Citroen DS3 Crossback Tuning

"Tuning guide to the best Citroen DS3 Crossback modifications."

The DS3 Crossback has a great specification and very stylish interior. The DS3 Crossback has proven to be a good seller already, and we are sure it will be popular with car tuners the world over.

Competing with many other small subcompact SUV's the Q2 and MINI Countryman, the DS3 Crossback has a lot of work to do.

In driving, the DS3 Crossback beats it's rivals in our opinion, smoothing out rough roads and giving a good feel through the corners.

Engine wise we are promised an electric powered version some time in 2019. At the moment the engine lineup includes a 99bhp 1.5-litre diesel and the 1.2-litre PureTech petrol offered in three states of tune: 99bhp, 128bhp and, making its debut for the PSA group, a new 152bhp model.

We consider DS3 Crossback tuning and summarise the best upgrades. Citroen DS3 Crossbacks are popular cars and with the best sports parts you can dramatically maximise your driving opportunities.

The DS3 Crossback is a good car tuning project to try. We see people often wasting money on their DS3 Crossback doing the wrong mods and then having to start over. Follow our pointers to avoid ruining your car

Tuning tips and articles

Engine tuning Transmission tuning Care care Intake & exhaust mods Improve handling Forums

Our aim in DS3 Crossback engine tuning should be to increase peak power and Torque at the top end.

Keep your car looking standard but take off the badges to make an awesome sleeper!

The best power gains come from larger engine sizes. The more you start with the bigger the return on investment so engine swaps are good value mods for small engined cars.

Tuning modifications.

This list of the stages and modified mods are usually carried out by our members, decide how far you want to push your car before you start.

Getting the correct grade of modified modifications for your planned usage of the car is essential. Stage 3 motor sport parts just won't work well on the road making the car difficult to drive.

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Guide to the Best Tuning Mods & Upgrades

  1. Mods that Remove a Restriction

    If the intake or exhaust are restricted in any way this will have an impact on your cars performance, so use an induction kit/filter upgrade and better flowing exhaust whenever your tuning creates a flow restriction.

  2. Mods that Improve Handling

    Braking, Suspension and general alignment of the suspension components is vital for any tuning project even before you start increasing power.

  3. Fit Stronger Parts

    Tuned cars will show up weaknesses, typically in the turbochargers, clutch and internal engine components. Whilst most engines can cope with mild tuning mods, TorqueCars recommend that you upgrade the internal components before these weak spots manifest themselves.

  4. ECU Tunes & Remapping

    While some cars can be easily remapped, others may require piggyback ECU's or aftermarket ECU's but this is the most vital step of your tuning project as it fully releases the power from all of your mods and upgrades. Expect 10-20% on NASP engines and 30-40% on turbocharged units.

  5. More Power Needs More Fuel & Air

    Every tuning project will aim to increase the air supply, but fuel supply is just as vital and will need to match the air the engine can utilise. Fuel to Air ratio is vital so upgrade the fuel pump & injectors. Also you can look to perform head mods (flowing and porting), bigger valves, fast road cams and forced induction upgrades to improve fuel.

Stages of Tune

Stage 1 mods: Alloy wheels, Lighter flywheel, Suspension upgrade (drop 30-40mm), Remap, Panel air filter, Sports exhaust.

Stage 2 mods: high flow fuel injector, fuel pump upgrades, Fast road cam, Ported and polished head, Power/Sport clutch.

Stage 3 mods: Sports gearbox, Competition cam, Engine balancing, Adding or upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger), Internal engine upgrades (pistons/head/valves).

Peak power is nice in motorsport but for a drivable and fun car you need a wide torque band and perhaps extending the rev range.

The point of our hints is to give a brief overview of car tuning upgrades and point you in the right direction, our forum is the place to go for detailed advice and tips on your customized car project, the best sport parts and all aspects of modding cars.Fast road cams offer one of the biggest torque gains for your money as far as a single motorsport modifications goes on a NASP engine.

The exhaust and intake flow play a large part in your cars power band, but be careful here, getting this wrong can upset the idle and make the car hard to drive in traffic. You'd need to follow a camshaft upgrade with other mods and finish with a reflashed ECU for the best performance gains.

Don't forget to pay attention to the fuelling when you are increasing the power - it makes the car more thirsty.

Using higher octane petrol is another option if you find you are suffering from detonation or premature ignition on your Citroen project after fitting other tuning parts. Upgrading the injectors is another beneficial modification and will deliver sufficient fuel.

Uprate the fuel pump to cope with the extra fuel requirements of your tuned DS3 Crossbacks uprated injectors.

Intake and Exhaust Tuning.

The next area for modification is the intake and exhaust. Air induction kits only help to increase performance if the cars air intake is struggling! Adding an induction kit to most low power engines will see ZERO LOW END POWER GAIN AT ALL. If you have heavily modified your engine and it's need for air INCREASES DRAMATICALLY then an induction kit is the answer and will help remove this restriction.

Derestricting the air flow into the engine is a primary goal of tuning so get a better flowing air filter if you find that the car is running lean only if you find the car is running lean. Induction kits can sound great but due to the warm air in the engine bay they will not really increase power and actually rob you of power.

Sports exhausts can help balance the flow of gases through the engine. But if the exhaust is too big, ie: over 2.5 inches bore, you will lose a great deal of the exhaust flow rate and end up lacking power and torque.

Getting a professionally ported and polished head with larger valves can fully maximise your power gains. A good multi plate fast road performance clutch will help to keep that power going where it should. Never cut corners or think that a standard OEM clutch to cope. The best mods that we recommend for your DS3 Crossback are fast road camshaft, remap, induction and exhaust, suspension.

Turbo engines are just crying out to be flashed. You will see impressive power gains on most modern turbo charged cars including diesels making a remap one of the most cost effective and impressive modifications for your money.Adding forced induction will see significant power gains but this is usually too expensive to be cost effective. Superchargers are generally easier to add than turbos. It is difficult to map fuelling with a turbo as the boost increases exponentially with engine speed.

The nice steady boost and rpm characteristics of the supercharger make them more straightforward to map. Alternatively you could fit water injection to cut down knock.

Handling/Suspension upgrades

Many DS3 Crossback owners uprate the handling of their cars with sports suspension mods as a priority, this will certainly increase your enjoyment of the car.

If you set the toe out to around 1.5 degrees on the front, and add slight negative camber then cornering will substantially be enhanced.

We would go to a maximum drop of 24mm - 36 mm on most models. You risk grounding out if you go lower than this.

Alloy wheel upgrades.

Alloy wheels can help the brakes cool down and are usually lighter than the steel ones. Pay attention to your choice of tyres (tyres) for your car, a good directional tread pattern tyre can really enhance your cars handling. Large DS3 Crossback alloys can decrease performance. If you get big alloys you will be changing your final drive ratio.

Because of this we would advise sticking to a maximum wheel size of 17 inches, although we know some of our members have fitted larger wheels with no problems.

There is a more updated version of this Citroen DS3 Crossback Tuning article on TorqueCars.com.

For more information on Tuning your car please join us in our friendly forum where you can discuss DS3 Crossback options in more detail with our DS3 Crossback owners. It would also be worth reading our unbiased Citroen tuning articles to get a full grasp of the benefits and drawbacks of each modification.

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