New Dacia Duster

Really like the look of this. Practical, affordable, unpretentious, proper buttons and now also stylish. At a time when new car prices have gone crazy and are beyond the reach of a lot of people, this is the perfect antidote. It's going to sell in huge numbers.

Not sure about this model, but previously the Dacia Duster fared poorly on the Euro NCAP car safety rating system.

Was just looking at the site, on https://www.dacia.ie/cars/duster/engines.html (Petrol tab) it says:

"With their timing belts, you gain savings on your routine maintenance budget. So clever!"

What are they on about here? Belts as opposed to chains?

I wouldnt let a low pedestrian ncap put me off a car. Sure that's not really relevant to you, the driver, anyway.

From what I've heard they are expected to be launched here around July

It looks like they will be priced at around 21 - 23k in Germany which probably means 28k - 30k in Ireland

as the Jogger here is about 6k-7k more than equivalent there. However if you go for the mid range models

with half decent engine I think you will be over the 30k. While cheaper than other brands

Dacia is also increasing prices big time compared with a few years ago when you could get many of their cars including

the duster for under 20k. So much for the EU single market

Sales way down this yearv

Plastic at the side looks poxy. Pity they could not integrate it into beeen colour coded like the body

You’d want to have seriously high morals to let a pedestrian safety rating impact your purchase decision. I’d imagine they are still way safer than anything made 20 years ago for example.

Reanult/Dacia do this with nearly every model release, it's normally 3 months after the initial release. They have them in the UK so I'd expect them here in the next few weeks

I'm not sure about the new ones but the older ones were 2 or 4 wheel drive. Tbh most people do not need 4wd. No locking diffs and I'm not sure about hi or low either so more of a gimmick and extra weight with worse MPG than a 2 wheel drive variant.

Very acceptable new design. Only tainted by the comparison to original one now.

My mother bought a Sandero Essential in 2021. The dual fuel model so LPG and it was €15,500 all in along with 6 gears. I see the new Essential model without LPG and only 5 gears is €19,585. I forget how much cheaper the Essential was without LPG back then to compare to the 19585 they are looking for now. I wonder why they changed back to a 5 speed cost maybe?

The country is seemingly awash with money but also PCP facilitated idiocy. LPG and frugality don't seem to be on many people's radar, if Dacia struggled with LPG in the UK it was going to be worse here.

The list of top 10 best selling new cars is mostly crossovers costing an average of ~40k. The Sandero is 13th and the Jogger is nowhere, 59th. It lags behind far more expensive cars like the BMW 5 series, Volvo XC60 and others. Who is buying these cars? People working in the MNCs? The same MNCs that we are so dependent on for our tax receipts and "prosperity"?

10 year ago, the Sandero was 10k and Duster 16k. The latest cars are far better but this should always be the case for newer models without massive price hikes

https://web.archive.org/web/20140917142041/http://www.dacia.ie/media/pdf/att00140319/January2014DaciaPriceGuideIE.pdf

New car prices are insane and the higher the price the higher the tax which is extortionate , I mean there's no other way to describe tax on cars or fuel tax, carbon tax in Ireland !

The level of debt people are willing to get into for a car in Ireland is truly astounding, and it has to have the highest spec, has to have digital this and digital that !

Yes they are but I'm seen as being backward for saying this, I mean a small screen for Navigation , that's fine but when the screen is large and the focal point of the car, that's a problem because I've been passenger in cars where people are constantly looking at the screen or playing with the instrument cluster menus etc but because screen attraction is so serious and widespread few people see and issue with it.

Worse is when the screen controls many of the functions in the car.

Big TFT screens are common even on Motorbikes now with Android auto and Apple Car play, spotify etc, yes, on a motorbike, this is pure insanity and I refuse to buy a bike like that and worst of all is it's not optional.

I'm not anti tech by any means, I got all the gadgets but there are times I want to be separated from it and one reason I got into Motorcycling is because it's just man and machine out in the open enjoying the ride nothing to distract me just my thoughts or focus on riding and thankfully there's Triumph and Royal Enfield and one or two others still making bikes with very little tech.

Oh I've been called out for been so backward and out of date on boards many times over my stance on screens in cars, even the bloody instrument clusters in cars now have so many options you can change on the fly when driving that's even before you touch the infotainment system.

I rode the CF Moto CLX 700 I think it is for the test, instructors bike, didn't like it, it was uncomfortable after an hour never mind a 2 hr lesson, it had a small round LCD display, hated it and the indicator button is awkward to use and I could have failed my test because of it, the instructors said " what was going on with the indicators ?" so I told him so he can be aware of it when others are doing their test. It did ride well and nice exhaust note from stock exhaust but I'd be killed over 1 hr on it.

I had one lesson before on the CBF600 and loved it, it was far more comfortable, after a 2 hr lesson without stopping I was not tired or suffering any discomfort.

Yes I have the small screen in the car but it is a distraction if Apple Car play is on so I don't use it and only use it for nav, I don't bother listen to music much while driving anyway these days.

Imagine all the people on their phones while driving, I'd say it's the cause of a lot of accidents.