We absolutely love the new Dacia Duster. It charmed us when we tested it on its launch last year, and now that we’re living with one as a long-term test car, we’re finding that not only is that charm not wearing off, but it’s vastly better at just being a car than lots of more expensive stuff we test.
One of our only big grumbles with both examples we’ve been living with – a 4×4 and a Hybrid – is that its pace is sometimes a little leisurely, but it looks like that problem’s about to be solved.
Dacia Duster – side
That’s because, despite the car barely being a year old, a pair of new powertrains will be coming in later this year to replace both the existing mild and full hybrid setups. Currently, the former uses a 1.2-litre three-cylinder with a 48V motor, making for a total of 128bhp.
That’s being swapped out for a gutsier 138bhp version of the same setup, with a newer version of the engine, which will stay paired to the same six-speed manual gearbox as before. Our beloved 4×4 Duster also uses the mild-hybrid powertrain, but it’s not clear if this will be getting the new, more powerful setup along with the front-wheel drive version.
Dacia Duster 4×4 – front
The outgoing Hybrid 140, meanwhile, uses a 1.6-litre four-cylinder engine paired with a 49bhp e-motor to send 138bhp to the front wheels. That’s being replaced with the Hybrid 155 system already found in the bigger Bigster, and developed by Renault-Geely powertrain joint venture Horse – same electric motor, but a bigger 1.8-litre engine with 108bhp to take peak power to 153bhp. It’ll continue to use the same funky gearbox arrangement with four ratios for the petrol engine and two for the e-motor.
No word on what these new options will do to the Duster’s performance, but they should unlock a little extra much-needed pace. They’ll also likely see the price bumped up a little – we’ll find out more on that in November, but this is still Dacia, so don’t go worrying that the new engines will add thousands to the asking price.
Dacia Duster 4×4 – rear
As well as the extra grunt, the Duster’s getting a couple of visual tweaks. The second-from-top Journey trim now gets its own exclusive upholstery, while the range-topping Extreme gets beefier 18-inch alloys. Nothing radical, then, but there didn’t need to be. Orders for the lightly tweaked Duster will open in November.
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