Dacia Jogger Review

Introduction

Dacia has been making massive strides of late.

Since its reintroduction to the British market, it has steadily climbed from a position of near ridicule to a manufacturer that is now taken seriously.

Although it has gone in a different direction to Skoda, which is easily keeping reputable rivals on their toes nowadays, the two automakers share a story of being a couple of previously unfancied brands that have succeeded in climbing the ladder. Dacias are now regarded as great value-for-money motors that punch well above their weight.

However, a more conspicuous reputation comes with greater expectations. So, we cautiously have high hopes for the Jogger, a mid-sized people-carrier-styled seven-seater MPV (Multi-Purpose Vehicle).

It is a brand-new car, too. This isn’t a facelift or an import that has been available in Eastern Europe or Asia for years. Sure, it shares similarities with other Dacias, so not every element is a clean-sheet design, but as a new arrival to the market, there is pressure on Dacia to do well.

At A Glance

First impressions are good. The looks are decent, even if they won’t be winning any awards or generating streams of excited teenagers desperate to photograph it. But the overall appearance is adequate, nonetheless.

The front features a high bonnet and a curved front end. Such roundedness often makes cars look soft, but not here. The black honeycomb grille has two silver bars through it. 

However, we understand the grille will be replaced with a slightly revised look of four horizontal chrome bars as Dacia unveils a new ‘double tuning fork’ shaped logo. The bodywork overhangs the lower grille in a widened ‘n’-shape, while body-coloured inserts house the fog lights on either side.

Side on, you get a real sense of the Jogger’s lengthy wheelbase and its SUV credentials. There are many body-coloured panels, including one that runs along the car's entire length, including the wheel arches. The doors are smoothly shaped, while the middle and rear windows are curiously raised compared with the front.

Around the back, we think Dacia has poached some Swedish car designers, or the brand has been clever with the tracing paper. The rear lights, which bulge outwards from the sides halfway down, are very Volvo and, from some angles, the Jogger looks a bit like an old-style V50 estate. 

The body-coloured theme runs around the rear on the bumper, and there is a modest spoiler overhanging the back window. 

The word 'DACIA' is also stuck on the posterior above the number plate.

Largely, the Jogger looks good. It is rugged and off-roady, which will appeal to SUV seekers. But it also has an unmistakable modesty that calmly says, “I’m suitable for a day trip with the kids, and I have enough room for all their mates.”

Key Features

Dacia offers three different trim levels on the Jogger.

Entry-level is Essential, which includes 16-inch steel wheels and manual air conditioning. The grade also has a media control system with Bluetooth, a smartphone app and a DAB radio. What is more, it boasts cruise control, a speed limiter, rear parking sensors, automatic headlights, and advanced emergency braking. You don’t, however, get a fully-fledged infotainment system.

Next up is Comfort, which adds an eight-inch infotainment screen with smartphone mirroring, control buttons on the steering wheel, front, as well as rear, parking sensors, a rear-view camera and blind-spot warning technology. 

It also includes electric windows, an electronic parking brake, automatic air conditioning, automatic windscreen wipers and keyless entry. Finally, you get 16-inch 'Flex' wheels, too. Although they are steel, the wheels are fashioned to look like they are alloys.

The top-of-the-range model is Extreme SE, which adds 16-inch alloys, driving assistance including navigation, traction control, and hill start assist. This grade also vaunts nicer upholstery, heated front seats, under-seat vents in the rear, a leather steering wheel and LED lights. There are a few additional exterior styling elements, too.

Regarding engines, there is only one available – Dacia’s TCe 110. It features a 1.0-litre three-cylinder turbocharged petrol with a six-speed manual, producing 110PS.

It isn’t much to shout about, but when you consider that the entry-level Jogger is cheap as chips to lease, you realise this is a lot of car for the money.

Performance & Drive

We went with the mid-range Comfort trim, and seeing as there is no choice of engines, the options were to make do with the TCe 110 or to ‘Flintstone’ the car and use our feet as a means of propulsion.

Admittedly, if we did use our feet, we probably wouldn’t have been much slower to 62mph than the engine, as it takes 11.2-seconds. But then clearly, the Jogger isn't built for pace.

