Performance

The DS 3 is acceptably nippy rather than particularly fast. The on-paper figures reflect this, getting from rest to 60mph in nine seconds. That’s fine for the class but it’s not going to be something you’d show off about at the pub. Rather surprisingly, the DS 3 is around half a second slower than the previous DS 3 Crossback, despite having 20bhp more.

Drive

The stand out feature of the DS 3 is that it’s incredibly serene. EVs are already quiet of course but the E-Tense really steps up that game and creates a little bubble of calm. There’s faint tyre and wind noise, but on a smooth road, or in the city it’s an absolute joy to be in.

That’s because DS has employed some luxury car tricks to keep everything as hushed as possible, so there’s extra sound-deadening materials in the interior, thicker door panels – again with noise-killing padding – and thicker windscreen glass. 

It’s also best driven calmly. This is not a particularly sporty car and the electric E-Tense weighs about a third of a tonne more than a DS 3 with an old-school petrol engine. The rear suspension has been toughened up to cope and can be a bit firm when you hit the inevitable potholes.

There’s also brake-regeneration so the motor becomes a generator when you lift off the accelerator pedal, feeding the battery rather than wasting the energy. But even in the strongest ‘B’ mode, it’s not enough to treat it as a full-on one pedal car like you can in some other small EVs.