Another week, another SUV. But the latest car to muscle its way in is one that’s wearing a different badge – as it’s not a Volkswagen, a BMW or even a Jaguar; but a DS.
A DS, you say? That’s right. This is the DS 7 Crossback, and the marketing material shouts about the fact it’s an SUV. This is a car that trades on a premium customer ownership programme, luxurious materials and stylish design. But more importantly, says the blurb, it is the automotive embodiment of French couture.
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Before we come onto whether the DS 7 deserves more of your attention than all the other SUVs launched in 2017, we first need to set the scene. The Crossback is a brand-new model for DS Automobiles – a company that has recently been divorced from Citroen to create a French premium brand in its own right.
DS Automobiles became a standalone company in 2014, but up to now the cars under its brand have all been ones that started out in life as Citroens – more recently inheriting the DS badge.
No matter how hard you look, though, you won’t find the remnants of an old Citroen badge on the DS 7. It’s the first of a range of six brand-new DS models – one due every year from 2018 onwards – all designed to offer something a little different from the usual selection of German, British and Swedish premium cars. From here, DS has visions of creating the automotive equivalent of French luxury brands like Chanel and Hermes.
In time, there will be a range of SUVs, hatchbacks and saloon cars using petrol, diesel, plug-in hybrid and full-electric powertrains. There will be DS Stores and ‘Salons’, too; separate dealerships not affiliated with the rather down-market Citroen brand. Each will offer tailored customer service and bespoke mobility solutions.
So it’s a big deal for DS, then – but should it be a big deal for the people who are thinking of buying a premium mid-sized SUV? The answer is yes. And no.
Behind the all the French marketing pizzazz, the DS 7 Crossback aims to compete with the new Jaguar E-Pace, BMW X1 and Volvo XC40, as well as the aging the Audi Q3 and Range Rover Evoque. But the DS 7 is a little larger than most of those and entry models undercut them slightly, too.
You won’t find many DS engineers admitting as much, but the DS 7 sits on the same EMP2 platform as the Peugeot 3008 – and it shares much of that car’s tech and engines, too. However, the DS 7 Crossback is viewed as the next step on, so in 2019 the brand will launch a plug-in hybrid version called the E-TENSE Hybrid. This version will use a 197bhp petrol engine mated to two 107bhp electric motors and will be the first car of its type from the PSA Group.
This version uses a more traditional set-up. It’s a 178bhp 2.0-litre diesel, powering the front wheels via and eight-speed automatic gearbox. It’s in Ultra Prestige trim – the highest of four available specs (grandly called Elegance, Performance Line, Prestige and Ultra Prestige) and comes it at a very hefty price tag of £43,535.
For this, you get a huge amount of kit including 20-inch wheels, lane keeping assist, adaptive cruise control with stop & go, blind spot warning, wireless phone charging and LED headlights. You’ll also find heated and ventilated electric leather seats, a panoramic sunroof and DS’s fancy new Active Scan Suspension, which scans the road looking for bumps and potholes to set up the car accordingly.
You also get a lot of space. Up front it’s very roomy, while in the back there’s plenty of space for two adults – three at a push thanks to a flat floor. There’s plenty of headroom, although the panoramic roof robs quite a bit of space. The boot is pretty big, too; at 555 litres (seats up) and 1,752 litres (seats down) it’s comfortably larger than a E-Pace or X1.
Just like we’ve seen with the Peugeot 3008, the new wave of cars coming out of the PSA Group are on a different plane for interior quality compared with their predecessors. There are soft-touch plastics everywhere, and if you choose the sportier Performance Line for the DS 7, most surfaces are covered in leather or Alcantara. Fit and finish is excellent; the doors (with Volkswagen Golf-like flock-lined door pockets) close with a Germanic thunk and the feel of the materials is good.
All models, bar the entry-level Elegance, get a smart-looking 12-inch touchscreen infotainment system, which is similar in feel to the one you’ll find in a Peugeot 3008. It also uses a similar 12.3-inch digital instrument display – both with DS-specific fonts and icons. Other glitzy features include a B.R.M clock that sits atop of the dash and rotates when the ignition is switched and, uniquely in this class, clever night vision tech.
For the most part, the DS 7 drives just as you’d expect an SUV to drive. There’s decent body control, the steering is numb but accurate enough, and the eight-speed auto slips through gears with very little fuss. It’s really rather refined, too, with hardly any wind or road noise. However, the diesel engine is way more vocal than it should be and the ride quality can flit between super comfortable and annoyingly brittle.
On most versions, DS’s new Active Scan Suspension is fitted as standard. It uses a camera that scans the road, adjusting the dampers when it detects a bump ahead. Cars fitted with this also come with drive mode select, featuring Eco, Normal, Comfort and Sport settings.
The Active Scan only works in Comfort mode, though. Avoid the Ultra Prestige’s standard-fit 20-inch wheels and you’ll notice a luxurious bounce to the suspension at high speed. Around town, it simply can’t handle really broken surfaces, however, which translates into a frustratingly sharp ride.
Crucially, though, the DS 7 doesn’t feel like a truly luxurious product. It feels more like a standard car with a few luxuries thrown at it. But history has shown that wacky doesn’t always sell – so in this regard the DS 7 strikes a good blend of nicely different but not too controversial, and sets the tone for what’s to come. DS’s future looks much brighter than the past, that’s for sure.
- Model: DS 7 Crossback Ultra Prestige BlueHDi 180 Automatic
- Price: 43,535
- Engine: 2.0-litre, four-cylinder turbo diesel
- Power/torque: 178bhp/400Nm
- Transmission: Eight-speed automatic, two-wheel drive
- 0-62mph: 9.9 seconds
- Top speed: 134mph
- Economy/CO2: 57.6mpg/135g/km
- On sale: Now
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