Testing the new Dacia Bigster

DW (English)

Dacia's new flagship model, the Bigster is meant to be priced well under 25,000 Euros. And it's taking aim at the established leaders in the compact SUV segment. Is the Romanian carmaker set to disrupt the SUV-C segment?

Transcript

00:00This has got to be one of the most anticipated cars of the past years, the new Dacia Bigster,

00:07a C-segment SUV that aims to make mobility in that segment more affordable.

00:14What do you get for your money? We'll find out right now. Welcome to REF.

00:17As of now, the Bigster is available with three different engines. All of these are hybrid ones,

00:33two multi-hybrid versions with 130 or 140 horsepower, and the full hybrid version is the

00:40one we're testing right now, 155 horsepower, a 1.4 kilowatt hour battery that should enable,

00:46and that's what Dacia claims, the car to drive up to 80% purely electric in the city.

00:58It is, however, clear it cannot compete with a plug-in hybrid that has maybe 60, 70 or 100

01:07kilometers of electric range, but it still manages to keep the consumption low.

01:16The official number is four and a half liters per 100 kilometers. I could not achieve that. However,

01:27we were driving country roads quite frequently. That means around 90, 100 kilometers an hour,

01:34and I had an average consumption of 4.9 liters, which is very good for a car in the C-sev segment.

01:41And there are more engines in the works. During the next month, Dacia will add another engine to the

01:52lineup, which is one that is also quite important for the brand, and that will be an autogas version,

01:59so LPG. And it has a combined range of more than 1,300 kilometers. So it has an LPG tank and a regular fuel tank,

02:11and with those together, you can make that long-distance trip.

02:15However, Dacia already said that most of their customers that use LPG models from the brand,

02:29because there are others, tend to only drive with LPG since it's way cheaper than regular fuel.

02:37By the way, Dacia expects around one-third of Bigster customers to go for that LPG version,

02:49because the numbers are similar with other LPG cars in the brand.

02:55While the Bigster might not look as nice as the Duster, it's no eyesore and boasts decent performance too.

03:01The interior of the Bigster, as you would expect in a car that has such a small entry-level price,

03:12features a lot of plastic. But that is by no means a bad thing. I mean, look at this.

03:20It looks really good. This is plastic. This is plastic. This is plastic. And all of the rest is

03:28as well. But that doesn't make it look bad.

03:37I'm really trying to find something to complain about in the interior, but I can't. I mean,

03:43look at this. You even have physical buttons for climate control, which is very nice.

03:47And down here, you have the U-Clip system, where you can add all sorts of different helpers. For example,

03:55this holder for a handbag or something.

04:03As you would expect from a C-segment SUV, the space in the back is ample. I have been sitting

04:09in the front. There is still a lot of leg room, a lot of head room, despite the fact that our test

04:15car has a panoramic glass roof. Before building the Bigster,

04:26went out and asked potential C-segment SUV customers what they wanted from a car like this.

04:34And then they decided to add some of these features to the new Bigster. For example,

04:39an electric trunk opening and also an electrically adjustable driver's seat.

04:45Of course, all of these things are not standard for the entry-level version.

04:50The Bigster's trunk can swallow between 1851 and 1937 liters, depending on the variant.

04:58The general driving impression in the new Bigster is pretty good. You can

05:03tell the difference, for example, from the Duster. It is more silent than its smaller brother. However,

05:12it is clear a car that starts at under 24,000 euros, you won't find high-class silent interior.

05:20You can definitely hear the road and you can also hear the wind, which is made worse by the fact that

05:32today we have quite strong winds in France, around 90 to 110 kilometers an hour.

05:43The suspension is exactly what you would expect from a C-segment SUV.

05:48Quite soft, but not too soft.

05:52The steering is also SUV-typical, absolutely okay. It has enough feedback from the road without being too direct.

06:06Just as basically any other car nowadays, of course, due to EU regulations, you have a lot of driver

06:13assistance systems in the Bigster, which will often remind you if you're driving too fast,

06:18and that's quite annoying, and it's always the same with any other car I've driven.

06:28But just as other manufacturers, Dacia has a clever solution to that,

06:33and that is a button right next to the steering wheel. If you press it twice,

06:40it will activate a mode that is called My Safety Perso, so personal,

06:46and that will then have the warning sounds disabled with all the systems still working.

06:51Since we're driving the hybrid version, the Bigster also has a B-Drive mode that will have

07:02recuperation, so that way, if you lift your foot off the gas pedal, the car will decelerate

07:09quite a bit to charge the small battery. I like to use that mode whenever I have it in a car,

07:20because it keeps you from using the brakes quite often if you drive accordingly,

07:26and that way, you have a very relaxed driving experience.

07:30Right next to the steering wheel you will find other buttons, and one of these

07:40is labeled with e-save, and if you activate that, the car will stop using energy from the battery

07:47and instead charge it so it is full or nearly full once you get into a city where you would

07:53want to drive purely electric. The Bigster is also available with all-wheel drive,

07:58and the ground clearance of around 22 centimeters makes it very suitable for light and medium off-road use.

08:14Summing up my Bigster experience, I have to say I enjoyed driving the car,

08:18and an entry-level price of under 24 000 euros is simply unbeatable to other manufacturers. You get

08:25a lot of car, a big car, for that money. It simply cannot be matched by any other manufacturer. Of

08:31course, it also has some flaws. It's clear, if you want to sell a car at that price, you have to make

08:37compromises. The noisy interior and a lot of plastic are some of these downsides of the car,

08:43but considering the price, you can easily live with that.

08:47All in all, the Dacia Bigster sets a new standard in terms of value for money. It's an affordable,

08:54spacious C-segment SUV with good standard equipment and decent ride comfort. The minor downsides are the

09:02sometimes noisy interior and the widespread use of plastic on the inside.

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