DS3 Performance cuts a huge dash

YOU’D buy this Citroen DS3 Performance for its colour alone. It’s matt black with a gold roof and gold mirror cappings – and inside there’s a gold dashboard.

If you like subtle it’s not the colour scheme for you because this car gets looked at. It’s as distinctive as Peugeot’s 208 GTI 30th Anniversary edition in its black/red coupe Franche colour scheme, which is fitting since the DS3 Performance and the 208 GTI are sister cars.

Citroen, or DS Automobiles if we follow the company line and drop the name Citroen, hasn’t sold a proper hot version of its DS3 since the low-volume DS3 Racing almost six years ago. That car was a looker too with its orange detailing.

It’s surprising that Citroen didn’t repeat the experiment sooner since the Racing sold pretty well even though it was built in small numbers.

This new DS3 Performance and the old DS3 Racing share very similar technical specifications.

For example, they use the same 1.6-litre turbocharged engine (although updated for improved emissions and economy) that in the old car produced 204bhp and in the new Performance gives 210bhp.