Thursday, September 6, 2012

My souffle for September - the DS4

Doesn't look more souffle to me

This is the souffle of the Forza Motorsport 4's September Pennzoil Car Pack, well not exactly a souffle to us unless you remember the souffle girl last weekend's. This is the Citroen DS4 and some people say that this is somewhat the French alternative...to the Alfa Romeo Giulietta.

I was really bothered about this but the one that FM4 featured here comes with the THP 200 engine, the one that the Peugeot RCZ have and believe it or not, this one's not as good as the Alfa Giulietta when I tried. Sure, the Giulietta is all about the finesse and the touch of class but for this one...plenty of style but no cider. The steering's a bit heavy, it's a bit harsh, and as observed, feels like I overcooked my favorite souffle for the souffle girl. 

A mountain to climb for...

That gave me an interesting idea. Instead of comparing this to the Giuletta because as I'm sure I know, the Giulietta will easily slit the DS4's throat in terms of speed and handling, I would rather compare this one to the Citroen from the past.

Citroen C4 VTS
This one is the old Citroen C4 VTS. The one that was used as Sebastien Loeb's rally car from the past until it was replaced by the DS3. When the second generation C4 came, the Coupe was discontinued and furthermore, Citroen has stated that the DS4 is not intended as a successor to the Citroen C4 Coupe.

First up, the drag race. Remember the DS4 comes with the RCZ's THP 200 engine which produces more power than the old C4 VTS. However, it's heavier than the C4 VTS. Top speed for the new DS4 with the THP 200 engine is 235kph while for the old C4 VTS can go about 227kph. Let's see if we can translate science into speed with a quarter mile drag race...



So, the DS4 has done that but now, let's translate science into track times at the Top Gear Test Track and I need a driver and I have one. Some say he believes that Christmas is a load of @#$%....and he is...




The Citroen C4 VTS did it in 1:36.668 while the Citroen DS4 THP 200 did it in 1:35.495 so to be honest, it did better than the old C4 VTS but sadly though, I am not happy with the burnt souffle with some eggs to exterminate. I mean, imagine if I put an egg to the passenger seat of the DS4, you know that this would be a childish science experiment to analyze its handling and grip. The only way that the egg's going to be EGG-STIR-MINUTE-d is when you handle it too hard or some rough oversteer.

In short, I didn't like the DS4 because of its heavy steering but as a decent alternative to the old C4 VTS, you'll know that this works quite well.

DS4's Rage

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