Not content with having democratized automotive mobility with the Logan and then with the Sandero which continues to be a hit, as well as the Duster SUV, Dacia is now present on the electric city car market with the Spring.
And guess what?
You won't find any other comparable electric car that is cheaper.
But how do they do it at Dacia?
On board
The key of the Spring is reminiscent of that of the models of yesteryear, with a long non-folding metal part, ideal for punching holes in trouser pockets.
That said, it controls central locking remotely, we won't complain.
In hand, the door handle leaves a feeling of lightness.
This is also the case of the tailgate, barely dressed on its inner surface.
But once the door is open, installed behind the wheel, we look for the usual adjustment controls but the seat can only be adjusted in length and inclination, while the steering column is downright fixed.
The driving position is therefore quite average, with a seat that is too high and a steering wheel that is too low, not to mention the absence of a footrest.
The comfort of the seats is rather average.
On the other hand, their one-piece architecture is reassuring in the event of a collision,
especially in terms of cervical protection.
The rear seats are even more rudimentary and only reserve a little space at knee level.
Either way, the Spring is capable of carrying 4 people.
The trunk has a volume of 290 litres, which is very acceptable considering that the car measures only 3.75 m.
The backrests fold down (50/50) but do not provide a flat floor.
In this case, the useful volume increases to 620 liters.
On the road
Generally, an electric car is started with a button.
Not the Spring, in which you have to turn the key as you would with a classic thermal car.
Gear selector on "neutral" and foot on the brake, just wait for the "OK" light to come on for the car to be operational.
From the outset, the steering surprises with its great lightness.
It's very pleasant in maneuvers, but on the road, we say to ourselves that the development must have been quickly dispatched: the steering wheel lacks consistency, does not let any information go up and always seems very artificial.
A bit like a video game steering wheel, in fact.
With only 45 hp/33 kW and 125 Nm, we feared the worst in terms of driving pleasure.
However, it is clear that on this subject, the Spring is doing very well with accelerations and revivals much higher than those of a car with a combustion engine of comparable power.
The immediate availability of the couple is obviously not foreign to it.
Only one driving mode is offered and it is not possible to modulate the intensity of the energy regeneration on foot lift, set to give a deceleration similar to that of the engine brake of a petrol car.
On the other hand, the absence of a “parking” position somewhat challenged us.
Only the parking brake holds the car.
Therefore, a question arises: how will the tension of the cable evolve over time,
In terms of behavior, perched high on its tiny wheels fitted with Chinese tires (which we unfortunately could not test on wet roads), the Spring takes quite a bit of body roll in turns and proves to be sensitive to gusts of side wind. like in ruts.
Her demeanor, on the other hand, is always healthy, even when pushed to make mistakes.
The soundproofing is very light with a clear perception of road noise, wind noise and the outside atmosphere, but the damping comfort is more than acceptable.
Budget
For this test, we had the best-equipped Expression version, billed at €21,300.
At this price, you have a more than generous endowment with, among other things, navigation, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity, rear view camera, speed limiter, electric windows and mirrors, manual air conditioning, headlights automatic ignition and 6 airbags.
For €1,500 more, you might as well opt directly for this version as for the entry-level, which does without smartphone connectivity, navigation and a reversing camera that are very practical on a daily basis.
Driving calmly and in Eco mode on the highway (power reduced to 23 kW and/or speed limited to 100 km/h), the Spring left us with an average consumption of only 11.7 kWh/100 km.
Enough to travel more than 200 km with the 27.4 kWh of the battery, which corresponds quite well to the 230 km WLTP promised by the brand.
With such a small capacity, the 7.4 kW on-board charger allows charging at a public terminal in less than 5 hours, but note that as an option (€400), Dacia offers an on-board charger that can support direct current up to at 30kW.
Enough to go from 10 to 80% charge in less than an hour.
Conclusion
With the Spring, we feel it perfectly, the search for savings is present everywhere.
But beyond the limited comfort (although the equipment is far from being scanty) and the rather vague road behavior to which we end up getting used, what especially seduced us was its concept, that of a small, handy and relatively light car, making do with a low-power engine and therefore a small battery.
In short, the Spring is the reasoned electric, the one that gives a very good lesson in consistency to the rest of automotive production, not to say a real slap.
Well done Dacia!
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Automotive
Dacia
Mobility
Electric car