Summary
The Dacia Duster is a small SUV/crossover, priced at the budget end of the market. This model was the first generation, which was launched in late 2010 and ended production in 2017.
The first iteration of the Duster received a rather mixed bag of review scores while it was on sale. As a spacious and practical family car that undercut the price of its rivals by several thousand, the Duster was praised by the British media for its serious value for money, but this budget deal had several trade-offs.
“It has genuine off-road ability”, Carwow commented, “but it drives like it was designed in the 1990s”. Several reviewers agreed with this sentiment – the Duster could soak up potholes with ease, but it wasn’t too agile in the corners and was quite noisy on the motorway. A number of journalists also commented that they could not recommend the Duster due to its poor Euro NCAP safety rating.
The biggest compromise facing buyers was the car’s interior, however. Reviewers took issue with the SUV’s fragile interior plastics, dated on-board tech and the car’s rather basic entry-level equipment list, which did not include modern essentials like air conditioning.
As of January 2025, the first-generation Dacia Duster holds a Used Car Expert Rating of E, with a score of 55%. It scores top marks for its excellent reliability record and also gets good grades for its low running costs. But its media review scores were poor, while its safety score is very poor as it’s now long outdated (and wasn’t a great score when it was new).
- Dacia Duster (2017 onwards) – Expert Rating
- More Dacia Expert Ratings, new car reviews, news and features
Duster highlights
- Serious value-for-money
- Spacious and practical cabin
- Large boot
- Two- and four-wheel drive models on offer
Duster lowlights
- Fragile interior plastics
- So-so fuel economy
- Lead-in models didn’t have air-con
- Dated driving dynamics
Key specifications
Body style: Small SUV/crossover
Engines: petrol, diesel
Price when new: From £9,290 on-road
Launched: Autumn 2010
Last updated: Winter 2013/14
Replaced: Summer 2018
Image gallery
Media reviews
Highlighted reviews and road tests from across the UK automotive media. Click any of the boxes to view.
Auto Express
Model reviewed: Range overview
Score: 8 / 10
“The Dacia Duster offers the space and practicality of a Nissan Qashqai, but for the price of a Micra.”
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Model reviewed: Range overview
“By keeping things relatively low-tech, Dacia has ensured the Duster has a decent reliability record, and build quality is also better than expected.”
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Auto Trader
Model reviewed: Range overview
Score: 6.4 / 10
“If you’re a driver who’s only after SUV looks for a bargain price, then Dacia’s Sandero Stepway provides them for even less cash. If, however, you want some genuine 4×4 ability, along with adequate space for the family and an honest, no-nonsense image, the Duster will be right up your street. Proof that any car is a good car if it’s cheap enough.”
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Business Car
Model reviewed: 4×4
Score: 7 / 10
“The Dacia Duster comes with a low price, but you get what you pay for.”
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Car
Model reviewed: 1.5-litre diesel 110 EDC Prestige
Score: 8 / 10
“It’s a likeable thing, the newly fettled for 2017 Dacia Duster. It’s got old-school ruggedness and an honest approach to the ever-popular SUV/crossover class, and it’s refreshing to drive something without any airs and graces.”
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Model reviewed: 1.5 dCi 2wd (2010)
Score: 8 / 10
“The Dacia Duster is a deliciously focused device.”
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Car Keys
Model reviewed: Range overview
Score: 7 / 10
“The Dacia Duster is the ultimate budget crossover, great for those who want a run-around that is not afraid to venture off-road a little.”
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Model reviewed: 1.6 Access 4×2
“Sub-£9k Dacia Duster SUV is almost unbelievable value for money.”
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Carbuyer
Model reviewed: Range overview
Score: 8.4 / 10
“The Dacia Duster is the best-value SUV on the market today. It’s a rugged, practical and simple machine that can be surprisingly fun to drive.”
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Carwow
Model reviewed: Range overview
Score: 5 / 10
“The Dacia Duster offers amazing value for money, lots of space for the price and genuine off-road ability, but it feels like a budget model and drives like it was designed in the 1990s.”
Read review
Daily Mail
Model reviewed:
Score: 7 / 10
“The Dacia Duster is basic, agricultural, old hat, but honest about what it is.”
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Model reviewed: Laureate dCi 110
Score: 10 / 10
“The Dacia Duster is gloriously unpretentious.”
