Dacia Spring facelift test: Electric car for the frugal

The Dacia Spring gets a facelift. The drive and battery technology remains the same, but a lot has changed on the inside. We tested the new model in the top version with 48 kW battery and Extreme trim line.

Like the old model, the Dacia Spring is based on the Renault Kwid, a small combustion car sold in India. The new version can already be ordered and is still available with 33 or 48 kW drive power and a 27 kWh battery. This enables up to 142 miles according to the WLTP standard. Charging is then either with single-phase alternating current (up to 3.7 kW at the wallbox). Charging with direct current is only available as an option.

Exterior | Interior | Drive and battery |  Driving impressions | Prices | Conclusion

Exterior

At 3.70 metres long and 1.52 metres high, the Dacia Spring is one of the smallest electric cars on the market. Dacia categorises the car as an A-segment SUV. That fits, although the boundaries to the hatchback are blurred. At 1.56 metres, the VW ID.3 compact car is actually a few centimetres taller.

The Spring has been on the market since spring 2021 and is not built by Dacia, but by Dongfeng in China. The most recent facelift gave the Spring a new exterior look. This includes changes to the horizontal black trim, which no longer sweeps downwards, as well as slightly more angular shapes in general. In addition, the Extreme version now has larger wheels. The 15-inch wheels are even standard on the Extreme version.

Alter Dacia Spring Extreme

The slightly more angular facelift version

In a crash test in 2021 (EuroNCAP website), the Dacia Spring only received one out of five stars. When asked whether the facelift will change this, Dacia simply said, "The car will not be tested again. Apparently only the legally required assistance systems (for example the speed limit beeper) have been added, but the poor crash safety remains the same. At the time, the experts found that the chest of the person at the wheel was only poorly protected in a frontal crash, while there was a risk of neck injuries in the rear. 

Interior

The interior is now also much more modern. First and foremost, the 10-inch touchscreen (only standard in the top-of-the-range Extreme version) is no longer integrated into the dashboard, but stands on top of it. There are also coloured design elements on the air vents (in the Extreme version).

Altes Cockpit

Neues Cockpit

The transmission modes are no longer activated with a rotary knob, but with a more stylish switch. The N, R, D and B modes are available here - the Spring still does not have a parking mode. There are also the new Youclip accessories, which can be attached to three fixing points. These include a mobile phone holder, although this is integrated quite low to the ground.

Youclip mobile phone holder low down in the centre

The new gear selector lever

The new touchscreen and operating system are a positive feature; pairing my mobile phone with the car went without a hitch. Our test car even had a reversing camera. The sat nav also works perfectly and calculated a route to Munich without any problems and reasonably quickly. However, it does not provide a complete charging plan; instead, you can only display charging points near the route and add them as a stopover if required. Well, the Spring is a city car with a range of 142 miles.

The sat nav worked out a route from Bordeaux to Munich without any problems

Apart from the new elements, there are still plenty of antiquated elements in the interior that you won't find in any other electric car. For example, the Spring is probably the only electric car that is still started with an ignition key, has a mechanical parking brake with a handle (aka handbrake) and locking buttons on the rear doors. Also missing are the handles above the front side doors and a handle for closing the tailgate.

System start via ignition key

In fact, a traditional handbrake ...

In the rear, there is just enough space for me as a 1.76 metre tall test person. My knees hit the front seat backrest when I adjust the driver's seat to suit me. However, there are a few centimetres above my head.

There is just enough knee room in the back for the author

No problem with rear headroom

The backrest of the rear bench can only be folded down in its entirety rather than split, and you can clearly feel the inferior workmanship. There is a 15 cm high threshold at the boot entrance. There is also no handle with which you can close the tailgate without getting your hands dirty. Grab handles above the front side doors are also missing. And instead of the usual automatic air conditioning, there is only a normal air conditioning system (without temperature adjustment); a rain sensor is also missing - well, that's not really bad.

The rear backrest is folded down in its entirety

The boot floor is not level when the seat is folded down

At 308-1,004 litres, the boot capacity is large for the class. The seven centimetre shorter Fiat 500 Electric only has 185-380 litres, the 13 cm longer Hyundai Inster has 351-1,059 litres and the Opel-Vauxhall Corsa Electric has 267-1,042 litres. For the Citroën ë-C3, only the basic volume (310 litres) is known so far. In addition to the rear boot, the Dacia also has a frunk, albeit only optional and only made of plastic. There is a Youclip accessory for the space under the bonnet, in which the charging cable or other small items can be stored:

The frunk is a plastic part from the accessories shop

Drive and battery

Speaking of charging cables, a rather random stop at an Aldi car park allowed me to try a little charging. I took the AC charging cable out of the boot, opened the flap on the nose of the Dacia Spring and plugged it in. The charging point didn't have a display and the display in the car wasn't very informative either. Nevertheless, it reported that it would take four and a half hours to raise the charge level from 44 to 100 per cent. This roughly matches the information provided by Dacia (8h 28m for 0-80 per cent with 3.7 kW).

