You just can’t get mad at the funny Dacia Spring. In many areas it performs less than you expect from a modern car. Furthermore, competition from China (Leapmotor, Dongfeng) is gaining steam with better cars that are barely more expensive. On the other hand, you can ask yourself almost philosophically: how much more car do you actually need?
Kloeng! The door closes there. The driver and co-driver sit on seats without significant lateral support and are comfortable. Not because the hormones are rushing through the interior, but because the Dacia Spring is a very narrow car. 1583 millimeters, to be precise. This makes it more than 20 centimeters narrower than the Renault Clio. Your outer knee also doesn’t have much room to move; it presses against the door, the hard plastic of which gives a little.
The first minutes in the Dacia Spring take some getting used to. Memories immediately come to mind of our youth in the 1980s, when all cars were still narrow and the doors were paper thin. We didn’t know any better at the time and so we happily went to the Alps with the whole family in a Citroën Visa.
Tip
Much nicer dashboard
First of all: the Spring is certainly not as spartan as an old Visa. Certainly not now that it has received a facelift, in which the interior in particular was thoroughly overhauled. That was necessary, because the Spring is an electric derivative of the Renault Kwid and this Indian model date back to 2015. The ailments of old age were mainly visible in the outdated dashboard, with a somewhat lame multimedia screen and hard plastic as far as the eye could see.
The new dashboard is a major improvement and looks much more like that of the Dacia Duster. Digital instruments are standard, the most expensive Extreme version even has a 10-inch navigation screen. The newly designed handlebar is now adjustable in height (but not in depth).
Dacia Spring facelift 2024: the second in three years
The Spring apparently gives the Dacia designers facelift jitters, because it is already the second update in three years. Although it is one of the smallest cars in the Netherlands with a length of 3.70 meters, it looks much more mature than before. The Spring received a new grille, but the most striking feature is the space around the license plates in the shape of a street pattern. So it is not a camouflage material as we first thought.
All comparisons to the Visa evaporate forever when we look at the safety equipment. The Spring has, among other things, an emergency braking system for cyclists, cars and pedestrians in the city, traffic sign recognition, a lane assistant, fatigue recognition and rear parking sensors. Although they are all mandatory systemsso don’t count yourself rich. It also ‘normally’ has air conditioning and cruise control.
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Weight of less than 1000 kilos
We have become a bit spoiled with all those luxurious (and expensive) new cars. But if you think more deeply about the Spring, the electric Dacia might be the perfect car. No lifestyle hassles; the Spring is cheap, light and economical and offers exactly what you need for your most daily kilometers. Electric cars are carrying increasingly larger battery packs to provide a decent range. Just look at the weight of the Kia EV9 a little further back in this magazine: 2550 kilos. Dear help!
Range Dacia Spring: 225 kilometers
No, then the Spring with its weight of barely 1000 kilos. Despite more extensive (safety) equipment, it only gained 6 kilos after the facelift. The technical department was largely sidelined during this facelift, in that respect almost nothing changed. The Spring still makes do with a modest battery of 26.8 kWh. Both versions (44 hp and 65 hp) have a range of 225 kilometers. That has disadvantages; a one-way trip from Utrecht to Groningen is already a challenge with the Spring, while other EVs zoom past you at 130 km/h and an almost full battery.
But, Dacia counters, most buyers already have another car with which they travel long distances. On average they drive 37 kilometers per day with their Spring. This means they can drive for a week without having to plug in. And although the Spring does not have dazzling fast charging options, charging is quite fast due to the small battery pack. Using the wallbox at home it takes a maximum of 4 hours (20-100 percent), while using the fast charger it takes 45 minutes (20-80 percent).
Numb steering
So the Spring is not a Visa, but also not a Rolls-Royce. While driving, the music from the radio is sometimes unintentionally accompanied by some crackles from the interior. You are more likely to sit on the chairs than in them and the chassis is not very subtle in filtering thresholds. And the controls? He gets a royal award for numbness.
But in a busy city center you will love the Spring. Then you are suddenly happy that it is so narrow. And with a turning circle of 9.50 meters you can drive wrong for fun, so you can take turns effortlessly again and again. In addition, the Spring is nice and fast up to 50 km/h, so you can also drive smoothly with other traffic.
Add to that a consumption to die for (13.2 kWh/100 km) and even a city trip through busy Paris becomes a party. Don’t expect too much from the B mode, where as much braking energy as possible is recovered. Engine braking is not enough, you always have to apply the brakes.
Barbecuing with Dacia
Dacia has also done some practical tricks. The Spring has a V2L connection, which means you can charge an electric bicycle in your car. Even more fun: you connect the barbecue to the Spring on a summer camping evening. Please note that an hour of grilling uses 13 percent of the battery capacity. You’ll have more fun if you read through the accessories brochure. There you will see a removable plastic frunk (208.50 euros) and a cup holder that you can click on to the dashboard and also serves as a bag hook and rotating lamp (46.50 euros).
Price Dacia Spring
The Dacia Spring (Expression, 44 hp) has a base price of 18,950 euros. For 1000 euros more you get 65 hp and for another 1000 euros you have a more fully equipped Extreme. If you deduct the SEPP subsidy of 2,950 euros from the basic price, the Spring is the cheapest car in the Netherlands.
Want to buy Dacia Spring? Decide quickly
Doubters would be wise to decide quickly: not only will the subsidy expire on January 1, 2025, it may also be that the Spring will be affected by import duties for Chinese cars. There is nothing Romanian or French about the Spring, it is Chinese in every inch. In any case, what will not bother you much is the road tax on EVs that will apply from next year. The Spring is so light that you’ll even laugh at the price of a petrol car.
What is becoming a problem is increasing competition. So we were impressed by the faster and hardly more expensive one Leap engine T03 (with greater range and richer equipment) and the Dongfeng Box is also a car to take into account.
Conclusion
We have a soft spot for the Spring because it is so unpretentious. It brings driving back to its core: the Spring gets you to your destination dry and for little money, and since the facelift it has done so in a more attractive ambiance. As the Flemish say: that’s all it should be for a car with this price.
Source: www.autoreview.nl