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Daily Mirror
Model reviewed: 4×4
“The Dacia Duster is a terrifically good value SUV that’s spacious, rugged, drives really rather well and doesn’t empty your pocket with a load of kit that you don’t really need.”
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Eurekar
Model reviewed:
Score: 8 / 10
“The new dual-clutch automatic gearbox in the Dacia Duster is a worthy choice, thanks to its smooth and fast shifts.”
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Green Car Guide
Model reviewed: 1.5-litre diesel manual 4×4
Score: 7 / 10
“If you’re looking for the utmost in refinement and you’re a fan of upmarket, tech-laden interiors then the Dacia Duster may not be the car for you, but if you want a good value overall package that can cope with the average demands of UK rural life then you should consider the Duster.”
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Heycar
Model reviewed: Range overview
Score: 6 / 10
“The Dacia Duster makes a mockery of premium price tags and those lifestyle adverts you’ll see in glossy magazines. Few cars offer this much space and practicality for such a low price.”
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Honest John
Model reviewed: Range overview
Score: 6 / 10
“Overall, the Duster makes a mockery of the prices asked for rival SUVs. It’s not perfect, but you’ll get to enjoy the smug sense of satisfaction of having more money in your wallet.”
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Parkers
Model reviewed: Range overview
Score: 7 / 10
“Price-leading Dacia Duster is hugely desirable SUV for families.”
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The Sun
Model reviewed: Ambiance 4×2
“The Dacia Duster offers a supple, comfortable ride but there is body roll in corners. But that won’t bother owners who just love the value.”
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The Sunday Times
Model reviewed: Range overview
Score: 6 / 10
“The Dacia Duster is a four-wheel-drive family car that gets back to basics, and is all the better for it.”
Read review
Model reviewed:
Score: 8 / 10
“The long and short of it is that the Dacia Duster is a seriously well-priced and decent SUV that does everything you need it to do.”
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The Telegraph
Model reviewed: Range overview
Score: 5 / 10
“The Dacia Duster gives you a lot of space for little money. However, it’s easy to see why it’s much cheaper than a Skoda Yeti or Nissan Qashqai because it has a budget interior, agricultural driving manners and a poor crash-test rating.”
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Model reviewed:
Score: 3 / 10
“Dacia’s sports utility offering is a no-frills, retro package that fails to excite.”
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Independent crash test and safety ratings from Euro NCAP
Overall score: 3 stars
Date tested: February 2011
Date expired: January 2018
Read the full Euro NCAP review
Adult protection: 74%
Child protection: 78%
Vulnerable road users: 28%
Safety assist: 29%
Notes on safety rating
The Dacia Duster was originally tested by Euro NCAP back in 2011 and awarded a three-star rating. However, this rating expired in January 2018 and is no longer valid as the car no longer meets the standards required for such a rating. This is normal practice, as Euro NCAP reviews its ratings on most cars annually with most ratings expiring after about six or seven years.
Although the rating has now expired, the score is still useful if you are comparing a used Duster to vehicles of similar age – whose ratings will have almost certainly expired as well.
Independent economy and emissions ratings from Green NCAP
No eco rating
The first-generation Dacia Duster was not assessed by Green NCAP as it was out of production before the emissions testing body came into being in 2018.
Reliability data provided exclusively for The Car Expert by MotorEasy
Total claims: 25
Average repair cost: £200.10
Last updated: October 2024
Reliability score
All data based on MotorEasy average workshop costs for extended car warranty claims
As of October 2024, the Dacia Duster holds an excellent reliability score of 86%, according to workshop and warranty data provided exclusively to The Car Expert by our partner, MotorEasy.
The average repair cost is also very low at £200, meaning that the Duster is also likely to be inexpensive to fix if it does go wrong. The only caveat to all this good news is that we still don’t have a lot of data on the Duster’s servicing costs, so the results could change quite significantly with only a few high-cost repairs.
Awards
Trophies, prizes and awards that the Dacia Duster has received
2017
- Carbuyer Awards – Best Cheap Car + Best Winter Car
2016
- Carbuyer Awards – Best Winter Car
2015
- The Green Apple Awards – Best Small SUV
2013
- Tow Car Awards – Best Budget 4×4
2012
- Top Gear Awards – Best Bargain Car
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More information
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