Customer reviews for Dacia DusterDacia Duster according to those who use it on a daily basis

This is my 4th Dacia Duster 4x4 Extreme, love the new version, I bought it from W.D.Semple in Inveraray, Argyll, a really excellent garage with brilliant service, we have had a holiday home in the area for the last 45 years, away in the wilds so happy to have a Scottish number plate SD75 ….

My last 4x4 Duster AY68 … has been passed down to my youngest son aged 46 who lives in Devon, and at the moment in a flood risk area.

My eldest son aged 48 who lives in Colchester Essex, he is the senior field archaeologist at (CAT) Colchester Archaeology Trust, also bought a Duster 4x4, ..17 … plate and uses it off road most days for his job….

My next door neighbour tried my 4x4 EA63 … and bought one.

My EU66 … was written off as it was hit by a large lorry, all occupants were fine, so most happy with safety aspect.

Before my 1st Duster I’d had 5 Landrovers, Dusters such great value for money, and just as good or in some cases better off road than the Landrovers which are 3x’s more expensive.

Brilliant Vehicles.

Good car at a good price. Seems to be doing 60+ mpg (according to the dashboard display) on mostly local journeys. Love the saved 'personal safety settings' button. Gradually getting used to all the gizmos and driving a computer! However, I would say that the salesman at Dacia Portsmouth was excellent at explaining the system to me.

What would I change? 1. Very annoying that the manual is only available online. I REALLY would have liked a paper copy 2. Front fixed central storage box/arm rest is in the way. Keep knocking my arm on it and makes it tricky to connect seat belt. 3. Seatbelt shoulder anchor point is not adjustable - cuts across my neck (5'6" tall). 4. Although I have now got used to it, who came up with gear selector paddle - push forwards to go backwards and backwards to go forward! 5. The one audible alarm that I would like is to tell you that you have left your key in the car, when the engine is off and you close all the doors and walk away.

Had our Duster for three months now it does everything we want it to do so very happy. Road sign recognition a bit hit and miss could end up with a speeding fine if I was to take notice of it. I also tow a trailer, eg. on an A road with no trailer = 60mph, with a trailer= 50mph the dashboard is telling me I can still do 60mph with the trailer plugged in. Make it easier to fit a space saver spare wheel and tyre in the boot floor out of sight where it belongs, expression model. Just a couple of things I noticed a few days after collecting our new Duster 1. Small dent in the o/s/f wing needs to be in the right to be able to see it. 2. Foam rubber n/s bonnet hinge completely out of place. 3. Dacia emblem on drivers seat wonky (down hill when you look through the windscreen from outside of the car). 4. The most worrying thing was the brake fluid reservoir, brake fluid leaking out around the lid because the lid was very loose.

My previous Dacia Duster (a 2022 diesel 4x4) was the best car I’ve ever had: this is not nearly as good. The engine is OK although I need to change gear as often as I had to on my old 2-stroke motorbike to keep the eco-hints happy. However, in general I would sum up the problems as too much tech which doesn’t work very well. I hate the lack of a “proper” handbrake - it makes hill starts difficult and causes problems rolling back even on quite gentle slopes. The speed limiter keeps switching itself on even when select to turn it off in my safety preferences, and when it rains the front camera keeps losing visibilty anyway. I have problems getting the car to link with my phone for Apple car play.

I wish I had kept my old car instead, which is a pity as I have always loved my previous Dusters, and there are some really good things about this car - but the annoying tech problems are really off-putting and annoying

For the price paid, it is a stylish, practical and enjoyable car. Good infotainment system, nice to drive, well equipped and although you can feel it has been built to a price it doesn’t matter because it fits with the character of the car. The blue accents on the dashboard work well, the seats are comfortable and the trim is nice. Good size boot and the colour I chose looks good on the car.

Some of the less good areas are that it could do with a little more rear leg room, the infotainment system does glitch from time to time and the car comes up with spurious warnings of ‘electrical problems’ and loss of cruise control in cold weather and low tyre pressure warnings when the tyres were fine.

Overall I’m impressed and like it a lot. After driving one in Iceland as a hire car I was happy enough that I wanted to buy my own when I got home!

Although the car is comfortable and powerful enough, with excellent fuel economy, there is definitely room for improvement. After fitting my own dashcam, I realised that, as it already has cameras on board, these could easily have been connected to a memory card to have an inbuilt dashcam. Also, as I don't want Lane Assistance, nor a Beep every time I exceed the speed limit by 1mph, I have turned them off on my personal settings, but I need to do this every time I start the car. Same with the Eco settings. I cannot understand why Dacia didn't set the Default to my Personal Settings 😒

I also found that the Auto Main Beam on the headlights can be annoying, and should have an easier override, but requires me to turn the auto lights off, rather than just manually dipping them.

Very good size and looks but having now used the car for 3 months I find the car operational functions extremely difficult to navigate. The internal car condition control bar is far to small and very difficult to identify which switch to push to alter conditions. The instruction writing is very faint and difficult to read. I think it is dangerous because you have to take eyes off the road to read the correct button to push. I very often operate the Hazard warning lights without knowing. Needs revamping.

Far to much computerised information and screens to operate.Also any radio information on the screen is virtually impossible to read as it is very faint.

Sorry, but this is my personal observation.

The above is spoiling what otherwise is a good vehicle.

Graham Bird.

This is my third Dacia Duster so far, mk1, mk2 and now 3. I absolutely love the advancements in design, aesthetics and technology. Shame about the engine! I have a 1.2 TCe 130, the only engine available with 4x4. Previously both my Dusters were the 1.5 DCi and perhaps I have been spoiled but I find the TCe lacks power, and it definitely lacks torque. I have stalled pulling out of junctions too many times to mention. I also find the handling very skittish. The concentration of a Formula 1 driver is required to keep it anywhere near in a straight line and if the lane departure assistance is turned on, it's undriveable.

Please don't misunderstand me, I love it. I just wish it was better :)

Good car but I have issues which can not be sorted. I have been trying since July (which was the month I bought the car ) I have been in contact with customer service a few times and keep getting asked for pictures and videos of the issues and wait 3 days for a reply after sending everything and met with same email. I have issues with multimedia the my Dacia app. Radio keeps losing signal. The unit in the roof with the SOS button was lose upon delivery and still not sorted. Also I was told that the car would be in ev mode 80% of the time but it's not. The car is very quick upto 40 miles per hour but no punch after that.

Obviously the price makes the car very attractive.

Build quality is good, spec is good and performance is very good. I haven't had any issues with the car at all. Everything works as it should.

If anything could be improved, it's perhaps the road noise at motorway speed, it's gets a bit loud at times especially on older road surfaces. I also find the all round cameras a bit of a gimmick, front and rear are fine, but I can't think of a time I would need the side cameras. That said, I really like my Duster and would not hesitate to buy another in the future, as long as they stay affordable.