The Dacia Duster Extreme puts a lot of other brands to shame with its price tag, but how does it perform on the farm?
Our test drive with the Dacia Duster doesn’t get off to the best start. For starters, we were provided with a model without a towbar, and while the braked towing capacity of 1,500kg doesn’t give you a lot of leeway when you’re considering hauling round bales to stables or heading off to the dealer to collect fencing supplies or bale wrap, not having a tow bar at all eliminates those plans entirely.
The other issue was unavoidable. The baking weather meant that there was nowhere on the farm where we could really put the four-wheel drive modes to the test – let alone the dedicated snow mode.
Before we get into how it performs, though, we should look around the machine and the, admittedly, impressive specifications that Dacia has integrated despite the low price point. The Extreme sits at the top of the Dacia Duster range, priced from £26,570, £2,500 over the Expression spec.
This adds a host of extras for aesthetic and convenience purposes, including keyless entry, automatic headlight dipping and a heated steering wheel, alongside the full suite of driver assistance functions which are included in the Journey package (between the Expression and Extreme).
Under the bonnet, there’s a 130hp petrol engine, with a 48v mild hybrid system to assist with startup. This is put to the ground through a six-speed manual box, which can be swapped out for an automatic transmission if the full hybrid model is purchased. It has push-button startup, an electronic handbrake that deactivates as soon as you pull away, and automatic stop/start.
While we couldn’t tackle any particularly difficult terrain, it is built for some tricky areas. Driving modes include four-wheel drive, with intelligently distributed power and torque; a snow and sand mode; as well as automatic engagement and an eco mode. This is combined with active hill descent, where the car will automatically limit the speed, allowing you to safely move to the bottom of the incline without touching the pedals.
There’s also a maximum ground clearance of 217mm and a high approach angle of 31deg, meaning it should have no trouble in all but the most difficult off-road scenarios.
Moving on the road
Driving the Dacia Duster Extreme is a nice experience, though it does come with a few quirks. If we focus on the good parts first, the Duster has good acceleration and smooth shifting through the six-speed. It’s comfortable, especially in the Extreme spec where the seats have lumbar support, and it’s easy to set up the little personal touches with both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto integrated into the 10in screen.
The digital dashboard can be adjusted through three different layers, with the most useful showing the most economic engine speed range and encouraging you to shift up or down to stay within this. Using the speed sign reading technology, the dash always highlights the maximum legal speed and the fuel gauge.
Using the left-hand toggle on the steering wheel, you can adjust the driver assistance modes, including switching the land assist on and off, and setting the cruise control or speed limiter systems.
Diving a little deeper into the 10in screen, you can set the screen up to show your most used features – maps and the Spotify playlist, for example – but you can also shift through various features, activate the heated seats and steering wheel, and mess with the climate control. It’s got a nice, Android-style functionality that should be easy for everyone to get to grips with.
A nice touch is the page that shows not only the lateral and vertical angle of the car, but also how the power is being distributed to the axles. For those seriously considering the Duster as an off-road machine, this could be very useful in adjusting the driving style to suit conditions.
Heading out on the road, the actual driving experience was very pleasant. The windscreen is a little small and mounted low in comparison to how the seats are set up, meaning you don’t get the feeling of space that comes with some competitors. You do get used to this.
However, we quickly found ourselves fighting some of the software integrated into the car. The first, and most egregious, came from the speed limit recognition. On A-roads, this worked fine, but as we came to the end of the M50 and around the island for the M5, this changed from the national speed limit to 60mph – despite there being no signs to indicate this. As we merged onto the M5, this hadn’t changed, and to be clear the overhead signs were clear. This meant that as we accelerated up to 70mph, the warning buzzer went off several times to indicate that we were speeding.
Then there’s the gearbox. This is a minor annoyance as the shifting is smooth and easy. However, on the dash there is a pop-up when you are supposed to shift gear – seemingly regardless of the incline or driving conditions. To be frank, the Dacia asks you to shift up at points that feel unintuitive. I don’t think I’ve ever shifted up into fifth gear at 30mph, or sixth at 35mph.
Now this doesn’t impact anything. There’s no buzzer to worry about, or anything to stop you shifting how you see fit; however, there is an eco rating given at the end of each journey, with gear shifting being one of the metrics used to measure this. Being constantly penalised by a car for moderate or poor economy because I didn’t shift gears close enough together did chaff a little.
A good all-rounder
Of course, the big question is whether the Dacia has a place in the farmyard. That very much depends on what you’re hoping to do. Hauling large loads is pretty much out, but travelling out to more remote areas can be done with some confidence. And there’s ample boot space, and the backseats can be dropped to increase this to just over 1,500 litres for storing whatever needs to be transported.
For this reason, it feels more than an agriculture-adjacent vehicle. Those in sales would do well with this, as would someone in my job, with plenty of road travel and occasional off-roading without any towing requirements.
Despite the quirks we mentioned, it is an excellent car on the road. The fuel consumption is a little higher than we’d like, but still respectable at over 45mpg, averaging both town and motorway driving.
The lane assist can be a little aggressive but works well overall, and features like blind spot warnings and 360deg cameras help with manoeuvring the car through traffic. Despite looking quite large, it’s also a relatively narrow unit, meaning you don’t have to worry about struggling to park up when you get to your destination.
This is aimed at the luxury SUV market, keeping buyers with a budget in mind, and it’s only in those weird little software quirks that the cracks occasionally show. Overall, it’s a well-priced, well-specced car that will handle all but ironically the most extreme requirements. You’re unlikely to find anything else this well-specified for the same money, but we can’t quite recommend it for full on-farm use.
