Dacia Duster Journey Hybrid long-term test: SUV shines on 650-mile adventure
Third report: The family SUV has dealt with urban life admirably, but how about hundreds of miles over a weekend?
Verdict
I worried that taking the Duster away from its usual routine of pottering around suburbia would expose some weaknesses. True, the ride comfort and refinement weren’t perfect, but that was no deal breaker. On the contrary, after 650 miles in the space of three days, three-up and with a full boot, the Duster ended up impressing me even more.
- Mileage: 2,952 miles
- Efficiency: 54.0mpg
There’s a rule in the Pringle Book of Car Testing that says if you want to really put a car through its paces, take it out of its comfort zone. And that’s just what we did with the Duster on a long weekend away to see friends in Northumberland.
Received wisdom told us that a £26k hybrid SUV with a focus on strong economy around town was not the ideal car for a 650-mile round trip – especially when about 630 of those would be on a motorway or dual carriageway. But if there’s one thing the Duster has been doing over the past few months, it’s confounding expectation. The question was: when we arrived, would we be singing its praises or screaming at it?
Well, the main picture probably answers that question immediately – although it’s fair to say our daughter was as happy to see her friends for the first time in six months as she was with the performance of the Dacia on the trip north along the M1, A1 and A69.
Used - available now
2023 Dacia
Duster
13,687 milesManualPetrol1.3L
Cash £16,417
2023 Dacia
Duster
11,553 milesManualPetrol1.3L
Cash £16,897
2019 Dacia
Duster
58,063 milesManualPetrol1.6L
Cash £8,626
2022 Dacia
Duster
28,582 milesManualPetrol1.0L
Cash £10,600This was – by some distance – the longest single trip we’d ever undertaken in the Duster. The car had happily taken us to Devon and back over Easter, but the trek to Northumberland meant going twice as far for the same period of time.
From the word go, though, the signs were positive. For a start, everything we wanted to take fitted in the car – that’s the three of us, a few soft toys, several bags and what looked like our own body weight in snacks. Above all, most of it went in the boot, and thanks to the square shape of the load area and the adjustable floor being set level with the load lip, it was child’s play to pack and unpack.
In fact, other than her toys, pretty much all our daughter had accompanying her on the back seat was food and drink – and there was much less of that at the end of the journey than when we set out. The other accompaniment came courtesy of the Dacia’s tech: through Apple CarPlay, we could listen to our daughter’s favourite audiobooks and music from my phone on the car’s stereo.
It also gave us access to Google Maps, which guided us to the National Trust’s Hardwick Hall just off the M1, where we broke our journey for lunch, a stroll and a welcome hit of history. Google also routed us around some potentially major delays, which was much appreciated.
To cut a long story short, we reached our friends’ house in good time – and in fine spirits. Was the car perfect? Not quite. The Duster was carrying a lot more weight than usual, which reduced the movement in the suspension and made the ride a bit firmer, and the wind noise was a permanent feature up the M1 and A1.
However, none of it was unbearable. Yes, we had to turn up the stereo a bit, but we only really noticed the firm ride once we turned off the main roads. Otherwise, the Dacia did what it always does: it coped admirably with everything we asked of it.
Over the weekend, the Duster even briefly turned into a people carrier, when we had three kids (two in child seats) across the rear bench for a trip out to a nearby farm to sample what we were reliably informed was the best ice cream in the area. Everyone was comfortable and the relatively high seating position that comes courtesy of the SUV bodystyle was appreciated by the passengers and driver alike.
To cap it all, the hybrid powertrain that’s so economical around town proved its worth at higher speeds, too. A full tank of fuel gave us a range of well over 500 miles, so only one visit to a petrol station was necessary during the long weekend, and we ended up returning around 52mpg – very impressive.
In fact, it wasn’t just me who was struck. Our friends pored over the Duster when it was at their house, and they liked not just what they saw, but also what we said about the car – especially when I told them how little it cost. It won’t surprise me if they have their own Dacia on the drive the next time we visit.
Dacia Duster Journey Hybrid: third fleetwatch
With the handy YouClip system, the Dacia Duster proves small details can make all the difference
I reckon Dacia could give Skoda (and its Simply Clever features) a run for its money – and case in point is the ingenious YouClip system. There are several mounting points, to which you can attach accessories, such as a phone holder. I’ve occasionally needed this when my iPhone won’t connect via CarPlay but I need Google Maps, and it’s handy that I only have to get the holder, clip it onto the dash and slot in the phone.
