Inside is the place the outgoing automotive is feeling its age, being only a bit plain. The new one addresses that. It nonetheless doesn’t really feel like an costly, upmarket automotive: it’s all laborious plastic in right here, but it surely’s a bit extra designed. The exterior has Y shapes as a motif within the lights and that continues with the inside air vents. Cheaper trims is perhaps greyer, however our check automotive had a splash of color on the dashboard and I used to be actually charmed by the ‘jeans’ upholstery. There’s a wide selection of trays and cubbies too.
More digital tech has sprung up, one thing I’d argue the Duster didn’t want. Entry-level trims have analogue gauges with a small display screen between the dials, and a cellphone holder as a substitute of a centre display screen. I think that is perhaps one of the best set-up. The check vehicles on the launch occasion all had a digital gauge cluster and a ten.1in central touchscreen. Both of them look good and work effective, however the driver show doesn’t actually present a lot added worth other than trying extra fashionable for the sake of it.
For the centre display screen, I anticipated to see a model of the Google system in current Renaults, however the Duster truly makes use of a bespoke system as a result of it’s cheaper to make and doesn’t tread on Renault’s toes. It’s pretty fundamental and subsequently straightforward to navigate but in addition fairly laggy. A deficit in processing energy might be the place the associated fee saving comes from.
Dacia has caught with buttons the place it counts, although, and that deserves reward. A panel of bodily switches operates the local weather management and there’s one other financial institution of buttons to the left of the steering wheel. One of these units all the motive force help programs to a private preset, which is the way in which all fashionable vehicles ought to work, actually.
You can sit comparatively low, on pretty supportive seats, however the placement of the steering column makes it extra pure to take a seat increased, as does the view over the flat bonnet that this offers you. In mixture with a barely pillboxy view out (blame the decrease roofline), it conjures up one thing of a child Toyota Land Cruiser vibe.
The engineers say that the swap to the brand new platform has allowed them to create extra inside house throughout the identical footprint. Indeed, rear passengers have a little bit extra leg room and boot house has risen from 445 litres to 594 litres in front-wheel-drive fashions.
