The brand new Dacia Duster is the very best form of automotive made higher – but barely any pricier.
Okay, some individuals will see this as a silly selection. When supplied the possibility to decide on a favorite automotive of 2024, why on earth would you go for one thing so low-cost and modest? You would select a McLaren and so on. Properly, I’ve three causes.
First, I am oddly proud of easy vehicles. Dacia’s much-quoted mantra – every part you need, nothing you do not – appeals powerfully to me, simply because it does to many others. Duster gross sales are robust and never everybody buys Dacias solely on value.
Second, there’s already a Duster in our household, a just-superseded 4×4 diesel that amasses miles with out seeming to (38,000 up to now). I am nicely conversant in remarks like “let’s simply take the Duster”, as a result of my household and I do know that the automotive’s top-level comfort and economic system shall be underpinned by consolation and ease of parking.
The third cause is the killer. The brand new 4×4 Duster is usefully higher than mine in almost each manner: roomier but no greater in street footprint, better-riding, quieter and extra refined.
It nonetheless appears to be like pleasingly Dusterish however rather more fashionable. I do know all this for sure, as a result of I lately took my very own automotive to the UK launch in Derbyshire and was capable of make a direct comparability (which you’ll be able to watch above).
Off-roading was admittedly completely different: the three-pot 1.2-litre mild-hybrid petrol unit changing my 1.5-litre diesel did not have the identical lugging energy. Nevertheless it was loads smoother, and off-roading was simply as simple should you dipped the clutch right here and there to maintain the engine revving.
In brief, the 2025 Duster is precisely the automotive to please present house owners when it comes time to vary, progressing on all fronts with out doing any injury to the marque’s treasured simplicity – or including a lot to the smart pricing. All of which is why I spend silly quantities of time pondering of causes to vary.
Hassle is, my present mannequin continues to be in its prime and has achieved completely nothing incorrect, so my want for the brand new one is overlaid by emotions of disloyalty to the previous. However I assume everyone knows the place that is main.
