• Petrol, diesel and PHEV on offer
• Most people probably best off with a petrol
• PHEV a useful addition

Petrol engines

We’ve only driven the 1.6-litre turbocharged petrol Puretech 225 so far. It’s not what you’d call fast, but it does feel a little livelier than a 35 TFSI Audi A3 for instance. 

Plug-in hybrid powertrain

The plug-in hybrid combines a 1.6-litre petrol engine with a battery and electric motor. The 110hp coming from the electric motor proves just about adequate in normal traffic. And despite the E-Tense carrying an extra 200kg or so of bulk compared with the Puretech 225, it’s marginally quicker on paper and feels quicker on the road, too. 

That’s partially down to the punch delivered by the electric motor. The E-Tense’s transmission is the more responsive, changing gear far more readily than the PureTech’s. Given the sometimes hesitant nature of rival PHEVs, that’s a good result.

Diesel

We’re yet to test the diesel. It’s a turbocharged 1.5-litre unit with 130hp and 300Nm of torque, and in the Peugeot 308 it felt lethargic. We expect this is only the engine to choose if you cover vast distances on the motorway.

What’s it like to drive?

• Forgiving suspension
• Relaxing automatic gearbox
• Strong engine lineup

The steering’s weight is agreeable enough and it’s reasonably precise, yet even with the clever adaptive suspension set to Sport there’s more body roll than the A3 and AMG Line versions of the non-PHEV A-Class. In other words, it feels less responsive on the road.

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Its suspension set-up is as clever as you’d expect from a premium-badged French car. It employs a system known as Active Scan, which uses a forward-facing camera to read the road surface to tweak the damper’s force. It only works in Comfort mode and is designed to maximise relaxation on the road.

However, on big 19- and 20-inch wheels the DS 4 still thuds over potholes while Comfort mode allows quite a bit of body movement over undulating roads. Sport mode firms things up noticeably, though.