Dacia Duster Access 1.6 4x4
by Tim Barnes-Clay, the man behind the wheel.
Date: 25 November 2013
The Duster is so basic that my wife took five minutes to figure out how to open the tailgate. She then remembered how cars used to work years ago – and she pressed the button you stick the key in – and voilà, the boot opened.
That says a lot about what the Dacia brand is all about. It strips away all the frills we have become used to on our motors. The Duster certainly doesn’t cosset you or pretend it’s anything other than a crude four-wheel-drive Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV).
Step inside and you feel like you’re sitting in something from the late 80s. The Renault owned Romanian automaker obviously loves plastic. There’s so much of the stuff that the cabin reeks of it.
The dashboard is just one big slab of synthetic material, with all the appeal of that long forgotten Tupperware box in the back of your mum’s cupboard. But the boot, once you’ve worked out how to get into it, is surprisingly square and spacious.
The steering wheel is rubbery and squishy, and while you’re taking strange pleasure in the malleable material, you can’t help notice the rough engine clatter when you turn the ignition key.
Runaway Rhino
The Duster is heavy and not easy to manoeuvre at slow speed, and it takes an age to get going - but when it does gather momentum it behaves like a runaway rhino and will cruise on the motorway at 70mph very happily. Luckily the brakes are good and they erase speed quickly, although at one point I did think I might have to throw an anchor out of the window to stop the lumbering, over-enthusiastic Dacia on one particularly short stretch of dual-carriageway.
As you might expect with all-wheel-drive, road-holding is impressive. You have the option to twist a dial in the cabin to turn four-wheel-drive on or off –so you have plenty of control over when you want to engage all four corners.
I didn’t venture off the tarmac, but given the ride height of the Duster and the impressive grip in normal circumstances, I reckon this bit of Romanian rough will see you through a British winter or over a rutted field.
The Dacia may come without any icing on the cake, but the Access model, on test here, is Britain’s most affordable new SUV. It starts at £8,995 for the two wheel drive model, and my 4x4 version will only set you back £10,995.
FAST FACTS
- Max speed: 99 mph
- 0-62 mph: 12.8 secs
- Combined mpg: 35.3
- Engine 1598 cc, 4 cylinders, 16 valve, petrol
- Max. power (bhp): 105 at 5750 rpm
- Max. torque (Ib/ft): 109 at 3750 rpm
- CO2: 185 g/km
- Price: £10,995
