On- and off-road
New Dacia Duster: SUV for pampered budget freaks
Price breaker without the cheap version: After selling almost 2.4 million units, Dacia is launching the third edition of the successful Duster SUV. For the first time with electricity in the drive, full of assistance systems and still consistently designed to be "basically cheap", it doesn't look cheap at all. At least on the outside.
The new, off-road brand look comes into its own here, the logo on the radiator grille, which continues in dashes into the headlights, suggests value, and the rear fenders in particular are thick and muscular. Due to the sculpted rear doors, a classic door handle is not an option in terms of design, so it is positioned next to the side window as a hinged part. The stylized plastic "snorkel" on the front doors is probably reminiscent of Land Rover vehicles (and its predecessor). It has no function, except that an embossing indicates the proportion of recycled plastic in the vehicle: 20 percent. The predecessor had twelve.
Unusual: the front of the all-wheel drive version is independent and enables a better angle of approach than the standard version. Not quite as striking as the first VW Tiguan, but still functional.
Hard but warm interior
Inside, Schmalhans is a master chef, but the cold plate is presented in an appealing way. Hard plastic as far as the eye can see, but, hey, it's not a bug, it's a feature! The Duster is one for the rough stuff. Not a professional off-roader (although you can get pretty far with the four-wheeler), but one that you can get into without a guilty conscience when you come out of the woods with the dog after a downpour. Wipe and go.
Only in some places will dirt get caught a little more persistently, such as in the corrugated pattern at the top of the door trim. One positive aspect is that a softer, foam rubber-like material is used in the really important areas - i.e. where the elbow rests.
The towering dashboard is partly made of colored plastic, and bold Duster lettering leaves no doubt as to where you are. The air vents practically look the Dacia in the face - they quote the LED signature of the headlights.
A little luxury is always on board
The 10-inch touchscreen, which comes as standard in Austria, is not cheap at all. The actual basic version called Essential - where you would have to clamp in your smartphone as a display - is not offered here at all.
Unlike the Dacia Jogger, which virtually celebrates "driving like in the old days" - with rotary controls for the air conditioning etc. - the controls in the Duster are more modern, but less practical. Although there is a bar with some haptic buttons, they are not illuminated and are difficult to find at night. And the menu navigation is not the clearest.
Unusual: If you don't want to adjust the volume on the steering wheel satellite, you have to do this with two push buttons on the top of the frame of the attached display. The button next to it does not mute, but switches off the entire system.
There is one button that many drivers will love: You can use it to call up the configuration of the assistance systems that you have previously saved. This is a function that we would like to see in many other manufacturers, as cruise control and lane departure warning are generally mandatory, but generally don't work well enough.
The eCall, drowsiness warning system and tire pressure monitoring system are also standard. There's no need to search for adaptive cruise control or lane departure warning.
It's always loud anyway
What you can't turn off with the volume control is the wind noise. They come to the fore from 80 km/h. Only the four-cylinder engine, which is part of the full hybrid system, is even louder. And of course the three-cylinder engine is not a quiet performer either, although the noise level here is perfectly acceptable given the vehicle class. Which brings us to the powertrain chapter.
Electricity in the Duster drive for the first time, but not without fuel
Two engine options are available in Austria. One is the 1.2-liter three-cylinder mild hybrid petrol engine, which is coupled with a manual six-speed gearbox and delivers 131 hp and 230 Nm from 1750 rpm. 230 Nm from 1750 rpm. It is supported by a belt-driven 48-volt starter generator, which is powered by an 800 Wh battery.
As a front-wheel drive vehicle, it is the liveliest Duster and propels the car, which weighs just 1271 kg without the driver, to 100 km/h in 9.9 seconds and on to 174 km/h. With all-wheel drive (plus 90 kg), the sprint takes 1.1 seconds longer. The only slightly annoying thing is that the turbocharger responds with a slight delay, so the connection is not as smooth when shifting up.
Alternatively, and as the only automatic version, there is the aforementioned full hybrid with a 1.2 kWh battery. A 94 hp petrol engine and a 47 hp electric motor produce a system output of 141 hp. The transmission is called a multi-mode gearbox and consists of four gears for the combustion engine and two for the electric motor. The gear changes are carried out by another small electric motor. We are already familiar with this system from various Renaults, where it works better.
In the Duster, it is not only annoying due to its sluggishness, but above all due to the fact that the combustion engine howls extremely repeatedly - often even when the accelerator pedal is constantly held at a more than moderate level. There is no sovereignty through pulling power or electric assistance. Only at speeds below 70 km/h is there a pleasant driving sensation, sometimes even a lively one, when the electric motor briefly pulls away silently.
On the data sheet, the full hybrid achieves a standard sprint time of 10.1 seconds, with a top speed of 160 km/h being the limit. But until then, you need patience and nerves of steel anyway.
The standard fuel consumption of the full hybrid and all-wheel drive vehicle is 5 and 6 liters, while that of the front-wheel drive combustion engine is exactly in the middle.
All-wheel drive with special capabilities
The all-wheel drive version certainly has off-road qualities. Thanks to a specially designed front end, it has an improved slope angle from 24 to 31 degrees, and it is also higher: at 21.7 centimetres, it has almost one centimetre more ground clearance than the front-wheel drive model. It also comes with a number of driving programs designed to make driving on loose surfaces easier.
The new All Road Info System not only uses four cameras to show the terrain around the car, but also lateral inclination, incline/decline and power distribution to the front and rear axles.
Extremely different driving behavior
It is interesting to note that the Duster handles differently depending on the drive system - an effect that we also noticed (to a slightly lesser extent) in the Dacia Jogger. Although the combustion versions are not sports cars either, they can be steered more precisely around bends and the chassis is less lurchy. The full hybrid, on the other hand, is almost spongy and left the passenger with a queasy stomach during test drives in the winding hinterland of Malaga.
Good amount of space
The Duster is quite spacious. The front seats are a little narrow, but that's fine, and even tall people can get by on the rear bench. The trunk can hold 517, 456 or 430 liters (front-wheel drive/all-wheel drive/hybrid), or 1696/1635/1609 liters when folded down.
The prices
The base price of the Dacia Duster is 20,990 euros. For this, you get the second equipment level Expression, including a 7-inch speedometer display, 10-inch central touchscreen, four loudspeakers, wireless smartphone connection, 17-inch alloys, cruise control, parking beeper/reversing camera, front windows, air conditioning, height-adjustable driver's seat, etc.
Above this, the equipment list is divided: Journey and Extreme both cost 23,790 euros, but differ in their orientation. For example, the heated seats are only standard in the Extreme, while the cell phone charger is only standard in the Journey. However, this can be compensated for via the surcharge list. They both have automatic air conditioning.
While the 3500 and 2500 euros surcharge for the all-wheel drive version is well worth it, you should think carefully about whether you want to invest the 5700 and 4700 euros for the full hybrid. A test drive is highly recommended before ordering.
Driving quote
From 24,490 euros, you can get an all-wheel-drive vehicle that is quite reasonably equipped, and from 20,990 an equally well-equipped front-wheel-drive vehicle. You won't expect high-quality materials or breathable seats, but the sound system is better than expected. However, it also has a lot to do in view of the wind noise. If you don't need the off-road qualities, you should perhaps also take a look at the Dacia Jogger.
Why?
Affordable SUV in a reasonable size
Good equipment
Easy to switch off the assistance systems
Why not?
Full hybrid with annoying combustion engine and spongy handling
Or perhaps ...
... a Dacia Jogger after all?
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