Dacia Duster Review & Prices

The Dacia Duster is a byword for practicality, value and toughness - and has been since the first-generation model launched in the UK in 2010. The second-generation car had more of the same but was a much nicer vehicle to live with day-to-day, and now the new third-generation Duster has upped the ante once more.

It’s still as rugged and useful for family life as it ever was, but now has refreshed looks, an extra degree of sophistication and even the option of a hybrid engine for the first time. Its pumped-up styling makes it look like a high-tech walking boot for the road. And just like a walking boot, the Duster is ideally suited for rough terrain, as it’s part of a dwindling group of small SUVs available with four-wheel drive.

Alternatives for the Duster are universally more expensive and less durable, but include small SUVs such as the Volkswagen T-Cross, Renault Captur and Peugeot 2008. The 4x4 variant has even fewer models to do battle with, rivalling only the Jeep Renegade and Suzuki Ignis.

Lots of the new styling touches are really practical. The plastic cladding along the front and sides should protect from errant trollies in supermarket car parks, with the material on the front and rear being the same colour all the way through - which means scratches and scrapes won’t show as much.

Other plastics used on the exterior are made of a recycled material Dacia’s calling ‘Starkle’, keen to bolster the car’s eco-credentials.

Inside, the new Duster is much more sophisticated than the old model. The entry-level car just comes with a phone mount in the centre, but the next trim up brings a touchscreen infotainment system with wireless smartphone connectivity. It also comes with a 7.0-inch digital dashboard display, making for a surprisingly slick and high-tech looking dashboard.

Dacia’s value roots become obvious when you start poking around - you won’t find soft-touch plastics anywhere in the Duster’s interior. Everything feels hard wearing, though, and interesting textures mean it looks quite cool - we really like the rubber floor mats, which are designed to look like map contours.

The robust surfaces should prove well up to the rigours of family life, or adventuring - they’ll withstand a lot of punishment, and wipe clean easily. It’s also really spacious for a small SUV, with space for six-foot adults in the rear and a big, square boot with some useful underfloor storage.

The Duster’s transformation continues with the introduction of its first hybrid engine. It’s the same system as you’ll find in the Dacia Jogger hybrid, and it’s extremely efficient as well as being much smoother in town. Other engines available are a mild hybrid petrol, which will be available with four-wheel drive, and a lower-powered entry-level unit that can run on either petrol or cheaper LPG.

It’s a shame that there’s no longer a hyper-economical diesel engine, but you’ll be able to forgive that when you feel how the new Duster drives. It feels much more reassuring than the old car with firmer suspension that doesn’t bounce you over bumps so much. Yet it’s still comfortable, and more capable off-road than almost anything else at this price point.

Check out our best deals on the new Dacia Duster here. Or look at the rest of our favourite small SUVs to see the Duster’s main alternatives. You can see great deals on other Dacia models here, or buy a used Dacia here. And when you’ve chosen your new set of wheels, don’t forget you can sell your current car through Carwow too.

Value is always a given with Dacia, so it’s great that the base-model Duster comes in at well below £20,000 - that’s cheaper than most small hatchbacks. That price is for the fairly Spartan ‘Essential’ model, though, which only comes with the 100hp bi-fuel engine. For most people, the Essential with the 130hp 1.2-litre engine is a better bet, but that still costs from just over £21,000. The cheapest model with four-wheel drive costs just under £24,000, while the cheapest full hybrid costs just over that.

Dacia’s finance packages don’t always have the most favourable interest rates, but the low list price means monthly costs are often still far cheaper than comparably sized SUVs.

Four trim levels will be offered. Essential includes rear parking sensors, air-conditioning and fixed roof bags, but does without a central touchscreen or alloy wheels. Expression is the next step up and has 17-inch alloys, a 7.0-inch digital dashboard and 10.1-inch centre touchscreen with a reversing camera and smartphone connectivity.

Above this you can go in two different directions. The Extreme model is a bit more rugged, and has washable upholstery, rubber floor mats, climate control, Dacia’s clever modular roof bars and keyless entry. The Journey model also has climate control and keyless entry, but also has foglights, 18-inch alloy wheels and an upgraded sound system.

A good range of engines and much nicer to drive than before - shame the diesel’s no longer available

In town

The new Duster is much smoother to drive in town than the previous model, particularly if you opt for the 1.6-litre hybrid engine - because this allows you to coast along silently on electric power alone. The other engines aren’t bad, though, and all models benefit from the Duster’s upgraded suspension, which is firmer than it was before. Though this means it doesn’t iron out bumps quite as well as a Peugeot 2008, it doesn’t bounce around as much as the old car did, which means a less sickness-inducing ride for your passengers.

Visibility isn’t the best, thanks to a shallower window line and narrow rear windscreen. But all models above the base car do get a reversing camera, and the turning circle and light steering do mean the new Duster is pretty manoeuvrable in town.

On the motorway

All versions of the Duster do need a bit of a boot getting up to motorway speeds. The basic 100hp bi-fuel engine is likely to feel quite gutless indeed, but the 130hp 1.2 and the 140hp hybrid have ample power considering the Duster’s light weight - they just occasionally need working harder than, say, the 150hp engine of a Volkswagen T-Roc.

Once you’re up to speed, the Duster feels very stable and secure, albeit slightly noisier than alternatives thanks to less sound deadening. All the hard plastics on the interior do tend to amplify the sound, too, and the hybrid in particular can sound quite coarse when it’s revving high. It’s much quieter than the diesel used to be, though.

On a twisty road

You’re not going to mistake the Duster for a hot hatchback any time soon, but with the stiffer suspension it feels much more precise and controlled than before. It stays flatter in bends, instead of leaning like a ship, though it does feel like it fidgets about a bit over rougher surfaces.

