Meet the very first ever DS SUV, the DS 7
Fresh DS will contest with the Audi Q3 and Mercedes GLA. We’ve even had a rail
Read more on:
What you’re looking at here is, of course, the inaugural DS SUV. It’s called the DS seven Crossback, and it’s the very first car developed as a DS from the get go (the DS Trio, four and five were Citroens very first).
The headlines are thus: it sits on the same EMP2 platform as the Peugeot three thousand eight and 5008, and its technical specification will broadly mirror those cars. This means familiar petrol and diesel engines, including the three-cylinder PureTech turbo petrol, and popular 1.6 and Two.0-litre diesels. Some will have the fresh eight-speed auto, others a six-speed manual and some a choice inbetween the two.
A plug-in hybrid will go after in 2019, a year after the car’s launch ten months from now. DS is the very first PSA brand to get this (and most other) tech. It combines a 196bhp four-cylinder petrol with two 80kW electrical motors – one for each axle providing all-wheel drive. DS are claiming an electric-only range of 37miles and a combined 296bhp.
Most PHEVs sandwich the electrified motor inbetween the combustion engine and gearbox, but in the DS the e-motor is downstream of the gearbox. This means greater efficiency because the e-motor doesn’t have to run through the eight-speed auto. Clever. A recharge takes four hours from a normal buttplug, but it also regens while you’re braking or coasting.
Then there’s DS Active Scan Suspension. Basically, predictive damping via a camera mounted behind the rear-view mirror that spies potholes in the road and gives the suspension a heads-up. It’s a bit like Mercedes’ Magic Assets Control, only that system uses active springs as well as adaptive dampers. Andre Louis, Deputy Director of the DS seven project, tells us the fact DS has “no active springs, only dampers” is fairly on purpose.
“The S-Class has active springs with a hydraulic piston, but we don’t want that because they are attempting to make the car plane everywhere,” he says.
“This is not our target, because we want to be slick. Very convenient. I think your bod feels the road, and the car resumes to go plane. It’s very strange for the assets. I choose to have a car that goes after the road – not with big movements, but it goes after the road.” At the moment, the S-Class is the only other car with this kind of system.
We have had a quick rail in the 7, albeit the predictive system was deactivated (we get to attempt it in May, Andre promises us) and the adaptive dampers locked in normal mode. There’s plainly work left to be done. Comfort’s the aim, and once the jiggle the of the pre-prod is dialled out, it should rail fairly well. Albeit having said that, Britain’s roads are uniquely terrible, so there’s no knowing for certain until it grounds for real. What we can tell you is that the seats are comfy, and that even in the camo’d pre-prod, wind and tyre roar is pretty well contained. Eight-speed auto seems slick, too.
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While we’re being technical, the headlights are worth a mention. They aren’t matrix ones like everyone else does (where specific LEDs are blocked or deactivated to create a dark patch around a car you’re following, or one coming the other way) because DS wants a more “homogenous” light pattern (its words), and they’re not linked to the GPS like Audi’s because DS says that has its disadvantages too. But DS is, nonetheless, very proud of them.
They’re made up of a one main and three subsidiary modules. When you unlock the car, those three modules rotate through one hundred eighty degrees and light-up purple. Cool, if fully worthless. Night vision à la Audi, Mercedes and similar is a very first for the segment, too. Other tech on suggest includes adaptive cruise and lane-keeping, semi-autonomous parking and a pretty serious FOCAL stereo. All contribute to the ‘Lounge’ effect DS is going for with the seven – dynamic serenity, they’re calling it.
However it’s more or less the same size as the Audi Q5 and Mercedes GLC, DS says it’s with the Q3, GLA and BMW X1 that the DS seven will be priced to challenge. In the skin it looks (and feels) way thicker than those cars, which no doubt has its appeal. And the design is more conventional than we’ve come to expect from DS – more closely resembling the restrained Audis, VWs and Mercedes of this world than the origami mentalness of the Lexus NX, or wilful oddness of the old DS Five.
The brand has a history of doing things a bit differently, and tho’ there are some interesting little details dotted about – the taillights are especially cool – from afar the seven could as lightly be an Audi as a DS. This is clearly deliberate, and while the result is mostly successful, we will miss DS’s more radical style.
Inwards the digital dials (from the 3008) and 12in centre screen are pretty cool and slick enough in their operation (we sampled a pre-prod car. Bit laggy, however the fundamentals are there), as with the exterior there are some neat details (the revolving BRM clock, for example) but again the broader design isn’t anything massively shocking. Peugeot and even Citroen’s interiors are, very likely, more distinctive.
Materials should be better in the DS, however. There’s leather everywhere, or you can have Alcantara if you go for the Spectacle Line ‘Inspiration’ (trim…). Granted the cars we had a play with were very early prototypes, but if DS is putting half as much effort in as it says it is, the 7’s cabin should feel pretty solid. We’re hoping the materials, functionality and space on suggest (there’s a lot of that last one) should make up for any residual frustration potentially generated by those me-too looks.
We’ll see the DS seven in the metal, again, at next week’s Geneva Motor Demonstrate.
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Meet the very first ever DS SUV, the DS 7, Top Gear
Meet the very first ever DS SUV, the DS 7
Fresh DS will contest with the Audi Q3 and Mercedes GLA. We’ve even had a rail
Read more on:
What you’re looking at here is, of course, the inaugural DS SUV. It’s called the DS seven Crossback, and it’s the very first car developed as a DS from the get go (the DS Three, four and five were Citroens very first).
