Dacia Bigster review

Introduction

While some cars seemingly require a degree in cryptanalysis – the art of creating and breaking codes – to understand their names, the Dacia Bigster is a bit more simplistic. In short, it’s big.

More specifically, the Bigster is longer (by 23cm) and taller (by 6cm) than the closely-related Dacia Duster small SUV. That makes it the largest Dacia yet and a member of the family SUV class.

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1.2 TCe MHEV Expression SUV 5dr Petrol Manual Euro 6 (s/s) (140 ps)

Expected annual mileage	5000
Term months	48
Deposit months	12
Monthly payment	£305.14
Initial payment	£3,661.68

Step-by-step

Leasing works a bit like a long-term rental. You drive it, but you don’t own it.

• Choose your car, pick your terms and apply for lease credit online
• Pay monthly rental payments for your chosen term length
• Drive it, enjoy it, then give it back at the end

What you get

When you lease with Autotrader you get all of this:

• Full manufacturer’s warranty
• Road tax and roadside assistance included
• No admin fees
• Free returns within 30 days*

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£3,662 initial payment, 48 month contract, 5000 miles p/a. Subject to status and conditions.

• Lower total monthly cost than PCP/HP
• No balloon payments
• Road tax included

Despite its size, you can't have the Bigster as a seven-seater (you'll need the Dacia Jogger for that) but it does have loads of boot space. Every version has a petrol engine, either with mild-hybrid or regular hybrid tech.

Dacia Bigster video review

As for rivals, the Dacia Bigster is up against the Citroën C5 Aircross and Kia Sportage – the latter was named best family SUV at our 2025 Car of the Year Awards – but being a cheaper, more budget-conscious buy, it’s arguably in closer competition with the MG HS.

What’s new?

- May 2025: First UK deliveries take place
- January 2025: Bigster on sale with Expression, Journey, Extreme trims. Choice of 1.2 TCe 140 Mild Hybrid, or Hybrid 155 petrol engine with front-wheel drive. TCe 130 Mild Hybrid 4x4 also available
- October 2024: Production Bigster debuts
- January 2021: Dacia shows Bigster concept

Overview

While it might fall behind the Kia Sportage in some areas, the Dacia Bigster is a very family-friendly SUV that majors on practicality and value for money. To maximise the latter, we'd go for the Mild Hybrid 140 in Journey trim.

Our pick

1.8 Journey SUV 5dr Petrol Hybrid Auto Euro 6 (s/s) (155 ps) review

RRP £29,755

Pros

• Cheap to buy and run
• Comfortable and composed on the road
• Huge inside and filled with practical features

Cons

• Interior is as cheap as it gets in its class
• Disappointing safety rating
• Rivals are more refined

Our pick

1.8 Journey SUV 5dr Petrol Hybrid Auto Euro 6 (s/s) (155 ps) review

RRP £29,755

Trims available

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EXTREME

Extreme is similar to Journey in price and kit, but if you combine it with the four-wheel-drive engine option it also gets off-road modes and hill-descent control.

Expression

This is the entry-level trim but the kit list is decent – it includes 17in alloy wheels, dual-zone climate control, a 7in digital driver's display, a 10.1in infotainment touchscreen and cruise control.

Journey

Journey is pretty well equipped, getting a premium 3D sound system, heated front seats, a heated steering wheel and an electrically operated tailgate.

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Performance & drive

What it's like to drive, and how quiet it is

We’ll start with the pricier option, the Hybrid 155, which combines a 108bhp 1.8-litre petrol engine with a 48bhp electric motor to drive the front wheels.

Technical details aside, all you need to know is that it’ll pootle around town and cater for low-effort cruising on quiet, smooth electric power using its 1.4kWh battery. What’s more, it’s smoother and more responsive than a full hybrid MG HS Hybrid+.

A second electric motor that acts as starter/generator means the Bigster’s petrol engine will fire up quickly if the battery is low on charge or you ask for a burst of acceleration. Speaking of which, in our tests, the Hybrid 155 managed to sprint from 0-60mph in 9.1sec, which is swift enough for most scenarios.

Even so, the Bigster isn’t the quickest option for a family SUV, so you’ll want to consider the Hyundai Tucson Hybrid, Kia Sportage HEV, HS Hybrid+ or Nissan Qashqai e-Power, if you want stronger performance. Just keep in mind that most of those options are more expensive.

At the more affordable end of the range are two mild hybrid engines, starting with our preferred 138bhp Mild Hybrid 140 option. It, too, has front-wheel drive and delivers similar on-paper performance to the Hybrid 155.

