Someone cynical recently commented on Autocar’s website that DS models are routinely awarded two stars too few by our testers.
Given that would have made the previous two DS cars we’ve tested worth a five-and-a-half stars out of five apiece, that seems harsh. And it would have made the 9, as tested last week by Steve Cropley – one of the finest reviewers who has ever worked in this business – a six-star car. No, four will be what it’s worth.
The commenter’s implication, though, was that posh French cars are hard done by in the UK. Well, yes, they may be hard done by here, but not by us. We report as we find, but the car-buying public is harder to convince about cars like the 9.
What struck me about Steve’s review of the 9 is that it contained a phrase from the importer that was the same, almost to the letter, as the one in a Cropley review of the Citroën C6, that loveable comfortable barge, of 2006: that success would be measured by selling the car in hundreds rather than thousands.
The truth is that a large French saloon or hatchback could be a truly earth-shatteringly great motor yet still have trouble appealing to those who want a German badge on the nose of their car – and there are so many of them that the Mercedes-Benz A-Class is one of the top-10 selling cars in the country. Indeed, buyers shunned Citroën doing ‘posh’ so convincingly that its parent company invented the DS brand.
In some ways, the C6 was if not quite earth-shattering then certainly uniquely compelling in its segment. I once drove one home from Austria in a single day, and it was supremely comfortable and easy-going. I got into a conversation at the Eurotunnel terminal with a guy who I thought was just plain interested in the car – but turned out to be a Citroën dealer curious as to who had bought one.
Shame. With just the right level of quirk, the C6 remains terrifically good-looking too, I think. But browse the classifieds today and you will find just four for sale. In 15 years’ time, will this be the fate of the 9 as well?
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I have owned a C6 for over 10 years now. In its day, it marched to its own drum-beat which didn't seem to be one which many at all appreciated. It was too expensive for a Citroen, the antithesis of a BMW, Audi or Mercedes, and relied too much on the engineering from lesser and lighter PSA vehicles. It's been unreliable and expensive to run ... but I love it anyway. The problem I see with the DS9 is that it does not even have the distictive looks of the C6, nor the character - which, of course, might make it more appealing to those who don't like 'different'. Further, there is nothing apparently better about it than its more obvious competitors from better established premium/ quality brands ... and I am not sure that treating clients to bespoke levels of customer service really differentiates a car brand enough to attract clients as it would in, say, a Private Bank. Hence, I think they are being realistic about sales in hundreds, not thousands, but I suspect that they might be talking about the whole production run, not annually.
It's a reflection of the obsession with performance that journos have: I'd like to see more journalistic emphasis on design, user-experience, materials etc.