Dacia Duster (2018-2024) Review

If you’d ordinarily be looking at a value hatchback like a Vauxhall Astra but the versatility of a small SUV appeals, the Dacia Duster is a good choice. It’s considerably cheaper than mainstream rivals like the Kia Sportage and Nissan Qashqai - and that’s evident in so many areas. It lacks the polish of these alternatives and the most affordable models are about as basic as you can get in a modern car today.

Still, it’s got a functional interior with plenty of space. It should handle day-to-day abuse fairly well, and it’s refreshingly comfortable in its approach thanks to its soft, wallowy suspension. 

If a Dacia Duster is on your small 4x4 shortlist, we’d also recommend the SsangYong Tivoli (now the KGM Tivoli since the company's rebranding). Like the Duster, this is another affordable small SUV that most car buyers won’t have heard of. Unlike the Duster, it comes with a five-year, 100,000-mile warranty, which can be passed onto successive owners. 

You should also consider the MG ZS. While, if you don’t need the practicality, look at smaller, mainstream alternatives like the Suzuki Vitara, Renault Captur and Peugeot 2008 You could also get a slightly older Kia Sportage, Jeep Renegade or Nissan Qashqai for the money. 

Just like the Duster’s cabin is functional rather than stylish, it’s also not particularly posh. Dacia’s made little effort to furnish it with soft-touch materials, but that would kind of go against the brand’s budget ethos. There are hard, scratchy plastics everywhere - the likes of which would normally attract our wrath, but you’ve got to admire the brand’s no-nonsense approach.

On the plus side, the Dacia Duster does feel like it’ll stand up to day-to-day abuse very well. People buy this Romanian workhorse to take their families camping or for even more arduous activities such as use on the farm, and they take the abuse fairly well. The interiors can be wiped clean and don’t require special treatments to keep them looking fresh.

While we take flashy infotainment systems as the norm these days, entry-level Dacia Duster Essential models get a basic DAB stereo only (chin up, it wasn't that long ago you didn't get a stereo at all). You also get Bluetooth connectivity and controls on the steering column. There’s no navigation, though.

For that, you’ll need to look for a Dacia Duster Comfort, which comes with a new-for-2021 eight-inch infotainment system, which replaces the seven-inch screen in older versions. This comes with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, allowing you to mirror apps from your phone, meaning you can use things like Google Maps on the move. If you're after built-in sat-nav, you'll need the top-spec Dacia Duster Prestige.

The eight-inch system isn’t the slickest we’ve ever used. The graphics make it look pretty low-rent, while it’s a bit slow to respond. It’s kind of like a budget tablet you can buy from the supermarket. It’ll do the job, but no one’s going to mistake it for an iPad.

For the cash, the Dacia Duster is massively practical. It might be cheaper than small SUVs like the Suzuki Vitara, yet it’s almost as spacious as cars like the Kia Sportage and Skoda Karoq. The Dacia Duster measures just over 4.3m long and a little over 1.8m wide. 

Thanks to its high ride height and seating position, getting in and out of the Duster is easier than with low-down hatchbacks. This is great if you’re reaching the age when your joints aren’t quite as flexible as they used to be, or if you have kids in car seats that need helping into position.

There’s plenty of room in the front although, as mentioned above, there’s limited adjustment in the driver’s seat and steering wheel on the cheapest models. The tallest of drivers might find legroom limited, too, as the seats don’t slide back as far as rivals.

While the cup holder is poorly positioned to prevent spillages (in front of the gear stick), there’s enough storage dotted around the cabin. The door pockets are pretty big, but the glove box is a pretty meagre offering.

Three adults can squeeze into the back in reasonable comfort, providing they don’t mind rubbing shoulders. There’s a reasonable amount of headroom back there, while ISOFIX points on the outer seats help when fitting child seats.

The Dacia Duster's boot is similarly practical, offering 445 litres of luggage capacity (dropping to 411 litres in 4x4 models). It lacks any real party tricks, although the rear seats drop easily. The rear seats in most models split 60:40 (allowing you to carry one or two rear passengers and have extra boot space), but the entry-level Access model makes do with a one-piece bench. With the rear seats dropped, there’s up to 1623 litres of space available. That’s pretty generous.

Access is easy enough, although you’ll obviously have to lift items higher than you would with a conventional hatchback car. There’s only a small lip to hoist items over, and the boot is usefully square in shape.