Four-wheel drive models have more sophisticated rear suspension which should improve comfort levels slightly, as well as the benefit of those driven rear wheels helping to push you out of bends and adding traction when the roads are slippery.

Roomy for its size, but the Duster is still a small SUV

Practicality is a high point for the Dacia Duster. The rear seats have plenty of space and the boot is larger than some cars from the size above.

The driver’s seat does have height adjustment, but it misses out on additional features such as an extendable seat base, and the lumbar support can’t be adjusted up and down. The front seats are squashy and comfortable but don’t feel as though they’d hold you in place while cornering. The hard wearing upholstery appears more expensive than you’d expect given the Duster’s budget leanings, though.

There are plenty of storage slots for odds and ends, including a shelf perfectly sized for your smartphone, a pair of cupholders and large door bins. There’s also a clever modular system called YouClip that Dacia’s developed, with mounting points across the cabin and boot - you’ll be able to attach clamps, phone or tablet holders or even lights. Expect to see a whole range of Dacia accessories developed to fit this in the future.

Space in the back seats

The rear doors open nice and wide, and the flat rear bench lends itself well to accommodating three adults - assuming they can fit width-wise. It’s comfortable for two six-footers, though, even if they’re sat behind a driver of a similar size. Headroom is generous and the big windows give a great view out.

There’s USB-C charging available for rear passengers, as well as one of the aforementioned mounting points - ideal for mounting a tablet so that those in the back can watch a movie or play a game on a long journey.

Boot space

Boot space varies depending on the model you select. Two-wheel drive petrol models get 472 litres of space, which is one of the biggest boots in a car of this size - more than the 385 litres of the Volkswagen T-Cross or 400 litres of the Skoda Kamiq. Four-wheel drive and hybrid models lose some capacity as they have mechanicals to accommodate under the rear - raising the boot floor by a few inches. 

The rear seats fold easily with tabs on the top edge, but they do leave a significant hump in the load floor when flat. They go down in a 60:40 split, and there are bag hooks and an optional rubber liner to keep the carpet clean.

Adventurous sorts will enjoy the optional Sleep Pack, which takes the form of a bespoke wooden box in the rear. Using the dropped seat backs, you’ll be able to fold out a double bed for comfortable in-car camping.

Hard wearing and well-built, but far from plush

Basic models of the Dacia Duster really live up to that title - they don’t even get a central infotainment screen. Instead, you get a mount for your phone in the middle of the dashboard, from which you can run a bespoke Dacia app or your own choice of sat nav and media. The car does still have a radio if you don’t want to plug in your phone; you can control this via the small screen in the instrument panel and the buttons on the steering wheel.

Most models come with a 10.1-inch touchscreen instead, which is much brighter, slicker and better-looking than in any Dacia that’s come before this. It offers wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto as well as displaying the reversing camera, while top-spec models also get built-in sat nav.

The overall style is sort of cyberpunk meets lumberjack. It’s clearly designed for hard work outdoors, with rubber floor mats, wipe-clean surfaces and nice touches like off-road specific information available on the infotainment screen. But it’s also quite cool and angular, and uses interesting textures and patterns to hide the fact that the materials are quite a long way from plush.

Though the steering wheel and gear selector feel posh enough in the hand, areas such as the door cards and armrests are made entirely of hard, unyielding plastics. These will no doubt stand up to some real punishment but they don’t conjure up a very premium feel - nor are they that nice to touch. That is to be expected given the car’s price, though.

MPG figures for the Dacia Duster aren’t half bad considering the car’s spacious interior and blocky silhouette. The 1.2-litre petrol officially returns 51mpg, or 46mpg if you opt for the four-wheel drive version. You should be able to achieve reasonably close to this on a long run, though it will inevitably drop if you spend lots of time in town.

The hybrid model officially returns 55mpg, and we’ve found 50mpg to be very achievable. This model doesn’t lose too much economy in stop-start traffic, either, as it cycles between petrol and electric running to make the most out of it. We’ve seen well over 60mpg from this engine in other Renault and Dacia cars, so with careful use you should be able to eke out more than the claimed figure.

The Bi-Fuel 1.0-litre could be an interesting proposition if you live close to an LPG filling station. LPG is typically around half the price of petrol, and could result in much lower running costs. It returns an official figure of 43mpg when running on petrol, and around 35mpg on LPG - so savings could be significant. This engine is however only available on the very cheapest Duster.

The hybrid offers the lowest CO2 emissions of the Duster’s engines at 114g/km, and so the lowest road tax or company car rates. Opting for a higher trim level or a 4x4 variant will see emissions increase, with a corresponding rise in tax - though at 135g/km for the petrol 4x4, it’s not too shabby all round.

Dacia’s official Euro NCAP scores often suffer as the firm tends to shy away from fitting active driver aids to keep costs low. And so it proves with the latest Duster, which has scored three stars out of five in safety testing. Child occupant protection is pretty good at 84%, but the 70% adult occupant score is quite disappointing.

Despite scoring poorly for driver assist technology, the new Duster comes equipped with all the basics as they’re now required by European law - so you get autonomous emergency braking, traffic sign recognition with a speed alert, lane-keeping assist, driver attention monitoring and rear parking sensors. It’s also nice that Dacia fits an easy shortcut to turn the more annoying of these features off with just two presses, so you don’t have to root through menus.

Historically Dacia’s no-nonsense engineering has led to reasonable reliability - less to go wrong! The new Duster introduces a lot more software and safety systems to the fray, but the engines and oily bits are well-proven and should be pretty dependable.

Dacia’s standard warranty is three years and 60,000 miles, which is beginning to look stingy next to some other budget brands. Kia and MG both offer seven years of cover, for example.