You can buy a brand new Duster Extreme SE for £19k – but is it any good?
As your AMG C63 should always be a wagon and a GT3 Touring only ever have a manual, there’s an expectation when it comes to Dacia speccing. They’re about no-frills, utilitarian transport, so any buyer committed to that ethos is meant to eschew luxuries like alloy wheels, climate control and smartphone pairing.
The colour is important, actually. Dacia knows as well as anybody the demand for stylish, rugged SUVs that are never, ever going to venture off the beaten track, so here’s the spec meant for those customers. Flat grey remains a popular choice on everything from BMW X3 to Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT, as are bright accents that contrast the primer paint - so why not replicate them? To these eyes it works well, too, elevating the Duster aesthetic just a tad for a measly £300 premium.
Which, of course, is what Dacias have typically excelled at - and perhaps never better than with this latest Duster. Because while there’s now the equipment that’s expected of almost everything nowadays - CarPlay compatibility, keyless entry, blind spot assist - it’s been integrated with minimum fuss. Honestly, there are cars worth many multiples of the Duster’s RRP that make pairing an iPhone considerably harder.
Unsurprisingly, that universal truth only serves to make the whole thing more satisfying. Here, in Extreme SE spec, the Duster is surely at its most stylish and contemporary feeling yet, but without sacrificing its maker's reputation for straightforwardness. Sure, it’s still far from the most refined or dynamic small SUV out there, though there are many more options out there for buyers prioritising those aspects. Another three have probably been launched since writing this.
Anyone after functional, sensible, logical transport, however, now with a splash of urban warrior about it, need look no further. The Duster feels like the kind of car Skoda would have made once upon a time - and that’s intended as praise - lacking pretence or frippery and proving genuinely likeable as a result. As if to prove the point, £19,000 spent on a small Skoda SUV buys… a 2018 Karoq with almost 50,000 miles.
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