I bought a Dacia Spring…

Author
Discussion

Silvanus

6,648 posts

34 months

Friday 7th March
quotequote all
We were seriously considering one of these, but unfortunately we've had a change in circumstances. I think they are great little cars, especially as a second car runabout.

TheDeuce

26,695 posts

77 months

Friday 7th March
quotequote all
Toaster Pilot said:
Tbh I’ve no idea why anyone would buy the 45, especially when you can buy a pre reg 65 for less than it costs.

The lack of CCS alone being a pretty good reason to avoid it.

Edited by Toaster Pilot on Friday 7th March 21:05
I think it probably only exists for the sake of having cheaper version, but it's not as good value as the 65 overall. I think they designed the car as the 65 and then took things away!

Does it really not have CCS!? That's weird - it says it can charge upto 30kwh, which I would assume required CCS, the charge speed being limited by the battery capacity.


Toaster Pilot

Original Poster:

14,705 posts

169 months

Friday 7th March
quotequote all
TheDeuce said:
I think it probably only exists for the sake of having cheaper version, but it's not as good value as the 65 overall. I think they designed the car as the 65 and then took things away!

Does it really not have CCS!? That's weird - it says it can charge upto 30kwh, which I would assume required CCS, the charge speed being limited by the battery capacity.
45 definitely doesn’t have CCS, 7kW AC only. The spec on the Dacia website is wrong.

TheDeuce

26,695 posts

77 months

Friday 7th March
quotequote all
Toaster Pilot said:
TheDeuce said:
I think it probably only exists for the sake of having cheaper version, but it's not as good value as the 65 overall. I think they designed the car as the 65 and then took things away!

Does it really not have CCS!? That's weird - it says it can charge upto 30kwh, which I would assume required CCS, the charge speed being limited by the battery capacity.
45 definitely doesn’t have CCS, 7kW AC only. The spec on the Dacia website is wrong.
Wow, well that's definitely something taken away for the sake of creating a cheaper model then. Although with only a tiny battery... Maybe there's an argument for it. Seems a bit stingy and annoying though!

Toaster Pilot

Original Poster:

14,705 posts

169 months

Saturday 8th March
quotequote all
Ground clearance is alright biggrin


andburg

7,903 posts

180 months

Monday 10th March
quotequote all
biggest problem i have with one of these is the weak used EV market

£14k for a spring or £14k for an early used MG4 with 4 years warranty remaining, other than needing something very small it'd be a tough sell for me.

Toaster Pilot

Original Poster:

14,705 posts

169 months

Monday 10th March
quotequote all
andburg said:
biggest problem i have with one of these is the weak used EV market

£14k for a spring or £14k for an early used MG4 with 4 years warranty remaining, other than needing something very small it'd be a tough sell for me.
Used cars have always been cheaper than new ones, people were saying this about the Sandero when Dacia launched in the UK.

andburg

7,903 posts

180 months

Monday 10th March
quotequote all
absolutey, it's not an apples vs apples comparison and others may well have a different view.

be very interesting to see what a Spring is selling for in a year's time with 4k miles

A500leroy

6,250 posts

129 months

Monday 10th March
quotequote all
Want to see it doing a van impression on you YouTube channel.

ZesPak

25,184 posts

207 months

Monday 10th March
quotequote all
TheDeuce said:
Does it really not have CCS!? That's weird - it says it can charge upto 30kwh, which I would assume required CCS, the charge speed being limited by the battery capacity.
I'm sure you know this, but charging speed is expressed in kW, not kWh.
Anything over 22kW is most definitely DC charging.
Toaster Pilot said:
45 definitely doesn’t have CCS, 7kW AC only. The spec on the Dacia website is wrong.
Most sources do quote ~30kW DC charging. I've checked the Dacia website and it states 26,8 kW charging.
Any review I can find states those.

I'd love to believe you as you generally seem very knowledgeable on those things, but that seems to be a huge oversight on both Dacia and the reviewers?

TheDeuce

26,695 posts

77 months

Monday 10th March
quotequote all
ZesPak said:
TheDeuce said:
Does it really not have CCS!? That's weird - it says it can charge upto 30kwh, which I would assume required CCS, the charge speed being limited by the battery capacity.
I'm sure you know this, but charging speed is expressed in kW, not kWh.
Anything over 22kW is most definitely DC charging.
Toaster Pilot said:
45 definitely doesn’t have CCS, 7kW AC only. The spec on the Dacia website is wrong.
Most sources do quote ~30kW DC charging. I've checked the Dacia website and it states 26,8 kW charging.
Any review I can find states those.

I'd love to believe you as you generally seem very knowledgeable on those things, but that seems to be a huge oversight on both Dacia and the reviewers?
Sorry yes, 30kw, not kWh, can't believe I said that.

