New Dacia Duster: successful recipe more exciting than ever

Highlights Dacia Duster

• Familiar concept…
• …but more current and sharper than ever
• Front and four-wheel drive, again on LPG
• Also as a hybrid and as a mild hybrid
• Spring 2024 in the Netherlands

The Dacia Sandero has been the most popular new passenger car in Europe among private individuals since 2017, but the Duster also provides Romanians with a rich sandwich. Since the introduction of the first generation Duster in 2010, more than 2.26 million units have been sold. Since 2018, this relatively down-to-earth SUV-like car has even been able to call itself the most popular new SUV among European private individuals. The current second generation Duster has been in operation since 2017 and although that car has had modern Renault engines for years, it is still powered by a further developed version of its now 14-year-old predecessor. The calendar is almost at 2024 and Dacia now believes the time is ripe for the third generation. The new Dacia Duster exchanges its old B0 platform for a much more up-to-date platform and Dacia also folds a much more exciting-looking body around it.

Dacia Duster

Dimensions

More about the appearance and technology of the new Dacia Duster later. We’ll start with the dimensions, because there is something striking going on in that area. With its length of 4.34 meters, the new Dacia Duster is practically as long as the Duster it replaces. Interesting, because cars often experience a small growth spurt during a generational change. So not the Duster. Not necessary, Dacia thinks.

With its generation change, the Duster replaces the old basis of the outgoing model with Dacia’s variant of the CMF-B platform, which Renault uses for models such as the Clio and Captur. Dacia already uses its version of this in the Sandero and Jogger (and the Logan, which is not available here). This new basis gives the new Duster more interior space. For example, front occupants have more shoulder room and rear passengers benefit from 3 centimeters more legroom than the outgoing Duster offers.

According to Dacia, the luggage space is 6 percent larger than that of the model it replaces. The brand communicates a loading volume of 472 liters for the Duster with front-wheel drive only. But wait a minute, the outgoing Dacia Duster has a front-wheel drive capacity of 478 liters according to Dutch specifications. “How can Dacia say that the new one is more spacious?” we hear you think. Well now. The 472 liters communicated by Dacia is the so-called VDA value. According to the same VDA quotation, the luggage space of the outgoing Duster is 445 liters. The fact that the luggage compartment of the new Duster is 6 percent larger seems to be correct. If we add 6 percent to the more usual non-NDA value for us Dutch, we arrive at a luggage space of 507 liters. So definitely not wrong.

Design

For the avid visitor of AutoWeek.nl, the appearance of the new Duster may no longer be a big surprise. As early as May 2021, AutoWeek was able to show you patent drawings of what we thought at the time should be the production version of the Bigster Concept – the later longer brother of the Duster. Later we concluded that it had to be the new Duster. Based on those plates, we commissioned our illustrator to propose a production version. That digital drawing turned out to be quite accurate. The new Dacia Duster looks exactly like that virtual preview. Yet we take a lyrical stroll around the new Duster. There is plenty to say about it.

The new Duster on patent image of 2021. Almost the same!

The new Dacia Duster is immediately recognizable as a Duster, but almost everything is different. This Duster is the first Dacia to be fitted with the current family face of the brand – complete with the new emblems – from the start. After all, the Jogger briefly still had ‘the old Dacia nose.’ The front, now familiar from all Dacias, is just a little tighter on the new Duster. Just look at the way in which the new Y-shaped LED signature optically connects to the decorative elements in the grille. Speaking of tighter: Dacia used a ruler more often when designing the new Duster than when drawing the outgoing model. The steeply sloping hood is almost completely straight cut, the headlights connect to the grille with a tight vertical line and we see vertical cooling slots in the front bumper. The decorative element around the lower grille in a contrasting color is also more angular than the Duster you have known for years.

The design influences of the Dacia Bigster Concept (2021) are evident.

More corners and folds? Certainly! Dacia gives the new Duster strikingly angular and strongly extended wheel arches. They give the Duster that visual push in a cool direction. The pointed, triangular taillights – like most of the Duster, copied from the Bigster Concept – are also completely new in Duster land. Also completely new: the door handles hidden in the window pillars of the rear doors. In the center of the tailgate we find – higher than before – a large recess in which the license plate is housed. The rear window dips less deeply into the tailgate and at the top of the rear window we see an integrated roof spoiler with a rise on either side. Dacia gives the Duster a rear bumper that has been visually optimized and not only makes it SUV-like with wide plastic edges around the wheel arches and sills, but also sticks a large piece of plastic to the front of the front door. It is a reference to the decorative element that is located on the front screen of the outgoing Duster. Basic version Essential has to make do without alloy, but that is not surprising.

Powertrains: hybrid, mild-hybrid and LPG

The Jogger is no longer the only Dacia available with a hybrid drivetrain. The new Dacia Duster will also be available as a Hybrid 140. It has a 94 hp 1.6 petrol engine that is supported by a 49 hp electric motor and a powerful starter-generator. The system power is 141 hp and 148 Nm. Just like the hybrid version of the Jogger, the Dacia Duster Hybrid 140 also starts immediately with electric power. A 1.2 kWh battery pack provides the (temporary) energy storage.

