Citroen Ds3 - Anybody Got One?

[PatrickKamala]

Is anybody of you driving a Citroen DS3 150? If yes, could you comment on the car and your experience with Citroen Thailand?

For those who do not know the car well...

It is a pretty "funky" little thing (...and yes, I know design is always something which might split opinion).

Has a 1.6 turbo engine (same engine as Mini Cooper S), but slightly detuned to 150 hp and set up to produce more torque in lower revs.

Cost is 1.649m Baht, with 3 years Citroen warranty, compare this with a 2.8m of a Mini Cooper S and I guess it is worth consideration.

It has received many accolades in Europe and seems in general to receive very good test reviews.

Haven't seen any so far in Thailand and just wonder if any of you have one and could comment.

Still looking for a fun car, but it has to be stylish as well and preferably new and not costing more than 1.7m

[beano2274]

Saw one the other day on the Expressway around Ngamwongwan, red with white roof. Was quite nifty (quick), shame the driver did not know how to turn the lights on the vehicle at night.

Well priced as well, Tiff Needell did something on it for Fifth Gear a while back, he rated it quite high.

[PatrickKamala]

...maybe he/she thought that the red color would be sufficient to get noticed...

Indeed it got the Car of the Year award from Fifth Gear and TOP Gear....not a small achievement in itself.

I really like the price comparison to a MINI Cooper S (it is only about 200,000 or so in Europe) but here it is 1.2m Baht!!! Somebody is making high profit margins here!

or Citroen is just trying to get into the market, which I am not sure of their sales & marketing strategy, because I have asked for a quote and was told that the 150 hp model will take 3 months delivery (only comes as manual, which is great in my opinion)....but than it also comes only in yellow with either white or black roof!

The whole DS3 thing in Europe is like the MINI a design thing....lots of mix and match, so maybe Citroen in Thailand did not really grasp that.

Not that the yellow looks bad....(or maybe you can talk yourself into liking anything if it makes sense...)

[eTiMaGo]

There was one on display at the local mall a few months back, though the regular non-turbo version. It definitely has cool styling, and if european reviews are anything to go by, it's a seriously fun car (look around on Youtube, there was a faceoff between one and the Mini Cooper S, which was only about 0.2s faster around a test course)

But call me biased, get a Yaris, Jazz, Fiesta or Mazda 2, and with the change from 1.6 million, you could get a real lil monster...

[Semper]

Off topic, sorry. But I remember the Citroen DS23. Number 1 in riding comfort at that time. Oh what memories.

[sezze]

There was one on display at the local mall a few months back, though the regular non-turbo version. It definitely has cool styling, and if european reviews are anything to go by, it's a seriously fun car (look around on Youtube, there was a faceoff between one and the Mini Cooper S, which was only about 0.2s faster around a test course)

But call me biased, get a Yaris, Jazz, Fiesta or Mazda 2, and with the change from 1.6 million, you could get a real lil monster...

I agree ,

In Europe , for that price they would not sell a lot of these vehicles . I do like how they look , but 1.6 million compared to other vehicles on the market in Thailand is just too much . A high spec Ford Focus is less then 1 million and a Mitsubishi Lancer EX is just above 1 million .

If you throw a turbo in those engines ( those are 2l ones with around 150 hp each ) you'll be looking at serious cars at cheaper price then the Citroen .

[Kinnock]

Not driven one ... but saw a yellow one last night and it looked great. But will it attract full import duty? This would make it way too expensive except for as an alternative to the Mini Cooper for the HiSo?

[PatrickKamala]

Well, compared to a 'regular' imported Mini Cooper S, which is about 2.8m Baht, the DS3 at 1.65m seems to be quite nicely priced...it probably does not have the style & class of a Mini, but it is different in a good way, probably slightly better for the rather 'imperfect' roads here in Thailand, as I read it is just a bit more forgiving....

[happyaussie]

Didn't know BMW sold engines to Citroen. Or perhaps your referring to the specs.

[eTiMaGo]

Didn't know BMW sold engines to Citroen. Or perhaps your referring to the specs.

I may be wrong, but PSA (Peugeot-Citroen) supplies the engines for the Mini?

[Atmos]

Off topic, sorry. But I remember the Citroen DS23. Number 1 in riding comfort at that time. Oh what memories.

you started it (off topic) no 23 here, but a few other classics; note the first one on sale 1956 Slough built DS19 sedan, delivered new to New Zealand - would I believe have been sold in NZ by my grandfather or one of his two sons (my uncles) they had NZ import/distribution rights at that time. A Citroen family.

French cars from Slough!

[frankphuket]

There was one on display at the local mall a few months back, though the regular non-turbo version. It definitely has cool styling, and if european reviews are anything to go by, it's a seriously fun car (look around on Youtube, there was a faceoff between one and the Mini Cooper S, which was only about 0.2s faster around a test course)

But call me biased, get a Yaris, Jazz, Fiesta or Mazda 2, and with the change from 1.6 million, you could get a real lil monster...

...in a way this makes sense...although a Ford Fiesta probably doesn't have the image and style of it....but than again, the cost factor is quite different.

