Duster cleans up nicely
THE Dacia Duster – in diesel 4x4 guise – is at the budget end of the crossover market. That we know. But there is little wrong with the way it drives, and it’s also very easy to live with.
Power comes from the Renault group 1.5 dCi engine producing about 110bhp. It’s smooth and quiet in normal use, and quite man enough for the weight, even though acceleration is fairly slow.
Drive is to the front wheels in normal road use and in the auto setting of three, the rear wheels only come into play when the front ones begin to slip.
The other two settings are two-wheel drive (2WD) and four-wheel drive (4WD), when drive is to all four wheels all the time for heavier off-road work.
The six-speed gearbox has an extra low first for off-road hill climbing and on the road this means that second is the gear to use when starting off and sixth is the roadgoing fifth.
In turn, this makes the engine rev much higher than most diesels at 70mph, leading to extra noise.
Fuel consumption is pretty good despite the higher cruising revs. The government average is 60mpg and in very mixed road use, I got 45mpg.
Not all models have 4WD though, so if you need it, make sure you get the right model.
Comfort is very good over all surfaces and it takes speed humps better than most.
Rear legroom is fair and the boot massive, with a solid luggage cover and a 60/40 split fold rear seat to make it larger.
I drove the Laureate fairly high up the range, which was fitted with the £450 extra of a touchscreen for the DAB stereo and satnav.
It also came with stop-start that worked well, remote central locking, cruise control, alloys, side sills and scuff plates, leather-covered steering wheel, supportive cloth seats, Bluetooth and a trip computer.
The Dacia Duster Laureate is £16,500.