Style has always been a French forté, so it’s no surprise that Citroën’s pert DS4 – the second model in the company’s new DS line – has been voted ‘The Most Beautiful Car of the Year’ by more than 60,000 web users in 62 countries.

Though it is being marketed as a mid-size coupé, this beauty actually comes with five doors, whose discretely hidden rear handles open the way into one of the most stylish and comfortable passenger cells yet.

Head-turning good looks are combined with an unrivalled driving experience. By abandoning the norms of conventional design, Citroën have created a pioneering and singularly desirable addition to their rapidly improving range.

Boldly styled, the DS4 takes the company’s ‘Créative Technologie’ philosophy to a whole new level, making it a perfect sequel to its multi-award winning DS3 sister.

The car’s striking profile immediately portrays presence and prestige. Its eye-catching lines are enhanced by a chrome-finished waistline and dark tinted windows, while sculpted wheel arches emphasise the stylish alloys, which came in body colour on my test car.

The taut roofline and rear spoiler add extra prowess. Striking ‘always on’ light signatures at the rear and around the front fog lights ensure that DS4 stands out from the crowd, while the interior is home to a range of clever storage solutions for maximum convenience.

The intelligent cabin design also includes a spacious raised centre console with a cooled, illuminated and protected compartment that holds up to four 50-cl bottles and houses a connectivity area equipped with a USB port and a 12-volt socket.

The serene onboard atmosphere is created by DS4’s meticulous soundproofing, which is comparable to models in the segment above. Additionally, DS4 offers the opportunity to personalise the onboard ambience with a range of polyphonic sound themes. The colour of the dials and the instrument cluster can also be changed to further refine the driving experience.

With its raised, taut and agile stance, DS4 is tuned for dynamic performance,

the suspension and steering being engineered to be highly responsive and smooth, with exemplary levels of control.

The DS4 is powered by a range of five Euro 5 compliant engines, delivering refined performance with optimised fuel and CO2 efficiency. There are two diesels - HDi 110 and HDi 160 - and three petrol units that were

co-developed with BMW – the VTi 120, THP 155 and a new THP 200.

Ownership starts at just £18,150 for the VTi 120 DSign, rising to just under £24,000 for the range-topping THP 200 and HDi 160 DSport versions.