• On-paper fuel economy is decent-ish
• Real world efficiency disappoints
• More reliable than you might expect

What are the running costs?

According to the official WLTP figures, the plug-in hybrid DS 4 is the most efficient version you can get – entirely unsurprisingly. But the projected fuel economy of up to 323mpg is only theoretically possible if you primarily use the 35 miles of electric range and remember to fully recharge the battery. In the real world, 50-60mpg and 20-25 miles of e-range are more realistic expectations.

Diesel models return somewhere between 51 and 61mpg on the WLTP cycle; our experience of this engine in other cars suggests you can match or even exceed those numbers under certain conditions.

The 1.2-litre petrol engine posts numbers of 41-48mpg, while both the 180hp and 225hp 1.6-litre engines both do 38-43mpg. These numbers are okay, but 10mpg-plus off best-in-class. Officially, the Hybrid 136 returns 54mpg but I’ve averaged more like 45-47mpg in my long-termer.

You can find the exact fuel economy and CO2 emissions numbers for every model of DS 4 on our specs pages.

Servicing and warranty

The DS 4 comes with a three-year, 60,000-mile warranty as standard and various extended warranty packages are available, as well. The battery in PHEV models is covered separately for eight years or 100,000 miles. That’s the industry standard, these days, but you can get much more generous warranties on the Toyota Corolla (10 years) and Kia Ceed (7 years).

A full service is required every 12,000 miles. DS servicing costs are perfectly reasonable, and there are various concierge services available that are designed to make the ownership experience as hassle-free as possible.

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Reliability

• No major issues reported
• Tech widely used in other cars
• Only two very minor recalls

Stellantis, the car making mega-corporation that owns DS, has put huge efforts into improving the reliability of its cars in recent years and, if the DS 4 is anything to go by, those efforts have paid off. My long-term test car hasn’t given a hint of trouble and feels very robustly put together. We’ve not heard any horror stories about older cars, either.

However, the government’s vehicle recall checker shows a couple have been issued. One relates to the charging cable supplied with PHEV models, the other to a leaking fuel pipe. Only a combined 67 cars are affected, though, and they should have been fixed by now. If you have an concerns about recalls when buying a used DS 4, contact a dealer to find out if the fix has been applied. Outstanding recalls are shown on the MOT certificate of any car more than three years old, as well.