Dacia Duster 2019 long-term review
More than great value, is the new model simply a great SUV? We aim to find out
Why we’re running it: To find out if Dacia's new Duster offer a few little luxuries to overtake more expensive rivals, while still being a practical workhorse
Life with a Dacia Duster: Month 2
An unexpected warning light - 20th March 2019
What do you mean ‘check injection’? The operator from Dacia Assist, run in partnership the RAC, told me to follow the 50:50 protocol. No, I didn’t know what it meant either. Apparently, because the warning light is orange, not red, I can drive the car for 50 miles, up to 50mph, to get it to a dealership. Find out next time if I make it.
Mileage: 2226
Faulty sensor means a spell in a different Duster - 6th March 2019
"Petrol or diesel?” You know when you’re in the pub and that drunk bloke stooping at the end of the bar knows you’re into cars and keeps asking you the same generic question? Yeah, that’s not what I’m doing here. And no, I’m not about to settle decades of over-regulated red tape that has been the publicity plaything of politicians and policy makers alike.
Rather, I want to talk specifically about the engine options in the 2019-model-year Dacia Duster. That’s right: buckle up. But seriously, the dynamic differences between the two are significant. And unfortunately, it’s a question I’m answering rather sooner than I hoped.
During my tenure of the budget SUV, I’m running the Blue dCi 115 Comfort 4x2, which in plain English is the front-wheel-drive diesel. In terms of refinement, the engine is pretty good for any price point, let alone this bargain one. It pulls nicely from low revs, doesn’t make all that much noise and, my oh my, the range.
I don’t know why a decent range feels like such a luxury in 2019, but it’s a lovely feeling to not have to stop at a fuel station for weeks at a time. Over the festive period, I managed the annual London-to-Manchester-in-laws-odyssey and back on one tank, as well as a good chunk of local pootling in the north-west. I know there are a fair few rangey diesels out there but I am loving it.
It’s a decent cruiser on such journeys. It accelerates briskly enough and sits well at motorway speed, floating around the 50mpg mark on cruise control.
“This will be just perfect for me (the Autocar cameraman) and my load-lugging miles”, I thought, until… the dreaded warning light. After a month with the car, a little orange cloud popped up on the dashboard with the message ‘Check AntiPollution System’. How, I wondered? When the magnifying glass and a hammer didn’t get me anywhere, Dacia kindly and quickly reset the AdBlue sensor that was playing up and returned the car to me.
Those couple of days when I sent the car back gave me the opportunity to try the SCe 115 Comfort 4x2, which in plain English is the lower-powered front-wheel-drive petrol version.
What you immediately notice is the significant difference in torque. The petrol peaks at 115lb ft at 4000rpm compared with the 192lb ft that the diesel pulls on from just 1750rpm. This means you have to stamp on the throttle like an arachnophobe dispatching of a tarantula to make any progress in the petrol variant. The other main difference in the drivetrain is the gearbox, as the petrol has a five-speed rather than the diesel’s six. The five-speed simply doesn’t have as much length, so you have to fizz along using noticeably more revs on the motorway.
When it comes to counting the pennies in your pocket, the diesel has an initial £2000 mark-up over the 115bhp petrol engine. However, the 51.3mpg claimed for the diesel unit on the WLTP cycle trumps 35.3mpg for the petrol. Both of these are actually fairly achievable in my experience. It would take about 40,000 miles to recoup the steeper outlay based on current fuel prices. Although Vehicle Excise Duty is the same for both in two-wheel-drive form, it’s worth noting that it’s £310 a year more if you pair this petrol unit with four-wheel drive.
Finally, we can’t ignore the TCE 130 4x2, which in plain English is a more powerful unleaded variant, offering both more muscle and more economy for a £1000 premium over lower-powered petrol.
All of this cost-scraping aside, the diesel experience is a much more enjoyable one because of its fuel range, performance and refinement. It’s surprising, then, that only around 25% of Dusters sold will be oil-burners, but such is the sway of public opinion at the moment. I, in plain English, am happy in the two-wheel-drive diesel for as long as the sensors are functioning.
Love it:
Cruising range More than 500 miles of range on a single tank of diesel.
Loathe it:
Plastic trim The cheap plastics in the car do feel cheap but, hey, the car is cheap.
Mileage: 1867
Quality mismatch inside the cabin - 6th February 2019
I’m no good at Rollerblading, but I could do with digging out an old elbow pad. Just the one. Dacia’s interior now includes a leather steering wheel, the seats are better and there’s a comfy driver’s armrest for my left arm. But the door panel remains a hard and scratchy plastic that has your right elbow calling for protection.
Mileage: 1250
Month 1 - Specs
Life with a Dacia Duster: Month 1
Welcoming the Duster to the fleet - 23rd January 2019
Forgive me for being sceptical, but when the first-generation Dacia Duster arrived in the UK, I wasn’t sure. It seemed counter-intuitive that a SUV could be desirable when costing so little.
