Dacia Duster review
by David Ross (27 May 2010)
Dacia Duster: a name to conjure with and, when one came my way back in the 1980s, I wished I was a conjurer as, that way, I could have waved my wand and made it disappear. With no power, horrid ride and roadholding and pathetic brakes, I just wanted rid of the thing.
But Dacia soldiered on with Romanian build quality gradually emerging from the dark ages. Then, in 1999, Renault, with remarkable foresight, bought the company and suddenly good-looking Dacia Logans and James May's favourite, the Dacia Sandero, were crowding the roads of mainland Europe and beyond. In the last five years alone, Dacia has sold over 1.25 million vehicles.
For that many to be seen almost everywhere but the UK, I reasoned they must either be as cheap as chips or rather good. Now, having driven the latest Dacia Duster, I can attest, Dusters will be sufficiently cheap and well-made to polish off the opposition.
Unfortunately, while the recession has left us in need of a really inexpensive off-roader and the new Duster looks to fit the bill, it will not be with us in the UK until the end of 2012. Pity, because when I travelled to Morocco, where Dacia is one of the top-selling brands, I found a sharp, modern-looking and very solid-feeling - to say nothing of really quite appealing - off-roader.
Far from being cheap and nasty, the Duster exudes an impression of toughness, the wide wheelarches and imposing lines of the chrome grill and lower bumper protection emphasising its rugged 4x4 off-roader DNA. Inside, the elevated driving position provides a good view of potential hazards while the seats are surprisingly comfortable and supportive. As to the dash, it's functional and uncluttered and created from decent quality materials.
And as to interior space, this is a full five-seater with a massive load area in the rear. In terms of space alone, the Duster can dust off the opposition as nothing else even remotely comparable can come near it on price.
So what would you expect to pay for such a vehicle? Powered by a modern Renault engine mated to a precise five-speed manual gearbox and endowed with excellent assisted steering and strong brakes, I would have put it at around £14,500 but, right now, the Dacia Duster 1.6 petrol version costs little more than £10,800 in the many countries it is sold in. So the sooner it's here, the better.
I knew about the price but I didn't know how well the Duster would drive, or about its amazing ride over simply appalling surfaces. Or its grip. The Duster 1.6 4X2, with front wheel drive only, was absolutely unstoppable as it forced on up awesome gradients on its way to the remote off-road coarse.
There, I tried the 4x4 110bhp diesel with its astonishingly low first gear that allowed me to drive down near vertical descents without the need for clever differentials or hill descent control. The Duster's other off-road secret is that it is not nearly as heavy as most other off-roaders, so it scampers up hill and down dale with the agility of a mountain goat.
The light weight also pays off on-road where the 1.6 4x2's fuel economy is excellent at 37.7mpg and with emissions of just 177g/km. And the Duster can shift, 0-62mph taking just 11.5 seconds.
However, no matter how impressed I was by the petrol version, it was the smooth-running 1.5 dCi diesel 4X2 model that really won me over. The characteristics of the diesel engine are ideal for this type of vehicle, the engine digging deep into its reserves of low speed torque when a build-up of speed was called for. The gearing proved ideal too, the combined cycle fuel figure being an impressive 55.4mpg.
There must be a huge potential market for an inexpensive off-roader among the likes of Vets and doctors, while this type of vehicle is also extremely popular on the school run. Four-wheel drive is always going to get you where two-wheel drive might not but, so impressive was the 4X2 Duster over surfaces that exhibited little grip, four-wheel drive might be an extra cost many Duster owners may feel they don't need to meet.
Running costs will not hit family budgets as Dacia provides a three-year/100,000-mile warranty, and servicing is inexpensive as it's only required every 30,000 km or every two years.
As Roland Bouchara, Renault UK's managing director, said: "We've been watching Dacia's remarkable success closely over the last few years so naturally I'm thrilled that we will soon be able to show the British public what all the fuss has been about across the water. With value-for-money, downsizing, fuel economy and emissions all becoming increasingly important, we want to show that Dacia can appeal to the head, the heart and the wallet."