The Dacia Duster doesn’t come with a spare wheel as standard, although a space-saver is offered across most models as an optional extra when new. A Dacia dealer should be able to sell you one of these if required, and there’s space to store it under the boot floor. That’s not the case of bi-fuel models, though, as there’s an LPG tank in the spare wheel storage well. These come with a tyre-inflator kit.

If you’re searching for a used Dacia Duster on a budget, you’re probably going to see the entry-level TCe 100 petrol engine coming up in results. Even the most leisurely of drivers will find this lacking - indeed, its lack of gusto means you’ll end up working it hard just to keep up with traffic, and good luck trying to join on a motorway on a short slip road. This engine replaced the naturally aspirated 1.6 - badged the SCe 115 - that was offered when the Duster first went on sale, and that engine suffered similar drawbacks.

From early 2020, Dacia offered the TCe 100 engine with a bi-fuel option, while a 62-litre Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) tank (double the size of old tank) was fitted from 2021, extending the LPG range by more than 155 miles for a massive 767-mile total range running on both gas and petrol. It makes a lot of sense if you have a handy LPG station nearby. 

Most buyers will be best looking for a TCe 130 petrol engine with the Dacia Duster. This is the best combination of frugality and performance, with plenty of oomph for motorway driving. Its 10.6-second 0-62mph time sounds less than brisk, but it’s perfectly acceptable for a budget small SUV.

The 150PS version of the same 1.3-litre four-cylinder petrol engine is the nippiest of the lot – getting the Duster from 0-62mph in 9.7 seconds and onto a healthy 124mph top speed. That said, the most compelling reason to choose it is the six-speed dual-clutch gearbox that it comes with as standard. 

If you spend a lot of time traipsing up and down motorways or need to lug a caravan, look for a diesel. With 115PS, the 1.5-litre Blue DCi isn’t particularly powerful, but it feels punchier than the petrols in the real world.

While most Dacia Duster models are two-wheel drive, you can also get it with power distributed to all four wheels. Four-wheel-drive Dusters are difficult to come by on the used market but that’s no great loss - they’re thirsty and don’t offer many advantages unless you really need to venture off the road. If you’re concerned about driving in wintery conditions, a two-wheel-drive Duster with a set of winter tyres would be a better option.

Thicker glass, extra sound insulation and thicker door seals mean the latest Dacia Duster is more refined than the previous model, but it’s still not up to the standards of cars like the Skoda Karoq. 

The diesel engine makes quite a grumble at idle but, fortunately, stop/start is standard - turning the engine off automatically at a standstill. On the move, there’s a surprising amount of vibration through the pedals and gearstick. This is another area in which the Duster feels rather old-school.

The petrol engines are better with the Dacia Duster. Being a small three-cylinder unit, the entry-level TCe 100 is quite vocal, and that’s not helped by only having five gears. On the motorway, the engine will be screaming away at high revs, which isn’t great for fuel economy or your passengers’ relaxation levels.

The quietest engine is the 1.3-litre TCe - either with 130PS or 150PS. You’ll notice a bit of chatter if you work it hard, but it’s no less refined than the small, turbocharged engines used in rivals.

Chunky tyres mean there isn’t much in the way of road noise, but there is a significant amount of wind noise, especially at speed. It means that, whichever engine you choose, the Duster isn’t a particularly relaxing long-distance companion.

The majority of new cars on sale today achieve maximum five-star safety ratings from Euro NCAP. The Dacia Duster was awarded just three when it was crash-tested in 2017 which, on the face of it, is pretty poor.

It’s worth taking a little time to understand the results before you dismiss the Duster entirely, though. Euro NCAP awarded it a 71 per cent rating for adult occupants, which is acceptable (if not class-leading). It lost points for what NCAP described as ‘marginal protection against whiplash’ and various other faults which, admittedly, you probably wouldn’t see as minor if you were in a crash.

It was awarded 66 per cent in the child occupancy test. Parents would be right to dismiss the Duster on this basis, but don’t expect an old, more mainstream alternative to be any safer. NCAP’s report suggests that protection of the child-size dummies was classed as good in most of the tests. It lost points for not having ISOFIX points on the front passenger seat, while those in the rear aren’t clearly marked. They are there, however.

