Dacia Duster – Engines, performance & drive

At 1,300kg, the new Duster weighs the same as the old one, but on the move, you’ll notice that the Duster feels a little more substantial and grown-up behind the wheel. Even though the windscreen is shallow, visibility is generally good, although the thin rear window is our only real gripe. It’s still an urban-friendly SUV thanks to its light steering and a tight turning circle of just 10.86 metres.

The ride is sensibly set up for comfort (with one eye on having plenty of suspension travel for off-roading) rather than providing any driver-focused dynamism. That said, the suspension can come unstuck over larger bumps and holes in the road, occasionally making you feel disconnected from the surface. We’ve only tried the Duster with the larger 18-inch wheels, while mid-range Expression trim receives smaller 17-inch rims, which may give a better ride. We’ll update this section once we’ve tried a Duster with smaller wheels. On a motorway cruise, we found the Duster’s overall refinement to be pretty decent, though wind noise was more intrusive than we’d like. 

There’s some noticeable body lean if you start chucking the Duster into some corners, but it does so in a progressive and predictable manner, while a decent amount of grip means you have the confidence to maintain your pace. The steering is accurate enough for a family SUV, but you’ll soon realise that’s not where Dacia's talents lie. 

The Duster really stands apart from more expensive rivals thanks to its off-road ability. We tried the 4x4 model and were amazed at the obstacles it could conquer – even on normal all-season tyres. 

Approach and departure angles have been improved, and the 4x4’s drive system can alter power between the axles for steep descents or precarious climbs. The infotainment screen readout showing the car’s slip angles and off-road settings is helpful, although we’d like the front camera (as with the rear) to have a higher resolution in order to spot obstacles better. We managed to get the Duster to a 25-degree side angle, although we were told that during the Duster’s testing, an angle of 40 degrees could be possible – five more than a Mercedes G-Class.

Engines, 0-60 acceleration and top speed

The mild-hybrid 1.2-litre TCe 130 is the least powerful of the two engines but can conquer the 0-62mph sprint in 9.9 seconds. We think it’s well-suited to the Duster, with its 128bhp output delivering just enough performance to avoid making the car feel sluggish. But while it’ll rev to over 6,000rpm, there’s very little reason to thrash it that much because there isn’t much top-end shove, so you’ll need to work the six-speed manual gearbox a little more than you might expect. This isn’t a chore, because the manual shift action is better than you’d find in plenty of the Duster’s rivals.

Despite the extra power, the hybrid is slightly slower from 0-62mph, taking 10.1 seconds. It uses a 1.6-litre four-cylinder engine mated to an electric motor and a starter-generator for a total output of 138bhp. The full hybrid only comes with the automatic gearbox, which makes you realise how much you work the gearbox in the TCe 130 because it often struggles to decide on the correct gear, sometimes kicking down several gears at the faintest touch of the throttle. Fortunately, the gear changes are smooth.