DS No 8 review

This car doesn't do drama. All its motions and reactions are considered, cushioned and fluid. It's relaxing not sporty, but when you do drive with vigour it doesn't lose composure.

The ride has a lovely soft gait, absorbing most road commotion with a gentle sigh. You hardly hear any thumps either, which helps the impression of being inoculated from the ills of the road (usual disclaimer: we drove it in France, not on Britain's crusty roads). But the damping control is fine, so there's surprisingly little heave or pitch for a soft car.

Because the body doesn't flop around, the steering has a fluid and natural sense to it right from a gentle input to a tight bend. It even manages some feedback as the tyres get to their limit, so you know what's up. Too many EVs numb that info. Even the front-driver staves off understeer in the dry, and torque steer too, so we didn't pine for the AWD.

Neither did we feel deprived when driving the one without adaptive suspension. That's called 'Active Scan', and it uses the ADAS camera to tell the suspension processor when you're about to hit a bump or dip. It works only at middle speeds and good weather (it can't see a waterlogged pothole), and even when it is working it's not transformative, because the base system is so good.

And the performance? Just the expected EV silent bungee?

Not really. It's more mature, if maybe less exciting. Its abundance stops short of absurdity. The top-spec 375bhp version has a long accelerator travel, and a delivery that comes with a slight roll-on, not an instant switch-on. So you drive smoothly. Besides, that healthy power number is having to shove along nearly 2,300kg, plus the people and the bags. Anyway, point is when you need to overtake a slowcoach (and certainly a slow coach), it's no issue.

We also tested the front-motor version. You're losing only the less powerful of the two motors – so you've 280bhp left. Acceleration is 7.8s 0-62mph versus 5.4s for the twin-motor. In practice the difference doesn't feel so great.

As with any EV, both of them are handier real-world than a petrol car of the same power because you're not delayed by being off-boost or needing a downshift.

The brakes have a long pedal too, maybe a little soft for some tastes, but always predictable. Regenerative braking is controlled by column paddles, plus there's a one-pedal mode you switch on the centre console. It brings the car to a lovely soft stop, not a jerk. If this car ends up in the executive cabbing trade, the executives will be happy.

Is there driver assist?

Yup it goes well beyond the legal-minimum speed limit bong and lane departure warning. As you'd expect for a car this price. There's a button where you can choose a favoured bunch of settings for these, so a long-press after you start the car will defeat even the settings that the law says must default back on.

The adaptive cruise control and lane centring operate pretty smoothly and we didn't get any false positives with the auto-brakes.