Dacia Bigster

Romanian brand's largest model yet is a family SUV with a small SUV price tag and the option of hybrid power On sale May Price from £24,995

- OLIVER YOUNG

SOME SUVS, SUCH as the BYD Seal U, Honda e:Ny1 and Toyota bZ4X, have names that seemingly require a degree in cryptanalysis (the art of creating and breaking codes) to understand. The Dacia Bigster's name is much less of a riddle; in a nutshell, it's a Big Duster.

More specifically, it's 227mm longer and 46mm taller than its Duster small SUV sibling, making it the largest Dacia yet and a member of the family SUV class. The Duster and Bigster are closely related under the surface, though.

The Bigster offers a choice of three petrol engine, starting with the mild hybrid TCe 140, which drives the front wheels via a six-speed manual gearbox. Then there's the TCe 130, which trades a little power for four-wheel drive but likewise uses a six-speed manual gearbox. At the top of the range is the automatic-only Hybrid 155, and it's this engine that powered the Bigster we've driven.

As its name suggests, it's a full hybrid, combining a 107bhp 1.8-litre petrol engine with a 50bhp electric motor and a 1.4kWh (total capacity) battery. Unlike mild hybrids, it'll pootle around town and cruise at moderate speeds on quiet, smooth electric power alone.