DACIA DUSTER

I'VE never been one for jumping on a bandwagon, but I'm certainly joining a big-and growing-crowd by embarking on life with a brand-new Dacia.

- Andy Pringle

The brand enjoyed a record year in the UK in 2024, registering almost 32,000 new cars, and along the way found a home for the country's 100,000th Duster since the original model first reached these shores in 2013.

Much has changed since then, but the third-generation Duster that I collected from Dacia's flagship dealer in Brentford, west London, has much in common with its predecessor - not least its rugged charm and no-nonsense character.

I already know I'll find this new model fascinating to run, because I didn't really like the original Duster. I thought it was crude and uncomfortable, while the fixtures and fittings - not to mention the tech - were clearly past-their-prime hand-me-downs from parent company Renault.

But as soon as I stepped into the dazzling new Dacia showroom, it was obvious that things are very different now.

Dacia London West shares its site with a Renault franchise, and I walked past several gleaming new Renault 5s to get to the Duster. Yet the two brands' cars sit very happily alongside each other. Is Dacia the poor relation? Absolutely not.