FLUSHED with success, Citroen has split from its posh DS badge and, from now on, the marquee will be a standalone brand. That’s a ballsy move from Citroen, having just bounced back from the tedious the Saxo/Xsara period with great designs like the C6 and the Cactus.

But before its cars were dumbed down Citroens were the automotive equivalent of Dr Emmett Brown, the mad scientist from Back to the Future.

Only Citroen would have given us floating instruments, goggle-eyed swivelling headlights or mind-bendingly complex gravity-defying air/oil suspension systems. Its cars were innovative, distinctive and great to own.

With the DS sub-brand Citroen is hoping to reconnect with those wacky times, only without the inevitable breakdowns (both mechanical and mental if you happened to own one as a daily driver).

The first DS 3 (backed when DS was just a bit of clever badge-engineering) moved more than 390,000 examples at a time when Citroen desperately needed a success. It may not have saved the company but it did the bottom line a power of good in tough market conditions.

Although the ‘new’ DS 3 reuses some of its predecessor’s mechanical bits it is much more than a mere facelift.

In fact, it’s not so much a nip ‘n tuck facelift as a new face, period.

Bosses say the new look is characterised by “DS wings” ” that are sculpted around a vertically-oriented chrome grille wearing the funky-looking DS emblem. The gaping mouth extends towards the LED headlamps (originally introduced on the previous DS 3 in summer 2014) and fog lamps via two chromed-finished wings.

In profile, however, the DS design team has retained much of the car’s original look, including the floating roof, two-tone body/roof colours and the shark fins on the sides.

One of the keys to the DS 3’s success was the wide array of personalisation that was possible (screaming yellow paintwork and day-glo pink mirrors were just a couple of box ticks away) and the new one takes this to new heights.

Citroen says there will be more than three million personalisation options.

Naturally, the interior has received a lot of attention. No car with premium aspirations can afford to fall short in the showroom.

The DS 3 is plays nice with your smartphone (via Apple CarPlay and Android MirrorLink) so you can use the sound system to listen to and send text messages hands-free. A new high resolution seven-inch touchscreen has enabled DS designers to delete 20 buttons on the fascia.

The new DS 3 will be available in the UK with seven engines, including three PureTech three-cylinder petrol engines (which won an International Engine of the Year award in 2015). There are also two THP four-cylinder petrol units and two BlueHDi diesels available with two types of gearbox – a manual and a new automatic. Citroen promises smoother changes on the latter and we will be hoping it is better than the jerky old slush boxes that ruined unruffled progress in previous models.

Tailpipe CO2 emissions are as low as 87g/km (for the BlueHDi 100) and no more than 129g/km for the range as a whole.

The DS 3 isn’t just about looking good. The DS 3 Performance has 208bhp and 300Nm of torque. It also comes as standard with a Torsen limited slip differential, lowered suspension, wider tracks and larger Brembo disc brakes for greater stopping power.