Dacia Duster

The Dacia Duster offers such great value for money, you'll wonder why you spent the extra money on a more expensive model. It's not the most inspiring car to drive, and the interior lacks luster, but in all respects the Duster holds its own in an increasingly competitive market.

The second-generation Duster received a facelift in 2021, with updates to the exterior design, interior trim and infotainment system all helping to keep it competitive, while Dacia continues to offer an all-wheel drive option meaning the Duster could be the best model yet. the value of a decent off-road car on the market.

About Dacia Duster

Car prices may continue to rise, but the Dacia Duster is one of the biggest bargains out there. This SUV is equally at home carrying out family car duties as it is off-road. There's already a lot to like, but the fact that it's the same purchase price as a supermini is what's most appealing.

It's no surprise then that the first generation Duster, introduced to the UK in 2012, has a reputation for being excellent value for money, earning it a legion of loyal fans. The current second-generation Duster picks up where the old model left off, with improvements made in key areas.

Visually, the second generation Duster looks very similar to the old model – Dacia isn't going to mess around with a winning formula. It is more attractive and classy than before. It received further improvements in the 2021 refresh, including revised headlights, a new grille design, a rear spoiler and some updated wheel designs. The brand also updates its old shield logo in 2022 with a new “Dacia link” design adorning the front grille and steering wheel, while 'DACI A' lettering appears on the boot.

Inside, better seats, a leather-wrapped steering wheel and an electric rear window are all welcome improvements over the previous model. At the same time, mid- and top-spec cars are equipped with a 1.1-litre storage bin and a practical armrest.

Although several additional trim levels have come and gone, the core Duster lineup consists of four levels: Essential, Expression, Journey, and Extreme. The essential trim is the entry point into Duster ownership and includes 16-inch steel wheels, cruise control, air conditioning and Bluetooth. The Expression, Journey, and Extreme specs add more luxury and styling upgrades like alloy wheels, an eight-inch touchscreen, Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, and a rearview camera.

Under the hood, you can choose between two pure petrol engines or a factory-installed LPG Bi-Fuel system. If you want diesel power, you should consider buying a used example with the discontinued 1.5-litre DCi engine. If you buy new, you can choose from a TCe 90 1.0-litre 89bhp unit or a TCe 1.3-litre with 128bhp or 148bhp.

If you prefer the idea of the Dacia's Bi-Fuel setup, it's powered by a 99bhp TCe 100 engine. However, make sure there is an LPG pump available near you, as these pumps are increasingly difficult to find at gas stations.

The majority of the Duster range is equipped with a six-speed manual gearbox, except for the 148bhp petrol model, which comes with a six-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission.

Is Dacia Duster reliable?

The Mk2 Dacia Duster received a score of 94.15% in our 2023 Driver Power owner satisfaction survey, and was named the best small SUV to own.

Do Dacia Dusters have great value?

According to our latest expert data, the second generation Dacia Duster will retain up to 55 percent of its original value after three years of driving and 36,000 miles.

Our web producer, Pete Baiden, used a Dacia Duster for over six months as part of our long-term test fleet. While using this small SUV, he found it to be a refreshingly simple car to take around his driveway. The car accommodated his family comfortably, covered more than 5,000 miles without a hitch, and he even found it quite fun to drive.

Pete also believes that the Dacia's starting price of under £15,000 makes it an ideal car for those needing a ULEZ compliant replacement. There are a few minor gripes, such as a faulty Apple CarPlay connection, but at this price point, they don't detract from the impression of a great all-round family car.

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2022 Dacia Jogger

Dacia started as a kind of second-hand warehouse for all the technology Renault could no longer use, but instead of sitting around during the pandemic eating chips, Dacia put a lot of effort into creating a new look. So now we've got a completely fresh Dacia range (the Sandero and Duster look lovely) and even a completely new model, this seven-seat MPV/estate mash-up. And it also uses the latest Renault technology, which is very good.

It might seem a little strange to try and accept the idea of Dacia as a 'lifestyle' brand rather than an overly cheap basement brand, but the cheapness remains, it's just that the company color is now khaki green rather than navy blue, and the new logo is a minimalist Christmas cake made of from the letters D and C mashed together. And why not?

As we said, the lifestyle will last as long as you don't have to shell out the price tag. You get seven seats as standard here, and the big number is the £18,295 Dacia will ask for an entry-level car, which is less than half the price of a Land Rover Discovery Sport or under a third the price of an Audi Q7. Dacia thought the car would compete with the new Citroen Berlingo XL, but they made the car electric-only and it costs around £33k (although you can now get a five-seater version with petrol or diesel power).

The Jogger certainly doesn't feel like a premium car – there's a lot of hard plastic and bits of metal all around, but you won't feel left out, the Jogger doesn't pretend to be anything more than a premium car. he. What you get is a cheap family car that won't mind the abuse of everyday life.

For a long time, Dacia's way was to wait until a Renault was old, give it a post-life facelift, and sell it for cheap. The second generation Dacia Sandero that went on sale in 2020 is based on a platform originally developed for the Renault Clio in 2002. Phew.

