YOU FRENCH SMOOTHIE!
DO YOU love Paris and its food, fashion and frivolity? If so, the new DS7 Crossback could be just the vehicle for you. After all, if it’s good enough for President Macron — who was driven down the Champs-Elysees in the very first one — then why not?
I was in Paris this week to try it out. And, like the French president, it’s a smooth operator. It’s produced by DS Automobiles, the premium division of PSA, the Peugeot-Citroen car empire — which now owns Vauxhall — and is a brand in its own right.
Aimed as a Gallic riposte to the dominant German, Japanese and British upmarket luxury off-roaders, this new SUV, DS bosses say, is masculine and something like ‘a French Sean Connery’.
But I think it’s more in the sophisticated mould of legendary actress Catherine Deneuve, or Marion Cotillard from the film La Vie En Rose about Edith Piaf.
The bold Audi- esque grille aside, what strike you most are the finishing touches. DS bosses insist everything the customer touches will be leather, metal or wood — with no plastics to spoil the tactile experience.
The strikingly bright headlights perform a theatrical revolving dance when switched on, and glow either purple or white. There’s an elegant flipover clock on the dashboard. The distinctive sculpted triangular metal switches for controlling windows and other functions are works of art.
Technology savoir faire includes an option (£1,000 where not standard) for cameras to read the road several feet ahead to soften the suspension to make potholes bump and bounce free. It costs from £28,050 for the manual DS7 Elegance, and £31,435 for the sportier diesel automatic, up to £43,185 for the Ultra Prestige, with deliveries by spring.
There are two diesel and two petrol engines and four lavish interior style options.
But DS should be more adventurous or avant-garde if they really want to turn heads.