Meanwhile, the 129bhp Mild Hybrid 130 4x4 has (you guessed it) four-wheel drive and is a couple of seconds slower to 62mph. A bit of lag at low revs before the turbocharger kicks in means it’s not quite as energetic as the Hybrid off the line, but once on the move, there’s enough mid-range punch to keep up with traffic. Having four-wheel drive should mean that the Bigster is more than capable in a muddy field or in slippery winter conditions, too.

Overall, the Bigster’s driving experience is pretty good, with suspension that’s soft enough to cushion you over most bumps but not so soft that it feels floaty over undulating roads.

It's not perfect, though, creating a small thud through larger abrasions that a Sportage or a Skoda Karoq would tackle far more gracefully, but it's a definite step up from the MG HS 1.5 T, which is softer and subsequently moves you around in your seat almost constantly.

The Bigster’s firmer edge works in its favour when it comes to handling. True, we’d stop far from calling it sporty, but for a family SUV of its size, it feels sufficiently composed and less wallowly than the Citroën C5 Aircross.

Indeed, the main thing that lets the Bigster down is its steering, which is light and generally quite numb. While that’s fine as you negotiate tight corners in town, it doesn’t give you much confidence as you weave along a country road. The Sportage is significantly better when it comes to handling.

Unlike the mild-hybrid engines, which both come with manual gearboxes, the Hybrid 155 has an automatic gearbox. It works in a complex manner and is a similar setup used in the Dacia Duster Hybrid 140 and Renault Symbioz where it's quite slow and jerky. However, in the Bigster, it works well, feeling smoother and more cohesive.

The Bigster’s mild hybrid engines are hushed to an acceptable level, but they could be smoother. At low revs, they sound and feel (through the steering wheel and pedals) rougher than many equivalent rivals that are equipped with four-cylinder engines in this class.

The Hybrid 155’s 1.8-litre unit provides a smoother experience. However, despite the engine being a bit more hushed than it is in the Symbioz, it still becomes rather loud when you’re accelerating hard. Combine that with a small amount of wind and suspension noise and there are plenty of quieter family SUVs available – the Hyundai Tucson and Kia Sportage to name two.

“On smooth, winding roads in the French countryside, I found the Bigster more composed than I thought it would be.” – Oliver Young, Reviewer

Interior

The interior layout, fit and finish

Fans of raised driving positions will be glad to hear that you sit suitably high up in the Dacia Bigster – even more so than you do in a Dacia Duster.

Better still, there’s plenty of adjustment in the seat and steering wheel so it’s easy to find your ideal driving position. The seats themselves are soft and comfortable, but bear in mind that only the Journey and Extreme trims come with adjustable lumbar support for the driver.

Thanks to the elevated driving position, you have a good view out over the Bigster’s bonnet, but the steeply angled windscreen pillars and the small gap between the pillars and wing mirrors means that your visibility at junctions is slightly compromised.

Luckily, rear visibility is much better, with large rear windows and cut-outs in the rear pillars giving you a good view out over your shoulder. Even so, to make parking easier, every Bigster gets front and rear parking sensors and four cameras – located on the front, back and each side.

Every Bigster has a digital driver’s display – a 7.0in one in entry-level Expression cars and a 10.1in one in range-topping trims. We’ve tried the larger screen and it’s crisp, clear and fairly configurable.

What’s less impressive is the infotainment touchscreen. The graphics are decent, and at 10.1in it’s a good size, but we found it sluggish. Sometimes several seconds passed between us prodding the screen and it responding.

Entry-level Expression trim misses out on sat-nav but that’s fine: you can bypass Dacia’s software and run your own apps through the touchscreen using the standard Android Auto and Apple CarPlay smartphone mirroring.

The layout of the interior is good, with everything where you’d expect it to be, and we really like that you get physical switches for the climate control. That’s something that rivals including the MG HS miss out on, making it way less distracting to make changes in the Bigster while you’re driving.

It’s not all good news inside. Indeed, the Bigster's interior very much fits Dacia's low-budget model. In fact, it's perhaps the cheapest-feeling interior in the family SUV class – even when compared with the similarly priced Citroën C5 Aircross and the surprisingly plush MG HS.

Much of the Bigster’s interior is carried over from the Dacia Duster, which means pretty much every surface is made of scratchy plastics. In fairness, the armrests are made from squidgier materials and there's some variety in colour, but that’s about it.

“Build quality feels largely robust, but one piece of trim on the centre console did come out of position during my testing, which is slightly concerning.” – Oliver Young, Reviewer

Passenger & boot space

How it copes with people and clutter

This is where the Dacia Bigster shines. Up front, the driver and passenger will have more than enough leg and head room, and they certainly won’t be rubbing shoulders. Two broad six-footers will have lots of space to get comfy.