Dacia Duster Journey Hybrid: second report
Our SUV is perfect for family-friendly adventures
- Mileage: 2,015 miles
- Efficiency: 55.3mpg
Value is arguably the word that attracts most potential Dacia buyers, but once you’re a Dacia owner, there’s another one that the brand is keen to promote: adventure. It’s the spirit that underpins all things Dacia, from the Sleep Pack for the Jogger to the Sandrider that the Romanian company has developed to compete in the Dakar rally.
It’s also something that I’m aware of every time I get behind the wheel, because I catch sight of a little graphic in the corner of the windscreen showing a car crawling over some ‘rocks’ formed by the black shading. Plus, as the touchscreen fires up, it displays a rotating 3D map of some decidedly hilly terrain.
Happily for me, in typical Dacia fashion, the firm also sees things in more modest terms, with a section on its website dedicated to ‘Everyday Adventure’. Dacia even suggests some ideas to inspire you in a downloadable PDF. So, with an inset day at my daughter’s school looming and a lack of inspiration on my part, we decided to take up Dacia’s challenge.
However, a couple of suggestions were immediately vetoed. The thought of our daughter making a camp in our living room brought me out in a cold sweat, and we didn’t fancy visiting the worst-reviewed spot in our town. But the prospect of going out for a picnic seemed far more appealing.
Before the big day, we did a practice run, meeting up with a couple of friends before all five of us – myself, my wife, our daughter and our friends – jumped into the Duster and headed off for a stroll in Bushy Park. I’d worried that we’d struggle to fit, but we made the short journey in reasonable comfort.
Buoyed by this success, I decided to look further afield for our official adventure day – but any worries about space in the car were alleviated by the fact that it was just myself and my daughter making the trip. The plan was to head from our south-west London home to Swinley Forest and the Look Out Discovery Centre just outside Bracknell, Berks.
While my daughter worried about what to wear, I prepared a picnic – although, in the spirit of the day, I should perhaps have been a little more adventurous than filling the sandwiches with plain cheese. No matter, they were all gratefully wolfed down after a hectic morning of discovery – and the day proved just why the Duster is such a great car.
The drive included a mix of suburbia, A-roads and motorway – and the Duster was at home everywhere. The hybrid set-up was great around town, managing plenty of time in fuel-saving EV mode. The smooth ride was much appreciated throughout the day, too.
The light steering made manoeuvring easy, and the various cameras were a great help when parking – I love the Dacia’s chunky styling, but it makes it very hard to judge where the extremities are without hi-tech help. While this is nit-picking, I’d prefer it if the screen could display an all-around view of the car. As it stands, it can only show one camera’s view at a time, so I often find myself switching from one to another when I’m trying to slot between two parked cars.
On the other hand, the high seating position gives a good view out while I’m driving, and my only criticism is wind noise at motorway speeds. Mind you, my daughter is developing a fine taste in music (i.e. overlapping mine), and we were both happy to drown out the wind noise with the latest Eureka Machines album via the wireless Apple CarPlay.
There was lots of room on the back seat for a child seat and our bags, so we didn’t use the boot until we got to the car park. Our trip was a complete success, and we’re plotting our next one. Perhaps, following a Dacia suggestion, it’ll be to visit the highest spot in our local area – a day out in Richmond Park sounds just like the kind of everyday adventure we can cope with!
Dacia Duster Journey Hybrid: second fleetwatch
Our Dacia Duster averaged 70mpg around London, and still got nearly 60mpg when laden with medals and champagne
There’s lots to like about our Dacia Duster, but one thing that has consistently impressed me has been its fuel economy. The hybrid is excellent in town – I regularly see 70mpg around south-west London – but it’s still good on longer journeys, too. On a trip to Cambridge for a sports tournament, and despite the extra weight of a trophy, two gold-coloured medals and two bottles of bubbly on the 80-mile return leg, the Duster still returned 57mpg.
Dacia Duster Journey Hybrid: first fleetwatch
Our Dacia Duster showcased its practicality on a trip to a football match
It’s demanding when my daughter’s football team has an away fixture, but the Dacia Duster’s passenger-carrying ability faced its toughest test yet when a team-mate and her mum asked for a lift to a game in Reigate, Surrey. The match didn’t go our way, but the Dacia once again proved a winner. Even with two adults in the front, there was enough room in the back for the 11-year-old girls in their child seats.
