MODEL ON TEST: DS PERFORMANCE LINE E-TENSE – MILEAGE – 5,156

I had concerns last month. Going electric as a high-mileage driver with no home charger and a public charging network with eye watering prices worried me. All of those factors are not great when you’re custodian of an electric car. But I spent an evening or two with my phone in hand stuck in a YouTube video cycle of electric car ownership, and it was time well wasted I’d say, as it taught me something, and that’s all about subscriptions. These exist in the electric car charging world and they’re actually pretty good.

YouTube seemed unanimous that the best electric charging firms were Ionity and Tesla. Happily, us Brummies are served pretty well by both of these companies, so I signed up for a monthly fee of around a tenner each and for that I get half price charging at Ionity and Tesla owner prices with the other one. If I’m doing a big journey that needs a full battery, I’ll call in at my nearest charger – 15 minutes away – charge to around 80% and then plug in at the house with the three pin ‘granny’ charger and let the DS charge to 100% overnight. Ideal!

The 19-inch alloy wheels look amazing and really help add to the No4’s all-round visual appeal, but they also look pretty unforgiving in terms of ride comfort – there’s usually a trade-off – good looks but a crashy ride, or silky soft, but the wheels look like space savers.This concern is heightened to the next level with me, as I need a comfortable ride to help get sharp photographs when performing my day job and doing car- to-car photography. But apparently DS’ engineers have somehow bent physics surrounding the ride comfort, as it’s excellent, despite its big wheels, and the No4 goes around a corner without using its door handles as stabilisers. If they’d given the steering a little more feel it would be the cherry on the top, but I appreciate that’s not in the DS mantra. Plus, you’ve got a ‘sport’ button to add weight to the steering if the cravings don’t subside. It is the DS Performance Line specification after all. Road noise is pretty much non-existent on most roads too, as it glides along in peace and quiet, which is a real treat. Now that most certainly is in the DS mantra, and I love the car for that reason alone. If I could pick my ideal DS No4, it would be with an estate bodystyle, with extra room in the load compartment.

I undertook a proper test of the DS’ capabilities this month. It was proper in the sense that I started my journey with a full battery and then didn’t plug it in again until it was pretty flat, rather than charging here and there when there was opportunity, like I usually do. I love an experiment, and I was heading to St Pancras in London to jump aboard the Eurostar. It’s a 230-mile round trip for me. My thought was to see how close to home I could get before needing to charge. The last Tesla or Ionity charger on the M40 before getting back to Birmingham is Banbury, or 40 odd miles away. The DS said I had 41 miles of range left – yikes! Sure there are chargers in between, but the way my mind works would not allow me to use them after paying for my charging subscriptions so I chose option B and sailed past Junction 11 on the M40. Fast forward to pulling up at home and plugging the No4 in to the three-pin charger with 1% of battery remaining and a trip computer showing a total journey of 230 miles. There was my real-world range test, and I thought that was pretty decent given that the trip was 90% motorway. We are only two months in and the odometer is already showing over 5,000 miles, I’d say we’re settled in and cosy for some good miles ahead. 

SIMON THOMPSON

WHAT’S HOT: It’s a smooth and refined car to drive with a petrol engine. Introducing electric power sends it to the next level.

WHAT’S NOT: Not even an option of heated seats with the DS Performance Line specification. That’s a bad move for winter efficiency.

CLICK HERE TO READ ALL OF OUR LONG-TERM REPORTS ON THE DS NO4

FACTS & FIGURES

ARRIVED: 19th June 2026

PRICE WHEN NEW: £40,495 (Eligible for £1,500 electric car grant)

PRICE AS TESTED: £41,140

ECONOMY: 4.09 miles/per kWh (official WLTP) 4.1 miles/per kWh (on test)

COSTS: None

FAULTS: None