I'm still confused by the stated ability to DC charge, which must use CCS... So where has the theory it doesn't ha e CCS come from..?

andburg

7,903 posts

180 months

Monday 10th March
quotequote all
TheDeuce said:
ZesPak said:
TheDeuce said:
Does it really not have CCS!? That's weird - it says it can charge upto 30kwh, which I would assume required CCS, the charge speed being limited by the battery capacity.
I'm sure you know this, but charging speed is expressed in kW, not kWh.
Anything over 22kW is most definitely DC charging.
Toaster Pilot said:
45 definitely doesn’t have CCS, 7kW AC only. The spec on the Dacia website is wrong.
Most sources do quote ~30kW DC charging. I've checked the Dacia website and it states 26,8 kW charging.
Any review I can find states those.

I'd love to believe you as you generally seem very knowledgeable on those things, but that seems to be a huge oversight on both Dacia and the reviewers?
Sorry yes, 30kw, not kWh, can't believe I said that.

I'm still confused by the stated ability to DC charge, which must use CCS... So where has the theory it doesn't ha e CCS come from..?
Physically looking at the available charge ports

Covered in TPs video on YouTube

Toaster Pilot

Original Poster:

14,705 posts

169 months

Monday 10th March
quotequote all
It’s not a theory

ZesPak

25,184 posts

207 months

Monday 10th March
quotequote all
Toaster Pilot said:
It’s not a theory
bow

Thanks!

Aside from that, that looks shoddy as hell tbh rofl

Lil_Red_GTO

741 posts

154 months

Monday 10th March
quotequote all
I bought one of these too. An Expression 65 in brick red (orange). It's my wife's car so I haven't driven it much, but based on the few drives I've done in it so far, I like it. A few points:

I think the styling is pretty neat for what it is. The only think that lets it down is the comically skinny tyres which I do think signal to motorists behind that you may be an OAP in some sort of invacar. From every other angle it looks great though.

It was precisely the lack of features that appealed to me. I love that there isn't an ipad glued to the dash (in the Expression model) and the ability to turn off all the nannying rubbish with two presses of one physical button is great. When combined with the physical key, manual handbrake, manual mirrors, and manual rear windows, it feels like you are in some parallel universe version of the 1990s where cars were all electric instead of ICE.

It may look stylish inside, but there's no denying it feels cheap. Hard plastics and the doors and boot sound comically tinny. Closing them sounds like slamming a baking tray. If you are used to that German bank vault vibe, you will hate this car. If you are coming from another cheap city car it will feel fine.

It definitely does not feel slow. In fact, it feels pretty rapid because of the lack of weight and instant EV torque. And possibly also because of the slightly scary, floaty handling which makes going fast, erm, "exciting". Also, you do have that vague sense that you may actually die in the event of a crash, which keeps you on your toes.

In terms of retained future value, time will tell. I PCP'd it to hedge my bets, but I suspect it will do ok. It has a 7 year warranty if you get it serviced at a Dacia dealer, and many folk will be wary of used EV alternatives with a short or no warranty. There's not much to go wrong and that simplicity may play in its favour on the used market.


Toaster Pilot

Original Poster:

14,705 posts

169 months

Monday 10th March
quotequote all
Lil_Red_GTO said:
it feels like you are in some parallel universe version of the 1990s where cars were all electric instead of ICE.
This is a fantastic description of it tbh (even the Extreme where all that manual stuff is electric)

The continual discounting on new models is the thing that’ll hurt residuals the hardest imo, seems it’s Renault’s ZEV mandate punching bag

Hugo Stiglitz

38,720 posts

222 months

Monday 10th March
quotequote all
Toaster Pilot said:
Ground clearance is alright biggrin

My cats do that. I literally have to do a Northern Ireland security service sweep under the car every time before I set off.

TheDeuce

26,695 posts

77 months

Monday 10th March
quotequote all
Hugo Stiglitz said:
Toaster Pilot said:
Ground clearance is alright biggrin

My cats do that. I literally have to do a Northern Ireland security service sweep under the car every time before I set off.
Same here, very annoying but I won't take the risk of not checking! Although they do it less now we have EV's, I would assume less heat to make it a cosy place!?

Jeffmaniac

526 posts

210 months

Thursday
quotequote all
Was really interested in this until I saw it had a terrible Ncap crash rating

https://www.euroncap.com/en/results/dacia/spring/4...

Admittedly, still did better than a Renault Zoe!

Hugo Stiglitz

38,720 posts

222 months

Thursday
quotequote all
Why? The fact that it doesn't have lane assist appeals. And what's a bonnet thingy?