Dacia fans rejoice: the all-new Duster is available to order now, priced from £18,745. On a four-year PCP deal, the manufacturer reckons you’ll pay just £193 a month. True, that gets you the Bi-Fuel version in Essential trim, which does without niceties like the 10.1-inch Media Display and alloy wheels - but it does come with a dash-mounted button to switch between its dual 50-litre petrol and LPG tanks. With both filled, Dacia says you might get 800 miles up the road. One for the low-cost connoisseur, certainly.
Of course, if past performance is anything to go by, the vast majority of UK buyers will skip straight over that 100hp option and decide whether they prefer the prospect of a mild hybrid three-cylinder 1.2-litre petrol engine with 130hp or a four-cylinder 1.6-litre petrol engine that adds a brace of electric motors for 140hp. The former is the only one that can be had with the option of all-wheel drive; the latter, Dacia claims, can be driven in all-electric mode up to 80 per cent of the time in cities. Decisions, decisions.
Predictably, the turbocharged triple is a bit cheaper - but not by much. Select it in Expression trim (which adds 17-inch alloy wheels and the infotainment screen) as a front-drive Duster, and you’ll pay £20,375. Go for 4WD and it’s £23,445. The Hybrid is £24,245. Probably though, most people will skip over that too, because the 18-inch wheels and keyless entry and parking sensors and satellite navigation and wireless phone charger that they expect to find in a new car are all located in the Journey trim, which starts at £22,945 for the 1.2 and ends at £25,945 for the Hybrid. Probably the midway point here - the Journey TCe130 4x4, which adds Terrain Control and Hill Descent for £25,145 - is the PH sweet spot.
Finally, for anyone really pushing the boat out - and plenty of Duster buyers did previously - there’s the familiar Extreme grade, which adds a bit styling nuance into the mix (you get the modular roof bars and bronze-coloured wing mirrors and synthetic leather upholstery) for £23,745 onwards. The most you can pay for a 2024 Duster is £26,745. All will be slightly larger by default than the previous version because the car is now on the CMF-B platform and arguably better looking as Dacia leans into the SUV design cues that it previewed with the Bigster concept. Expect it to be better to drive, too - and on every street corner when deliveries kick off in November.
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