If you can get over that, you won't be disappointed as the more we drove it, the more we liked it. In fact, the zero to 62 time really doesn't do it justice as it feels pretty energetic.

It doesn’t launch you off the line at the traffic lights with aplomb, but the acceleration is good enough to get you up to speed and make good progress. That said, the hefty torque of a diesel engine would help lower down the rev range. We also suspect that the added weight of passengers will make the lack of power far more noticeable with all seven seats taken up.

Speaking of weight, in this era of batteries and hybrid systems, an average family car can now weigh more than a massive 4x4 did ten to fifteen years ago. Yet we would swear the Jogger didn’t even weigh more than one-and-a-half tonnes. Then we looked at the info Dacia had given us and found it weighs 1,200kg, which is incredible. Especially when you consider this is a seven-seater.

As a result, you don’t need a powerful engine to enjoy it – and you really can feel the lightness. There is a lot of grip on corner entry, and the Jogger is easy to place, helped by the steering, which provides plenty of feedback.

We expected a stack of oversteer on exit, but the Jogger’s featherlight mass meant it kept pointing exactly where we wanted it to. The slightest kick from the rear wheels was about as bad as it got, and, before we knew it, we were off again on to the next straight.

This is no sports car, but we are genuinely scratching our heads wondering how on earth Dacia has done it. It stands a significant chance of being the best handling car of its type.

When we asked Dacia about the weight, we were told that it had invested a lot of time sourcing lightweight materials (well, obviously). And this means the Jogger only needed a small engine, which brings the costs down. Consequently, there is more margin to offer lots of kit as standard while still hitting Dacia's target pricing.

We are very impressed. Furthermore, because of the low weight, there is no real springiness to the ride, so it feels both firm and comfortable at the same time.

Wow! We weren’t expecting that.

The handling needs to be seen in context, though. For a seven-seater, it is superb but, after all our open-mouthed amazement, don’t lease one thinking it will give a sports car a run for its money. It won’t. It is excellent for what it is, but if you expect to be able to drive one to a racetrack and take corners like a Golf GTi, you will be disappointed

Running Costs & Emissions

The TCe 110 engine manages a perfectly good 48.7mpg, producing 131g/km CO2. So, it is in the 30 per cent band for Benefit-in-kind tax for company car purposes.

Those who aren’t impressed by that might like to know that a hybrid model is coming in 2023. But we reckon that will be a lot heavier, which might spoil the enthusiastic handling.

Servicing costs will be very reasonable, with Dacia quoting around £159 for an annual check-up. And just for your information, the Jogger comes with an industry-standard three-year, 60,000-mile warranty. You may not care about that because you are leasing, but it indicates the level of belief Dacia has in its cars.

Interior & Technology

The Dacia Jogger’s interior isn’t the height of luxury. But much like the car’s drivability, it is impressive for the price and good value for money.

It is nicely laid out, with a two-tiered dashboard, the top of which has plush surfaces, and the bottom half has a patterned finish. The infotainment screen sits on the top of the dashboard like a tablet, while there are modest amounts of silver around the gear gator, the gear knob itself, and the steering wheel. This brightens things up a little.

Thankfully, the air conditioning is operated from physical dials rather than concealing digital controls in the infotainment system, as many motor manufacturers have done. There is more switchgear on the steering wheel, too.

The infotainment screen looks a bit dated with its thick-bordered edges. However, the graphics are reasonably sharp, and the system is user-friendly if a little basic. With connectivity in the form of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto available, you can just use Dacia’s interface instead. You won't get a screen at all if you choose the entry-level trim (you get a mobile phone holder instead), while navigation is included on the top-spec model.

Practicality & Boot Space

There is a good slice of space in the front, and the seats look nice and comfortable. You won't have any worries finding a suitable driving position, either.

The middle row of seats is spacious, and even the tallest adults will find it a decent fit. In the back, they will be accommodated, although perhaps not incredibly comfortably for a long journey. But then rear seats in a seven-seater are rarely without drawbacks, so the fact that adults fit at all is a big tick in the box for Dacia.

