MOTORING REVIEW: Budget seven-seat Jogger a great choice for Limerick families

DACIA'S brilliant new Jogger SUV, revealed here in late April, is set to shake up the C-segment with its value for money, strong styling, interior space and flexibility, and for being such a practical seven-seat family car, writes Trish Whelan. Plus it’s quite a fun car to drive!

Jogger combines the practicality of an estate car with MPV spaciousness and the style of an SUV.

The name embodies the brand’s sense of adventure. The car’s off-road feel is emphasised by the strong SUV detailing, its reinforced body structure and protective body-cladding, and 200mm of ground clearance. The high roof line extends to the whole roof of the car. The modular roof bars can be repositioned in easy steps to carry skis or mountain bikes with an 80kg load capacity. They blend with the car’s black door mirrors, protective door strips and front and rear skid plates.

At just 1.2 tonnes, Jogger is built on the same platform that underpins the brand’s Sandero and Renault Clio but gets extra length to make it one of the longest models in the Dacia range with a 2.9mm wheelbase that allows unrivalled space in each of its three rows of seats making it a very comfortable to be. In size, it is slightly longer than the Renault Grand Scenic.

Clever fold down tables for busy little passengers in the back 

The interior is functional with 23 litres of space throughout the cabin, and has a nice amount of flair to it. Each row of seats is slightly higher than the one in front allowing everyone a good view out.

Dacia claim the split-folding seats can have almost 60 possible configurations to offer unrivalled practicality and versatility. A tipping mechanism provides access to the third row, made easier by longer rear doors. With all seats in place, boot space is 212 litres, rising to 699 litres with the third row folded which is really good. With middle row seats folded and third row ones removed, this extends to 2,085 litres while the long boot floor can fit a pram or a child’s bike, so this is a vehicle that can double up as a car and a van. Loading is easy with a low load sill.

Dacia’s Media Control places your smartphone at the centre of the infotainment system. You place it into a docking station integrated into the dashboard. Navigation, radio, music, phone and vehicle information, are accessed through the phone’s own voice recognition function or via the remote audio controls on the steering wheel. A USB port is located beside the Media Control to provide charging duties. An 8-inch touchscreen high on the dash, angled towards the driver, takes over from the Media Control docking station and is compatible with both Android Auto and Apple CarPlay.

Three well equipped trims are Essential, Comfort (expected to be the main choice) and a special edition Extreme SE (up to 40pc of the mix) which was my review car. All come with air conditioning, cruise control, front fog lights, and rear parking sensors as standard.

My Extreme SE grade had tinted windows, 16-inch alloys in a black finish, roof bars, a 40mm kink above the B-Pillars, bush button start, heated front seats, climate control, hands-free key card, Isofix points for child seats in both outer rear seats, Dacia’s Media Nav system with built-in navigation and wireless smartphone mirroring.

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Keeping things simple, there are just two options - metallic paint and a spare wheel. On the safety side, you get six airbags, Hill Start Assist and a range of advanced driver assistance systems. I appreciated the blind spot warning, front and rear sensors and the reversing camera during my week-long test drives.

Dacia’s sprightly new TCe 1.0 three-cylinder turbo petrol engine producing 110hp and 200Nm torque is matched to a very nice six-speed manual gearbox. It’s actually a lot of fun to drive and can do 0-100km/h in 11.2 secs. Dacia claim a 5.7-6.0 L/100km WLTP combined and C02 emissions of 132g/km.

A hybrid petrol-electric powertrain with automatic transmission will follow next year.

Plenty of space for even the biggest families 

Despite the light-weight Jogger being awarded a one-star safety rating in the more stringent Euro NCAP safety tests, Dacia say it is one of the safest cars they have ever built and has the equivalent of a four star rating for crash protection. It received 70pc marks for adult occupant protection, 69pc for child protection, 41pc for vulnerable road users, and 39pc for safety assist features.

Dacia believe this family car, built at the company’s Mioveni plant in Romania, will soon outstrip sales of their popular Duster model, depending on supply. All new Dacia cars are covered by a three-year, 100,000km warranty, whichever comes first. Demo cars are available for test drive in Dacia dealerships.

Dacia’s Jogger is priced from €24,190 which is about the price of a second-hand, seven-seater car.

Model: Dacia Jogger

Engine: 1.0, 110hp turbo petrol

Fuel: Petrol

Fuel consumption: 5.7 - 6.0 L.100kms (WLTP)

Emissions: 132g/km C02

Motor tax: €200

Price: From €24,190