Road test: Dacia Duster Commercial

Dacia have introduced a Duster Commercial to their range competing in the car-derived van/SUV/PickUp segment which represents about 27 percent of the LCV market here, writes Trish Whelan. It arrived here in June this year.

To keep prices down, you don't get all the goodies some competitors offer but you do get some essentials.

Two guises are offered. The Alternative 4x2 and Signature 4x2 as well as a 4x4 version. The Commercial Alternative 4x2, with VRT of 13.3%, costs €13,361 excl VAT (€15,990 incl VAT). The Signature 4x2 is priced at €16,032 ex VAT and €17,990 incl VAT while the Signature 4x4 is €16,698 ex VAT, and €19,990 incl VAT.

With its extended wheel arches and raised ride height, it looks the part of a true off-roader, but except for the 4x4 version (the review car), the others are 4x2. Most business users won't go for the 4x4 version which has good off-road ability, but the 4x2 could suit some small businesses quite nicely, or larger operations with a mixed fleet.

The Commercial Duster is based on the same design as the passenger car and is converted locally.

It makes for a good looking commercial, especially in the test vehicle's white exterior with silver door handles and running strip, darkened windows to hide cargo, and black roof rails.

Commercials are all about cargo size and getting the VAT back from the Revenue. The good sized cargo area is quite high-rise so you won't break your back when lifting things in and out. There are other compartments under the boot floor, and you'll find a skinny spare here too. The review Duster Commercial had a really useful and removable rubber mat on the load floor with lipped edges to help contain 'dirty' items. Cargo volume is in excess of 1,650 litres. Payload is around 550kg depending on the variant.

Rear doors have been left in place and are useful for loading from the sides.

Stowage areas include a long overhead area on the roof to keep delivery stuff. There's also a decent glovebox and fine door bins; a few open cubbies on the dash and a pair of cupholders all help store your bits and pieces.

The cabin is well laid out and practical. Steering, I found, to be on the light side but I got used to it in no time. All round visibility is good with large size side windows and big square-shaped side mirrors and the large rear window aids rear visibility. The driver's side mirror doesn't have blind spot cover - guess that's a 'frill' as was the missing driver's vanity mirror - but I'm sure the passenger will appreciate theirs! There's no armrest either.

If you have a dickie back, which many van drivers can suffer from, take care if you need to raise the driver's seat as I had to hike myself up while pulling the seat height lever, for the seat to rise.

We're very familiar with the 1.5 diesel engine which it shares with its passenger car sibling and which we know from Renault and from Nissan vehicles. It's a proven good puller and not at all noisy.

Key features on the Alternative 4x2 trim level include: 16-inch steel wheels, black longitudinal roof rails, and fog lights, Bluetooth connectivity, CD-Radio and MP3 reader, electric windows, and a USB connection. My car had air conditioning, remote audio (almost out of sight on a low stalk off the steering wheel), and a trip computer.

Only the Signature 4x4 gets Electronic Stability Control as standard.

On the safety side, this Romanian-built Duster received three stars out of a maximum five in EuroNCAP crash tests.

Competitors include the Ford Focus Van (from €18,700 incl VAT); Hyundai i30 i-pro (from €17,495 incl VAT), and the Toyota Auris Van (from €18,495 incl VAT).

Duster comes with a standard 3-year, 100,000km warranty, extendable to five years unlimited mileage warranty.

Dacia Duster Commercial