Post
    Golf platform cars are great but kind of the same size category as the 3 series. DS3 is kind of a category below so alternatives would include the A1 and if you want petrol then a Fiesta 1.0 125ps is absolutely worth a shout.
    Eh? The Golf/A3 compete directly with the 1 series. Polo/A1 are the smaller model but I don't think BMW really has anything in that class. 3 series is closer to A4 is size.

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    Banhammer in peace PeterB kalniel's Avatar
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    Re: Citroen DS3 Adivce wanted

    Quote Originally Posted by Butcher View Post
    Eh? The Golf/A3 compete directly with the 1 series.
    Not size-wise. The 1 series is not a car you'd put five people in. Golfs and A3's that's no problem.

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