• Reasonably efficient petrol engines
• No diesel, hybrid, or plug-in hybrid available
• For lower running costs, get the E-Tense

What are the running costs?

Going hybrid has certainly improved the DS 3’s efficiency on paper. Claimed economy is now in the 50-60mpg range, and is a figure we saw on a couple of urban journeys. However, our average for the duration of the test including plenty of A roads and dual carriageways was around 41mpg. In practice the car runs on electric power so little at these higher speeds, efficiency gains here are negligible.

View detailed DS 3 mpg and CO2 figures on our specs pages

CO2 emissions sit at just 112g/km, making it relatively good for non-PHEV and EV company car tax. The cheapest DS 3 to run will undoubtedly be the all-electric DS 3 E-Tense, which we’ve covered separately. We’d be wary of depreciation on a new DS, something that has pushed finance costs higher than many rivals.

Servicing and warranty

The DS 3 comes with a boggo three-year/60,000 mile warranty. That’s matched by almost all of its European rivals, though the Hyundai Bayon and Kia Stonic offer five and seven years of cover respectively, and the Toyota C-HR up to ten.

18

Service costs are reasonable, and DS is keen that it should offer customers a premium experience – offering to do things like pick your car up for you rather than force you to wait at a dealership. Fixed-price service packages are also available.

Reliability

The DS 3 is functionally identical to the DS 3 Crossback (just with fewer letters on the boot). As a result, it’s been around since 2019, and uses proven technology that’s commonplace across the Stellantis group. This platform has been subject to several recalls, however, and the old Crossback was subject to four of those. This new model hasn’t had any so far.

We suffered some electrical issues with one test car, with both the infotainment and the driver information screens blacking out on us twice in the middle of a drive. This of course leaves you with no navigation – which is a pain – but also no speedometer or warning lights, which is a bit more dangerous. A loan a year or so later revealed no such issues.