Cullys Wifes New Runaround

[cully]

not so much as a new toy but a replacement for the wife's car
we knew we were going to look for a newer car than her 2001 206 
but didn't expect to come home with a car that is not 3 years old yet

its not a racing machine but its more powerful than her 206 2ltr HDI and has a lot more toys

its a little 1.2 turbo 3 cylinder 110HP DS3
same insurance as the 206 but only £20 tax a year!

anyone want a pre CAN 206 HDI on 112k miles?

[Mighty306]

Ahh, a DS3!  Looks like a few members are getting drawn towards those as a modern alternative.  Never driven one but they look a lot more interesting than many cars on the road these days.

Hope you've enjoyed the first few days of ownership

[DeeTurbo]

Welcome to DS3 ownership.

Do you know about the common issues with them?

[cully]

no nothing about them
tell me the horror story's then i can get them sorted in my warentee period

[DeeTurbo]

Main ones are,
Suspension springs snap, front or back.
The wing mirrors cause paint to flake under mounting point, this causes rust.
Rust spots around the doors can appear.
Mounts on the exhaust break, any of them.
Clutch pedal catches carpet and cause hole from wear.
Some get bad lacquer peel on the roof.

There is some edge trimming you can use on the wing mirrors, I'll find a line for you tomorrow.

What trim level did you get?

I bought the Dstyle Plus. The seats in it were really bad, I changed them for the ones out of the Dstyle, more sporty but are loads better, comfy and better angled.

The trim level names changed on the face-lift.

[cully]

im unsure on the trim level
one thing it has not got that the 306 did is auto wipers

Dstyle Puretech s/s It was listed at the dealers ,
i think i know what you mean about the seats they arnt built to hold you in the corners
been out driving it most of the weekend its quite a nice thing to drive it turns in real fast
and is surprisingly nippy for a 1.2, the stop start is a bit strange to get used to!

[DeeTurbo]

link that edging stuff.

I would highly recommend the Dsport seats.

The Dstyle plus would have the auto wipers, auto lights, electric folding mirror, heated mirrors and reverse sensors. I think the plus has the city pack.

Does yours have the auto dim rear view mirror?

I found that my style of driving has chanced to suit the stop start. I have the clutch down longer some time when I know traffic ahead is going to move of lights are changing.

[Stef205]

if you break it ill have the axle for research purposes haha

[Toms306]

DStyle is a fairly basic one, it's the plus that gets that spec.

Did you buy it outright or is it on a just add fuel sort of deal? My sister is looking to replace her C1 and I've tried to steer her towards these. I really like them tbh.

[cully]

link that edging stuff.

I would highly recommend the Dsport seats.

The Dstyle plus would have the auto wipers, auto lights, electric folding mirror, heated mirrors and reverse sensors. I think the plus has the city pack.

Does yours have the auto dim rear view mirror?

I found that my style of driving has chanced to suit the stop start. I have the clutch down longer some time when I know traffic ahead is going to move of lights are changing.

nope has none of that it does have speed limiter and cruise control though probably a good job as the wife would struggle with the extra toys

speed limiter is very good easy to set and switch on and off

the car is not quit 3 year old Tom
put a deposit down with the remainder on finance
negotiated money off the screen price,12 month warentee, 12 month RAC, full service, 12 months MOT that wernt due to start til sept
I dont know why anyone would buy a new car as this one has lost more than £10,000 in depreciation in just 2 half years

and how the feck do you turn the radio off?

[DeeTurbo]

You can't turn some models off, I take it yours has the colour screen?

I've heard you can mute them by pressing volume up and down together but it can't be turned off lol

[cully]

yes colour touch screen with shit loads in it but no Off for the radio!!
yup worked out how to mute it with the two buttons

[Toms306]

the car is not quit 3 year old Tom
put a deposit down with the remainder on finance
negotiated money off the screen price,12 month warentee, 12 month RAC, full service, 12 months MOT that wernt due to start til sept
I dont know why anyone would buy a new car as this one has lost more than £10,000 in depreciation in just 2 half years

and how the feck do you turn the radio off?

Ah yeah I missed that bit! The just add fuel type deals work out well for some people, and a lot of new cars go to motability but I agree the depreciation on buying outright brand new is daft. I'll try to get something still within manufacturers warranty for my next car though, have been amazed how much is broken on a 5 year old/43k Focus that mostly would've been covered under warranty a couple of years earlier. That said, the car lost over £20k in that time lol.

What sort of MPG does the 1.2 turbo get in the real world? 1.0 EcoBoosts don't do anywhere near book figures.

[DeeTurbo]

Cully, Hows the DS3 going? I saw you posted about an oil leak on facebook a while back.

Tom, with my 90 HDI I've got 83mpg on a run but that was driving at 55-60mph. I don't think I would have been able to drive that slow without the cruise control.

I'm getting 73mpg on my commute when driving carefully, I was getting 45-50mpg with normal driving with my 306.

[cully]

DS is doing well when im allowed to drive it!

I have replaced the rear discs and pads as the others were making a terrible noise, and yes we had an oil leak from the 2 plastic bungs in the cylinder head a common issue Im told

I like the car but as soon as the finance is up it will be gone cause i dont believe these highly tuned small capacity engines will last any more than 100K miles if that. who ever thought of using plastic on a feckin engine needs shooting!

oh and since we have bought it the car has averaged 42MPG over its total millage weve had it, which is good going for a little 1.2 turbod 110hp flying machine

[Eeyore]

the TU 1.4s didnt last much over 80k. Everything is built to a price these days :/ I think theyre a cool car though. Is there any opportunity to replace the plastic parts with metal equivalents?

[luke306rallye]

Can't skim the heads on these either.

[Toms306]

Cully, Hows the DS3 going? I saw you posted about an oil leak on facebook a while back.

Tom, with my 90 HDI I've got 83mpg on a run but that was driving at 55-60mph. I don't think I would have been able to drive that slow without the cruise control.

I'm getting 73mpg on my commute when driving carefully, I was getting 45-50mpg with normal driving with my 306.

That's a decent average, is yours the later 8 valve? I've currently got a 2.0 CR140 Golf with DPF, I've seen 70mpg on the 'single' trip reader a few times on a longer run, but tank average is only ever 55-60mpg.

I still need to change to a petrol though as I just don't do the miles to keep the DPF clear. Still waiting for the facelift 1.0 EcoBoost Focus' to drop into my budget. The pre-facelift 1.0s have too many issues, mainly due to plastic parts being used for boiling hot coolant next to the boiling hot engine & turbo...it's not just PSA fitting useless plastic parts to engines lol!

As Cully says, these engines are built to a very tight budget and not designed to last. The cambelt change on the 1.0EB is so awkward and requiring special tools, I genuinely don't think they're expecting the engines to last long enough to need a belt change (150k miles).