Around 2.2 million Dacia Dusters have been sold around the world since the car was launched in 2012, and around 100,000 of those were shifted in the UK.
It’s hardly surprising that it’s been such a success because it’s an and it dramatically undercuts all its rivals.
Today we’re driving the third-generation Duster, completely new from the tyres up, and based on the same CMF-B platform used for the and . The styling is completely new, too.
There’s was nothing ugly or offensive about the original Duster’s looks but if you put this new one next to that car it will look pretty dated.
I reckon the new Duster looks terrific. It’s less rounded and more purposeful, and the recently introduced new Dacia logo works really well on the front grille.
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I suspect the appearance of the revamped car will attract a whole new generation of buyers.
As always with Dacia the range is simple. We start at the bottom with the Essential trim. It’s likely that not many people will choose this variant for a couple of reasons.
Firstly, historically Dacia customers actually go for the higher-spec models rather than the entry-level ones and secondly, the £18,745 Essential is only available with the TCe 100 bi-fuel engine which runs on petrol and LPG. That’s a very interesting powertrain but with the number of LPG sales outlets beginning to decrease, it’s a limited market although the fuel is still readily available on the continent.
Next up is the Expression which is available with the TCe 130 engine, six-speed manual gearbox and with two or four-wheel drive, or with the other available engine which is a 140PS hybrid – the same engine used in many contemporary – which only comes with an automatic gearbox.
The last two trims are Journey and Extreme. This is a new take for Dacia because the Extreme is more off-road biased and the Journey is more styled for the road. You can have either the 130 or 140 engines and two and four-wheel drive.
We’re testing the Expression TCe 130 because it’s likely to be a popular model. Price on the road for this one is £21,245 plus £650 for our car’s Terracotta metallic paint. It’s a two-wheel-drive model and has the six-speed manual gearbox.
The new Duster’s interior is straightforward and simple with some nice design touches such as the air vents that echo the new logo graphic. Expression and upwards come with a 10.1-inch infotainment screen and a seven-inch digital instrument display.
Dacia has introduced something it calls YouClip which is a range of useful accessory holders, such as one to hold your phone which clips into the dashboard next to the infotainment.
Similarly handy YouClip devices (there are three in the Expression as standard and five in the Journey and Extreme) hold tablets and there’s a cupholder which doubles up with a light. It’s the sort of thing does so well.
The three-cylinder 1.2-litre turbocharged engine sounds a bit coarse on start up but once you’re on the move it’s quiet. The mild hybrid system’s electric motor helps with acceleration and also reduces fuel consumption by 10%. Dacia quotes consumption at 51.36mpg and we got around 48mpg, but that was in the hilly Peak District and moving briskly.
The new Duster is spacious with plenty of legroom front and rear. The boot holds 517 litres with seats in place and 1,609 with them folded. The four-wheel-drive models’ rear differential robs a bit of space as does the bi-fuel’s LPG tank and TCe 140 hybrid’s battery.
Dacia says that around 1,000 customers have registered an interest in the new Duster without having seen one in the metal or read any reviews. They’re not going to be disappointed.
The facts Dacia Duster TCe 130 Expression five-door SUV
Price: £21,245
Engine: 1.2-litre three-cylinder, 130bhp
0-62mph: 9.9sec
Fuel consumption: 51.4mpg
Co2: 124g/km
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