Storage wise, the door bins are of a decent size and so is the glovebox. The Hybrid 155 in Journey trim has a raised centre console with a built-in cooler compartment in the armrest. On all versions, rear passengers get a fold-down centre armrest with two cupholders.

In the back, the Bigster offers more head room than its rivals but slightly less leg room than the MG HS. What’s more, the HS is wider, meaning that three sitting abreast will be more comfortable. Even so, the Bigster is a world away from being considered cramped, even by your biggest friends.

Unlike the closely-related Duster, which gets 60/40 split-folding rear seats, the Bigster features a more practical 40/20/40 split, and you can remotely drop the seat backs by pulling levers in the boot. It’s a shame the seats don’t slide back and forth like the ones in the Renault Symbioz, though.

The Bigster’s boot is, well, big. How big depends on the engine you choose. The Hybrid 155 has a boot volume of 612 litres, the Mild-Hybrid 130 has 629 litres and the Mild-Hybrid 140 has a whopping 677 litres.

For reference, the Kia Sportage and Hyundai Tucson manage up to 591 and 620 litres respectively (as with the Bigster, some variants get less).

In the real world, those capacities should mean you’ll easily fit a couple of buggies or lots of shopping in the Bigster’s boot. In fact, we managed to fit seven carry-on suitcases into the Hybrid 155’s boot, which is one more than the MG HS could swallow.

The Bigster has a height-adjustable boot floor, giving you greater flexibility in how you want to divide up your luggage. In its highest position, it creates a flat floor with the rear seats when they’re folded down. That said, if you opt for the spare wheel, this takes up the underfloor storage area.

“As someone who likes to carry around a bottle of water, I loved the Bigster's built-in cooler because it kept it nice and cold.” – Oliver Young, Reviewer

Buying & owning

Everyday costs, plus how reliable and safe it is

Like every Dacia, the Bigster is a low-cost option, costing a little less than the MG HS and lots less than the Hyundai Tucson, Kia Sportage and Nissan Qashqai.

We’ve yet to try a Bigster in entry-level Expression trim but it looks like a good option on paper. You see, not only does it come with respectable performance, but it also promises a surprising amount of standard equipment, including 17in alloy wheels, dual-zone climate control, electrically adjustable and heated door mirrors and lots of other kit.

If you can spend a little more, there’s the mid-spec Journey trim. It gains a bunch of creature comforts, including a premium 3D sound system, heated front seats, a heated steering wheel and an electrically operated tailgate. Top-spec Extreme trim is very similar to Journey, but adds bespoke details like copper-coloured styling and hill-descent control.

You can have four-wheel drive on either Expression trim or Extreme trim, which also adds driving modes to use off-road, including ones for snow and mud/sand.

As you might expect, the regular hybrid (Hybrid 155) Bigster is the most fuel efficient, managing an average of 48.8mpg in our real-world testing. That’s a fair way off its official average mpg of 61.4mpg, but still very good for a family SUV of its size.

The other engines should be good on fuel too. The Mild Hybrid 140 officially averages around 52mpg and the Mild Hybrid 130 4x4 around 47mpg – that’s better than mild hybrid engines in the Qashqai and Sportage (around 43-44mpg).

As for reliability, the Bigster has yet to appear in a What Car? Reliability Survey. However, as a brand, Dacia came 11th out of 30 car makers – a pretty solid result that puts it level with Peugeot. It’s a better finish than Hyundai and a significant improvement over MG, which finished in last place. Kia and Citroën both managed a top 10 finish, though.

Every Bigster gets Dacia’s Zen warranty, covering the car for up to seven years or 75,000 miles as long as you service it at an authorised dealer every year. That’s better than most rivals, although Toyota gives you 10 years with the same servicing stipulation.

The Bigster was given three stars out of five for safety after it was crash-tested by Euro NCAP. That's quite disappointing for a new car (most rivals get five stars). It does have a decent amount of safety kit, including automatic emergency braking (AEB), traffic-sign recognition, lane-departure warning and lane-keep assist.

“With two touches of a button, you can switch to your preferred safety settings. I found it very refreshing after putting up with annoying assistance features in other cars purely because of how confusing they were to turn off.” – Oliver Young, Reviewer

Buy it if…

– You want a family SUV that won’t break the bank

– You need something that’s really practical

– Value for money is important to you

Don’t buy it if…

– A high EuroNCAP rating is important to you

– You’re after a swish and high quality interior

– You need seven seats

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