When Citroen relaunched DS as a standalone brand at the Geneva Motor Show in March 2015, it also revealed an updated version of its flagship model, the DS 5. The changes were not radical, but some of them were useful - for example, the removal of seven buttons from the interior makes operating the car less confusing. There are still a great many of them though, and several are mounted at roof level where they're difficult to identify.
There are still issues, though. You may disagree, but I find it visually awkward that there are lines everywhere you look. You can't escape the two thick pillars surrounding each of the front quarter lights and you may be distracted by the four sunroof covers.
Also, if you glance in the rear mirror there's yet another line in the form of the rear spoiler. This probably isn't doing much for the car's aerodynamics and restricts the amount of glass that can be covered by the wiper in poor conditions.
The DS 5 isn't friendly to tall people. The driver's seat is too high for me even when set to its lowest position, and the rear is very cramped. The luggage capacity - 465 litres with the rear seats in place - isn't bad, but the Audi A4, BMW 3-Series and Mercedes C-Class, all presumably targets for the DS, offer 480. The load sill of the DS is also rather high.
The last DS 5 I drove, back in the Citroen days, had unappealing ride quality. This one, on 235/45 tyres and 18-inch wheels, is slightly better, but not enough to justify DS's claim that the car provides "dynamic hyper-comfort", or at least not if "hyper" means what I think it does.
I'm not sure about the "dynamic" bit either. The DS 5 isn't at all sporty to drive, probably because it has a much greater ride height than seems necessary. I can get three fingers between the top of the tyres and the wheelarches at the front, and four in the same gap at the rear. Drop the car an inch or so and it would surely be much perkier.
Four drivetrain combinations are available in the range. The test car had the 2.0-litre 178bhp BlueHDi 180 diesel engine, which is available only with the excellent, smooth-shifting EAT6 automatic gearbox. The engine itself often sounds gruff, but it's certainly strong, giving the car a 0-62mph time of 9.9 seconds and a top speed 137mph. Only the petrol-electric hybrid model can accelerate harder, and it runs out of puff at 131mph.
On paper, the "green" figures are dramatic. Combined fuel economy is 64.2mpg, just 4.7mpg behind that of the slower BlueHDi 150 manual model, and although the CO2 emissions are the worst in the range, they are nevertheless impressive at 114g/km. I doubt that 64.2mpg is achievable in normal driving, but the CO2 figures means you'll pay just £30 in Vehicle Excise Duty from year two onwards. Benefit In Kind taxation is a modest 20 per cent now, rising to 26 per cent over the next four years.
At £32,040, this is the third most expensive DS 5 in existence, beaten only by the still costlier hybrid models. You can have mechanically the same car for £2,420 less if you're content with the lower Elegance trim level, but then you'd have to do without the Prestige's leather upholstery and instrument binnacle.
This would also mean missing out on the eTouch emergency and assistance system, blind spot monitoring, interior mood lighting, front parking sensors, reversing camera, electric driver's seat adjustment and a rear cup holder.