The Dacia Spring is (with subsidy) the cheapest car in the Netherlands. The facelift (2024) did it good, especially inside everything got better. We will tell you in 8 steps.
1. Barbecuing has never been easier
Of Dacia Spring has a V2L connection, which means you can charge an electric bike via the car. Even better: you can connect the barbecue to the Spring on a summer camping evening. Note that an hour of grilling will cost you 13 percent of the battery capacity.
Dacia also treats you to other niceties: a plastic frunk, which you can buy as an accessory (208.50 euros), and a removable cup holder that also serves as a bag hook and rotating lamp (46.50 euros).
2. External changes
The BBQ connection is perhaps the nicest, but not the most important change. The exterior has been completely overhauled, so that the Spring is again in step with the Dacia Sandero and Duster. It got a new grille, but the most striking thing is the space around the license plates. It has the shape of a street pattern.
Although the Spring is still one of the smallest cars in the Netherlands with its length of 3.70 meters, it looks much more mature than before. It is already the second facelift in three years …
3. Dashboard is improving tremendously
The Spring is not brand new. It is basically a Renault City-KZE, a Chinese model. And that is an electric derivative of the Renault Kwid with petrol engine from India (2015). The signs of old age were mainly visible on the outdated dashboard with a rather silly multimedia screen and hard plastic as far as the eye can see.
Dacia has resolutely taken the rage ball through the interior, the dashboard now looks much more like that of the Dacia Duster. The most expensive Extreme version even has a 10-inch navigation screen and a digital instrument cluster. The redesigned steering wheel is now adjustable in height (but not in depth).
4. Dacia Spring range still 225 km
Don’t suddenly expect the Spring to have a huge battery pack and that you can drive to Paris in one go without recharging. Technically everything has remained the same and that means that you can still choose an electric motor with 44 hp or 65 hp.
In both cases you get a battery of 26.8 kWh and the range is 225 kilometers. Due to the small battery pack, you don’t have a day’s work charging even without fast charging option. Via the socket at home it takes a maximum of 11 hours (20-100 percent), with the fast charger 45 minutes (20-80 percent).
5. Don’t be so difficult about that range
Yes, yes, a single journey from Utrecht to Groningen is already a challenge with the Spring, while other EVs will whiz past you stress-free at 130 km/h. But most Spring buyers already have a car with which they travel long distances. On average, they drive 37 kilometers per day and so they can do a tight week on a battery charge.
Moreover, the Spring is not such a ridiculously heavy EV for once, it does not even weigh 1000 kilos. And despite a more extensive (safety) equipment, it only became 6 kilos heavier after the facelift.
6. Dacia Spring remains a budget car
Kloeng! There goes the door closing. And the driver and passenger are sitting snugly close together in this narrow car. If your knee leans against the door, the hard plastic gives way and while driving, the music on the radio is sometimes accompanied by some crackling sounds from the interior.
You sit on rather than in the seats and the chassis is not very subtle in filtering out thresholds. And the steering? It is numb as a psychiatrist who is longing for his retirement.
7. It’s great in the city
But in a busy city centre you really start to like the Spring. Then you are suddenly glad that it is so narrow. And with a turning circle of 9.50 metres you drive wrong for fun, so that you can effortlessly turn around in the street.
In addition, the Spring is nice and fast up to 50 km/h, so you can also drive smoothly with the traffic. Add to that a consumption to savor (13.2 kWh/100 km) and even a city trip through busy Paris becomes enjoyable. Do not expect too much from the B-mode, where as much braking energy as possible is recovered. Braking on the engine is not enough, you have to brake extra.
8. And what about the price of the Dacia Spring (2024)?
The Dacia Spring (Expression, 44 hp) has a base price of 18,950 euros. For 1,000 euros more you get 65 hp and for another 1,000 euros more the richly equipped Extreme. If you subtract the SEPP subsidy of 2,950 euros from the base price, the Spring is the cheapest car in the Netherlands.
You’d be wise to decide quickly: not only will the SEPP subsidy expire on January 1, 2025, the Spring may also be hit by import duties for Chinese cars. There’s nothing Romanian or French about the Spring, and the battery is Chinese too.
Source: www.autoreview.nl
