New Dacia Duster vs MG GS
The Dacia Duster budget SUV sweeps up for price. But does the MG GS brush up well beside it?...
Buying and owning
Costs, equipment, reliability, safety and security
When you’re shopping for a bargain, the price is crucial – and here the Duster is hard to beat.
The difference in Target Price between the two – the price you should pay after haggling – is around £1500 in favour of the Duster, which will also cost you around £300 less in insurance and £200 less in servicing costs over three years. Our Test MPG shows you’ll spend more on fuel with the GS, too; the Duster averaged 35.5mpg in contrast to the GS at 31.6mpg.
Opt for a PCP finance deal – as many will – with a three-year term and £1500 customer deposit and the Duster will cost you almost £100 less per month than the GS. If you plan on running either as a company car, the Duster will again cost less, saving you around £100 over two years if you’re in the 20% tax bracket. The only way the GS comes out on top financially is if you lease it, although only by around £10 per month.
MG offers a better standard warranty, though, covering the GS for five years or 80,000 miles, compared with the Duster’s three years/60,000 miles. The Duster only scored averagely in its class in our latest reliability survey, too, while MG wasn’t included for comparison.
In terms of safety, both cars are a big disappointment. Neither gets automatic emergency braking – a feature that’s standard on most other family SUVs – even as an option. The GS even misses out on a tyre pressure monitoring system, but it gets six airbags, the same as the Duster.
< Previous | Next: Our verdict >
Page 5 of 6
Best family SUVs 2023
Want practicality, class and an elevated driving position in a relatively compact package? Then these are the top 10 cars you should be looking at – and the ones that are best avoided
