Dacia Jogger goes Extreme with new camper option
Swish new trims join the Dacia range, and the Jogger gets a bed in the back. We kid you not...
It’s all about the outdoorsy stuff with Dacia. The Duster is the go-anywhere off-roader that won’t break your wallet - and then there’s the Jogger. If you like large, open spaces, this has to be the car for you. For a start, it is a large open space, and while it doesn’t have four-wheel drive to take you places that the Duster will, there’s something new that’ll at least aim to get you farther into the wilderness.
Both the Duster and the Jogger, along with the Sandero Stepway, are available with a new Extreme trim option (this replaces Extreme SE), but with the Jogger and Stepway it includes Extended Grip as standard. Extended Grip tweaks the stability control to help the front wheels dig in harder on slippery surfaces. Will it make that much difference? Probably not - but who cares, that’s not the highlight of the press release. Nor is the Extreme trim’s posh, country-gent paint scheme of Cedar Green with the Copper Brown embellishments – that includes the mirror caps and Dacia tailgate logos. It's not even the soft, velvet-like but hard-wearing interior trim.
Nope, the main event is the Sleep Pack, which converts the humble Jogger into a mobile bedroom. Seriously. Now, this being Dacia, it’s not what you’d call glamping. There’s no draw that slides smoothly out, presenting you with a well-kitted-out kitchen complete with gas hob and Nesprsso coffee machine, and there’s definitely no mention of a memory foam mattress with Egyptian cotton bed sheets.
What this appears to be (having watched a video about it) is an Ikea-style plywood box that sits in the boot. It has a door, behind which is a void big enough for your watersports gear – after all, that’s the sort of caper these outdoor types get up to of a weekend – and when you fold down the rear seats the other side of the plywood box extends out to the back of the front seats to form a flat, level surface. Once you’ve shoved some cushions on the top, voila: a bed, and a bloody big bed at that. Apparently, it’s got enough space for two. The whole process takes mere minutes and there are blackout blinds for all windows that ‘offer privacy and light control.’
The only downsides are you have to remove the third row of seats before you can get the 220-litre, 50kg-box fitted on board, and while Dacia claims, ‘it still offers a surprising 60cm of headroom limiting the chances of anything going bump in the night,’ that doesn’t sound awfully generous to me. Put it this way, I am 191cm, and the only way 60cm of headroom could ever sound generous is during a potholing experience. So maybe I’d be better off in the smart tent, which is something else that’s available. That fits onto the Jogger’s open tailgate, but just make sure you’re really in the middle of nowhere when you use it. Otherwise, some halfwit walking past might shut the boot on you in the early hours, which really will mean a bump in the night.
The new Jogger Extreme costs £19,445 and is available to order from today, but the Sleep Pack won't be coming until the second quarter of the year. The Sandero Stepway Extreme is £16,745 and the Duster Extreme is £19,695.
I haven't owned my car a year yet and reckon there's been 10 different trim levels available.
Access
Essential
Comfort
Prestige
Techroad
Journey
Extreme
Extreme SE
Expression
Just the ones I can remember off the top of my head. They need to simplify it and drop all the limited editions that add virtually nothing.
tbox' (my pet name for it) has been such a pleasant and refreshing surprise. The 1 litre 3 cylinder engine has defied my worries about it being puny and 90% of the time is strong and pulls (only becomes a cropper overtaking at high speed). It's comfortable cruising on the motorway and negotiating rutted country lanes, and I'm achieving just under 50mpg. It's even not as slow as I'd feared, and accelerates pretty spritely from a standstill (and that's coming from someone who's last car was a Seat Leon Cupra ST!).There are a lot of misinformed haters out there who will criticise the engine (which is genuinely better than you think it is, and unless you've driven one then there is no point commenting!) and the safety rating (mainly down to a lack of driver aids/assistance rather than impact protection), but this car is so much better than it has any right to be.
Unfortunately, I know they're a budget brand but my ownership experience has been terrible thanks to awful service from two different dealer franchises.
The buying process with Wilsons Epsom was like pulling teeth. Slow and painful; I had to chase everything and ended up getting Dacia Customer Services involved when the dealer didn't supply the simple extras I'd either ordered or were supposed to be included with the car.
And just recently my dashboard lit up like a Christmas tree with warning symbols and messages. I had to live with it like that for nearly 3 weeks as Platinum Trowbridge (locaL dealer) couldn't see it any earlier. And when they finally did take a look, they charged me an hour's labour of £132 (even this was a goodwill gesture apparently) as they insisted the only thing that could have caused this was either jump starting the car or disconnecting the battery. Obviously neither of those things happened so I now feel ripped off (not mention the insinuation that I'm lying) and concerned that the issue may re-occur as the root cause was not properly identified.
In summary, a great surprising little (big) car let down by awful customer service by the dealers.
Still, I love the idea of it and the fact that Dacia are thinking of things like this, but in this case probably a step too far. The Jogger is great though, a real standout offering in the market.
For a car under warranty, that is appalling. I'd push the nuclear button on that with Dacia HQ. And make sure social media was well aware.
For a car under warranty, that is appalling. I'd push the nuclear button on that with Dacia HQ. And make sure social media was well aware.
It's a 3 week wait for a slot at my local dealer. If I'm being generous they're struggling with the uptick in work due to their own success.
I hold all dealers in utter contempt so it's not uniquely Dacia but it does hurt the overall experience.
They had the cheek to email me the other day to reminde to book my car in for a service with them, no chance.
Would love to say more, but I suspect this post would get deleted.
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