BUYER’S GUIDE: Dacia Duster Mk2
FROM £8,500 Romanian SUV offers good value and plenty of space, making it easy to recommend
Richard Dredge
WHEN Romanian state-owned brand Dacia arrived in the UK in the early eighties, it hoped to sell 10,000 cars per year. But instead the marque retreated soon after, with few of its Denem saloons and estates finding buyers. The firm also imported the no-frills Duster off-roader, which again sold in tiny numbers before Dacia disappeared from these shores, seemingly forever.
By 1999, Dacia had become a subsidiary of Renault, but it wouldn’t be until 2013 that the Romanian brand returned to the UK with an all-new Duster. Since then Dacia has gone from strength to strength here, largely because its cars are so much cheaper to buy than virtually all its rivals.
History
THE Duster Mk2 (Mk3 if you include the eighties cars) reached UK showrooms in July 2018, with a choice of 1.6-litre SCe 115 petrol or 1.5-litre Blue dCi diesel engines, both rated at 114bhp. Within weeks, two more petrol engines had joined the range: the 1.3-litre TCe 130 and TCe 150 with 128bhp and 148bhp respectively.
In August 2019 the 99bhp 1.0-litre threecylinder TCe 100 superseded the SCe 115. A Bi-Fuel (petrol and LPG) version of the TCe 100 arrived in February 2020.
An updated Duster was available from September 2021, with a refreshed front-end design, a redesigned dashboard with improved infotainment, and extra driverassistance systems. A six-speed automatic transmission – dubbed EDC, for Efficient Dual Clutch – was also available for the first time, but this could only be specified with the TCe 150 petrol engine.