Customer reviews for Dacia Bigster

I have the Extreme...BUT...

I prefer cloth seats to plastic.. but cloth only available on journey.

We have pot-holed crap roads around here so prefer normal aspect tyres... but normal aspect tyres only available on journey... but the sunroof not available on the journey.... & the expression has very low profile tyres hence went for the Extreme.

I also like running 4 season tyres but you don't offer them even as an option (& much wider 4 season options from the tyre manufacturers in standard profile with more limited options in lower profiles). So my Dacia has come with the tyres I don't want, will probably not wear out before I change the car & if they do I'm limited in the 4 season options I want.

Your Android auto tie in can be a bit clunky at times.

Your key-fob battery life isn't great & when it goes wrong & the car refuses to start that is a pain....oh for an idiot-proof key.

The above is all meant as constructive criticism.

Otherwise I LOVE the car. ... practical, economical, easy to drive, good value, love the rubber mats as standard.

Incredible fuel economy for a car this size, achieved 60mpg on a round trip from Aberdeen to Glasgow, a combination of city, motorway and country driving.

Simple to disable the annoying, so called safety devices (you know, the ones you always switch off, lane assist and overspeed warning).

Like most new cars these days, there's bings and bongs for everything but when using the parking sensors, when you get close to an object, the car emits a 'symphony of mayhem' which is annoying.

Other small annoyances, the blind spot indicators on the wing mirrors often indicate when there's nothing there.

The infotainment system occasionally forgets your paired phone and you have to re pair.

Volume control sometimes decides to disable itself, so you can't adjust it. The only way round it is to switch off and switch on the screen, not ideal when on the move.

Apart from the small annoyances the car does everything you want it to, and more at a reasonable price. I saved around £7000 by buying the Bigster instead of buying another Kia Sportage.

Do I love the bigster? Yes but…

The Bigster fit the bill for a good size, affordable family car with enough gadgets to feel good with practicality of life with horses and dogs. The car is like a big comfy armchair drive but it has a bit of oomph when required. The MPG is good and while I think it sounds a little chunky swapping between petrol and electric sometimes, it swaps efficiently and gives a massive range of miles.

I love the colour I chose and I purchased some extras which made practical sense for a family doing lots of outdoor activities… this is where they let themselves down!

After weeks of chasing it was booked in, struggled to get the promised courtesy car or find the booking and then still had a part outstanding which I’m STILL waiting for.

I guess my advice is make sure they can actually get the accessories before ordering or make sure you pick a model/ trim with them included!

Overall it's a really good car & I enjoy driving it. The cabin is roomy & comfortable for all occupants. The driver has a slightly elevated position providing a great view of the road ahead. Steering is light and easy but with a positive feel even at slow speeds. Very stable cornering without any roll. I drive mainly short journeys on country roads but have also done a couple of long distance motorway and easily maintain over 50 mpg over all. The multimedia screen is good with lots of apps & easy to use.

My main niggle is there are lots & lots of settings and it isn't easy to understand how to set them to your own preferences. Also the multimedia screen literally freezes if the temp drops below -4c when it's parked up overnight, which means you can't access anything controlled by the screen, including heated seats and heated steering wheel.

The Bigster is excellent value for money. It has all the bells and whistles but yes the materials used are more basic but they provide for a very cost effective package. The hybrid system worked well in my wife's previous Jogger and this is just as good, averaging mid 50's to the gallon.

Two complaints though. 1. Dacia don't provide handbooks with the vehicle. You have to order them from the dealer. That's just taking penny pinching to a new extreme. 2. The handbrake is in totally the wrong place, low down to the right on the dash out of reach for a tall person, like me. Should be in the logical place on the central console. I will be seeing about getting a modification done to this.

Overall very pleased and have no regrets with my purchase.

The car itself - is undersold. The drive-train is better than we had hoped. There is no delay when the engine kicks in, it is not underpowered even on battery only, the garage tells us that half of our 4500 miles so far was done under battery only power. The additional gear on the electric motor means it will happily run on electric only even on the motorway, and efficiently. In short, beats our expectations. What you could do better: coming off cruise control in 'B' mode, that is more vigorous energy reclaim, it seems to slow more vigorously than people behind expect, especially on the motorway. Had a few people get very close to the back! The electric tailgate is a game-changer for my wife with her damaged shoulder.

The IT center console appears to be temperamental in cold conditions, 0 degrees or below. It cycles round rebooting, black screen which makes it difficult to switch on heated seats and steering wheel, with also the radio disappearing for up to 2/3 days.

Occasionally the warning sensors come on for no reason, which can be a bit annoying when driving.

Not having a heated windscreen is creating a daily build-up of condensation inside the car and in freezing conditions I am having to scrape this off with a car scrapper (something that wasn't a thing in my old car).

Apart from these little niggles, the car drives smoothy and caters for my family of 5, the seats are comfortable with the boot space being it's best feature.

Likes -

The automatic lights and windscreen wipers.

The large boot which is big enough for our 3 dogs leaving back seats available for passengers.

The way the car drives which is smooth and silky. Manoeuvrability is easy and she is a pleasure to drive.

Dislikes -

The lack of a physical car manual which includes detailed instruction on how to use the satnav. There is no instruction on using the satnav in the online version, which is appalling as it doesn't explain a lot of aspects of using the screens. Also, the contents page is incorrect as the page numbers don't relate to the correct titles.

That the door to the boot has to be opened and closed manually despite having the top of the range Bigster Extreme!!

It is a much bigger car than I realized. It does pretty much everything I need. I really cannot find faults with it. I have had it for 4.5 months and have done about 7000 miles. It has not once dropped below 50 mpg. The front windows defrost amazingly quickly.

What could be better.

1 - 3 times I have caught my knee on the door handle, it being a bit rough where my knee comes into contact with it.

2 - to be able to set eco mode and eco save as default

3 - to be able to adjust the dashboard light at night time (I cannot find it in the manual)

4 - the digital radio is forever cutting out, for one or 2 seconds at a time but hopefully that is because I am in a poor reception area

Some of the design features could be better. The rear/ boot door- there is no handle to pull the boot closed - it is a recess in the panel but there is nothing to grip, so that makes it difficult to drip. The back door handles - are not very ergonomic and feel difficult to open (but they do look nice). on the front lower dash section - the recess needs to be angled downwards at the back - as when I accelerate items fall out. The outside sensors - are very sensitive, even when I switch off the facility there are noises that are very distracting.

I like that the fuel consumption is very good, the design is different and its a good alternative to the expensive SUV`s.