Dacia Jogger MPV (2022 - ) review

If budget is your first, second and third priority when choosing a large car, look no further. You will not find a cheaper new seven-seater on the market (you’ll barely find a cheaper used seven-seater for sale) and there’s just under £3,000 between the base and top trim levels, so no nasty surprises lurking in the pricelist. Dacia exists to provide jaw-dropping value for money, and its first seven-seater does not stray from the party line. Not only is the price tag of the Jogger ridiculously cheap, but the running costs for the car are also brilliantly low, thanks to its efficient engine and lack of weight. Indeed, on the scales it’s about the same as a Lotus Exige sports car and its small petrol engine sips fuel, so you’ll barely find yourself at the pumps. Insurance premiums should be low, too, on the basis while it may weigh the same as the Lotus you won’t be driving it in a similar manner.

There’s a three-year/60,000-mile warranty as standard on the Jogger, which all new Dacia models get. Dacia is part of the Renault family so engines, powertrains and the stuff under the skin is shared, benefitting from the bigger brand’s expertise and experience in market. As such there are very few problems to report from owners of other Dacia models. In fact, Dacia tends to come in the top 10 brands for reliability in most owner indexes.

There has been some controversy over testing body Euro NCAP rating the Jogger just one star out of five for safety. In reality this is more down the tests favouring more expensive and technically advanced models, which is somewhat unfair given Dacia’s value offering. There’s also the fact NCAP didn’t actually test the Jogger but based its assessment on the related Sandero Stepway, claiming somewhat bizarrely it is ‘practically identical’ despite being smaller and only a five-seater. So, is the Jogger a safe car? Six airbags, IsoFix childseat mounts on the outer positions of the middle row and a generally strong structure mean its occupant protection is actually pretty solid and NCAP rated the standard automatic emergency braking system as effective. Rear parking sensors are also standard, as is tyre pressure monitoring. Upgrade to the middle Comfort trim and you get a reversing camera, front parking sensors and blind-spot warning as well which is, well, pretty damn impressive. Indeed, the main reason NCAP demoted the Jogger was for not having seatbelt buzzers on the third row of seats, which seems a little harsh given the rest of the scores were pretty good.

This is a cheap, light car so it’s pretty noisy on the road and you feel quite a bit of harshness and vibration coming through. But what do you expect at this price? Where the Jogger proves its worth is in space and light, with plenty of both. Astonishingly, there is legroom for an adult in all three rows when the seven seats are up. And, with the third row of seats down, boot space is enormous. Cleverly, the rear seats weigh just 10kg each, so you can take them out easily if you need more space. You do, however, have to step over the folded second row to get to the third row - there’s no plush fold-and-raise technique for the middle row to allow access. There are cup holders for second-row passengers plus a massive glove box. The highest trim, Extreme SE, gets fold-down picnic tables, too.

We could moan that you don’t get in-built sat-nav and lots of speakers unless you go for a top trim level. Or that the USB port in the front of our test car jammed our lead a bit and required a wriggle. But we keep coming back to the price. For that, we’re amazed we’ve got four wheels and seven seats - anything else feels like a bonus, frankly. You do get DAB radio and steering wheel controls as standard but the next trim up will likely be the most popular and includes smartphone integration so you can use your apps to navigate. One clever touch is the integrated roof rails - turn a nut on each bar and they twist across the roof to form roof rails. It’s simple, easy and quick. You also get … wait for it … electric windows and remote central locking. Party time.

It does what it says on the tin, so don’t expect thrills beyond the tingly excitement of saving shedloads of money. There’s just one engine, this a 1.0-litre, turbocharged petrol engine promising high-40s fuel consumption. Not bad for a seven-seater. With just one person aboard it feels perky, running away from the lights and pulling strongly in any gear. Beyond that it soon peters out, so be wary of trying ambitious overtakes and don’t expect to be blitzing the motorways. We didn’t get a chance to try it full of people and kit either, and would expect that to have an impact on performance. There’s now a hybrid option, which has a bit more poke and an automatic gearbox but doesn’t have the option to plug in for meaningful electric only driving. However, we’ve tried the hybrid in some of Renault’s models and it’s smooth and economical. But then again, so is this fun little petrol engine and the six-speed manual gearbox. As you can tell, we’re a bit smitten.