A map and a compass.

Dacia got a foothold in the UK with cheapness, now it wants toughness on its CV. Can the new Duster handle Morocco's heat and locate a Dakar team in the desert - no GPS allowed?

- JASON BARLOW

An edict has been issued from TopGear high command, and we are required to find our way from Morocco’s capital Marrakesh to Xaluca Arfoud in the southeast near the Algerian border using only these old school navigational tools.

No smartphones, no GPS, and no police convoys. As if. This desert digital detox will occur in the new Dacia Duster, a car whose huge success – 2.4m sold and counting since 2010 – is predicated on a similarly streamlined approach to life. It has what you need and not a whole lot else.

Except that this new version dares to tamper with the formula and has aspirations. Say it isn’t so. The map and some basic arithmetic suggests that we’re looking at a distance of 510km (317 miles), which doesn’t sound too arduous until you factor in a selection of spicy variables. Prime among them is the Atlas mountain range, a geological marvel that separates the Sahara desert from the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean across a swathe of North Africa. It’s majestic and beautiful but... kind of in the way. Our three-pot Duster is going to have to work every one of its 128bhp hard to make a dent in them.

It’s also hot. The sort of hot that makes the UK’s sporadic heatwaves look like one of Wim Hof’s ice baths. We get antsy if it hits 30°C, but in Morocco that’s merely balmy. Where we’re going it’s forecast to reach beyond that. Far beyond, as it turns out. We’ll be frying eggs on the ground where we’re headed.