How would you by the way make the Ford Fiesta a lil monster? What could be done to get it "up to speed" (let's say around 160-180hp). Have tried to research turbo charging it, but could not find anything...any ideas? or what of those little cars would be easiest to tune and where? Fiesta or Swift i could life with!

cheers

[MoonRiverOasis]

Didn't know BMW sold engines to Citroen. Or perhaps your referring to the specs.

I may be wrong, but PSA (Peugeot-Citroen) supplies the engines for the Mini?

Your are correct - the PSA alliance manufactures the "Prince" engines used in the Mini (and several other BMW's).

These days, the most active collaborators are Peugeot, Citreon, BMW Group, and Ford, - but in the past Renault, Volvo, Rover, Suzuki, Toyota, Honda and Lada have sourced PSA engines.

The bottom line is that when it comes to current European engines, it's pretty much either a PSA Group, VW group, or Renault/Nissan design. VM Motori is the other Euro engine designer of note, but most of their work now is licensed to GM.

[MoonRiverOasis]

There was one on display at the local mall a few months back, though the regular non-turbo version. It definitely has cool styling, and if european reviews are anything to go by, it's a seriously fun car (look around on Youtube, there was a faceoff between one and the Mini Cooper S, which was only about 0.2s faster around a test course)

But call me biased, get a Yaris, Jazz, Fiesta or Mazda 2, and with the change from 1.6 million, you could get a real lil monster...

...in a way this makes sense...although a Ford Fiesta probably doesn't have the image and style of it....but than again, the cost factor is quite different.

How would you by the way make the Ford Fiesta a lil monster? What could be done to get it "up to speed" (let's say around 160-180hp). Have tried to research turbo charging it, but could not find anything...any ideas? or what of those little cars would be easiest to tune and where? Fiesta or Swift i could life with!

cheers

Thje Fiesta 1.6L can do 150HP with an exhaust and a ECU tune. One tuner came up with a supercharge kit for it (4000 Euros), but that only managed 170HP - which suggests that's all the internals and/or transmission are really capable of handling. At 150HP, it run's low 7's in the 0-100 sprint, so no slouch.

[culicine]

There was one on display at the local mall a few months back, though the regular non-turbo version. It definitely has cool styling, and if european reviews are anything to go by, it's a seriously fun car (look around on Youtube, there was a faceoff between one and the Mini Cooper S, which was only about 0.2s faster around a test course)

But call me biased, get a Yaris, Jazz, Fiesta or Mazda 2, and with the change from 1.6 million, you could get a real lil monster...

...in a way this makes sense...although a Ford Fiesta probably doesn't have the image and style of it....but than again, the cost factor is quite different.

How would you by the way make the Ford Fiesta a lil monster? What could be done to get it "up to speed" (let's say around 160-180hp). Have tried to research turbo charging it, but could not find anything...any ideas? or what of those little cars would be easiest to tune and where? Fiesta or Swift i could life with!

cheers

Thje Fiesta 1.6L can do 150HP with an exhaust and a ECU tune. One tuner came up with a supercharge kit for it (4000 Euros), but that only managed 170HP - which suggests that's all the internals and/or transmission are really capable of handling. At 150HP, it run's low 7's in the 0-100 sprint, so no slouch.

Has anyone done this in LoS to date, or just in the UK, where they have pumaspeed and montune kits?

[eTiMaGo]

...in a way this makes sense...although a Ford Fiesta probably doesn't have the image and style of it....but than again, the cost factor is quite different.

How would you by the way make the Ford Fiesta a lil monster? What could be done to get it "up to speed" (let's say around 160-180hp). Have tried to research turbo charging it, but could not find anything...any ideas? or what of those little cars would be easiest to tune and where? Fiesta or Swift i could life with!

cheers

Yeah, no matter how fast you make it, it's never gonna be as fashionable as a Mini. So it depends, are you in it to pick up hi-so girls or for the driving fun?

Thje Fiesta 1.6L can do 150HP with an exhaust and a ECU tune. One tuner came up with a supercharge kit for it (4000 Euros), but that only managed 170HP - which suggests that's all the internals and/or transmission are really capable of handling. At 150HP, it run's low 7's in the 0-100 sprint, so no slouch.

Yeah with simple bolt-ons you can expect maybe 20-30 extra HP for these small engines. Superchargers are hardly worth it, although they give great response, the hp/$ is crap... A decent shop here should be able to fabricate a turbo setup with relative ease, if you can get the ECU tuned (or replaced), that's the tricky bit. I'm not so familiar with the Fiesta engine, but for reference, the Yaris' engine can be pushed to 180ish hp with a small turbo (about 8psi of boost), without needing to touch the internals of the engine, and without spending a fortune. If you want to get really fancy, my buddy in the US has a Yaris pushing out 357hp, with a reinforced and rebuilt engine and about 21psi of boost. Madness! And he paid less, overall, than buying a Cooper S over here.

Has anyone done this in LoS to date, or just in the UK, where they have pumaspeed and montune kits?

The Fiesta is still pretty new, it took a couple of years before people really started boosting the Jazz and Yaris. But I am sure that by looking through local forums, there should be a few good examples! http://www.fordfiesta-club.com/ seems to be a pretty active one.

So yeah in the end it really depends if you can find a reliable mechanic and tuner, and how much money you are willing to put into it.