But then I drove it. I drove it from London to John O’Groats and back. I drove it as part of a 4x4 mega-test against the off-roading old guard for Autocar’s YouTube channel – think Wranglers, Discoverys and Arctic Trucks Isuzus.
Sure, it had flaws: the steering was vague, the interior quality was visibly outdated, the ground clearance was lower than bigger dirt-displacing rivals. But the plucky Duster was more capable and comfortable across all terrains than I imagined it ever possibly could have been. And at every stage, you can’t help but remember just how bloody cheap it is. I was convinced.
Seemingly, I wasn’t the only one. These days, a Duster runs off the production line every 56 seconds. Now there’s a new one. This latest model addresses many of the criticisms that could be levelled at the last one.
The infotainment touchscreen has been raised by 74mm, which is a huge amount. That means you have to look away from the road much less. It also gets electric power steering, vastly improving the accuracy with which you can place the car or position yourself on a motorway cruise.
So we’re running the Duster to see if these improvements help the car cope with a workhorse lifestyle while affording luxuries that seem almost unthinkable at the penny-pinching cost. That’s why it’s been given to me – the video bloke, a job for which you are carrying lots of gear and need something solid, dependable, yet not too parsimonious in how it feels.
It’s also why we’ve specced it thus. As many of its miles will be munching up motorways, we picked the diesel-powered Blue dCi 115 engine for its frugal approach. On the WLTP cycle, the new Duster is claiming mpg in the mid-50s. Here’s hoping this two-wheel-drive variant will be as economical as the figures suggest.
Currently, the diesel powertrain represents just 25% of sales for the new Duster, despite much better fuel economy than its petrol counterpart. Clearly, that’s to do with the swell of public opinion away from the fuel type in general. In the first thousand or so miles of driving the Dacia, I’m already loving having a range of more than 500 miles.
Arguably another reason to pick the diesel is its partnership with a six-speed gearbox. As you may have read in the Autocar road test, the five-speed ’box paired with the petrol options perhaps leaves a little to be desired at the top of the range for motorway work. We’ll be sure to report on drivetrain comparisons throughout our tenure.
The next all-important option picked is the colour. Desert Orange paint costs £495 and is the most expensive extra on our car. Some call it brown, others gold, but either way this shimmering Saharan butterscotch hue has proved the most popular since launch. There are eight colours and all will cost you the same amount except for white.
Having been temporarily halted by a puncture in the far reaches of north-west Scotland in the previous Duster, the optional space-saving spare wheel also makes its way into the ticked boxes. That’s £150 worth spending, if you ask me.
Even in this specification, which includes Apple CarPlay/Android Auto, this bright brown bruiser only just knocks on the door of 16 grand. Okay, it’s a lot more than the headline figure of £9999 that gets shouted about in the catchy Dacia marketing spiel, but it’s still cheaper than rivals.
What are these rivals? The direct ones are probably the Suzuki Vitara and MG GS. Realistically, the Duster undercuts anything with comparable performance and practicality by a four-figure sum.
Louise O’Sullivan, head of Dacia UK and Ireland, meets us to hand over the keys and explains that they often find Nissan Qashqais in the basket of potential buyers. But that’s not the most premium badge mentioned.
The words Range and Rover seem to crop up in Louise’s vocabulary quite often too. Not that the Duster is aiming directly at the luxury marque – rather she tells of how Range Rover owners might purchase a Duster as the hack for their provincial pastures alongside the Vogue that’s perhaps used on less gruelling duties day to day. The other reason for mentioning the British brand in the same breath is that, in November, the Duster was the third-biggest-selling SUV in the UK, just 24 units behind the Evoque.
That’s where my original assumption on the first-gen Duster’s arrival to the UK was wrong. Making a shockingly affordable car is much more innovative than it first seems.
You see, outside of the walls of Autocar Towers, motoring is quite simply about mobility. The Duster offers more mobility to more people because it’s more affordable and more practical than anything that comes close to it. Being an SUV, it ought to carry around family members of all ages, as it’s easy for elder generations to climb in, while having space to fit all the clobber that comes with young ones.
Let’s press on and find out over the next six months if it can live up to such expectations.
Second Opinion
Previously, I ran an LPG Sandero which was as cheap to run as it was to buy. But inside it felt cheap, too. This second-generation Duster nudges in the right direction on perceived quality issues. There’s a fine line between cheap and good value, and this Dacia is on the right side of it.
Mark Tisshaw
Dacia Duster Comfort BLUEDCI 115 4X2 specification
Specs: Price New £15,395 Price as tested £16,040 Options Metallic paint £495, Emergency spare wheel £150
Test Data: Engine 1461cc four-cylinder diesel Power 113bhp Torque 192lb ft at 1750rpm Kerb weight 1320kg Top speed 111mph 0-62mph 11.8sec Fuel economy 51.3-57.6mpg CO2 115g/km Faults None Expenses None
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