Dacia Spring: 5 Stars for the most affordable EV
After ten years in Ireland Dacia has launched a facelift of the Spring EV A-Segment city car available for the first time in right hand drive. Prices in Ireland should be around €20,000 making it the cheapest new electric car when it launches here in late 2024.
“It will be the cheapest new electric car when it launches”
A choice of 65hp or 45hp engines is available which sounds tiny until you scan the Spring’s kerb weight at just under 1 tone – an astonishing 984kg. For comparison, cars as light as this are stripped out two-seater sportscars like the Lotus Elise. The diet of light construction helps the boxy Spring skip along like a schoolchild on the first day of summer holidays. I tested it in Bordeaux and drove a route mixed with sweeping main roads, past countless vineyards that were home to tall speed hump restrictors that would potentially beach the aforementioned Elise.
“Driving the Spring is a study in an unabashed charm offensive”
Dacia added a 150mm ground clearance to the suspension and it sits tall like a small Crossover SUV. This offers good protection for its underpinnings with equally soft damping. Driving the automatic only Spring is a study in an unabashed charm offensive. The car goads you to drive it fast into corners while leaning into bends like a Renault 5 from the 1980s. Once you get accustomed to the sideways pitch it’s an amusing experience in the same way motorcyclists seek out bends allowing their knees to kiss the road.
“The car goads you into fast into corners while leaning into bends like a Renault 5 from the 1980s”
Dacia has cleverly fitted skinny 165/70 R14 tyres so the car’s limits of front wheel drivetrain is found early on, but the engine’s 65hp brake horsepower never pushes the chassis into power understeer. It’s this recipe of giving you just enough power and adhesion that makes the best small cars limitless fun to drive. Mazda understands this approach fully with its evergreen MX-5 roadster. The Spring’s electric range is small at 140 or so miles or 225 km via the 26.8kWh battery.
“It’s this recipe of giving you just enough power and adhesion – exactly what makes the best small cars limitless fun to drive”
Yet here’s a novel thought. As the range is small – it is despite what Dacia says – it may encourage you to reconsider taking the car and walking instead. You’ll feel healthier and your Spring is busy getting charged up. Official Dacia consumption is 13.5 kWh/100km in the 65hp version.
We were told that the average commute is 37km and 75% of people charge at home. This may well be true. However, as the number of apartments being bought in Europe increases the challenge of owning an electric car due to insufficient charging stations installed in new developments becomes a problem. If you live in a house with a driveway and can charge, don’t read any further: this is your best entry into a fully electric car.
“This is your best entry into a fully electric car”
If you currently own a heavy electric SUV or saloon, you should consider selling it and buying the Spring along with a classic car that will appreciate in value and protect your investment. While it may not look small in the photos the dimensions are on par to Fiat’s Panda. Of the two it’s the Spring that’s best looking with unpretentious boxy styling. Front legroom is limited but it’s far from a dealbreaker. The car is the perfect relief we craved from bloated EVs that are the depressing norm today. The first time I set eyes on the Dacia Spring was outside my hotel before midnight. As cute as a button it cheered me up in a way I was struggling to understand.
“Combined together it is the perfect relief we craved for from bloated EVs”
The facelift bookends two broad bands across the front and rear and houses the Spring’s front Y-shaped LED lights and the Dacia logo neatly housing the charging socket. Less successful is the curious white stickers under the front grille featuring a collage of tyre marks and is a frippery too far. Otherwise, it’s all good news. The car’s tall stance and the skinny tyres make the Spring appear as if it’s standing on its toes. The cabin is functional with a small touchscreen and big buttons which help you navigate the controls in seconds.
“True luxury as Rolls-Royce knows is presenting the driver with less visible options to navigate”
The seating position helps you sit tall, offering good side and rear visibility. I would have welcomed the driver’s seat to slide further back to get fully comfortable but that’s only a personal comment. Not for Dacia the tiresome genre of a giant central touchscreen that houses invisible controls and menus which represent a safety hurdle for a driver to operate while driving. Big buttons abound with just enough controls as needed. True luxury, as Rolls-Royce has discovered it’s presenting the driver with less visible options to navigate. Dacia follows this approach due to a restricted budget and it works out just fine.
“It’s a car with a big heart that cheers you up”
Final impressions? The refreshed Dacia Spring may be the cheapest EV on sale but when it arrives in right hand drive more buyers are set to experience one of the cleverest new car buys launched in 2024. Sidestepping the self-conscious cuteness of the FIAT 500 electric the Spring delights in simplicity and boxy design. Above it’s a car with a big heart that cheers you up. Throw in the fact that it offers excellent value as an EV for anyone thinking of going fully electric. The Dacia Spring is awarded an easy 5 Stars.
Verdict: 5 Stars
https://www.press.dacia.co.uk/models/all-new-dacia-spring
by Mark Gallivan, Motoring Journalist