Customer reviews for Dacia Bigster

It’s a fantastic vehicle

Na

The on-screen speed indicators do not always concur with road signs and the audible speed warning can’t be turned off. Also had a problem with the engine not starting which although being investigated by the dealer was not diagnosed leading to concern over whether the problem will return.

Get rid if the small niggles.

From the specification and price combination, the Dacia Bigster sounds almost to be too good to be true, having owned a 4x4 Bigster for 3 months, I can confirm that both; Specification and Value have both been successfully combined.

The 1.2 TCE engine performs very well for its size, providing enough power output for comfortable driving.

This is not a flashy souped up sports car, so won't burn up the Boy Racer in the next lane at the Traffic Lights, but that is not what it is intended for.

Whilst not flashy, it does have a lot of the current design elements found on many other modern cars these days, for example; the Rear of the Car, having the aerodynamic external Rear Spoiler with incorporated Rear Stop lamp that are seen on many Cars including Range Rovers.

The front end has a tall front grille which are appearing on many new Hybrid and EVs, from a variety of other manufacturers.

The whole car is of beefy appearance and from my ownership, I can confirm that the car is indeed of an excellent build quality; robust, functional and will more than adequately perform the duties required of a rugged family Car.

The Boot is cavernous as it is, but can be made larger by flattening the 60/40 split Rear Seats.

The Roof Rack Bars can be adjusted to run both; transversely of longitudinally, to adjust the load to be carried up top.

Inside the Seats are comfortable and of a hard wearing upholstery designed to tackle the demands of Family life. The Upholstery has a neoprene type texture and so far, I have found it to be easy to keep clean.

The Head room and Leg room, were real selling points, as all members of my family are over 6 foot in height and yet they have plenty of room in either the front or back.

A nice high driving position gives a clear view of the Road ahead.

For the Driver, all of the current driving Safety Aids are included, being a legal requirement for new Cars, however the Driver can customise these to their own requirements.

Front, Rear and Side Cameras are fitted, which can be individually selected to assist with parking in tight spaces.

All the usual Phone connected items, including; Phone, Sat Nav etc are included and displayed on a large LCD display.

Push Buttons are provided to control the; Heater, Air Con, Heated Seats, Heated etc.

The Sunroof has a powered Screen and powered Glass Window, which I'll have to wait for the better Weather to test when driving.

Some criticism has been made about the Dashboard being, "Plasticky", but to me it is resilient and functional, so will stand up to the rigours of daily Family life. Additionally, the cost of the Car, does not put it in an aesthetically flashy category, it's not what this Car is about, it is about true value for hard earned Cash.

Am I glad I purchased a Dacia Bigster, hell YES, I obviously have yet to put it to the rest in all 4 Seasons, but so far, it's looking very, very promising.

Just to clarify, this is my own opinion and a true reflection of my ownership of the Dacia Bigster Extreme 1.2 TCE 4x4, which is without doubt an exceptional value and well designed Family Car.

Let’s face it for the price who can complain. It is filled with all the stuff you would expect in a high end vehicle. So overall I’m really chuffed, it runs fine, it does the job I got it for, it’s a really good motor. Now there are sacrifices, I know this.and accept that, but there are a couple of areas which I think don’t fall into the budget trimming and are pure faults.

1. Door storage .. not enough insulation, they become extremely cold in winter and actually froze a bottle of water.

2. Front camera, loss of visibility and therefore loss of key safety features. After extensive research and trials I have found that it is fine at night, fine when driving with sun behind, but driving into sun… boom no visibility. The camera needs protecting from the sun, a design fault. Renault dealer say they can’t do anything unless the fault is present when they have it!! Doh! Well that’s a parity stupid response because as soon as you turn out of the sun it reverts back. Dacia are you trying to duck the issue?

3. Engine growl, bit of an angry bear, the insulation from engine to passenger compartment is lacking terribly. Sounds as if the big ends want to leap out the engine.

4. Hands free phoning. Very hit and miss. Sometimes it works fine, other times it tells you that you can’t use the function as you are moving? Something amiss there?

5. The satnav is far too bright!! Very hard to see and read. Bit fiddly to set destinations, not as simple as it should be To be honest the satnav in my previous dusters and stepways were far better to read and follow. Even Waze gives better detail.

