9:00 am, March 30, 2025
The Bigster arrives as Dacia’s largest and most practical model to date, but is it any good?
To find out, we sent our very own James Baggott to give it a test drive and find out what’s what. This is what he found…
What is it?
Meet the Nissan Qashqai rival for Aldi shoppers – the Dacia Bigster. This is a medium-sized SUV that offers family transportation with no thrills, off-road looks and a cost-of-living-friendly price tag.
At a time when most car makers are pushing prices up, Dacia has done everything possible to bring them down by offering a car with the bare essentials to make driving pleasurable, but without expensive and often unnecessary extras.
What’s new?
This is a whole new model for Dacia and launches it into the highly competitive off-roader segment. Brits love these high-riding SUVs and across Europe, three million similar-sized models are sold every year – but their prices have ballooned.
The Bigster aims to supersize Dacia’s sales thanks to its middle-aisle £24,995 price tag and just enough accessories to keep drivers satisfied they’re not missing out.
What’s under the bonnet?
The Bigster comes with a choice of hybrid engines, but the most popular will be the Hybrid 155.
It constantly switches between a 107bhp 1.8-litre petrol engine and a 1.4kW battery. The latter is charged by the car and helps provide efficiency of 60.1mpg on the combined cycle. It will hit 60mph in 9.7 seconds and a top speed of 112mph.
Occasionally, it runs on EV power alone, but there’s no official range as the car chops and changes as it sees fit.
What’s it like to drive?
It’s not the smoothest of hybrids, but it works perfectly well and propels the Bigster along at a comfortable pace. On the road, we found the electric steering to be a little twitchy, needing constant adjustments to keep it on the straight and narrow.
The seats should really be a little more comfortable than they are and despite Dacia insisting it had worked hard to keep road noise down, we still found it a little loud. That said, it’s got a functional layout, feels solid on the road and is enjoyable to drive.
How does it look?
Dacia prides itself on its rugged-looking vehicles and the Bigster is no different. The chunky bumpers, side skirts and wheel arches are made from ‘Starkle’, a recycled plastic that sounds more like a rejected kids TV programme.
There’s a distinctive front end with LED driving lights, a huge Dacia badge and the design echoes that classic utilitarian look the smaller Duster mastered.
What’s it like inside?
The interior is no-nonsense and functional, but with just enough flair to keep those buyers downgrading from more premium brands happy.
Our test car had two 10.1-inch digital displays for the dash and multimedia system, Fisher Price chunky switchgear and plenty of proper buttons – something sadly missing on more expensive rivals.
Plastics feel hard wearing, the cabin is airy, thanks to a huge panoramic sunroof, and there’s loads of space in the back for your kids, dog or both.
What’s the spec like?
We drove the top spec Extreme trim (£29,495), but even on the cheaper models, the brand has worked hard to give buyers the kit they want and ditch the things they don’t need that usually push prices up.
Adaptive cruise control, a powered tailgate, heated seats and steering wheel and dual zone climate control are all available on the top trims.
We love the fact that all the mandatory (annoying) safety alerts – like lane keeping assist and speed limit warnings – are easy to turn off with one button too. Dacia engineers said it’s the first thing most owners do, so they’ve made it as easy as they can for them to do it.
Verdict
Execs admit the Bigster name is a little ‘Marmite’. But in the words of the brand’s UK boss ‘if customers got used to the Duster – named after a cleaning cloth – then I’m sure they’ll soon get used to Bigster’. He’s probably not wrong.
Name aside, the Bigster will appeal to money-conscious middle-class shoppers who strive for Marks & Spencer quality at discount store prices.
Just like buying Aldi’s own-brand Jaffa Cakes for a fraction of the price of the originals, this Dacia feels a little bit like you’re cheating the system. And buyers, just like us, will love that.
