Dacia Jogger 1.0 TCe

 



 Another compact-class value champion from ascendent budget brand Dacia, and this time a bit of a versatility champion too. The Dacia Jogger is a smallish estate-cum-seven-seat MPV; an indirect replacement for the old Logan MCV in a way, but done with much greater individuality and charm.

We’ve already had a go in Europe, but with the UK launch of the car, Dacia has confirmed the numbers that matter most about it. They are £14,995 (the car’s scarcely believable entry-point showroom price) and £195 (the monthly outlay for which you can get one on a personal finance deal, after a deposit of… wait for it… £195).

A car in this position doesn’t really need to be particularly well packaged, refined, versatile or nice to drive in order to find a receptive market; it probably just needs to exist. The Jogger, however, does quite a bit better than that.

It’s ostensibly a 4.5m-long, seven-seat family car built on a supermini platform, which is why Dacia can make the numbers for it add up. Underneath, it is the Renault-Nissan CMF-B supermini platform (which also underpins the Sandero, as well as the current Renault Clio). And while stretching a supermini platform to this size might seem like asking a lot of technology intended for lighter, leaner applications, it’s become a fairly common practice in budget models in recent years. From the Skoda Scala to the Peugeot 2008, via the Citroën C4, Fiat Tipo, Jeep Compass and even the latest Alfa Romeo Tonale (which, believe it or not, is based on a platform with roots as old as 2005), plenty of bigger cars now used modified supermini underpinnings.

The Jogger has a very simple showroom offering: for now there is one engine and transmission (although a hybrid version is coming in 2023), one bodystyle, three trim levels and six colours. The only option is a spare wheel.

Dacia’s rugged-looking, SUV-tough design makes the Jogger look part-MPV, part-crossover, which is only sensible given current market tastes. It’s a cheery, appealing design, and it’s contemporary too; not some 1990s monobox in hiking boots. And even the car’s most distinctive exterior features are functional ones. The chunky, stylised roof bars, which cleverly convert into a roof rack of their own, look great, while the car’s rising roof line (see where the upper window line kinks upwards at the B-pillar?) makes 40mm extra head room for rear-cabin passengers, and has subtle echoes of cars like the Matro Rancho.

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