No need for a fully hybrid powertrain? No problem. The new Duster is the first Dacia that is also available with a mild-hybrid powertrain. That version is called the Dacia Duster TCe 130. This 130 hp variant has a 48V mild-hybrid system and should be up to 10 percent more economical than the non-mild-hybrid TCe 130 engine of the outgoing Duster. The new mild-hybrid TCe 130 petrol engine is no longer a 1.3 four-cylinder, but a 1.2 three-cylinder. The Dacia Duster TCe 130 has a 0.8 kWh battery, has a six-speed manual gearbox and is available as a front-wheel drive and as a four-wheel drive. The four-wheel drive version has 21.7 centimeters of ground clearance and has driving modes such as Snow, Mud/Sand and Off-Road for adventures on and off the asphalt. Downhill Speed ​​Control keeps the speed below 30 km/h while descending less pleasant terrain. The infotainment screen of the 4×4 version shows, among other things, how the power is distributed to all four wheels and the lateral tilt of the car.

Those who do not want to know anything about electrification – or simply want to drive extra cheaply – can of course also go to the Duster. Dacia also installs the Eco-G 100 power source in the Duster. Unlike the Sandero with LPG machine, the Duster Eco-G 100 ‘Bi-fuel’ does not have a 40 liter LPG tank, but a 50 liter one. It is located under the loading floor and takes the place of the spare wheel. The luggage compartment therefore remains intact. You also have a 50 liter petrol tank. If you drive them both empty, you can travel up to 1,300 kilometers, according to Dacia.

Dacia Duster

Interior

From the outside in. It is also a celebration of renewed recognition in the Duster. Just like the outgoing Duster, the dashboard of the new model is also quite vertical in design. The whole is more ‘designed’ than the mainly quiet interior of its predecessor. For example, the Y-shapes that you also find on the outside return in the outflow openings of the ventilation system, as well as on the door panels. The part on the right side of the driver is somewhat recessed. Although you will not find a screen orgy in the cockpit of the new Duster, the Duster still makes a big step in terms of displays. The new Duster is available with an infotainment screen of up to 10 inches. You will soon find it from the Expression version. The largest screen in the current Duster is 8 inches. Just like the Jogger Hybrid, the Duster has digital instruments. It has a diagonal of 7 inches. Are you going for the basic Essential version? Then you get analog clocks with a 3.5-inch display in between. Cruise control is now standard on the basic version.

A Duster novelty: the hybrid Duster does not have a traditional selector lever for the automatic transmission, but a more modern-looking and considerably smaller selector stick in the center tunnel. Physical buttons remain in Duster-land. In the center console we see a neatly arranged series of buttons with which you control the climate control. However, the operation of many other systems seems to be housed in the infotainment screen.

Good night

Are you planning to spend the night in your Duster, somewhere deep in a meadow, forest or perhaps just on an industrial estate? Then the optional Sleep Pack is interesting. This extra, known from the Jogger, consists of an easy-to-assemble ‘box’ that is 1.9 meters long and 1.3 meters wide. It can function as a bed, has a folding table and storage options. Adventurous! The Duster also benefits from the modular roof racks that you may already know from other Dacias.

Dacia Duster with Sleep Pack

No new model without a passage about the use of environmentally friendly materials. Dacia is also making a strong showing. For example, about 20 percent of the plastic that Dacia uses in and on the Duster is recycled and it does not use any chrome. Various exterior details – such as the skid plates and wheel arch edges – are made of a material that Dacia calls Starkle. It is not painted and consists of 20 percent recycled plastic. Fun fact: even the instruction booklet is significantly thinner to save paper (and money).

Dacia Duster and the Netherlands

The new Dacia Duster will come to the Netherlands in the spring of 2024. Prices will follow in the run-up to the market introduction. It will be available as Essential, Expression, Extreme and as an extra generously equipped Journey.

By the way, we called the new Duster ‘the third’ generation in this article. That’s still up for debate. For example, you could argue that the outgoing ‘second generation’ Duster is more of a thorough facelift of the first Duster. You can say about the first Duster, launched in 2010, that it was not the first at all. Just think back to the distant ancestor of the Dacia, the Romanian Aro 10, which was also delivered in the Netherlands. After all, that off-roader already used Renault technology and was already known as the Dacia Duster in the United Kingdom.

In any case: since 2010, almost 14,000 Dusters have been registered in the Netherlands. In the Duster’s peak year – 2011 – 2,137 units were sold. After 2011, the registration figures of that first modern Duster steadily dropped to 725 units in 2017. The introduction of the second/outgoing Duster caused a revival. From 2018 to 2022, registration figures – with the exception of corona year 2020 – no longer fell below 1,000 copies.