Everyone is wrong about the Dacia Spring!

Mat’s got his hands on the Dacia Spring!

It’s a cheap and cheerful electric car that isn’t currently on sale in the UK. The question is, even with a £16,000 price tag, should you consider it over other small electric competitors?

When it comes to materials, it’s fair to say the Spring isn’t exactly the most robust car. The doors seem relatively flimsy, and when you step inside don’t expect to find any soft touch, high-quality materials here! Cheap plastic covers the majority of the cabin, and it doesn’t even come with any cup holders! We have the Extreme edition for this review, which comes with fake leather seats, although the quality doesn’t feel all that good.

When it comes to the battery & range, the Spring comes with a 25kWh battery pack. In the entry-level car this is good for a claimed range of 143 miles, while in the Extreme edition, it drops slightly to 137 miles.

Naturally, the performance figures aren’t anything to write home about. The entry-level delivers just 45hp and hits 60mph in 19 seconds, while the Extreme has 65hp and hits 60mph in over 13 seconds.

But of course, it only costs £16,000, while other small EV competitors can cost almost double that! So is it worth it? You’ll need to stick with Mat and see for yourself!

Chapters
00:00 Intro
00:19 Range
02:21 Interior
04:27 Performance
05:35 Motorway Driving
08:03 Price
08:37 Town Driving
09:48 Tech
10:20 Back Seats
10:59 Boot
11:15 Materials & Value
12:06 Real-world Range
12:58 Verdict

[Stringslinger]

I have the lower HP one.
That bucket brings me to work every day. Around 50km total daily.
Battery lasts around 150km middled.
The thing is: I charge it on a normal 16 Amp plug over night. Costs me around 7€ per charge.
Heating in winter, cooling in Summer, dry in the rain, the music i want and i can even throw my Labrador in the back and drive over bad dirt roads.
And I paid around 12500€ 3 years ago.
It's a tool that does its job.

[AndyRBL]

paid 12k euro / 10k pounds for it, new. has parking sensors, camera, apple car play, auto lights, front radar, app control (start heating or cooling via app), range in the summer 200 km / 124 miles and around 110 km / 70 miles in the winter (aircon and heating on), 30kwh fast charge. 5 years warranty on the car and 8 for the battery, service included for 5 years. no taxes for it, free parking in my city. it's a city car, designed for ride sharing and deliveries.

[florianhaffner]

I am a huge fan of high performance Porsches and BMWs and I think there is nothing wrong about this Dacia. Its a good car for its target audience and lets be honest, its actually absolutely enough for 99% of our daily tasks of driving to work and to the shopping mall.

[Josephashwell_]

I think Mat is missing the point with this car and any cheap car. This shows why I dont like carwow as much as I used to. Supercars and drag races get booring. And when a review of a cheap car rarely pops up, we are told it it rubbish... Just look at the content from 4 years ago. Thats the kind of content that i liked. Interesting, honest reviews of normal, affordable cars and the odd supercar/ luxury cars.

[citromaz]

My dad bought one a few weeks ago and it doesn't only feel cheap, it is cheap. And perfect for what it's supposed to do, bring mum and dad around town and that it does perfect😉

[smiIingman]

I think having the usb above the radio is genius.
Those of us who use those phone holders which mount to the air vent it's just 10/10 placement since you can just buy a short usb cable and it'll be right next to it.

[craignelson]

Because most people don't need a 2500kg electric fridge that will do 60mph in 2s, they want a cheap to buy and cheap to run car

[martian]

judge it for what it is, mate. It's a perfect commuter car -- it takes you to your workplace and back, for pennies.
If your job has charging or you have a charger at home, then range and charging speed are totally moot.

[danpaul]

I found that by NOT scratching my fingers all over the plastics, or any material, its suddenly not scratchy. Hows about that?

[mikeymike]

This seems to be unnecessarily harsh and unfair. It's designed to be as cheap as possible. It delivers everything people need, nothing else. Would I want one? No. Would I buy one if it was all I could afford? Yes.

Edit - Stop with your tired comparison with used cars. The people who buy this want low monthly payments and a warranty.

Again. I still don't want one. But it exists for a reason.

[florianmallok]

This Video is a good example what went wrong in the last decades. In the 70ies/80ies this car would be at the upper luxury end. Just get yourself in a Fiat Panda/Uno from early 80ies and there will be zero complaints about the Spring.

[ruimpinho]

This review felt a bit arrogant. The average Spring buyer doesn't care about the price of your watch mate.
Have you seen the price of petrol and other better cars? You seem to have lost touch with reality. :D
I agree that the Spring kind of sucks, but it's a great option for plenty of people who need a cheap and reliable runabout.

[user.]

In Romania, till last year, the Romanian state offered a voucher in value of 10.000€ for electric vehicles. So people bought Dacia Spring for 7000€, which is a good price😁

[uklapazz]

I applaud Dacia for coming up with the Spring. Thus far, euro manufacturers have concentrated on building heavy, extremely fast and very expensive models aimed at the wealthy/business users. If they want private users to embrace the electric car they need to focus on efficiency and produce products at retail prices your average joe like me is prepared to pay. The Spring may be a bit too cheap and cheerful for some but the principle is spot on. I dont want or need a two and a half ton missile that will do 0 to 60 in 3 seconds.

[mariusmicsa]

Spring owner here. You kinda forgot the very nice connectivity features that allow me to turn the heating on in winter and Ac in summer. Really love that feature. Other than that, yeah, it’s a s…tbox, but we absolutely love it. Also, with subsidies, we only paid like 10k €, and you just can’t beat that price. Mine has fast(ish) charging, you can actually do a full charge in ~1h. Oh, and a final thought, it is absolutely without a shadow of a doubt a city car, and for that purpose, it’s great. Shuffling kids, grocery shopping and such, great. You kind of need a death wish to go on the freeway with it as it’s absolute top speed is 130 so … yeah. Still, we love it.

[adventpc]

This is the sort of electric car we need. £100k plus taycans, electric SUVs and whatever else are impressive, but they are enormous and way too heavy. Family cars needn't be over 2 tonnes and 9 feet off the ground.

[richardwilton]

You seem to have forgotten that the main purpose of a car is to get to places. From what I can see, providing you don’t want to go too far, this is the ideal way to do it, without causing a stink.

[ruk--]

The world will always have a lot of people who want cheap transport that gets them from A to B. Back in the day the 2CV was revered. Now we seem to mock anyone trying a similar tactic?

[julianw]

I think that in his acquisition of wealth, Matt has forgotten that not every one is wealthy. Many people just want a functional car and Dacia is the only brand who recognizes that. Props to them.

[PushingDaisiesBand]

Referring to it a few times as a bit "poverty", isnt the coolest. We have this as a petrol in South Africa called the Renualt Kwid and I think that anyone having a car (Africa or not), is a source of pride and should always maintain that standard from the reviewers point of view.