6. Pillars are a bit wide and produce some frightening blind spots. Checking for oncoming traffic at junctions is a hazardous event.

1500 miles extreme 155. Love it but wish Dacia would sort out the niggles for me.

Overall, very pleased with my new Bigster. Comfortable, easy to drive, plenty of inside space and reasonably good tech and infotainment system. There are however a few minor glitches. The infotainment system is a bit glitchy. Sometimes when connected to my phones music player, the system suddenly freezes and doesn't seem to want to play until you have made physical input on the in car screen. The adaptive cruise control works very well generally but sometimes the car brakes for apparently no reason. Obviously the sensor/camera has picked something up and I know you shouldn't completely rely on it but you need to be aware of it happening. The automatic lane assist is great on the motorway but I find on ordinary roads its constant pulling of the steering wheel in one direction or the other is a bit distracting. I tend to disactivate it most of the time. Finally, the engine and transmission. Overall, a very smooth experience. I have the 155 full hybrid and the transition between engine and electric motor is mostly hardly noticeable. However there are a few niggles. The engine sometimes seems to overrev at times for no apparent reason. I find the auto transmission very smooth but it seems to hang on to the lower gears for far too long before the gearbox changes up, especially at lower urban/town speeds. Sometimes the engine is revving really highly before the gearbox decides that it want to change up and then occasionally when it does finally change up there is a noise or vibration as the next gear is selected. Not all the time but sometimes. Apart from these few minor glitches (perhaps there needs to be some kind of software update) I would have given it 5 stars.

Overall the Bigster 1.8 Extreme is great I'm near 5000 miles with it up to now. I had 2 dusters in the past with 0 problems at all. so I knew what brand I was buying:-

1. Its big., loads of boot space and perfect for me

2. Comfy.

3. Fantastic on fuel.

4. looks good.

5. Drives well, not too soft on the suspension and ok on corners.

6. Can be quite nippy when needed.

7. Internal dash is set up well

8. I really like the U clip light for the boot very handy indeed

However there are a couple of niggles mainly due to the vehicle soft where

1. The cup hold is almost useless. needs a free upgrade i think

2. The tech isn't refined and I get invalid warnings often.

3. Water gets inside on the rear wiper mount (will be contacting the dealers about this on the first service, but its not a lot).

4. The engine grumble is loud at times and can stay in one gear too long now and then.

5. Heater not the best, can remain cold some times even when engine is warm

Saying that, I Like it, and perhaps a soft where update will resolve the management system issues.

Would I recommend it ? Absolutely yes, compared to its competitors and the class it now drops into its a good car that costs a lot less, Well done Dacia

Owned 3 months car has plenty of space and a very large boot. Drive is good and little body roll. Fuel economy was around 64mpg but this has dropped to around 54mpg possibly due to cold weather, as driving style has not changed. Parking can be a challenge as spaces long enough are few and far between. Boot is large but not flat so longer items may be off the deck. Main issues are the infotainment and digital information. Messages flash up very day saying the front camera is not working, or safety equipment has been activated, lane discipline is a nightmare on country roads as is activates all the time. Radio cuts out for a few seconds almost daily. Settings can change from switching off to starting, eg fan speed can change, or you have it set to show fuel consumption and when you get back in it is on water temperature. The other main issue is the engine noise, normally the engine noise is reasonable, but when about to change gear the engine revs hard. If the battery to the hybrid system is low the engine goes into an horrendous roaring noise at it attempts to recharge. My sons Bigster also does this. Not sure why Dacia thought such an issue was acceptable in this day and age.

The interior size that Bigster advertising brags about led me to anticipate more storage area which I need for camping and personal gear. This was my incentive for buying the Extreme Bigster My Duster was a great car and going strong. The boot floor tray-style protector that I had in my Dusteri is now in my Bigster. There’s barely 5cm difference in length! I don’t feel I have gained boot space at all and since the Bigster does not have a back shelf this has reduced my storage even further. Transferring items from the Duster glove compartment to the Bigster glove compartment I was upset not to be able to get everything in! I believe there should be five clip attachment points. Not in my car. I do like that the passenger window can be raised with one touch in tandem with the driver’s window. The cooler section is not as big as in the Journey Bigster but it functions well enough. Passengers are comfortable in all the seats as is the driver. There is much to like about the Extreme Bigster, if only the boot in purely practical terms had actually been Bigger.