Duster’s cheap, but a little more cheerful

IF EVER there was a car that divides opinion, it is the Dacia Duster. The Romanian quasi 4x4 is belittled by many, but very many others see it as the bargain of the century.

Sat, 03 Nov, 2018 - 00:00

By Declan Colley

IF EVER there was a car that divides opinion, it is the Dacia Duster. The Romanian quasi 4x4 is belittled by many, but very many others see it as the bargain of the century.

Dacia is owned by Renault and, by some considerable distance, it is the company’s best-selling car. To the end of September this year, it sold 1,915 units, up from the 1,705 it sold in the same period last year. And that was when the last model was being run-out, as the new Duster was being readied to hit the streets. Impressive, you’d have to say.

Marketed successfully as Ireland’s most “shockingly affordable” car, the Duster, — or, more properly, the Dacia brand itself — is the “yellow pack” of the car world.

Here in Ireland, the Duster — the new one, which we test here this week — sells for a song, priced from just over €17,000 for the entry-level version, up to €24,500 for the Prestige.

it cheaper than a pencil sharpener.

The old version was not noted for its driving dynamics, nor for its interior décor, which was crude. But it was cheap, fairly reliable, and practical, so what was there to quibble about?

Well, there was a lot to quibble about, really, as it had the technological edge of a Brontosaurus, the driving traits of an Ursus tractor, and the wow-factor of dirt on your shoe.

But it still sold like mad and the majority of its owners, it is fair to assume, were happy.

So, updating the Duster to give it a nicer interior, loads more tech, and a slightly better driving experience could only be a good thing? Well, sort of.

The Duster is a bargain-basement SUV, and once you have established this fact, you can move along.

So, what have they done to upgrade the Mk II? Well, everything is new, apart from engines and suspensions. Although the shape has not changed and the car looks like its predecessor, Dacia insist that not one body panel is common to the two.

Sure, there is new plastic décor/cladding on the grille and the front wings, the bonnet is more shapely, the windows are shallower, the roof rails have been beefed-up, and there are attractive, new rear lights (which look curiously similar to those on the new range of Jeeps, incidentally).

Inside the new Duster, things have been ramped-up considerably. The more supportive seats have nicer upholstery, the dashboard has been revamped, and the new air vents are funky. The fresh blast of kit now includes a very modern and easy-to-use infotainment system (including phone, car play, radio, navigation, and so forth), as well as several safety upgrades.

However, the level of plastic and its tactility will still be an issue for many. In truth, climbing aboard this Duster is like going back in time to, say, a Fiat of the 1980s; there are swathes of scratchy, unpleasant, black synthetic nastiness around you, and you could frighten the children by rasping your nails back and forth across the dash.

But Duster owners seem not to mind. Scratchy will do just fine. One thing Dacia has addressed is the soundproofing of the Duster, having removed the grim engine and wind-noise intrusion.

On the engine front, petrol or diesel, the choices are a little uninspiring, both with 115 bhp on offer. The instrumentation suggested we were driving a petrol engine, because the limit hits the red line at between 6,000 and 7,000 revs.

But it was not. It was a diesel, as we discovered when we hit the power cliff — and fell off it — at just over 3,000 rpm. Dacia apparently decided not to bother making either diesel-specific or petrol-specific rev. counters. One size fits all and saves costs.

That said, there is decent, low-end torque (you can induce terminal understeer, if you’re feeling brave), a decent amount of grunt (top speed is just shy of 180, but the 0-100km/h time is a glacial 12 seconds) and the economy is pretty impressive. You can reasonably expect to get over 5.6 l/100km (over 50 mpg), no matter what driving you do.

On the road, the Duster, unsurprisingly, has somewhat of a French demeanour, in that it will roll on mushy suspension settings. This makes it passenger friendly, but not particularly driver-friendly. There is no 4x4 option, as yet, but expect it in showrooms early next year.

So, as a front-drive only, the Duster will lope along nicely, but don’t ask it any dynamic questions, because it doesn’t have many answers.

Watch out, too, for the slightly clunky six-speed gearbox, which appears to have a very narrow gateway, so you will find yourself snatching fourth occasionally, while actually trying to engage sixth.

But, whichever traits you might like to crib about, the bottom line here is simple: cost.

You can buy a Duster, which is a mid-sized SUV, for about the same price as you’ll pay for a small city car and that one factor is going to sell it straight off the forecourt.

The Duster does not aspire to being much, but it is a very efficient, practical, hard-wearing, and well-specified beast. It may not have many characteristics that you could get in a lather about, but honesty, grit, and a willingness to get the job done are more than enough for a lot of buyers.

This second-generation Duster has had a considerable amount of spit and polish thrown at it and it does show. While the obvious company policy of creating a seriously value-for-money product has impacted on the finished article, that has done nothing to temper the car’s appeal.