8 Things I Learned From Six Months Of Dacia Jogger ‘Ownership’

After six months behind the wheel and many thousands of miles clocked, 'our' Dacia Jogger longtermer has departed. In that time it’s trekked across the country ferrying me to various shoots and launches, been used as a tracking car and scoreboard for some YouTube track challenges, and lapped the circuit itself. Yes, really.

Here’s what I learned about the car in that time.

The engine is one of its weaker points

I’ve long been anti-three-cylinder engines. They’re inherently imbalanced and reluctant to rev, and as far as three-pots go, Renault’s is one of the least pleasant to experience. It could almost be described as ‘rattly’ on idle, and the under-bonnet view of it running is quite a sight as it rocks energetically on its mountings.

A power figure of 109bhp and 148lb ft of torque sounds reasonable enough, as does the 0-62mph time of 10.8 seconds, but the Jogger does still feel quite sluggish, and there are times when an uphill motorway run requires a shift down from sixth to fifth gear. Significant turbo lag also makes for frustratingly slow response times.

The only way to avoid a three-pot engine is to go for the inline-four-based hybrid version of the Jogger, which is £3,400 more in the same ‘Extreme’ trim as our test car. Paying off that premium with the hybrid’s extra efficiency is going to take chunky mileage over a good few years, but we’d be tempted to pay it just for the sake of a more refined powertrain.

It’s reasonably economical

While not the nicest engine to use, that three-banger is at least reasonably frugal. We averaged 44mpg over the course of the loan, not too far off the official combined figure of 48. That said, those were mostly motorway miles, and judging by the rate the car got through the fuel we were sticking it in, the number displayed by the trip computer was probably optimistic by a couple of MPG. Still, we'll take those results.

But it’d be better still with a diesel engine

One thought that kept entering my head when taking the car on longer jaunts was that blending the Jogger’s practicality with an economical diesel engine would result in pretty much the ideal long-distance load lugger. However, the Jogger has never been available with one, and Dacia abandoned diesel last year, citing weak customer demand.

There are compromises with the seven-seater layout

Until the new Citroen C3 Aircross goes on sale, the next-cheapest seven-seater car that isn’t based on a van costs about £15k more than a Jogger, which, when you think about it, is pretty bonkers. It’s not quite as simple as that, though - spend getting on for £40k on a seven-seater SUV and you will generally get a third-row seating arrangement that involves the sixth and seventh chairs neatly folding into the boot floor. Being more of an estate car and one that costs a whole lot less than a big SUV, you don’t get any such fanciness - the seats are just sort of there.

Yes, you can fold them up against the middle row and still have 700 litres of boot space to play with, but they don’t lock in that position, so if there’s not some sufficiently big cargo to prop the seats up, they’ll come slamming back down when you start moving. My old Skoda Yeti got around this with simple hooks on bungee cords on the ends of the seats, but you don't get that here.

You can take the seats out, which is easy enough, but most of the time I’ve left them in with just the seat benches folded flat, which gives an awkwardly angled surface on which to load anything.

But its people/cargo-carrying capacity is amazing for the price

All of the above, however, is perfectly forgivable considering what the Jogger costs. For the money, it’s incredible how much you can move around in it, be that stuff (the car did inevitably get pressed into service for a tip run, and has frequently hauled around my mountain bike) or human beings. Those third-row seats aren’t token efforts, either - they’re more than roomy enough for bigger kids, and you can, if needs be, squeeze an adult in there, as we have done a couple of times. Just don’t then go on a big road trip with anyone tall sitting back there.

It handles better than you’d expect (but maybe don’t take it on track)

As a sign of how even ‘normal’ cars handle well these days, the Jogger does OK for itself on twisty roads. A low kerb weight of around 1,200kg means it changes direction pretty nicely and is surprisingly good fun to chuck around. There’s a bit of body roll, sure, but nothing excessive. And yes, we have had it on a circuit, where it emerged victorious in the lap time segment of our unconventional track car battle video.

But maybe don’t try and replicate that yourself - after we’d wrapped up filming, the Jogger threw up a fuel pressure fault and wouldn’t start until it was cleared. Whoops.

The boot lid is massive

This might sound odd, but the boot lid really is a whopper. I’m so used to tiddly bootlids which sit atop the heavily sculpted bumpers of the modern cars we test, that I’ve gotten caught out a few times (as has our video presenter Alex Gassman) when closing the massive Jogger boot. Make sure you stand well clear, or you might find yourself smacking the edge on your head. As I may or may not have done. You have been warned...

I rarely wanted something plusher

The Jogger is very much on the budget end of the spectrum, but even on longer trips, I never felt hard done by, other than perhaps wanting a slightly better sound system. The Jogger has everything you realistically need - Apple Car Play/Android Auto connectivity, air conditioning, electric windows, cruise control, and most importantly, comfortable seats. There are far fancier toys than that out there these days, but do you really need them? After six months of Jogger life, I’m not sure you do.