What is it?
The Dacia Duster is the ultimate example of the Romanian firm's ability to tap into relevant market segments with affordable, practical cars.
Launched in 2018, it was updated last year with a sharper design, better efficiency and a spruced-up interior. Now Dacia has added the crème de la crème of Dusters: the Extreme SE.
This plays to its desire to be seen as an outdoorsy, adventure brand. Plus, not many customers opt for the base trim, so Dacia believes it makes sense to feed the upper end of the Duster market, adding a specification based on its highest trim level, Prestige.
The special edition receives 17in black alloy wheels, exclusive Urban Grey paint and grey and orange detailing on the door mirrors, front grille and roof bars. Inside, the orange theme continues on the vents, centre console, stitching and more.
The engines remain the same: here we’re testing the mid-range 1.3-litre four-cylinder petrol with a manual gearbox.
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In case someone missed it, the Duster (and Sandero) are Top 10 best selling vehicles in Europe. Guess mostly bought by sane folks. Interesting too: YT is packed with video's showing the aftermath of road accidents and roadrage. Just 3 brands are featured: VW, Audi and BMW. Dacia drivers never crash, simple.
That's cause they know their chances of survival are next to zero
ExtremeWay, Stepreme, Extreme StepWay???
In this world of frightening inflation across the board, and the ridiculous complication of nearly every other make of car, Dacia seem to be the only relevant marque for anyone who has not got pots of money to waste. Long may Dacia continue to ignore NCAP ratings!!! (I'm sure its cars are safe enough)
Safe enough is a term used by suicide prone people or a person who buys the Dacia as a gift for his mother in law. The Dacia is cheap because in Romania human life is cheap - scuzati ma. It saves money but not lives. I'd rather buy a used car with much higher safety rating.
NCAP ratings are year dependent - an older car with a 4-star rating won't be as safe as a newer car with a 4-star rating.
Much of Dacia's low star ratings comes from not having fancy autonomous systems. They do pretty well for occupant protection, but the NCAP score can't exceed the lowest in any category.
Well worth having a proper look into how this stuff actually works.
It's full of people like you who think Dacia is unsafe so they have to buy cars which would be scrapped in any normal country. Then you drive them like crazy and finally, die in them.
But don't worry, it's a win-win situation. We get your money for our old bangers, and you die happily in them.
Ever been or just gammony guessing?
Its actually Bulgaria that has that honour but don't let it get in the way of your made up rant
H t t p s : // ec.europa.eu/transport/road_safety/news-events/news/road-safety-eu-fatalities-2021-remain-well-below-pre-pandemic-level-2022-03-28_en
So who is gammonly guessing?
And yes, I have been in Romania (as well as almost every country in Europe), and I have driven hundreds of km there.
Highest death toll rate in Europe of 90 instead of 33 in the UK per ... one million inhabitants. Sure, that will do it. Please understand UK roads are filled with millions of cars produced between 1995 and 2010 with a zero score based on 2022 E-NCAP standards.
Safe enough is a term used by suicide prone people or a person who buys the Dacia as a gift for his mother in law. The Dacia is cheap because in Romania human life is cheap - scuzati ma. It saves money but not lives. I'd rather buy a used car with much higher safety rating.
- and I thought I was one of the most risk-averse (=boring) people out there! I'm sorry, but these NCAP ratings are becoming inconsistent and therefore meaningless. No way would I be so paranoid as to consider myself in grave danger if I happened to find myself travelling in a Dacia!