Long-term test: DS No4 Hybrid Etoile Nappa

Thankfully, first impressions count for a lot, and visually the No4 goes some way to justify its elevated price. Our car is painted in Pearl Crystal with a Perla Nera Black roof and features 19-inch Sapporo alloys. Adding to the look are dramatic daytime running lights that zig-zag across the nose, while in my eyes the exterior’s angular design has hints of Audi about it, but with lots of extra bling. 

I’m not wholly convinced by the ‘DS AUTOMOBILES No4’ lettering across the bootlid – especially when rival brands such as BYD have realised that less is more – but overall the DS is an appealing car to look at.

The interior is nicely finished, too, with subtle brown diamond-cut Nappa leather and lots of shiny piano-black plastic. I’ve found that the latter always looks good in other cars I’ve run, only for it to be ruined by scratches, so we’ll see how the DS’s trim fares. 

There are lots of metal-effect flourishes in the cabin, too, with the recurring diamond theme offering an art-deco approach to style that is unique to the DS brand. The No4 certainly feels more like a premium product than other Stellantis hatchbacks.

Swapping from a Nissan Qashqai SUV to a French hatch isn’t the most obvious move for a photographer who travels long distances, because my camera gear takes up a lot of room. However, a bit of forward planning means that the DS is able to meet my requirements, while the bigger draw is the fact it’s a petrol hybrid, so it’s better suited to my needs than an electric model or a plug-in hybrid. Indeed, our first shoot with the Mazda and Tesla involved a trip from Essex to Leicestershire and back in a day; it was a trip I wouldn’t have relished in an EV.