Nice car and road, shame about the weather
Here's something a bit controversial to get your head around. This sharp-suited (dare we say funky?) city car marks, says Citroen, the end of the retro craze among top-end small cars. That's the trend that has created the current Mini, the reborn Fiat 500 and, to a lesser extent, the 1960s-flavoured Alfa Romeo Mito.
Now Citroen wants a piece of the same sub-supermini, super-fashionable pie, but it's not going to follow the retro route. Except that Citroen has chosen to call its new offering DS3, bringing thoughts of the classic 1950s DS series to mind. And the jazzy press conference video package that the world's motoring press are plonked in front of uses video clips of John Lennon and Marilyn Monroe to emphasise the modernity of the DS3. It's all a bit confusing.
Things become clearer, however, when you push aside the marketing puff. Citroen's bullish 'anti-retro' message might grate a little, but take a look at the DS3 and you can see where the phrase comes from. The sharp lines and round surfaces are unmistakably those of a Citroen but, unlike the DS3's rivals from Mini and Fiat, it doesn't reprise any specific models of the past.
The DS3 also has the requisite plethora of customisable interior and exterior options (including some striking roof graphic options, the 'zebra' being our favourite), which Citroen calls 'co-design', so another 'lifestyle' box is ticked there.
So perhaps the PR bluster is right because, visually at least, the DS3 is the first of these 'lifestyle' superminis to look genuinely and unashamedly modern.
The DS3 looks right, then, but it's going to take more than that to convince fashion-conscious buyers that the newcomer from Citroen has sufficient brand kudos. More important in something that has pretensions towards hot hatchdom, there's also the small matter of handling - Citroen isn't particularly known these days for its snappy-handling hatches and the DS3 is going to have to bring its 'A' game to take on the dynamically sparkling Mini.
Hop inside the DS3 and the first impressions are pretty convincing. If Citroen's designers had tried to create an interior this sophisticated even five years ago they would have stood no chance.
But with the C5, and C4 and C3 Picasso, Citroen interiors have become immeasurably more stylish and high quality. The DS3 continues with the trend with an attractive, well-trimmed and easy-to-use cabin (although the built-in button-only sat-nav isn't the easiest piece of kit to get on with). The DS3's cabin probably isn't quite up with a Mini's in terms of quality, but it easily outclasses a Fiat 500's interior. Still, with the top-end DSport version we tested coming in at £15,900, the DS3's cabin ought to be classy.
Heading out of Paris in morning rush hour it's immediately clear that the DS3 is a step up in refinement from the traditionally slightly flimsy Citroen supermini - indeed Citroen has thickened the side glass, fitted a special noise-dampening windscreen and generally worked hard on noise, vibration and harshness levels.
It's also clear that the 1.6-litre turbocharged THP 150 motor (which, confusingly, pumps out 154bhp, not 150) is strong enough to give the little DS3 quite a respectable turn of speed. The DS3 certainly feels well up for the challenge of attacking the manic Parisian morning traffic.
Out of the breathless mayhem of Paris, the DS3's diminutive stature (it's the same length as a Mini Clubman) and spirited motor makes the little Citroen a surprisingly entertaining country-road companion, and the sportiest Citroen for the best part of a decade.
But although the DS3 is a car that, should you chuck it at a twisty road, will leave a grin on your face for quite a while, don't expect it to deliver true hot hatch thrills - in this launch guise at least. There's a reasonably neutral balance to the handling, but although the tail will wag if you lift off mid-corner, there's not much in the way of adjustability. And a 0-60mph time of 7.3secs and a top speed of 134mph are respectable enough figures, but there's a slight springiness to the pedals, a deadness to the steering and a slightly too-long gearchange that conspire to keep the driver ever so slightly distanced from the action.
Then again, back-road blasts aren't really what the DS3 is about. Citroen has set about creating a contemporary-feeling, classy Mini rival that pushes Citroen upmarket and takes on retro rivals without feeling retro itself.
In those areas, the DS3 scores very well, but we'll have to wait for the hotter version of the DS3 that's rumoured for next year to see if Citroen's newest baby can make the leap from swift, chic city car to pukka baby hot hatch.