Dropped DS4 for DS3 MHEV Hybrid

DS Automobiles DS 3 & DS 3 CROSSBACK
1

In the UK, car values are dropping like stones, literally hundreds of pounds every few weeks.
No doubt the mass influx of Chinese cars is adding pressure to the car market.

Had our 2024 DS4 Performance Line Plus from new £24k, 10k on the clock, dealer maintained. Have seen the p/ex value drop from £16250 to £14700 in less than a month.
Of course it would as I was looking to change!

The DS4 1.2 petrol was a lovely car, but the wet belt concerned me, along with a few too many gremlins appearing too.

Have to say, I do have a lot of affection for PSA cars, having had Citroën or DS since 2004!

Anyway, our lives and motoring needs have changed dramatically recently, having retired and moved house, we don’t do any where near as many long journeys as we did.
That was where the 1.2 DS4 excelled regularly around 48 -50 mpg.

The majority of our trips are now very local…and the 1.2 didn’t do well… less than 20mpg till it got warmed up… This I believe is one of the silent killers of the 1.2 wet belt system.

Looked around for a hybrid of sorts, has to be self charging… and within budget…
Seems lots of people are too !

Anyway, did my research and most were well above our p/ex and cash budget…
Eventually found a 2025 DS3 Pallas MHEV self charging hybrid, that fitted our needs and budget.

I have driven electric, diesel and petrol, but never a hybrid., so I needed to check this out.
A good 20 minute test drive with the wife, and I was hooked!.

Even though its still a 1.2 petrol, it now has a little battery and an electric motor ,and what a revelation that has been over the past 2 weeks we have had it !

I was sceptical as regards how the hybrid would perform., but surprised just how well it does its job.

The increased input of power from its small electric motor gives the acceleration an amazing boost…and it’s instant too…

The DS3 is far more zippy than the DS4 ever was… and just as quiet, even more so when running on its battery.

The hybrid system works excellently on all our local journeys, with far more battery usage than petrol. Even the MPG on petrol, short and long journeys is way better than the DS4 ever was!

The regenerative brakes are very powerful and took me about a week to get used to .
Hardly touch the actual mechanical brakes, but this really suits my OAP anticipative style of driving.

This is how the battery is regulated / charged.

Amazingly the battery element works up to 40 miles an hour plus, and when eased off the throttle.
No action is required from the driver it is all automatic.

The ride is probably a tad firmer than the DS4, due to the shorter wheel base, and the 6 speed gearbox not quite as slick as the EAT8 was… but I am very pleased with it.

Needless to say, 2 weeks on, 300 miles and still 50% of a tank remaining, its doing everything I had hoped and so much more !

2

As mentioned in your other thread.
The drop on my DS4 E Tense is shocking.
From £46000 to around £17000 in just short of 2 years.

I know first owners of new cars take a bit of a kicking, but really, £29000 over 2 years .

When I first bought it we were having so many issues I was very close to giving the car back for a full refund, but like a fool I stuck with it, kicking myself now !!!

Then about a year later and still having issues I enquired with the sales dept at the dealership how much they would give to buy it back, they offered £22000, at the time I told them what I thought of that offer, the car had just 1500 miles on the clock.
So again I held on to it.
Since then it’s dropped another £5000.

My last 6 cars have been purchased new, but the DS has suffered the biggest depreciation by far.
It’s how quickly it’s depreciated which is so annoying.

BTW, the initial issues are still ongoing, in fact the car is going into the dealership shortly.

3

@Jactac, to make you feel better most cars have depreciated a lot, yes some more than others.
One of the issues is manufacturers are building to many, just look at the amount of cars on forecourts.
Another reason is new car leasing, again making it cheap to have a new car then throw it away 3 years later and buy another, without having to worry about it selling it.
It’s all about supply and demand, too much supply and not enough demand.

4

The deprecation is similarly applicable to other brands ( though some do seem to hold on to higher values much longer than French cars).

I would never buy new again… even though we got the DS4 at a cracking price at the time, some 7k off list.

I think currently, the depreciation rate is happening a lot fast than ‘the norm’
Usually they say 43- 45% of its original value at 3 years, seems now its much earlier at 18 -24 months ( or less) regardless of how low the mileage .

In my experience of 22 years of French cars, they do depreciate more than most do…

On the other hand the French marques usually offer many more features / tech as standard compared to say then German makes., which is what makes them appealing in the first place.

The DS3 hybrid we just got, was a similar massive hit for its previous owner too.
Prices currently for exact same model are at worst £30k … at best £23k for new.

Ours is 17months old, 6000 on clock, full dealer service history and was £17.5k, and that’s with the dealer making a profit too.

This was by far the best price we could find for any hybrid, unless they were much older and much higher mileage and out of warranty too…

Again, doing the on line valuation test, its already worth less than our DS4 part ex plus a wad of cash too !

Generally, we don’t buy cars to appreciate in value, just a shame the loss happens so fast now.

BTW
We didn’t go for a PHEV or Electric as cabling for a charger is a problem where we live.
Also the PHEV ( all Stellantis makes n models) all appear to have more gremlins /issues than electrics, so we plumbed for a self charging model.
@Jjactac experience solidified our decision !

Nothing else came close to our budget… so it was stick with a wet belt depreciating even faster than the the norm… or go for the hybrid…