[el--lobo]

Hi All,


Just joined the forum to ask a few questions.



I currently drive a Civic Type S GT 2.2 diesel. I am looking at the DS4 as a replacemnet as I need a 4 door car (wife expecting our first). I'd be looking to buy 2nd hand may DStyle 2012 model.


1) Probably looking at the manual 1.6 diesel, is this underpowered. I like a bit of power but frugality is probably just as important.


2) I have read they come with DAB radio's is this specific to year/model?


3) Bluetooth streaming music, again is this standard or specific to year/model?


4) I have read the back is a bit cramped Is it practical for a baby seat, my other option is a C4 but like the look of the DS4



I haven't yet had a test drive so I will be looking to have go soon. I bought my Civic because the styling is different and unique so its the same reasons that attracts me to the DS4.


thanks all for any advise/help

 

[PAJ]

Hi, I can't answer all your questions, but will answer those that I can:
1. I bought the manual 1.6 diesel a few months ago as our practical family car. Initially I was anticipating getting the 2.0 diesel as it's performance looked much better on paper, for similar economy figures. But having driven both back-to-back I opted for the 1.6. Whilst it may look like it's going to be feeble on paper, it's actually pretty decent to drive and gives decent performance (certainly compared to the 1.6 FSI petrol Golf we had before). We're getting around 52mpg from it - not up to the official figures, but then who ever gets them? Apparently the 2.0 gets mpg figures are not far off the 1.6, but I found that all the 2.0 cars I was looking at had the big 19" wheels (and whilst they look great the ride quality was ridiculously hard). And there seem to be more 1.6s out there to choose from and obviously they're cheaper. The ride with the 18" alloys (which still look great) is so much more comfortable.

2. We bought a model from May 2013 and it has DAB radio. Not sure if it's always been standard though....The sound quality is excellent.

3. Dunno! Never used bluetooth I'm afraid.

4. The back is quite roomy for kids. The roofline slopes down so probably a little cramped for adults though. The main issue, as you may have read, is the shape of the door - it has a pointy bit which can spear you if you're not careful, and the fact that the rear windows don't open. Neither of these issues were enough to put me off buying one as I too wanted the distinctive looks - style over substance! I always made do with 3 door cars when our 2 kids were little (at one stage our "main" car was an Alfa GT) so perhaps I'm not the one to comment on practicality too much, but the DS4 seems very practical to me!

Regards

Edited by: PAJ

 

[MSH]

Similar thoughts. I have a new 1.6 HDI Style, Babylon red, quite a bold statement at my age. The performance is far better than the stats indicate, I thought it might be underpowered but never found it lacked anything.
Ride is quite firm on the 18inch rims so the 19inch might be a little to much. Economy is good, but with me it's mainly a motorway cruiser.

 

[APM]

I have the 1.6 hdi, and it's ok, but not in the same league as the Honda diesel for refinement or power delivery. The main power delivery is less smooth and the rev range is a lot shorter than the equivalent Honda (I'm comparing this to an Accord Sport Tourer I used to drive as a rapid response vehicle from about 3-4 years ago).

We are also expecting our first and have debated whether to have one that we can remove, and decided in the end to go for a fixed option seat that rotates. This is the option I think which is most do-able in the DS4.


We ended up going for this:


http://cybex-online.com/gb/carseats/sirona.html


It's not cheap, but will do up to 4 years potentially from birth. Apart from the benefit of it being rear facing up to this time (you can look at the pros and cons of that yourself) - it also swivels through 90 degrees so that you can add/remove baby easily - it makes the limited door access less of an issue.


The prices are pretty much the same wherever you go, although for a newborn you'll need the separate insert which most high street resellers don't stock and cant get hold of. We ended up getting ours from Mothercare as we felt they were the most helpful/knowledgeable - no company is supposed to sell the seat online as they are supposed to ensure it fits and is fitted correctly. It fits in the back of my DS4 well (once you work out first time stuff), and doesn't compromise too much of the front passenger seat space even when laid flat. The only other thing I would say is that the access to the ISOFIX brackets on the nearside seat is a bit pants.


I also looked at similar get ups from besafe and so on which are good in their own right, but you'd just have to have a midget as a front seat passenger as the space required is much more than the cybex.


If there's anything else I can help with, just let me know and I'll ramble on some more.


Edited by: APM

 

[Hammo72]

If you make the jump from Type S to Ds4 you will be joining myself and a couple of others on here.
I have the 2.0 sport and i would say is slightly quicker than the civic handling not quite as direct but better over bumps even with the 19s on. getting 51mpg from my 2.0 and recently got 56 on a run.
The bluetooth seems pretty good on mine but a few seem to have issues.
Not got DAB.
Just a shame they destroyed the Civic and no Type S version

 

[el--lobo]

Yes I am sure the new civic is quality but it hurts my eyes to look at it.

