Dacia Spring EV review: Cheap and cheerful

Electric cars might be too expensive, but that’s about to change with the arrival of the Dacia Spring. It’s a compact city EV that’s been on sale in Europe for the last three years and is now coming to the UK. Its roots lie firmly in the Chinese market, where it’s also built, but the Spring’s main appeal is its price tag. It costs £14,995 (just over $19,000), which is cheap by anyone’s standards.

Now, I’m all for smaller, more compact EVs, which make so much more sense than electric SUVs that instantly have the burden of weight taking the edge off their appeal. The Dacia Spring is certainly compact and weighs less than a ton. As a result, it doesn’t have a big battery and doesn’t need one either really, because this is a car that’s primarily designed for short hops, rather than hefty road trips.

That’s not to say the Dacia Spring doesn’t have everything I need on a long haul. There is satellite navigation via a compact infotainment screen, there is air conditioning and there is also a reasonable level of comfort. The 26.8kWh battery pack offers 140 miles of range too, while potential customers will have the option of either a 44bhp or 64bhp motor to get them down the road. On paper then, the Dacia Spring looks like it’s got plenty going for it.

Recommended

Dacia Spring

The Dacia Spring is a compact, all-electric city car that comes with a few compromises on the comfort. However, for it’s intended purpose, the Spring is excellent. It’s cheap, easy to drive, frugal and fun in tight spaces too. It’s less great for longer trips, but given that this is a city car, that’s to be expected.

Pros

• Great maneuverability
• Decent specs, given the price tag
• Acceptable range

Cons

• Steering feels less precise on highway drives
• Amusingly spongy suspension and some body roll
• Cozy interior might be a little too small for some

Price, availability, and specs

The Dacia Spring comes in two trim variants, with the base Expression model starting from £14,995 with a 44bhp motor. A 64bhp Extreme variant, which costs £16,995, offers a little more power and more refined trim options. A middle ground Expression model comes in at £15,995.

Design and build

Cute and compact

I had expected the Dacia Spring to be compact and bijou, but it actually looks even smaller when you see it in the metal. At 3.7 meters long and just 1.58 meters wide, it’s perfectly suited to city use, with a body style that has little to fret about at each end. In fact, Dacia’s designers were mindful to make the nose and tail sections look and feel like they’d be perfectly comfortable being nudge-parked in tight parking spaces.

I like the way that Dacia still managed to add a sense of style and fun to the design of the Spring. This car is slightly more sophisticated than the company’s earlier, more spartan models, and there are a lot of neat little touches that give the Spring character. There are funky exterior colors too, along with the jazzy 15-inch wheels on the Extreme edition that I’ve been driving. One thing I did notice though was the slightly flimsy sound and feel when closing the doors.

The trunk too, which has a decent 308 liters of space, needed a hefty slam to stop the ‘boot open’ alert flashing up after I’d set off. I like the way Dacia has put the charging port behind a door on the front grille, which means that this car is very easy to get to a wallport or commercial charger, unlike some models that require careful parking to get the cable to reach.

The interior lowdown

Snug but comfortable for shorter journeys