DS is less of a known quantity because of its links with Citroen, but the company is attempting to offer a concierge level of service to DS No8 buyers.

Verdict

Winner: Volvo ES90

There’s a bit of a price difference between these two cars, with the base version of the ES90 costing more than the highest-spec DS No8, but it really is a case of getting what you pay for. The Volvo is more luxurious, more efficient and has better space in the back, and yet the base model is so well equipped that it seems frivolous to upgrade to another version.

It’s not without its faults, though. Rear space isn’t as generous as it could be, courtesy of the high floor, and while comfort is good, there’s not much fun to be had from behind the wheel.

Runner up: DS No8

There is a lot to like about the DS No8. The looks will be a matter of taste, but we like that DS has gone out on a limb with the coupé-SUV look after the more restrained DS9, while the cabin’s Art Deco ambience offers a breath of fresh air when compared with more conservative executive rivals.

It’s quiet and refined, and the suspension is largely comfortable, if not as pillow soft as we’d like from a maker that emphasises past luxury. The biggest disappointment is the relative lack of space in the back.

Prices and specs

What we would choose

Volvo ES90

You can add kit from Ultra trim to the Plus model, including electrochromatic tinting of the panoramic glass (£995) and air suspension (£1,995). Vented seats are £800, but Nappa leather (£1,495) is only an option on Ultra cars.

DS No8

The black bonnet and roof cost £500, while you can add smaller 19-inch wheels (£150) or larger 21-inch rims (£1,100). Our car’s brown Nappa leather is a £1,600 add-on; the Etoile model has blue Alcantara as standard.

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All Souls are well equipped. The First Edition came with leather trim, adaptive cruise control, a Harman Kardon hi-fi, a head-up display and LED headlights. Also standard were heated front seats with eight-way electric adjustment for the driver’s seat, a reversing camera, wireless phone charging, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. 

When the First Edition morphed into the Maxx, the electric driver’s seat adjustment was ditched, but a heated steering wheel and rear parking sensors became standard. 

The Explore continued with the Maxx’s standard equipment, plus electric driver’s seat adjustment; Urban ditched the heated seats and steering wheel, the leather trim and the rear parking sensors.

Prices

Find an early, high-mileage Soul EV and you can pay as little as £10,000 for it if you buy privately, but few of these are available for less than £12,000. This bags a 20-plate First Edition with 30,000 miles on the clock; go for a Maxx instead and you should expect to spend upwards of £14,000, which secures a 22-plate example with 40,000 miles notched up. Spend £16,000, and a 10,000-mile Maxx on a 22-plate can be yours. 

We saw very few Urbans for sale, but we did find a 3,000-mile car on a 24-plate being sold privately for £14,250. The most you’ll pay for a Soul EV is £20,000, which bags a 5,000-mile Explore on a 74-plate. 

When starting off in the Z9GT, the first thing you notice are its electric doors. All four open and close at the touch of a button, and then the driver’s seat slides back to ease access – all of which adds a bit of flamboyance to the start-up process. 

Being an EV, the Z9GT sets off in a smooth, silent manner and at low speeds all the controls feel well calibrated – in particular the steering. At 5.2 metres long and two metres wide, the Z9GT might not seem the best fit for urban areas, but there’s rear-wheel steering here up to 8.5 degrees, and this gives the big Denza a supermini-like turning circle. 

The Z9GT can also perform pivot turning, where the front wheels lock in place and the rears turn and steer, for occasions when incredibly tight manoeuvres are needed. There’s also a ‘crab-walk’ function, where the car will drive diagonally up to 8.5 degrees. We experienced these from behind the wheel and the Denza completed the manoeuvres as quickly as we could do them ourselves.

There’s also a self-parking feature that can be activated  through the car or even an app on your phone – although if you have to use all those features regularly, you might want to reconsider if a huge shooting brake is the right car for you.  

Around town, the Z9GT doesn’t feel particularly unwieldy, although our car came with the optional digital wing mirrors, which work just about as well as any others we’ve tried, but still take time to get used to. Due to the swoopy shape of the Z9GT’s back end, visibility is poor through the rear view mirror. However you can flick the screen to the digital wing mirror, although unlike the one used in the Polestar 4, there’s no scope to pan across when indicating or adjustability of any sort. 

First of all, I find the overly soft seats to be uncomfortable after only 15 minutes on the road. The general driving position doesn’t help, either, due to the almost bus-like angle to the steering wheel. I sometimes catch myself doing a bus-driver-like wheel shuffle when going around sharp bends. 

Put the Sealion 7 into drive and it’ll creep forward, but press the throttle pedal and not much happens. Response from the electric motor is painfully slow, to the point where one has to take this into account when pulling out of junctions or overtaking. It’s not a ‘drive mode’ thing, because there’s no discernible difference between Sport, Comfort and Eco. 

Yet in complete contrast, the brakes are incredibly sensitive. This makes driving at low speeds a frustrating exercise. It also makes you look like a total amateur when parking, because the brakes easily snap on, causing the whole car to rock back and forth. It’s no better on faster roads, because the spongy pedal makes the level of braking you apply hard to modulate and maintain. 

Then there’s the ride and handling. The suspension is soft, but it’s not a comfortable car. I’m no chassis engineer, but even I can feel that the spring rates – that’s the firmness of the springs – are far too low in relation to the dampers, which are too firm. The Sealion 7 rolls into corners, yet seems able to find, transmit and magnify every bump in the road. Along complex or uneven surfaces, the suspension gets so befuddled that it feels like the Sealion 7’s body is trying to emancipate itself from the suspension.