goodbye diesel, only hybrid or LPG engines – -

Sport utility to go beyond the city, with quality and hybrid petrol engines, even if it is the gas version that best combines low costs and good road holding

Malaga (Spain) – Low cost as an idea of ​​compromising on everything, in order to reach the exasperatingly low price, no longer makes sense in the car. This is said by Dacia itself, which with its small Logan sedan in 2004 managed to present itself on the market with a price list starting from 7,500 euros, then a true minimalist message to the world of consumption. Twenty years later, the game being staged in Europe is tougher and different, with an increasingly smaller number of cars accessible to families. For this reason there is less image and philosophy in the new Duster, which concludes the transformation of the Dacia brand into a manufacturer of cars based on concreteness, costs and reasonable consumption in everyday life.

Success story

It was already a model with a strong Duster history, that’s for sure, but the over 2.2 million units sold in the Old Continent belong to an even more spartan and different experience. The Duster is still 434 cm long, but It has attention to detail and more overall grit, a very vertical front and that high bonnet with deep grooves which suggests dimensions even larger than the real ones, of a sport utility not just a city one. Compared to the past there is a real leap in quality in the way it is built, as well as tasteful touches such as the rear door handles on the window frame, or even the side protectors in a plastic that hides scratches.

Cheap yes, low cost no

Above all, the low cost experience ends definitively by looking at the mechanics, with each Dacia which until a few years ago used that of the previous generation Renault models, and which on the new Duster is instead the most updated available to the French group. Simply put, the shape of the frame and its width gives rise to the possibility of changing the interior design, which are now much wider, with more freedom of movement at the legs and shoulders. What is not convincing is the very vertical profile of the windscreen and rear window, which are not even among the widest and limit visibility. The plastics of the coverings, which appear rigid, are instead appreciated for their consistency designed to last. Dacia has planned one digital instrumentation behind the steering wheelwith the possible addition of a second 10.1-inch screen in the center of the dashboard, with a pleasant effect and also rather good functionality in connections with smartphones, even if the obvious goes directly to the luggage, with those 594 liters of capacity that put Duster in a position to be the first family and travel car, even if it no longer offers diesel engines.

Only hybrid or LPG, also 4×4

The 3-cylinder 1.2 liter turbo petrol engine is a mild hybrid, has 130 horsepower and also powers the all-wheel drive version, exactly the one that over the years has contributed significantly to the model’s reputation for robustness. For Italy in search of practical solutions, the news that matters is perhaps in that 140 horsepower full hybrid variant that Duster has never had. According to Dacia forecasts, by far the greatest interest will go to the Duster Eco-G with the 1 liter three-cylinder turbo that runs on petrol and LPGhas 100 horsepower and a 50-litre tank placed under the luggage floor: alone it is worth an average mileage of around 620 kilometres.

Versions and prices

This is the concreteness of Duster, with a basic version with a price starting from 19,700 euros, from which up to 3 thousand euros can also be deducted thanks to the next state incentives with scrapping. Here also lies the good work of Dacia in making the car even more enjoyable using LPG compared to petrol, with better acceleration when picking up which takes advantage of the low weight, which leads to a pleasant drive with good ideas. Motorway speeds are comfortable, despite improved soundproofing, i.e. with far too much wind noise when exceeding 100 km/h. The unexpected fun instead arrives between the curves, with balanced road holding, not too soft shock absorbers, ready brakes and precise steering like we would never have imagined on a low-cost and minimalist Dacia. More usefully, time has passed.