Charging test at an Aldi charging station

I panicked briefly when I wanted to finish my charging attempt and the cable could not be disconnected at either end. There was no button for this either on the charging point or on the car. Finally, locking and unlocking the car with the key helped.

The battery is not housed in the underbody, as is often the case, but is located completely under the rear seats - where the fuel tank was in the Renault Kwid. According to the data sheet, the battery consists of 72 cells in 12 modules, i.e. there are six cells in each module. They are all connected in series, so the battery configuration is 72s1p, resulting in a nominal voltage of 240 volts - very low for a 400-volt architecture and possibly a reason why the battery can be charged with a maximum of 30 kW.

The battery is located completely under the rear seat

At the event, we learnt that the cells come from the Chinese manufacturer Sunwoda. I had to have the company name written down because I had never heard it before. They couldn't or wouldn't tell me anything about the chemistry.

The battery weighs just 186 kilos and is air-cooled. According to the Dacia product manager, the car does not have a heat pump or battery preconditioning, but the interior can be preheated.

The range of 142 miles is sufficient for a city car. The charging properties are also fine, as the battery can be recharged in little more than a standard night (8h 28m) thanks to the low storage capacity if you plug it into a wallbox at home.

The Extreme version is driven by a 48 kW electric motor on the front axle. It is a current-excited synchronous motor, so no permanent magnets are required. This enables the car to sprint to 62 mph in 13.7 seconds - significantly faster than the 33 kW basic motorisation, which takes no less than 19.1 seconds.

Driving impressions

It will hardly come as a surprise that the Spring is not sporty to drive as it is more the right car for slowing down. The fact that I didn't mind the rather restrained acceleration may seem strange, but I didn't want to drive that fast in a rural environment. If I'd had to merge onto a busy German motorway, it might have been different.

We only needed 12.6 kWh/100 km, of which 2.3 kWh/100 km were used for the air conditioning. Even the Dacia product manager couldn't tell us what the 86.8 kWh/100 km meant

The power consumption is officially stated as 13.2 kWh/100 km - making the car one of the most economical electric models ever. The on-board computer even showed only 12.5 kWh/100 km (at summer temperatures and on low-consumption routes), of which 2.5 kWh/100 km were due to the air conditioning. The Spring is therefore economical, which is probably also due to its low weight of less than one tonne. 

Due to its short range, the Dacia Spring's natural habitat is not the motorway, but the city. Or the countryside, if you want to drive it to the shops or take the children to various facilities. An ideal second car or the only car if you generally travel longer distances by train or plane.

I drove the car in the west of Bordeaux on lonely country roads. The first thing I noticed here was the very indirect steering. At 35 mph, you can easily move the steering wheel rim back and forth by five centimetres without the car becoming unsettled - it just keeps going straight ahead. On country roads or motorways, this is probably an advantage because you don't have to make corrections when driving straight ahead. But it is a disadvantage when manoeuvring, turning and parking. I couldn't find out whether the steering is speed-dependent.

Unlike what I'm used to with electric cars, the Dacia Spring definitely wobbles outwards in roundabouts. This is probably due to the fact that there is no heavy battery in the vehicle floor. Instead, the battery is quite light and lies completely under the rear seat. There is no lack of comfortable suspension, as I realised when driving over speed bumps.

I also tried out the assistance systems a little. Here you have the choice between "All On" and "Perso". In All On mode, there is a lane departure warning system, which rarely came into action on the poorly marked country roads. Instead of adaptive cruise control, there is only normal cruise control in Spring. There is also speed limit recognition.

"All On" or "Perso"

The recently introduced mandatory speed beeper (officially Intelligent Speed Assist, ISA) is not too annoying. It only beeps and does not buzz, plus it sometimes tolerates a few mph more than permitted. To switch it off, you select "Perso" and can then select or deselect the individual assistants individually. This setting is retained even after a restart, but you then have to reactivate "Perso". 

Prices and rivals

The Dacia Spring is still the cheapest electric car on the market. For the basic version with 33 kW you only pay £14,995, and even the 48 kW version with Extreme equipment is still unrivalled at £16,995.

However, something is brewing due to the EU punitive tariffs. If they are finally introduced, Dacia will have to pay just under 21 per cent on every Spring produced in China and imported into the EU. If these costs are passed on to customers, the Extreme would end up at just over £21,000. 

This would put the car at the same level as the Citroën e-C3 (from £21,990) or the Fiat 500 electric (also currently from £21,995). The Hyundai Inster was also recently presented, which is to be available from £21,000.

Read also:

Dacia's new flagship UK retailer unveiled in London

Dacia Spring: UK’s most affordable EV now available to order

Conclusion

My general verdict on many electric cars is: good, but expensive. The opposite is true of the Dacia Spring. The little car fulfils the basic needs of electric mobility in the city and is therefore justified. However, its crash safety is inadequate, which is not only due to the lack of assistance systems. The Spring can only be considered safe if the alternative is an electric scooter or bicycle. We could live with the other peculiarities of the car.  

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Source: Dacia