Citroen DS4

Citroen wants the DS4 to be seen as a premium contender, so there are lots of soft touch plastics and piano black pieces of plastic trim in the cabin. Hidden beneath what you can see, there’s also lots of carefully placed soundproofing, to make the interior ambience as relaxing as possible on the move. Where in Citroens of old the dials were purely functional, here they are more ornate and playful, with a selection of colours for the graphics and chrome cowling surrounding them. There’s also a stretched windscreen, which extends above your head, with blinds for when the sun is strong. It’s a dramatic step up for Citroen, but the latest Audi A3 and Volkswagen Golf are even better, oozing more class with less effort and fewer buttons for a cleaner layout.