• Both delightful and infuriating
• Feels very plush – mostly
• Infotainment is, well, rubbish

How is the quality and layout?

Let’s start with the quality of the DS 4’s interior materials. They easily match what you’ll find in its keys rivals – Audi A3, BMW 1 Seres, Mercedes A-Class – particularly in the places that you touch most often. In my Etoile Nappa-spec long-term test car, the steering wheel, door pulls, dashboard top and armrests are covered in high-quality, well-padded leather that was a lovely tactility.

The metal-effect gear selector is nice to use, as well. But the shiny black plastic that’s found on the doors and dashboard is less successful, feeling hard and hollow. That’s the only demerit, though. And everything is much more solidly put together than I expected.

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Then there’s the layout of all the buttons and switches. Some elements of it are reasonably successful. There’s a button for the infotainment system’s home screen next to the display. There’s a row of shortcut keys for the climate control below the display. There’s another shortcut button for the driver assistance systems lower still. The stereo volume control is on the centre console – it should be in every car.

But those elements are only successful once you’ve actually found them. It was days before I found the driver assist button and volume control in my long termer. And the window switches are in a very odd position high up on the doors. The buttons on the steering wheel make little sense, either. The Interior of the Kia Ceed and Skoda Octavia, for instance, make much more sense. At least the button to open the boot from inside is easily found.

Infotainment and tech

Let’s start with the positives. The wireless phone charger is the most effective I’ve come across, the optional Focal stereo sounds amazing, and the infotainment system is packed with features. But you can’t find them. Honestly, the DS 4 has the most unintelligible infotainment I’ve come across.

You can customise the home screen with shortcuts for your favourite features, but I’ve failed to work out how. I’ve also failed to find the DAB radio. There’s a sort of trackpad touchscreen on the centre console that brings up shortcuts to certain features that I’ve found to be completely pointless.

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And the system is so slow. It can take minutes for the system to connect to my phone and bring up Android Auto (or Apple CarPlay). While I’m waiting, I push the button for the climate control screen. The system has a think about that for a while, then finally switches screens. Then, two seconds later, my phone connects, and it immediately switches to Android Auto.

Push the climate button again and wait a bit longer. It’s chilly this morning, I’ll turn the heating up three degrees. That’s six jabs at the ‘plus’ icon on the screen. Six very deliberate, slow jabs as the system thinks deeply about what it needs to do.

And so it goes on. Nothing happens quickly, everything requires more attention than it should. It’s far from ideal when stationary and extremely distracting on the move. For some people, it could completely ruin the whole car. The latest Audi, BMW and Mercedes systems are so much better.

Comfort

• Soft, supportive seats
• Lots of driving position adjustment
• A lovely place to spend a long journey

Keep your interactions with the infotainment system to a minimum and the DS 4 is a very quiet and comfortable car to do long journeys in. I rarely do less than 100 miles in a single journey and have a dodgy back, and I can honestly say this is one of the most comfortable cars I’ve lived with.

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The seats are in a sweet spot between firm and soft and offer support in all the right places. Some models – including my Etoile Nappa long-term test car – have 8-way electrically adjustable seats for the driver and (in some cases) front passenger, which make it easy to find a seating position that suits you. The steering wheel has a wide range of adjustment, as well.

The back seats are firmer but still plenty comfortable enough. Assuming there’s enough space for you. Worth noting the car’s relatively high ride height mean you don’t drop down as far into the seats as in other hatchbacks. That could be an advantage if you have mobility issues.