Dacia Duster Journey Hybrid: first report
We’re looking forward to life with a bargain-priced family SUV
- Mileage: 762 miles
- Efficiency: 53.4mpg
I’ve never been one for jumping on a bandwagon, but I’m certainly joining a big – and growing – crowd by embarking on life with a brand-new Dacia.
The brand enjoyed a record year in the UK in 2024, registering almost 32,000 new cars, and along the way found a home for the country’s 100,000th Duster since the original model first reached these shores in 2013.
Much has changed since then, but the third-generation Duster that I collected from Dacia’s flagship dealer in Brentford, west London, has much in common with its predecessor – not least its rugged charm and no-nonsense character.
I already know I’ll find this new model fascinating to run, because I didn’t really like the original Duster. I thought it was crude and uncomfortable, while the fixtures and fittings – not to mention the tech – were clearly past-their-prime hand-me-downs from parent company Renault.
But as soon as I stepped into the dazzling new Dacia showroom, it was obvious that things are very different now. Dacia London West shares its site with a Renault franchise, and I walked past several gleaming new Renault 5s to get to the Duster. Yet the two brands’ cars sit very happily alongside each other. Is Dacia the poor relation? Absolutely not.
Likewise, as soon as I sat in my car in the handover bay, I could see that everything inside it was Renault’s latest technology. The 10.1-inch touchscreen and digital dashboard give the Duster a fairly modern look, and I know that the SUV sits on the same platform as the Jogger, and Renault’s Clio and Captur – all of which have won Auto Express awards in the past few years.
The Duster has followed in their wheeltracks, too, picking up the Small SUV of the Year award in 2024 – so signing up for six months in one was hardly a gamble for me and my family. Not least because I treated myself to a few luxuries.
I collected the car from Matt Downing, Dacia’s Product Performance Manager, who told me that, while the company is renowned as a value-focused brand, most of its customers pick a high-spec Journey or Extreme model – as I’ve done.
Apparently, I’ve also followed 70 or so per cent of Duster customers by opting for the full-hybrid powertrain. In part, buyers want the promised excellent fuel economy, but choosing this set-up is, for the time being, the only way to get yourself into a Duster with an automatic gearbox.
Despite all that, this is a car with a list price of less than £26,000 – lower than the most basic version of the Ford Puma – yet it comes with lots of premium tech. My car’s Journey trim includes all-round electric windows, a multiview camera, keyless entry, sat-nav and a smartphone charging pad, plus wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity.
So, once I’d taken delivery of the car, was the Duster as impressive on the Great West Road and beyond as it was in the glitzy showroom? To cut a long story short, yes. In fact, I’ve done a few hundred miles since these pictures were taken, and they’ve all been very pleasant. Admittedly, pretty much all of them have been around suburban south-west London – which plays to the car’s strengths – but I have no complaints.
The ride is smooth over the pothole-ridden roads, and the transmission is silky, switching neatly between petrol and electric power. The icing on the cake is that I’m getting more than 50mpg without making any great effort to drive economically. Given that the car’s official economy figure is 55.4mpg, this is very pleasing. Indeed, on one 19-mile round trip to play some sport in another part of London, I managed a record (so far) of 71.7mpg. If the car continues to hit these numbers, I’ll be very happy indeed.
The practicality, too, is perfect for my three-person family. My wife and I have plenty of room in the front seats, and there’s enough space for our 11-year-old daughter in the back. I’ll test the boot with a tip run soon.
I also like the way you can personalise the driver settings through the touchscreen, then apply them at the start of each trip with just two button presses. When you can get so much for so little it’s no surprise whatsoever that so many people are signing up to drive a Dacia.
| Rating: | 4.5 |
| Model tested: | Dacia Duster Journey Hybrid |
| On fleet since: | February 2025 |
| Price new: | £25,945 |
| Powertrain: | 1.6-litre 4cyl petrol HEV, four-speed auto |
| CO2/BiK: | 114g/km/27% |
| Options: | Metallic paint (£650) |
| Insurance*: | Group: 24 quote: £630 |
| Mileage/mpg: | 2,952/54.0mpg |
| Any problems? | None so far |
*Insurance quote from AA (0800 107 0680) for a 42-year-old in Banbury, Oxon, with three points.
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