► Dacia’s new, electric Spring city car
► Heavy refresh of existing baby EV
► UK orders open now, priced from £14,995
Dacia’s heavily refreshed Spring electric car has arrived, and it’s officially coming to the UK later in 2024. It’s made its first public debut at the 2024 Geneva motor show. The baby EV has had a proper design and interior rethink, introducing some extra technology and features over the pre-facelift model.
We already quite like the Spring, having driven the pre-facelift model on UK roads and on a big adventure to the Transfagarasan highway in its home country of Romania. Now, as it launches in right-hand drive, UK buyers are officially able to order one – and UK prices have been confirmed.
It looks cute!
As it should – it’s only a dinky thing. The new model features Dacia’s new design language here, with lots of blocky and boxy motifs moulded onto the car’s front and rear end. You have to remember that this is a heavy update, not a whole new generation, so the basic car’s structure remains the same as before.
Bolder details are seen everywhere, with chunky wheelarches and funky wheel designs. The brand’s name is emblazoned across the rear and lights that ape the design of the new Duster can be seen front and rear.
The version pictured also features a neat vinyl motif on the front and rear bumper of a map of city streets, implying that the Spring is much more at home in the urban jungle than the real one. In fact, that (optional) map graphic is deliberate; ‘we’re keeping the same trim levels as the rest of the Dacia range [i.e. Essential, Expression and Extreme],’ Dacia design director, David Durand tells us. ‘With the Extreme version, we thought it would be best not to put topography lines in the details of this car [unlike Duster or Jogger Extreme models] because this car will never go off road! It wouldn’t be coherent.
‘But with these stickers front and rear, the idea was also to protect the bumpers front and rear – it’s much more easy to change than changing a full bumper – and we’ll propose some future collections,’ adds Durand. ‘It’s also useful for car sharers, for example, giving them the space to put their logo.’
What about the interior?
Arguably the Spring’s biggest improvement over the pre-update one. Naturally, the Spring has been designed to be a cheap car – as cheap as it can be – but the interior’s materials and layout felt one step away from sitting inside a wheelie bin.
Now, though, the Spring takes a lot of design and material inspiration from the new Duster, including a very blocky dashboard featuring Dacia’s design motifs in various places. White as well as black plastic panels help to lift the interior ambience and higher-up trims can be customised with matte orange or khaki green vent surrounds. Physical climate controls feature, as does (a small amount of) steering height adjustment – the pre-facelift car didn’t.
Every Spring benefits from a seven-inch digital instrument display as standard. As for infotainment, Dacia says low-end Essential and Expression models have a phone clip for you to use, while higher Extreme trim features a customisable 10-inch infotainment display also seen on the new Duster. Go for that and you’ll also benefit from wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Given the facelift came about in order for the Spring to meet new General Safety Regulation 2 standards, every Spring model also benefits from a raft of safety technologies as standard, with even basic Essential models coming with a speed limiter and cruise control, rear parking sensors, AEB, traffic sign recognition, lane-keep assist and emergency call functions (among other bits).
The Spring also benefits from Dacia’s new YouClip accessories system that was first launched with the new Duster, with the Spring featuring three YouClip hook points in the interior. Launch accessories include a three-in-one cupholder (it’s called a ‘three-in-one’ as it includes two more YouClip hooks on the accessory itself), a bag, a hook, a battery-operated light and a smartphone holder. You can also spec a plastic tray to cover the mechanical parts under the bonnet, giving you a small frunk area.
What Spring performance specs can you tell me?
This is the part where not much has changed from before. Every Spring benefits from a 28.6kWh battery pack that sits below the rear seats and a single e-motor driving the front wheels. The Spring is also still a light car, with its heaviest version clocking in at 984kg – just six kilograms more than the pre-facelift model.
Two power variants will be available: 44bhp (known as the 45) and 64bhp (known as the 65). Both are capable of a 137-mile e-range, while the latter will sprint to 62mph in a lethargic-but-actually-fine-in-city-driving 14 seconds.
The Spring can charge at 7kW AC or up to 30kW via a DC charger. Dacia says that means a 20-100 per cent charge in 11 hours on a domestic socket, four hours on a 7kW wallbox or 45 mins from 20-80 per cent via a DC charger.
On top of that, the Spring can be had with vehicle-to-load functionality – similar to what Hyundai and Kia provide as an option. V2L is only available on Extreme trim, and works via an adapter plugged into the car’s charge port, allowing you to power devices.
How much is a Dacia Spring?
You can have a Dacia Spring from £14,995 in the UK, making it the cheapest electric car on the market here right now. Prices start from £14,995 for an Expression 45, while an Expression 65 is £15,995 and an Extreme 65 is £16,995. Deliveries begin to arrive in October of 2024.