Citroen has unveiled its new DS3 Racing at the Paris motor show.
Official production details for the DS3 Racing show that it will have 204bhp and 203lb ft of torque; that’s enough for a 6.5sec 0-62mph time and a top speed of 146mph. Citroen claims the car can crack the standing kilometre in 26.5sec.
See even more pics of the Citroen DS3 Racing from the Paris motor show
Official production details for the DS3 Racing show that it will have 204bhp and 203lb ft of torque; that’s enough for a 6.5sec 0-62mph time and a top speed of 146mph. Citroen claims the car can crack the standing kilometre in 26.5sec.
The car costs £23,100 - although that figure does include VAT at 20 per cent, because deliveries will not start until early 2011. However, even with the VAT increase taken into account, Renaultsport’s Clio will still be only around £18,250. And the DS3 Racing will also cost around £1000 more than a Mini John Cooper Works.
Read Autocar's first drive of the Citroen DS3 Racing
But Citroen says it has had more than 1500 enquires about the DS3 Racing through its website alone, and that just 200 right-hand-drive examples will come to the UK. So the motorsport-related model is still likely to sell out.
The production DS3 Racing has been toned down only slightly from the concept that first appeared at the Geneva show earlier this year. It’s available in either black with an orange roof or white with a carbon grey roof. The roof colours are also matched to the 18in alloy wheels, door mirrors, chevrons, grille surround, tailgate spoiler and, on black cars, the dashboard fascia.
The DS3’s chassis has been tweaked by Citroen Racing for the hottest variant; it has fitted new dampers, widened the front and rear tracks by 30mm, lowered the ride height by 15mm and upgraded the brakes with four-pot callipers and revised discs at the front.
Standard kit includes air conditioning, Bluetooth, an eight-speaker hi-fi and a switchable ESP stability control system.
The DS3 Racing is designed to capitalise on Citroen’s world rally championship campaign. Next year the team will switch from its C4 model to a DS3 WRC.
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Re: Citroen DS3 Racing to cost £23k
VAG dealers are some of the worst in my experience, only exacerbated by the hap-hazard build of their cars that you pay for at a quite considerable premium over the competition for. The only decently built Audi I had was an A2. The A4 (2002) had faults from the start that the dealer in 3 years of looking after it failed to correct. The staff at Audi Battersea are some of the rudest people I have ever encountered and when they had their head out of their ar$e for 5 secs - couldn't be bothered to deal with me. Thank goodness for a decent Alfa dealer near me which is what replaced the A4 as I thought nothing could be more unreliable - at least I knew what I'd be in for from the start. It actually proved to be a really good car and was sad to see it go. Friendly staff who seemed to understand the car and my situation when I asked them to go out of their way.
My mum's '95 Golf was on it's 3rd gearbox after 3 years and the glovebox was a holding receptical for broken trim, until the handle itself fell off. Oh, and that was before the electric sunroof packed up.
I'm not saying all VAG cars are like this, but 2 out of the 3 I've had experience of, have.
Re: Citroen DS3 Racing to cost £23k
Me, for one... Audi A3; an utterly boring, bland and not especially reliable car for badge snobs who do not know any better. Personally, I think you'd be daft to pay so much for a small car made by a marque which is rated "Poor" for reliability by their owners in the latest Which magazine. As for ageless looks, the A3 looked dated when it was released and looks terribly tired now, surely an overdue replacement is imminent.
Back to topic, as for the DS3, it looks pretty good but £23K is surely too much for a Citroen supermini... refreshing change to the Mini norm though...
Re: Citroen DS3 Racing to cost £23k
Yes it's very expensive but like other short run hot hatches I'm glad it exists :-)