Likewise, the seven seats are designed to be removed entirely if needed, while the middle row can be folded flat.

With the seven seats in place, you have still got 212-litres of boot space, and, with them taken out, this will increase the cargo capacity to 699-litres. Fold the middle seats down, and the volume stretches to 2,085-litres, which is remarkable.

Dacia also says that there are more than 60 different configurations in terms of arranging the rear and middle seats.

Unusually, it has also managed to measure the total storage capacity of everything inside the cabin, coming up with a figure of 24-litres, including a seven-litre glove box. We are not sure if that includes cupholders, but there are two for each row of seats.

Furthermore, there are 12-volt sockets in the middle and back row and one USB port in the front (two if you have the top-of-the-range model).

Safety

This is traditionally a weak spot for Dacia – and the Jogger is yet to be put through the grinder by the crash-test specialists at Euro NCAP.

The Dacia Duster was last tested in 2017 and achieved three stars, but that was as good as it got. The Sandero Stepway managed a lame two stars when tested in 2021, while the Logan got identical scores. The Dacia Spring got a pitiful one-star rating when tested in the same year.

In addition to airbags and similar basic safety kit, you also get cruise control, rear parking sensors and advanced emergency braking on all models. Meanwhile, mid-trim Comfort and above add front parking sensors, a rear-view camera and a blind-spot warning system. Traction control is included on the top-of-the-range model, too.

None of that is bad - and even if the Jogger were to score just one star with Euro NCAP, that wouldn't mean it is unsafe. It must meet stringent safety requirements to be allowed on the roads in the first place, after all.

But, in an era where most new vehicles have been attaining four stars as a minimum, this is one area where Dacia needs to do better. What is more, Euro NCAP has recently made its testing criteria even more challenging to take into account the latest technology.

Speaking of which, you won’t get much of the real high-tech safety systems you get from some rivals. But then, given the affordability of the Jogger, that shouldn’t come as a surprise.

Options

There isn’t much to choose from in terms of options. But then Dacia has thrown in quite a lot as standard, so we shouldn’t complain.

You get solid white paint as standard, but dark blue, light grey, dark grey, orangey-red and black cost a little extra for some reason.

There is no choice when it comes to interior upholstery or in-cabin tech. Nor can you choose an alternative set of wheels, although you can buy a spare wheel for a snip.

Rival Cars

Dacia is a bit idiosyncratic because when we look at challengers, we would naturally go through a list of other seven-seaters at a similar price point.

But there aren’t any. Dacia has this quirk of literally being in a league of its own in this respect with some of its cars. The Volkswagen Caddy is probably the nearest. But it is a whole lot more expensive. The Skoda Kodiaq is even pricier, as is the Citroen C4 Space Tourer.

We suspect many people who lease the Jogger will do so for its big boot rather than its seven seats, in which case you only need a five-seater. But anything in a similar price range, such as a SEAT Arona, won’t have a boot capacity that is anywhere near the Dacia’s.

Verdict & Next Steps

Overall, the Dacia Jogger has exceeded our expectations. And that is despite us saying earlier that they had been raised thanks to the company’s flourishing reputation.

It is spacious, practical, versatile, well-equipped – and even fun to drive. Unfortunately, it is a bit lacking on the higher-end tech that some adversaries offer, while the choice of only one power-starved engine is frustrating. This is especially the case if you will be carrying a full load of passengers regularly, which will likely expose its limitations. On the other hand, a hybrid is coming in 2023, so it might be worth holding out for that if you want a bit more grunt at low revs.

Of course, if you have a lot to spend on leasing a car, you are easily going to find one that is better than the Jogger. The latest Dacia model is not a market leader, nor is it the type of vehicle that will trouble many of its rivals.

But then you will struggle to find something as well equipped as this without spending significantly more. Of course, expectations need to be kept in context with the price point, but it is undoubtedly excellent value.

The Dacia Jogger is meant to be a cheap seven-seater that doesn’t feel cheap. And, in that respect, it is quite literally bang on the money.

Where to next?

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*Score based on Select’s unique meta score analysis, taking into account the UK’s top five leading independent car website reviews of the Dacia Jogger