CO2/tax
141-149g/km
£180
Running costs
42-45mpg (TCe 130)
£73 fill-up
Performance
0-62mph/top speed
11.1 seconds/118mph
WHEN Romanian state-owned brand Dacia arrived in the UK in the early eighties, it hoped to sell 10,000 cars per year. But instead the marque retreated soon after, with few of its Denem saloons and estates finding buyers. The firm also imported the no-frills Duster off-roader, which again sold in tiny numbers before Dacia disappeared from these shores, seemingly forever.
By 1999, Dacia had become a subsidiary of Renault, but it wouldn’t be until 2013 that the Romanian brand returned to the UK with an all-new Duster. Since then Dacia has gone from strength to strength here, largely because its cars are so much cheaper to buy than virtually all its rivals.
History
THE Duster Mk2 (Mk3 if you include the eighties cars) reached UK showrooms in July 2018, with a choice of 1.6-litre SCe 115 petrol or 1.5-litre Blue dCi
