DS 9 E-TENSE

Four-wheel drive? 360 hp? In a French car? This is tantalizing. Embark with us for a little preview trip in a development prototype of the DS 9 E-Tense 4×4 360…

What is changing?

At first glance… not much. In front of me is a DS 9 with two obvious features: the 20″ rims and this pretty Whisper tint. Ah, and leaning over, the front calipers are painted black with “DS Performance” lettering. “The Whisper is only there because they are prototypes, it will not be available in series”, showers me with a communicator from the brand. Ah. So let's refocus on the rims, the 20″ “Munich” exclusive to this version, which still go particularly well with the DS 9. An impression no doubt reinforced by the widened tracks (24 mm at the front and 12 mm at the rear) and by the body lowered by…we don't know how much, the final figure is still being calibrated. Other than that, same skirts, same shields, same finishes. Only one of the prototypes had the “E-Tense 4×4” logo affixed to its trunk, but I suspect that it will be part of the production vehicles. After all, the DS 7 is right there.

Inside, it's very simple: nothing changes. No magic button, no specific upholstery, no exotic veneer, nothing. Even the habitability remains the same, with a trunk varying between 473 and 510 liters depending on the equipment. I still find that unfortunate. I'm not talking about kekeifying the car with ridiculous appendages or tacky details, just being able to show that we paid a bit more than the base DS 9 owner (where the PureTech 225 version starts at 47,700 €, it takes €66,500 minimum to access the E-Tense 4×4 360 version, which is not far from €20,000 difference!), and to be able to enjoy it every morning when you take it out of the garage. Never mind.

“The essential is invisible to the eyes”, said the Little Prince, and this DS 9 is no exception to the rule. To achieve the promised 360 hp, the DS Performance engineers (installed like the rest of the ex-PSA “sport” teams at Satory) started with the in-house 1.6L PureTech in a 200 hp version, to which two electric motors are added. : a first at the front of 110 hp, taken from the “civilian” DS 9 E-Tense, and a second of 113 hp on the rear axle; these two motors being powered by the 11.9 kWh battery of the other models. Performances ? Still in development. We were still able to have some target figures: a 0 to 100 km/h in 5.6 s, the 1,000 m standing start in 25.2 s, times from 80 to 120 km/h in 3.2 s and a maximum speed limited to 250 km/h… while remaining under 49 g of CO2 per kilometer,

What does it change ?

I will come out of these twenty minutes spent at the wheel of this revered DS 9 with a hell of a potato. Because she has some, the little one! Two things really marked me with, first, an irreproachable motricity. The four-wheel drive does a crazy job here and manages to get all the power to the ground without the slightest problem. To this first good point are added remarkable reminders, the car being well helped by the immediacy of the electric motors. Very useful engines in this case, since it is not the PureTech that will make us shiver. No surprise a priori on this point: the 1.6L has never shown a crazy character and DS Performance engineers can not work miracles. The revving is very linear,

The idea is that the DS 9 E-Tense 4×4 360 remains a DS 9: understand by this that its driving aspires to real serenity. You can drive very fast with this sedan, without being able or wanting to drive very hard: small sequences are not necessarily its favorite playground. The DS 9 is by no means a GTI, it is a large, high-performance sedan and matches its game accordingly. In this context, note should be taken of the first-rate chassis development: despite the large rims and the firmer suspensions, we are very good there, in this cabin. In normal driving, we find this super comfortable & soft typing of the “normal” versions while keeping a real rigor in the maintenance of the body. A real success.

You will have understood: despite the short time spent behind the wheel and the fact that the car is still being fine-tuned, I really enjoyed driving the DS 9 E-Tense 4×4 360. If the first classic DS 9s will be delivered in September, this multivitamin version will not arrive, at best, until the very end of the year. With a funny detail, which should certainly not help in the process: all DS 9 4×4 will arrive in France…without rear engine. In fact, the latter will be mounted on these copies in Poissy by a dedicated team, which will also take care of all the last minute adjustments. The joys of globalization ????