We drove the version with all the fancy DS3 Racing decals inside and it’s a bit of a fairground in there. The orange detailing on the dashboard, swathes of mock carbon fibre panelling and chrome trim are hardly understated. Like many Citroens, the dashboard layout isn’t that logical, but if loud and brash is your thing, you’ll be in heaven.

Usually comfort isn’t a high priority for hot hatch buyers but the DS3 Racing is pretty good in this department. Okay, it’s not a luxury cruiser but the suspension isn’t so rock hard that it’ll rattle your teeth. Yes, you feel the undulations in the road and if a motorway isn’t perfectly surfaced you will feel the vibrations coming through the cabin, but the ride is reasonable if the local authorities have done their job properly.

The engine is also very refined, and in some respects you want a little more of it coming through the cabin when you give it the full beans. Citroen does tend to insulate its cars very well from road and wind noise and the DS3 Racing is no exception, but the engine does feel overly muted and that’s a bit of a shame. The sports seats are excellent although it does take a little bit of faffing about with the manual adjustment to find the right driving position.

Once you’re up and running though, the seats really do hem you in nicely when you are negotiating the twisty bits.