Thank you all for your input very helpful.

 

[Frank Bullitt]

My mate has a Civic 2.2CTDi SE+ - I'd say it is quicker than my car but not as smooth; I was surprised to discover it sounds quite agricultural.

Space wise I think the DS4 is almost the same as a C4 (we tried both), the sloping roofline is a perception more than reality - the lack of opening rear windows aren't an issue (we have a 4 year old and he never had the windows open in our old car) and the door opening wider at the top can be restrictive against walls but alongside other cars it's not an issue (the bit to the rear of the window invariably slots into the 'tumble home' of the car alongside meaning it can be opened most of the way in car parks).

We've only used our 16kg+ seat in the DS4 but our son was always in isofix when rear facing (until 9 months) and then until he was about 3 and a half. There are loads of places to look for advice on rear facing v forward facing when they are over 9 months old but we went forward facing as the 'risk' is minimal and probably comparable to me having a greater chance of a crash as a result of a bored child staring at a seat back kicking off...

Edit; Just to add, I stream music using my iPhone 5 and it works a treat. Cars produced after about May 2013 have DAB of which any (ours included) has an issue on Bluetooth calling which means the person at the other end thinks your ringing to tell them you're drowning at the bottom of a toilet.Edited by: Frank Bullitt

 

[el--lobo]

Thank you all.


I think only 2013 models have the bluetooth streaming. I have an aftermarket kit in my current car so think I would miss it if it wasn't available.



I have noticed 110 bhp models and 115bhp models is there any noticable difference in the way they drive?

 

[Frank Bullitt]

Not driven a 115 back to back with a 110 but from what I've read there is very little difference, it was a revised unit to manipulate emissions on some cars that use this engine although curiously not the DS4 which remained at 122g/km of carbon until later in 2013 when stop-start was introduced.

Bluetooth is fitted to all DSport and DStyle models (might be DSign too) and I believe it does stream music on all of them. It depends on your budget of course but we bought ours from motorpoint which meant we got a 9k 9 month old car for the same price Citroen dealers would charge for 25k 2 year old cars.

 

[Hoovie]

I would strongly recommend having a couple of practice runs with child seats in the DS4.

I always regarded the DS4 much more as a 2+2 due to the awkwardness of the rear doors TBH. I have no doubt it is roomy enough for the babies, kiddy seats, etc, but the messing around to get them in needs testing out.

 

[TwoSaints]

Another Civic --> DS4 owner here, really for the same reasons as you, the 'different' looks which really appealed.

I had the 1.8 Petrol Type S and have moved to the 1.6 DS4 and the power is noticably lower, but still more than enough and gets a shift on quite easily while comfortable at motorway speeds. What you lose in power you gain in ride quality and then some! The Type S used to feel fine until I drove a DS4 then I noticed ust how firm a ride it was.

 

[Rich2316]

I went for the 2.0 D style. If your not bothered about full leather there is not much difference to the D sportat all they have the 18inch brisbane wheels which are apparently a lot smoother ride than the 19,s.Mine has DAB and bluetooth as standard.

 

[el--lobo]

Thank again for the replies.


Just had atest drive on my lunch break. I have to say pleasantly surprised on how refined the drive is compared to my Civic. It has certainly made my mind up on the DS4. Just need to test our car seat and then look for a good deal. I have been looking at Motorpoint and some other car supermarkets seem a bit cheaper than Citroen Stealers<?: prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" />

 

[Frank Bullitt]

The motorpoint offer is akin to buying a washing machine, there's no 'experience' or warm feeling but the £1000+ in my bank account makes me feel warmer! We bought from Derby but I helped a mate but a Punto from Peterborough a while back and the process is the same.

 

[PAJ]

I bought ours from Motorpoint too (the Newport branch, back in March). I'd never used them before but I was impressed. The price was excellent and the trade-in on our 10 year old Golf was £1000 higher than the nearby Citroen dealer offered. So it felt like a huge saving over the dealer price to us. They had a choice of4 DS4s at the time, all around 8 months old and with similar mileage - in contrast the Citroen dealer only had one used DS4 in stock and, despite being more expensive, had double the mileage and was a year older. No brainer for me.

 

[el--lobo]

Well I finally bought a 12 plate Dstyle 1.6 from motorpoint. Car was way cheaper than equivalent adverts on autotrader.

in comparison to my civic, which was a great car, it is so comfortable the ride is soft by comparison.

 

[Frank Bullitt]

Good choice!

We've had ours three months and I don't regret buying it at all.