The Duster lost the most points for its safety assist features, or rather, the shortage of them. While most mainstream SUVs are packed with standard features designed to prevent you from having a crash, Dacia’s skimped on these. Highlights include a seatbelt reminder and a driver-set speed limiter. There’s no autonomous emergency braking system, no lane guidance feature and no rear cross-traffic assist. Only high-spec models get a blind-spot warning system.

While these features are desirable and could prevent you from being involved in a collision, the Dacia Duster’s no worse than many slightly older small SUVs.

Dacia may be a relatively new brand in the UK - and a budget one too - but that doesn't mean it's not reliable. Indeed, the brand performed very well in the latest HonestJohn.co.uk Satisfaction Index, making the list of the top 10 most reliable brands in the study, finishing 5th overall. Interestingly, it was also the only brand in the top 10 that wasn't Japanese or Korean.

What's more, the Duster was Dacia's most reliable performer in the study, with the model making the top 10 of the most reliable cars, finishing 8th overall. All of this should give you plenty of confidence about the car's ongoing reliability.

Most versions of the Dacia Duster ought to be pretty cheap to insure, with insurance grouping starting at 9 (out of 50) for the SCe 115 car in the most basic trims. They rise to a heady 24 for the most powerful petrol autimatic version in the poshest trim, but that's something of an outlier. Most engine/trim combinations sit aorund ot below the group 15 mark.

Under the latest car tax rules, petrol and diesel Dacia Duster models attract the flat rate of £180 a year (after year one) for car tax. Bi-fuel versions, which use a combination of LPG and petrol, are classed as alternatively-fuelled, so attract an annual VED rate of £170. Yup, you’ll save a tenner a year. Year one road tax is reasonable across the line-up. 

For most of the Dacia Duster's life, three trim levels were offered – Essential, Comfort and Prestige. The basic-level Access trim level was dropped fairly early on in the car's life, and it was one of the most basic cars on sale, which is probably why it's no longer with us in the UK. It didn’t even come with a radio. It did, however, come with pre-wiring for a radio and speakers so it’s fair to assume that, on the used market, most Access models will have had some sort of radio fitted.

It does have electric front windows (the rear windows are old-school wind-up affairs) along with 16-inch steel wheels and, erm, that’s about it. We told you it was basic.

Unless you really want to torture yourself, we’d suggest looking for a Dacia Duster Essential at the very least. This adds such luxuries as body-coloured bumpers, manual air conditioning, a height-adjustable driver’s seat and steering wheel, and a DAB radio with Bluetooth connectivity.

The Dacia Duster Comfort builds on this with cruise control, 16-inch alloy wheels (replacing steel items of the same size), electric windows and a seven-inch touchscreen navigation system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. There’s a rear-view camera with parking sensors and the passenger even gets a little vanity mirror in their sun-visor. 

Topping the range is the Dacia Duster Prestige, with 17-inch alloy wheels, climate control, keyless entry, heated and electrically-adjustable door mirrors and posher upholstery.

There have been a few special editions, too. The Techroad edition of 2019 sat above the Prestige trim, available in two new colours (Fusion Red and Highland Grey) with some bespoke side decals and red exterior (and interior) detailing. The 2020 SE Twenty featured blue interior and exterior styling highlights, as well as a multi-view camera and blind-spot detectors.

Towards the end of the Mk2 Duster's life, the trim structure was changed to include Essential, Expression, Journey and Extreme trims. At this point, equipment levels became far more generous. Essential came with 16-inch steel wheels, LED daytime running lights, automatic headlights, front fog lights, rear parking sensors, and black roof bars, while inside there’s a height and reach-adjustable steering column, cruise control with speed limiter, seven-function on-board computer, DAB Radio and manual air conditioning.

Expression added alloy wheels, heated and electrically adjustable door mirrors, body-coloured door handles, and Hill Descent Control, height-adjustable driver’s seat with lumbar adjustment, leather steering wheel, electric rear windows, rear-view camera, and an eight-inch Media Display infotainment system complete with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. Journey trim tops that up with dark-tinted rear windows, automatic wipers, automatic air conditioning, keyless entry, electric folding door mirrors, Multiview camera, front parking sensors, blind spot warning system, heated seats, and an eight-inch Media Nav on-board navigation system. Extreme models get their own look thanks to a bunch of styling enhancements, but you don't really get anything more in the way of luxury kit.