DS 3 Crossback review: ‘This car has panache and flair’ | Martin Love

The latest crossover from DS is certainly stylish. The only question is have you got what it takes to carry it off?

DS 3 Crossback
Price 22,105
0-62mph 10.9 seconds
Top speed 112mph
MPG 60
CO2 113g/km
Eco score a...a...a...aa

A friend asks what car I'm reviewing this week. I tell him it's a DS 3 Crossback. Greg looks nonplussed. He says: "I don't understand any of those words. Well, I know what '3' means, but not the rest." Trying my best not to be patronising (which my wife always tells me I'm not good at, and in itself is quite patronising), I blunder on. I tell Greg that "DS" is a stand-alone premium brand that used to be part of the company that makes Citroins, and that a "crossback" is a trendy subcategory of cars that are a hybrid of hatchbacks and SUVs that are often called crossovers" The light in Greg's eyes flickers out. But then there's a spark: "What are its dust caps like?" Eh? Of all the questions he could pose, he is actually asking me about the little screw-on covers that fit on a tyre's air valve to keep the dust out. He starts to wax lyrical. "When I was at school we used to collect them, or rather steal them. We called them 'dusties' and used to gather in break to compare what we had. The best were the old chrome ones from Rollers. They had tiny RRs in the centre""