DS DS 3 CROSSBACK interior
The DS 3 Crossback’s interior looks absolutely fantastic, but the pay-off for those eye-catching design features is that nothing’s particularly intuitive to use
Style
The DS 3 Crossback’s interior does a great job of differentiating it from similar alternatives – you’ll find a raised driving position and a broad dashboard as is usual for a crossover, but it’s also genuinely eye-catching with a futuristic, posh design that makes alternatives such as the Audi Q2 look a bit bland.
It’s not all good news, however. Those swanky modern looks mean that not all of the DS 3 Crossback’s controls are located where you’d expect. The electric window switches, for example, are mounted on the centre console beside the gear lever and the door handles are located way down by the door pockets. Overall, it’ll leave you scratching your head more than the cabin in a VW T-Roc.
To take your mind off those confusing controls, the DS 3 Crossback comes with nine different colour schemes for the interior including sporty black designs, fancy bronze-effect trims and an airy almost all-white affair.
DS calls these combinations ‘inspirations’ and they let you alter the seat fabric colour, the colour of most of the dashboard, the headliner hue and the look of the seats. The most eye-catching seats have a ‘watchstrap’ design that’s very comfortable and unique to DS, but they’re only available on top-spec La Premiere cars.
Even these range-topping cars come with a few hard plastic trim pieces beside the centre console, on the glovebox lid and lower-down on the doors, but they’re no more brittle than those you get on the VW T-Roc and at least feel like they’ll stand up to a few years of abuse.
The DS 3 Crossback looks like a car from the future inside, but you have to pay dearly to get the snazzy interior you see in these photos
- Cash
- £21,662
- Monthly
- £194*
- Used
- £16,999
Infotainment
Entry-level DS 3 Crossback’s come with a 7.0-inch touchscreen infotainment screen mounted high up on the dashboard where it’s easy to glance at while you’re driving. It’s bright enough that you can read it easily in direct sunlight, but it doesn’t have any physical shortcut buttons to help you switch from one feature to another.
Instead, you get a set of touch-sensitive tiles on the dashboard for the likes of the sat-nav, stereo and phone connectivity. These look smart, with their diamond design that mirrors the shape of the air vents, but they’re a real pain to use when you’re driving because they’re slow to respond and come with small white icons that aren’t particularly easy to read.
Adjusting the climate control settings takes longer than in many alternatives, too, because everything’s controlled through the touchscreen menus rather than a conventional set of physical knobs and dials.
Prestige models and above come with built-in sat-nav with fancy 3D maps, but they take a little while to load; especially if you zoom out to view your whole journey. At least it’s pretty easy to program your route and add a waypoint, but you’ll be better off connecting your phone through Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and using Waze or Google Maps instead.
These systems also let you stream music from your phone through the DS 3 Crossback’s stereo. The standard system sounds reasonably punchy, but the optional Focal unit is an upgrade worth considering if you’re serious about sound quality.
- Cash
- £21,662
- Monthly
- £194*
- Used
- £16,999
Build your own DS 3 CROSSBACK on carwow
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*Please contact the dealer for a personalised quote, including terms and conditions. Quote is subject to dealer requirements, including status and availability. Illustrations are based on personal contract hire, 9 month upfront fee, 48 month term and 8000 miles annually, VAT included.