TESTED 18.4.24, SEVILLE, SPAIN ON SALE NOVEMBER PRICE £23,000 (EST)
How much car do you really need? It's a question Dacia has been answering quite expertly for the past decade by nailing the fundamentals and saving on the stuff that's largely immaterial (soft-touch interior mirror, anyone?). It has resulted in cars that are almost uniquely fit for purpose.
The outgoing Duster was a bit of a breakthrough in this respect, just tipping over the edge from 'feels cheap, but at least it is cheap' to being a genuinely good car at an unbeatable price. Dacia UK sent me one for a few days before the launch event of the new, third-generation Duster, and actually they could have given the old one a facelift with a more modern-looking interior and it would still be eminently recommendable. It's a genuinely pleasant car to drive: it's spacious enough, comfortable and easy to get on with.
But Dacia hasn't just given the second generation a facelift. This is a very substantially new car. As usual, the technical rundown reads like a greatest hits album of semi-recent Renault products. It moves to the CMF-B platform employed by the Renault Clio, the Nissan Juke and the Dacia Sandero and Jogger but adds the 1.2-litre mild-hybrid three-cylinder engine from the European-market Austral. The 1.0-litre bi-fuel triple, which runs on petrol and LPG, is carried over from the outgoing Duster as the entry point to the range, and the 1.6-litre full hybrid from the Jogger and various Renaults provides the only automatic option. Diesels are out, but you can still have your Duster with four-wheel drive.
If the new Duster looks far bigger than the old one, it isn't - not by much anyway. It's only 9mm wider and 2mm longer than before. But it is quite a bit lower and, in combination with the more squinty headlights and almost Jeepish grille, it certainly looks meaner.
この記事は Autocar UK の April 24, 2024 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、8,500 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は Autocar UK の April 24, 2024 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、8,500 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
HONDA E:NY1
How do you like the sound of a version that's better in almost every way for £15k less?
GWM ORA 07
Lightning Cat is poised to leap into the UK's electric saloon market
AMG lines up turbo V8 for CLE 63
Performance arm U-turns on unpopular PHEV power for coupé range-topper
JEEP GRAND CHEROKEE
Can the American SUV brand's new flagship mix it with the plug-in hybrid big guns?
M4 joins Competition Sport line-up
Lighter, faster and more track-focused take on hot BMW coupé packs 543bhp
Bold, fresh look for updated Cullinan
Revised SUV majors on bluff proportions as Rolls-Royce ramps up tech and options
New Ferrari flagship packs 819bhp from an atmo V12
Ferrari's new flagship GT car, the 12Cilindri, is the most powerful pure combustion production F car it has built to date.
AUDI SQ8 E-TRON SPORTBACK
Our big EV has already clocked 10,000 miles. Here's what we've learned so far
LIKE A SCAT OUT OF HELL
Brendan McAleer convenes two Scat Pack Dodges in Hells Gate, Canada, to give the V8 muscle car icons a suitably sizzling send-off
"I want to know what they are whispering to their mechanics
Ford boss Jim Farley tells Steve Cropley why both he and the company will continue racing, what's next for Mustang and one thing that would lead to his instant dismissal