The £10,000 Dacia Duster has arrived in the UK in left-hand drive form ahead of its 28 June on-sale date
The first-ever Dacia Duster SUVs, which will reportedly be priced from £9,995, have arrived in the UK ahead of its on-sale date of 28 June.
The Dusters that have arrived in the UK are all left-hand-drive models intended for dealer displays, and the first right-hand drive-models will arrive towards the end of the year. First customer deliveries begin in January 2013.
Dacia – Renault’s Romanian budget brand – will sell the Duster through a few select Renault dealerships, but potential buyers can also go online from 28 June to pre-order a Duster for just £100 deposit.
The Duster is based on the old Renault Clio platform and is powered by a 1.5-litre dCi diesel with 85bhp or 110bhp, or there’s a 1.6-litre petrol engine with 105bhp.
Submitted by uncle_paulie on Wed, 2012-05-02 22:02.
.....shame about the interior!
Submitted by coolcat on Wed, 2012-05-02 23:22.
Can't help but feel these are a false economy, especially considering sales in France have decreased by over 60% compared to 2011.They may be very cheap, but they will depreciate like stones.
Submitted by hans2josje on Thu, 2012-05-03 13:10.
Completely wrong conclusion Dr C.Cat. Duster sales - in Fr, like in many other countries - are very strong, so are the residuals.
Logan/ Sandero sales dropped signifcant in Western Europe, due to previous ('artificially') high sales during the scrapage schemes.
Submitted by reddog40 on Thu, 2012-05-03 13:53.
I have to correct the information from the article regarding the platform Duster is built on: it is the Nissan B0 platform, a revised longer version of the Renault B platform (used by Clio III) and used mainly by Nissan and Dacia.
As a Romanian, I can say Duster is an important step forward for the Dacia brand. Of course, it is not a 21st century car - it was not meant to be, but I have no idea what other comparable car you can buy with 10k. Indeed the interior is very 80ish, but overall I think the car does its job well. The 4x4 system is similar to the one used by Qashqai.
Submitted by Richie767 on Mon, 2012-05-07 11:58.
Can only be brilliant if it's designed by Renault, it will steal a lot of sales from others at this price in austere Britain.
Would definitely buy a Duster/Shifter pick-up at these prices.
Submitted by Sir_Ben on Thu, 2012-05-31 20:33.
I arrived at the Europcar desk at Nice airport expecting to collect a VW Golf for a 10 day holiday and was a little dismayed to find that I had been allocated a Duster. First problem was in the car park when I realised that I didn't really know what a new Duster looked like, as the only other Dacia Duster I have seen in my life was a scruffy looking van thing owned by a local farmer. The indicated space was occupied by a not unattractive, in a chunky sort of way, bronze-ish vehicle that sat high and square, and swallowed the bags with ease. This was much better than expected, and over the next 10 days we covered over 1100 Km, many of them on the twisty yellow and whites as we explored the area. Plus points - couldn't fault the starting, stopping and handling. Fuel economy from the 1.5 diesel was amazing - an indicated 5.3 l/100Km is around 55 to the gallon. The clutch was smooth and never got hot even on the twisty white roads. Very quiet diesel motor. Minuses: Gearchange was a bit agricultural, seats reminded me of the old Morris Marina - thin and a bit sweaty. Otherwise not much. Would I buy one? Maybe in 3 years when they have lost 80% through depreciation. For basic motoring it could be the 2nd hand buy of the century, but for now I'll stick with BMW.
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.....shame about the interior!
Can't help but feel these are a false economy, especially considering sales in France have decreased by over 60% compared to 2011.They may be very cheap, but they will depreciate like stones.
Completely wrong conclusion Dr C.Cat.
Duster sales - in Fr, like in many other countries - are very strong, so are the residuals.
Logan/ Sandero sales dropped signifcant in Western Europe, due to previous ('artificially') high sales during the scrapage schemes.
I have to correct the information from the article regarding the platform Duster is built on: it is the Nissan B0 platform, a revised longer version of the Renault B platform (used by Clio III) and used mainly by Nissan and Dacia.
As a Romanian, I can say Duster is an important step forward for the Dacia brand. Of course, it is not a 21st century car - it was not meant to be, but I have no idea what other comparable car you can buy with 10k. Indeed the interior is very 80ish, but overall I think the car does its job well. The 4x4 system is similar to the one used by Qashqai.
Can only be brilliant if it's designed by Renault, it will steal a lot of sales from others at this price in austere Britain.
Would definitely buy a Duster/Shifter pick-up at these prices.
I arrived at the Europcar desk at Nice airport expecting to collect a VW Golf for a 10 day holiday and was a little dismayed to find that I had been allocated a Duster. First problem was in the car park when I realised that I didn't really know what a new Duster looked like, as the only other Dacia Duster I have seen in my life was a scruffy looking van thing owned by a local farmer.
The indicated space was occupied by a not unattractive, in a chunky sort of way, bronze-ish vehicle that sat high and square, and swallowed the bags with ease.
This was much better than expected, and over the next 10 days we covered over 1100 Km, many of them on the twisty yellow and whites as we explored the area.
Plus points - couldn't fault the starting, stopping and handling. Fuel economy from the 1.5 diesel was amazing - an indicated 5.3 l/100Km is around 55 to the gallon. The clutch was smooth and never got hot even on the twisty white roads. Very quiet diesel motor.
Minuses: Gearchange was a bit agricultural, seats reminded me of the old Morris Marina - thin and a bit sweaty. Otherwise not much.
Would I buy one? Maybe in 3 years when they have lost 80% through depreciation. For basic motoring it could be the 2nd hand buy of the century, but for now I'll stick with BMW.