Dacia's new Bigster is big on comfort and a lot of car for your £25,000: RAY MASSEY
Its name is the Bigster, but after two days of driving one, I think the latest flagship from budget brand Dacia should be called the Chillster.
The smooth performance and practicality of this smart, value-for-money five-seater will most impress its buyers – not its size.
With prices starting from less than £25,000, and even the most expensive model below £30,000, you get a lot of bang for your buck.
The first UK deliveries aren't till May, but Dacia's British bosses are already celebrating more than 500 pre-orders.
Stretching 15 ft in length and some 6 ft wide, the Bigster is certainly spacious enough for a growing family, with a big boot and good leg and head-room.
Spacious: The Dacia Bigster's practicality includes a big boot and good leg-room
Built in Romania by Dacia – the budget arm of French-giant Renault – there are three trim levels available: Expression; Journey; and top-of-the-range Extreme. The UK is not taking the most basic Essential package as bosses say Britons prefer a higher specification of kit.
Prices start from £24,995 for the Expression 140 Mild hybrid up to £29,995 for the range-topping 155 Extreme hybrid.
I drove the Journey 155 hybrid, which starts from £29,245. Riding on 19 in wheels (compared to 17 in on Expression and 18 in with Extreme), my front-wheel drive machine was powered by a combination of a 1.8-litre, 4-cylinder petrol engine linked to two electric motors (a 50 bhp motor and a high voltage starter/generator), a 1.4 kWh self-recharging battery and a six-speed, clutchless automatic gearbox.
Note that the car always starts up in its silent electric mode.
Acceleration from rest to 62 mph takes a relatively sedate 9.7 seconds – a clear and deliberate indication that this is a car for relaxing journeys, not foot-to-the-floor pedal-pumping.
I needed to carefully plan any overtaking to build up sufficient momentum, and it did sound strained during more assertive driving on open roads and steep inclines.
The smooth performance and practicality of this smart, value-for-money five-seater will most impress its buyers
With prices starting from less than £25,000, and even the most expensive model below £30,000, you get a lot of bang for your buck
If it were music, it would be easy-listening for pleasure, rather than thumping hard-rock, punk or hip-hop. If it were a broadcaster, it would be Ken Bruce's Greatest Hits Radio. But no worse for any of that and it sails along perfectly at speed when it hits its stride. What's more, the supportive seats are incredibly comfortable over long distances.
Switching from standard 'Drive' to regenerative B-mode helps create more electricity for your journey whilst easing on the brakes and helping with a degree of one pedal driving.
The sat-nav proved sometimes a bit laggy, losing signal momentarily at key junctions.
But it is a very well stocked car for the money and is loaded with essential and helpful kit, without unnecessary fripperies adding to costs, to provide a simple practical package blending quality and equipment without breaking the bank.
My Journey trim version included an electric powered tail-gate, adaptive cruise-control, a hands-free key fob, and a high centre console with armrest, and dual-zone air con.
The driver's seat can be moved up and down and the back-rest forward and back using power controls at the side of the seat, though you still need to grasp a physical manual slider to move the entire seat back and forth.
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There's a 10-inch digital instrument panel and a 10.1 inch central touchscreen with infotainment and sat-nav including a six-speaker Arkamys 3D sound audio system. That's on top of rear parking sensors and multi-view camera, electric front and rear windows, power-folding mirrors and a rear modular bench seat with 'Easy-Fold' function.
There is also a range of helpful 'YouClip' accessories to help mount phones and the like.
For more rufty-tufty lifestyles, the Extreme trim version has modular roof bars, the panoramic opening roof as standard, washable synthetic upholstery and rubber floor and boot mats, and copper brown trim. You can even order special camping accessories such as: a 'sleep pack' which converts the boot into a double bed, with tablet and storage space; a tent; and a roofrack.
Bigster's upwardly-mobile move into the competitive mid-sized SUV market is such an important strategy that during development, Dacia bosses sounded out more than 400 money-conscious middle-class German motorists – who shop at Aldi and Lidl, treasure value for money and are considered Europe's most hard-to-please customers in this key market - to get it right. It is a tough space occupied by established rivals like the Kia Sportage, Hyundai Tucson and VW Tiguan.
The first UK deliveries aren't till May, but Dacia's British bosses are already celebrating more than 500 pre-orders
It is a very well stocked car for the money and is loaded with essential and helpful kit
It sails along perfectly at speed when it hits its stride
No 7-seater Bigster is planned as the reduced interior space and additional cost of engineering it make it unviable, said Dacia bosses
Other power trains on offer, though not available to drive at the launch, are the Bigster 140 combining a 1.2 litre 3-cylinder turbo-charged petrol engine with a 48v mild hybrid system -speed manual gearbox, plus the all-wheel drive Bigster mild hybrid 130 4X4. A 4X4 155 hybrid version is to follow in due course with an electrified rear axle.
However, no 7-seater Bigster is planned as the reduced interior space and additional cost of engineering it make it unviable, said Dacia bosses.
In November Dacia is set to outline its future model and technology plans.
Dacia's effervescent chief executive Denis Le Vot told me: 'Were moving into a big new sector with Bigster. But we aim to give customers everything they are looking for, and nothing that they don't really want or need.
'That's why we tested it out on 400 of the toughest car critics in Europe – German motorists.'
He added: 'Britain is one of our biggest and most important markets. We expect it to do well.'
If you want a car to cruise in, and enjoy the journey, the Bigster more than fits the bill.
Hyundai top in electric car survey
Hyundai has been crowned the most reliable manufacturer of electrified cars in a new survey of 800 repair claims by specialist Warranty Solutions Group (WSG).
It looked at repairs to all forms of electrified cars – including hybrids, plug-in hybrids (PHEV) and fully electric EVs.
Reliable: The Korean car-maker, whose cars include the Ioniq 6 (pictured), took the top spot with a claim rate of just 3.7 per cent
The Korean car-maker, whose cars include the Ioniq 6 took the top spot with a claim rate of just 3.7 per cent, averaging £309.46 per repair.
Second place was Japan's Toyota at 3.88 per cent, but with an average claim more than double that at £689.90, followed by Kia at 4 per cent (£324), Nissan (5.38 per cent/£1,260.11), and Vauxhall (10.71 per cent/£2,217.82).
Worst performers for reliability were Land Rover (36.36 per cent/£662.86) which so far has only hybrid vehicles, followed by Jaguar (34.62 per cent/£765.39).