The headlines are thus: it sits on the same EMP2 platform as the Peugeot three thousand eight and 5008, and its technical specification will broadly mirror those cars. This means familiar petrol and diesel engines, including the three-cylinder PureTech turbo petrol, and popular 1.6 and Two.0-litre diesels. Some will have the fresh eight-speed auto, others a six-speed manual and some a choice inbetween the two.
A plug-in hybrid will go after in 2019, a year after the car’s launch ten months from now. DS is the very first PSA brand to get this (and most other) tech. It combines a 196bhp four-cylinder petrol with two 80kW electrified motors – one for each axle providing all-wheel drive. DS are claiming an electric-only range of 37miles and a combined 296bhp.
Most PHEVs sandwich the electrified motor inbetween the combustion engine and gearbox, but in the DS the e-motor is downstream of the gearbox. This means greater efficiency because the e-motor doesn’t have to run through the eight-speed auto. Clever. A recharge takes four hours from a normal ass-plug, but it also regens while you’re braking or coasting.
Then there’s DS Active Scan Suspension. Basically, predictive damping via a camera mounted behind the rear-view mirror that spies potholes in the road and gives the suspension a heads-up. It’s a bit like Mercedes’ Magic Figure Control, only that system uses active springs as well as adaptive dampers. Andre Louis, Deputy Director of the DS seven project, tells us the fact DS has “no active springs, only dampers” is fairly on purpose.
“The S-Class has active springs with a hydraulic piston, but we don’t want that because they are attempting to make the car vapid everywhere,” he says.
“This is not our target, because we want to be sleek. Very convenient. I think your figure feels the road, and the car proceeds to go vapid. It’s very strange for the assets. I choose to have a car that goes after the road – not with big movements, but it goes after the road.” At the moment, the S-Class is the only other car with this kind of system.
We have had a quick rail in the 7, albeit the predictive system was deactivated (we get to attempt it in May, Andre promises us) and the adaptive dampers locked in normal mode. There’s plainly work left to be done. Comfort’s the aim, and once the jiggle the of the pre-prod is dialled out, it should rail fairly well. Albeit having said that, Britain’s roads are uniquely terrible, so there’s no knowing for certain until it grounds for real. What we can tell you is that the seats are comfy, and that even in the camo’d pre-prod, wind and tyre roar is pretty well contained. Eight-speed auto seems slick, too.
Related content
Yep, that’s Spider-Man on top of the fresh Audi A8 limo
Very first drive: Lexus RC F
Across Europe in the fresh Aston Martin DB11
EV does Two,500 miles inbetween charges
While we’re being technical, the headlights are worth a mention. They aren’t matrix ones like everyone else does (where specific LEDs are blocked or deactivated to create a dark patch around a car you’re following, or one coming the other way) because DS wants a more “homogenous” light pattern (its words), and they’re not linked to the GPS like Audi’s because DS says that has its disadvantages too. But DS is, nonetheless, very proud of them.
They’re made up of a one main and three subsidiary modules. When you unlock the car, those three modules rotate through one hundred eighty degrees and light-up purple. Cool, if entirely worthless. Night vision à la Audi, Mercedes and similar is a very first for the segment, too. Other tech on suggest includes adaptive cruise and lane-keeping, semi-autonomous parking and a pretty serious FOCAL stereo. All contribute to the ‘Lounge’ effect DS is going for with the seven – dynamic serenity, they’re calling it.
Tho’ it’s more or less the same size as the Audi Q5 and Mercedes GLC, DS says it’s with the Q3, GLA and BMW X1 that the DS seven will be priced to rival. In the skin it looks (and feels) way thicker than those cars, which no doubt has its appeal. And the design is more conventional than we’ve come to expect from DS – more closely resembling the restrained Audis, VWs and Mercedes of this world than the origami mentalness of the Lexus NX, or wilful oddness of the old DS Five.
The brand has a history of doing things a bit differently, and however there are some interesting little details dotted about – the taillights are especially cool – from afar the seven could as lightly be an Audi as a DS. This is clearly deliberate, and while the result is mostly successful, we will miss DS’s more radical style.
Inwards the digital dials (from the 3008) and 12in centre screen are pretty cool and slick enough in their operation (we sampled a pre-prod car. Bit laggy, however the fundamentals are there), as with the exterior there are some neat details (the revolving BRM clock, for example) but again the broader design isn’t anything massively shocking. Peugeot and even Citroen’s interiors are, very likely, more distinctive.
Materials should be better in the DS, however. There’s leather everywhere, or you can have Alcantara if you go for the Spectacle Line ‘Inspiration’ (trim…). Granted the cars we had a play with were very early prototypes, but if DS is putting half as much effort in as it says it is, the 7’s cabin should feel pretty solid. We’re hoping the materials, functionality and space on suggest (there’s a lot of that last one) should make up for any residual frustration potentially generated by those me-too looks.
We’ll see the DS seven in the metal, again, at next week’s Geneva Motor Showcase.
Share this page:
What do you think?
This service is provided by Disqus and is subject to their privacy policy and terms of use. Please read Top Gear’s code of conduct (link below) before posting.