JOYS OF SPRING (some text hidden) SECTIONED_new_daciaspring_2024_preview

By Jonathan Crouch

Dacia's Spring reset the value proposition for EV buyers on a budget. Jonathan Crouch reports on the improved version.

Ten Second Reviewword count: 59

Dacia shook up the affordable end of the EV market with this car, the Spring, but it needed more power to be really credible. It now has that in this revised form. The driving range is still very modest, but then so also is the price. And this Romanian contender remains fun to look at - and to drive.

Backgroundword count: 195

Electric cars are too expensive. That's the bottom line. Despite continued industry promises, we're still waiting for the required wave of small, affordable EVs priced more comparably with fossil-fuelled runabouts. If any car maker was going to provide such a thing, you'd hope it might be Dacia, Renault's Romanian budget brand, who shook up the market a decade ago by offering UK folk a new family hatchback (the Sandero) for under £6,000. In 2021, they shook up the EV market too by launching what back then was Europe's cheapest electric car, the Spring. That original Spring model had a few rough edges, so Dacia waited until the 2024 mid-term update to launch it here in the UK. By June 2025, over 179,000 Springs had been sold in Europe, making this model No2 in its segment. But by this time, the car was starting to face tough competition from a similarly-priced but more powerful Chinese competitor, the Leapmotor T03. To bring the Spring back into proper contention, in Autumn 2025, Dacia launched a revised powertrain for this car, with a new LFP battery and much more power motor options. That's the car we look at here.

Engines and Tech Specword count: 254

Our market focuses on the gutsier version of the Spring, now with a 100hp electric motor (up from 65hp before); an entry-level 70hp version's also available (up from just 45hp before). These power hikes make a huge difference to real-world performance. The old Spring 45 took a glacial 26.2s to get to 62mph, a time now improved to 10.3s. The old Spring 65 needed 14s for the 62mph sprint, a time now pegged at just 6.9s. This means that the Spring can travel with ease in less urban areas and fit naturally into motorway traffic for a more comfortable driving experience, helped by a light kerb weight of just 984kg. There's a new lithium-ion phosphate 24.3kWh battery, but its EV range hasn't changed much, still rated at 140 miles for both versions. Dacia has also worked on the handling of this car. The Spring now gains an anti-roll bar for the first time, stabilising it in corners. And the chassis has a reinforced central section to make the structure stiffer and optimise weight distribution. Plus the brakes are now more powerful, to cope with the extra power. As before, the tight turning circle, super-light steering and the small exterior size make the Spring a great city car. Predictably, it's still less comfortable on the motorway, where it can get blown about by HGVs and going above 70mph takes quite a bit of driver determination. Best to keep this Dacia in its comfort zone, zipping about the suburbs, where it's really quite a fun companion.

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