MOTORING REVIEW: Dacia Spring at sub €17k - but is it worth it?

DACIA introduced its small all-electric Spring crossover to Ireland last November priced from just €16,990 making it a very affordable second family car, or a first new car for a young driver who wants to go electric. At that price, it certainly won’t break the bank. 

The model has been on sale in Europe since 2021 selling around 140,000 units since launch. The delay in it reaching Ireland was down to providing right hand drive cars for the Irish and UK markets. 

I was quite taken by the cute look of my review car, which came with a Polar White exterior with black pillars and side mouldings, big wheel arches, high ground clearance, urban-inspired front bumper and small 15-inch wheels. The Y-shaped lighting signatures front and rear make their own impact. A little city runabout to use for local trips like shopping and that you can charge at home overnight. 

This is quite a high car so is easy to get in and out of. The interior has been cleverly designed and actually looks larger than it is with four full-sized seats and quite good rear head and legroom. 

My car was the basic model which although it has many nice features, lacked what I’d expect in a ‘normal’ car, but which were mostly provided as standard in the upper level trim. You get what you pay for, and Spring in whichever form you choose, allows you get into a small electric car at a very affordable price.

Fabric upholstered seats were comfortable and had manual adjustments and nice copper-coloured stitching. Thick white trim on the passenger’s side of the dash and around the recessed driver’s screen are nice touches. I was able to get a good driving position and have a good view out, however there was no central infotainment touchscreen just a pull up clamp-lidded space on the dash top with a C-type USB. I had to get navigation support from linking up my own smartphone to this USB which proved difficult to do as I have a strong fold-over cover on my phone which didn’t allow it fit into the clamp. A phone would fit better without its cover but very few people keep their phones ‘naked’. I also had difficulty in pairing my phone to Bluetooth and had to seek help from a more tech savvy person than myself who spent at least twenty minutes trying to do so before it connected. 

The 7-inch information screen behind the steering wheel deals with all relevant driving information. 

The car had a traditional pull-up handbrake. The transmission selector is located in a white box almost at floor level - I’d have appreciated back lighting here when driving at night. There’s no front arm rest but there were some good open storage areas on the central console, and a decent glovebox with an open shelf above and big door bins. Rear doors have wind-up windows. 

Two rows of switches below are for door locks, hazard warning lights, selecting Eco mode, air con, and electric demist. You twist the temperature knob to raise or lower the temperature but there’s no temperature figure. 

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Boot space of 308 litres can expand to 796 litres with rear seats folded down. 

Trims are Expression and Extreme. The Expression trim comes with a 7-inch digital instrument cluster, the Media Control system (big name for phone clamp) with USB port, cruise control, rear parking sensors while Extreme trim adds power rear windows, Media Nav Live multimedia system with the 10-inch centre screen, a rear view camera and connected navigation. That’s the one I would opt for.

Dacia says Spring is perfectly suited for urban use as well as for country roads and that you can cover 225kms in the combined cycle or 305kms in the WLTP urban cycle without needing to recharge. When I got the key to the car, the screen showed the battery to be 100pc charged with only 199kms of range which is way lower than any other electric car I’ve driven lately. 

Two powertrain are 45hp and 65hp both equipped with a 7kW AC charger. Dacia people say you can charge the battery from 20pc to 100pc on a domestic outlet in under 11 hours, or 4 hours on a 7 kW wall box or that you can charge from 20pc to 80pc in 45 minutes with a rapid charger. 

With such a small range, I charged with a CCS fast charger a number of times during my test drives week. You can just drive straight up to a charging station as the CCS connection is in the front grille. Charging was very slow taking an hour to reach from 41pc (73kms) to 75pc which allowed 148kms. Energy economy is a claimed 13.8kWh/100km for the more powerful option and 14.1kWh/100km for the 45hp version. 0-100km/h acceleration is 19.1 seconds, annual road tax €120. 

On the road, I found the car quite slow to gather pace which would be fine for urban trips along with its small turning circle. The Lane Keep Assist was a major gripe. I always hold the steering wheel with both hands and pay attention to my driving but the car kept beeping with a message appearing on the screen telling me to Keep Control. I had to almost wrestle with the very light steering to stay in my inside lane on the motorway (it was a windy day) as it kept nudging me to the right. Later, I learned that you have to press a yellow button on the dash twice to turn off these features, and you must do so every time you get in the car. I would recommend potential buyers to opt for a 65hp model with more power and specification. 

Spring scored just one star out of five when tested in December 2021 by Euro NCAP scoring 49pc for adult protection, 56pc for child protection, 39pc for vulnerable road users, and 32pc for Safety Assist. But it scored five stars from green cap environment tests in 2022. 

Although Dacia is a Romanian company owned by Renault, Spring is made in China. 

PRICES: Spring is priced from €16,990 for the 45hp Expression, and from €18,790-€19,990 for the 65hp Extreme version. Price includes €3,500 SEAI grant for private EV buyers.