Dacia is launching a new generation of its highly successful Duster model. It has taken the good and popular from past generations and adds new things. Some of them also due to the need to adapt to the current European legislation. All-wheel drive and a version enabling low operating costs thanks to LPG combustion will continue to be available.
Dacia Duster is now a universal car for city and country life
| Photo: Courtesy of Dacia
There has been a car with a name for thirteen years Dacia Duster. During that time, he literally became a household name. Also thanks to the fact that almost 2.5 million pieces have already been produced. For many years, Duster was even the best-selling SUV in Europe. It is now produced in Romania at a rate of one piece per minute.
To see what the new Dacia Duster looks like and what details caught our attention during the first driving test, take a look at the commented photo gallery:
The last two generations used the older chassis platform of the Renault concern. But now, for example, precisely in connection with the need to install new safety assistance systems in the interior according to EU regulations, the designers of the third Duster had to use a modern platform marked CMF-B.
Among other things, it also facilitates electrification, which subsequently brings lower consumption. And so even the Duster in the version with a three-cylinder 1200 uses the help of an electric motor and has a built-in battery with a voltage of 48 Volts. And the fully hybrid version can even travel hundreds of meters to lower units of kilometers without involving the combustion unit.
I already had the opportunity to test the two latter engines (ie the mentioned three-cylinder and the hybrid) on the roads around Malaga, Spain. The three-cylinder version with all-wheel drive even on the off-road polygon.
You can also see driving shots of the new Dacia Duster in the following video:
Source: Youtube
The new platform also brought other user benefits. For example, with the same length as the previous generation (434), the designers managed to create more space for the legs of the rear passengers, as well as increase the volume of the luggage compartment. It can now hold up to 517 liters. However, this is a value that was determined by the less common VDA method (by filling the given space with liquid). And it is a figure that refers to the variant with twelve hundred and all-wheel drive. For all others, the capacity is reduced either by the installed LPG tank, or by the hybrid battery or the 4×4 drive technology.
The motif of the letter Y is even more in the course
The exterior design is an evolution of the past curves of the Duster. But now curves have basically disappeared and geometric shapes are used more. Plastics are around the entire perimeter of the car.
Light dots shine through the black substance, which is the result of the addition of recycled plastics. The lower parts of both bumpers are not painted. On the one hand, this will save the paint and thus the environment, and on the other hand, customers will not be bothered by a scratch.
We also tried more extreme situations.Source: Courtesy of Dacia
Dacia’s designers are increasingly accentuating the use of the letter Y motif. It is thus visible not only in the daytime running lights at the front and rear, but also on the light alloy wheels and in the interior on the door handles or air vents.
The interior is much more modern
The dashboard is angled more towards the driver than before, but fortunately this has not affected the knee room of his front passenger. The central display has a diagonal of 10.1 inches. Fortunately, it is not designed to control absolutely everything.
For example, the air conditioning has its own switch flaps and I found one very important button to the left of the steering wheel. Pressing it twice turns off the beep warning of exceeding the speed limit and also deactivates the often no less annoying system for keeping the car in the lane.
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Plastics in the interior are still cheap, but they are enlivened by various moldings and differently painted details (again, this is a matter for cars in higher equipment levels).
The whole looks very welcoming and cozy. There are plenty of storage spaces and various things (for example, a phone holder, additional lights, hooks, etc.) can be hung on special square protrusions, of which there are a total of six located in the cabin and in the luggage compartment.
The front seats have sufficiently long seats and backrests. Only adjusting them to the correct position is a little less comfortable than with many other (and more expensive competitors). For example, for longitudinal movement, you have to reach for an ugly wire under the seat, and the inclination is adjusted with a lever and not by turning the rose.
The space at the back has been improvedSource: Courtesy of Dacia
I was pleased that there is really enough space in the back even for adults. After adjusting the driver’s seat for driving, with my height of 186 centimeters, I still had two centimeters of free space behind my knees and even five above my head.
Dacia Duster sways when driving
After hundreds of kilometers driven in Spain, I was glad that the creators of the car worked on noise reduction. It was most pleasant to drive with the three-cylinder engine, which is always connected to a manual six-speed gearbox. Although its lever could move a little more precisely in the scenes, it is otherwise a motorization that suits the Duster very well. The engine has enough potential for overtaking. However, don’t try a sporty drive with the Duster.
The suspension is tuned to be rather soft, which is of course good for normal driving on poor-quality surfaces. In combination with a really high ground clearance (always over twenty centimeters), this causes quite large leans in faster curves, and sometimes I even felt a powerful intervention of the electronic stabilization.
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On the other hand, in really uneven terrain, you will mostly feel comfortable in the Duster. That is, if you don’t ride a steep camel’s hump or, like me, you don’t try lateral tilts approaching the value of 30 degrees.
Lower consumption compared to earlier models
A pleasant side of the new Duster is also the decrease in the thirstiness of its engines. Of course, I did not measure consumption in the field. However, on a regular road in a combination of cities, highways and roads in rather hilly terrain, I achieved a consumption of six liters and in a similar mode and speed of driving with a hybrid engine (the only one available with an automatic transmission) even only 5.2 liters.
In domestic conditions, I will be very curious about the latest motorization offered. It is a 100 horsepower three-cylinder gasoline engine that is modified to burn LPG. You can fill fifty liters in the special tank of this substance, and you also have a classic fifty-liter tank as a reserve. You can thus travel well over a thousand kilometers without stopping to refuel.
This variant is the cheapest in the Czech price list of the new Dacia Duster. It can be purchased for 429,900 crowns with equipment that also includes longitudinal roof rails, manual air conditioning, rear parking sensors, electrically operated windows and mirrors or cruise control and a central display with a diagonal of eleven inches, a radio and four speakers.