Luckily the latest Dacias are all based on Renault's CMF-B platform, although the Duster doesn't ride on vintage underpinnings, it will only be around for a while. There's nothing about the Jogger that makes it feel dated, or even decent enough to ride. The petrol version feels very mechanical, and there's a lot of fun to be had using the small 109bhp 1.0-litre turbo three-cylinder engine driving a six-speed manual gearbox.

The hybrid uses a 1.6-litre 4-cylinder nat-asp petrol engine and a small e-motor producing 138bhp to offer a combination of electric-assisted petrol operation and EV-only propulsion.

Of course, it's not a sports car, but yes, the Jogger drives well – and this is thanks to the efforts Dacia made to reduce its weight. It weighs a truly astonishing 1,200kg (the hybrid adds 180kg to that figure), which is light by any car's standards, let alone a seven-seater family car.

The front feels proactive and alert when entering corners because there isn't too much weight weighing on the front wheels. There's also good steering feel, and even a slight kick on the gear lever when you release the clutch. This is one aspect of the car that feels old-fashioned, but refreshing. The hybrid weighs more with a bigger engine and e-motor, but the car still feels sprightly when moving.

It could be that we're driving too many electric vehicles these days, they're all powered by cables, but the Jogger has a pretty comfortable mechanical feel to it. It's quite fun for a family bus, although considering we only drove it without a full complement of passengers, perhaps we need to include everyone before we pass a definitive judgment.

You might find yourself looking at the Jogger and thinking of a little thing or two that could make it better. Would it benefit from more? Maybe not: for this price and with its ruthless attention to detail, the Jogger is great as is.

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Dacia Spring EV

The Dacia Spring EV will arrive in the UK in revised form next year. We tried the current model to get a taste of the city car.

Verdict

Dacia’s first EV has lots of promise – and we can already see why thousands of customers across Europe have bought one as an everyday town car. But we must wait to see the updated version that’ll be offered to UK customers before deciding if the Spring really stacks up here. By the time it arrives, it’ll be up against lots of low-mileage used electric superminis at roughly the same price. We suspect a bit more of Dacia’s magic will be required to make the Spring feel-good value as well as cheap.

The next 18 months are going to see a huge shake-up in what we all consider an ‘affordable electric car’. And this is our first chance to try one of the vehicles that could lead the revolution: the Dacia Spring.

UK sales of the brand’s first EV are still a year away, and the car we’ll get will sport revised exterior looks and much-improved interior perceived quality compared with the French-spec left-hooker you see here.

But the basic technical stuff will be unchanged; there’s a single battery, with a capacity of 26.8kWh (usable), and a choice of two models: the Spring 45 and the Spring 65, named after their metric power outputs.

The Spring 45 has 44bhp (45PS) and 125Nm of torque, modest numbers that deliver a top speed of 78mph and a 0-62mph time of, wait for it, 19.1 seconds. The Spring 65 gains some more grunt, at 64bhp (65PS), and its acceleration figure is a more respectable 13.7 seconds.

Both versions have a range of 190 miles if you’re driving around town, and 143 miles (Spring 45) or 137 miles (the 65 we’re testing) on the combined cycle. Hooked up to a 7kW home wall box, the battery can be refilled from empty in just under five hours.

Dacia is remaining coy on UK pricing for now, but based on European numbers, the goal of less than £20,000 looks achievable.

The Spring’s overall length is 3,734mm, around six centimeters longer than a Hyundai i10, which it also trumps on boot space, at 290 liters. But within seconds of climbing in, you realize the Dacia’s budget origins. There’s no height adjustment on the driver’s seat and no adjustment at all on the steering wheel. The materials used throughout are rugged, robust, and pretty uninspiring. There are loads of blanked-off buttons on the steering wheel, and the flashes of copper trim barely scratch the surface of the myriad tones of dark grey.

 

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Launching from "Autocar "and Automotive News Europe, Dacia Sandero

Dacia Sandero has officially shifted the throne of Europe's best-selling car from the Volkswagen Golf. Here's the full specs.

Launching from Autocar and Automotive News Europe, Dacia Sandero dominates sales for July 2021 according to data collected by JATO Dynamics.

Data collected from 26 markets in Europe also indicated a decrease in new car registrations by 24% compared to the previous year.

Dacia Sandero recorded 20,446 units, up 6% compared to July 2020, while Volkswagen Golf achieved 19,425 units.

fter the Golf, there are the Toyota Yaris, Volkswagen Polo and Volkswagen T-Roc which make up the top five sales in Europe.

What are the specifications for this best-selling car in Europe? Dacia Sandero was developed using the Common Module Family (CMF) B Low Specifications (LS) platform.

It has a three-cylinder engine with a capacity of 999 cc which comes in three variants, namely the SCe 65 normal aspiration, TCe 90 turbo and TCe 100 Bi-Fuel turbo.

The SCe 65 normally aspirated variant can produce 67 hp and 95 Nm of torque, while the TCe 90 turbo variant produces 91 hp and 142 Nm of torq

ue.

 

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