DACIA DUSTER PRESTIGE 4x4

What is it?

For those of us who have been around for a while and remember the original Duster from the 1980s, things have changed an awful lot! A decade or so later Dacia was bought by Renault, and now build some of the best value cars money can buy.

This latest generation Duster went on sale in Europe back in 2010, and has proved to be quite a success with almost 2 million of them being sold so far.

Back then, with a starting price of just £8,995, the common question was just how could a company import the cars, sell them and make a profit? The simple answer is that Dacia raid the parts bin for tried and tested Renault and Nissan parts, then add in cheap Romanian labour costs and a simple pricing structure and you have have yourself a relatively cheap vehicle.

On the Road

Just because the Duster is a cheap car doesn’t mean that it translates into a woeful ride - far from it. Obviously it isn’t a performance car with trendy low profile tyres, but it’s really quite fun to throw around corners, and once in the correct gear, the 115bhp 1.5ltr diesel can leave you with a dirty great grin on your face.

Overall, ride and handling are set up more for comfort than high speed cornering and there is an element of wallowing through tighter corners, but not as much as you’d expect for an SUV of its type, and certainly not enough to put you off having a bit of fun.

Around town negotiating our potholed strewn streets, the Duster was comfortable, the suspension was soft, helped in part by 17” wheels and proper size tyres.

On some roads you’ll hear a bit of noise entering the cabin, but overall it was a relaxed affair, and motorway cruising was a joy, especially with the option of both cruise control and speed limiter. The new Duster also has an acoustic windscreen that helps to keep the noise down.

When it comes to the 4x4 version, 1st gear is incredibly low, only suitable for towing and off-road work, and for the majority of the week I got used to setting off in second gear.

After a week of mixed driving the computer showed that I had achieved 52.4mpg, which I was more than satisfied with.

Off Road

I know a few people with 4x4 Dusters who aren’t shy when it comes to taking them green-laning, I’m also on a few Duster Facebook pages, so I know how good they are off the beaten track. With this in mind I wanted to give this Duster a thorough test, and for that I decided upon Bootle Fell.

Just behind the gearstick you’ll find a dial that controls the drive modes; 2WD, Auto and Lock, and for the start of Bootle FellI switched the dial to Auto to let it do its own thing.

Initially it performed a lot better than the Jeep Compass Trailhawk did in ‘auto’ the week prior, which surprised me. The Duster handled the holes and shallow axle twisters with total ease and without hesitation.

The first tricky section involved dropping the front off-side wheel into a deep well, which in turn lifted the nearside rear in the air, it was here that the Duster lost traction and came to a halt, I tried a little left foot braking to no avail. Reversing a little I selected Lock on the dial and drove the same line. It was at this point I figured that Lock didn’t actually lock anything up. This was a bit worrying as there were more gnarly sections ahead!

Readjusting the line I cleared the obstacle, but I had similar issues further along. To be fair, this was quite an extreme lane, and in the end it was momentum that got me up some of the obstacles, not ideal, but we reached the end of the lane unscathed.

I mentioned this on a 4x4 Duster Facebook page and was informed that I should’ve also switched off Traction Control, but in my defence, in a lot of other 4x4s, TC is often automatically switched off when 4x4 engaged.

On other lanes the Duster proved faultless, with mud, rock and wet grass dismissed with the arrogance you would expect from a far more expensive 4x4.

Interior

It has pretty much everything you need in a car; 4 electric windows, cruise control, speed limiter, air conditioning, 4WD and plenty of passenger and luggage space. Yes, the majority of the interior is made of cheap plastic, but as I’ve always said, I’ve never felt the need to caress a leather dashboard whilst sat at the lights, so does it really matter? You do get some fabric on the front door armrests, and the steering wheel is made of soft leather, which is rather nice.

The only real issue I had was that the sweep of the passenger side windscreen wiper is too low and the seat is fixed fairly high, therefore when it rains your passenger has no forward vision - Muddy madam wasn’t impressed.

On with the positives, the heated seats are comfortable, it has proper heater controls and keyless entry. You’ll also find a 12v socket and two USB ports up front, and a further two USBs in the rear. The 8” media display isn’t in your face and features Apple Car-Play, Android, a DAB radio and the whole unit is wi-fi and Bluetooth compatible. There’s even sat-nav, multi view cameras, front and rear parking sensors and blindspot warning.

Boot space is 445 litres, but be prepared to lose some of that if you opt for the £300 full size spare wheel option, which in my opinion is a no-brainer.

Conclusion

I really enjoyed my week with the Duster, it proved comfortable, economical, practical and surprisingly competent offroad. The Duster is a very good SUV that overdelivers at its relatively cheap cost. Yes, it may use an older Clio platform and recycles a lot of obsolete Renault parts, but if it’s not broke, and it still works, why the heck not?

Price - £22,590 incl spare wheel & metallic paint options