DACIA DUSTER

A swap for a 4x4 Duster gives the chance to test its off-road ability

- WILL RIMELL

It's a sunny weekend and I'm awake early, coffee in hand and up for an adventure. But while my normal go-to might be to jump in the sports car and blitz down some Broads, I've got another idea in mind: let's off-road.

While my Duster 140 is having a break in the workshop being fitted with a cool bit of kit that I will talk about another time - hint, it will be great for festival season - Dacia has handed me the keys to a 130. It has a five-speed manual gearbox, a 128bhp mild-hybrid powertrain and, most importantly for my Sunday jaunt, four-wheel drive. Autocar photographer and former fellow south coast-dweller Jack Harrison pointed me in the direction of Corfe Castle in Dorset, which is where we now find ourselves.

Just half an hour from Poole, the landscape here is awash with green rolling hills as far as the eye can see. Heading down a narrow Broad, I turn onto a short gravel track, at the end of which I'm met with a large metal gate adorned with a sign that says I must shut it or the cows will escape. It feels odd to be here with a car, but despite the odd walker staring quizzically at me, this is a perfectly legal byway I can carefully drive along. There's even a sign clearly saying: 'Green Lane Association, byway open to all traffic.' So I open the gate, drive through and close it behind me. We're in.

Ahead lies our first test: a slight hill strewn with small craters and a herd of cows. I twist the mode selector to Lock (to lock the central differential into 4x4 mode) and off we go. And you know what? This is a lot easier than I was expecting.