Renault subsidiary Dacia revealed the Spring electric hatchback in October 2020. Two facelifts and nearly four years later, the front-drive city car has reached the United Kingdom with a starting price that beats every other new electric vehicle.
Including the value-added tax, delivery charge, and first registration fee, Dacia will sell you a Spring for 14,995 pounds sterling or just around 19,440 buckaroos at current exchange rates. By comparison, the front-drive Nissan Leaf and the rear-drive Tesla Model 3 are listed at £28,495 and £39,990, respectively, in this part of the world.
Manufactured in China and based on a platform introduced by the combustion-engined Renault Kwid for India back in 2015, the Dacia Spring is quite a bit narrower and shorter than the Nissan Leaf. It's also underpowered, for its electric motor is good for either 45 or 65 metric horsepower.
Peak torque is either 125 or 113 newton meters (92 or 83 pound-feet), while its high-voltage battery is a 240-volt unit with 26.8 kilowatt hours to its name. Comprising 12 modules with 6 cells each, the lithium-ion pack offers no more than 140 miles (225 kilometers) of combined range or 190 miles (306 kilometers) in the urban jungle.
As you might have guessed by now, customers are presented with two powertrain choices. When it comes to grades, Dacia offers two in the form of the Expression (in Electric 45 and Electric 65 flavors) and the Extreme (Electric 65 only). Charging performance? 13 hours and 32 minutes on a 2.3-kW domestic plug from zero to 100 percent, 4 hours and 51 minutes on a 7.4-kW wallbox, and zero to 80 percent in merely 56 minutes on a 125-ampere DC fast charger.
Photo: Dacia
Available elsewhere in Europe, the Essential trim level isn't available in the United Kingdom. The Expression grade, meanwhile, comes with the likes of a height-adjustable steering wheel, Media Control infotainment, a 7.0-inch digital instrument cluster, speed limiter and cruise control, rear parking sensors, front electric windows, as well as manual air conditioning.
Stepping up to the Electric 65 also means that you will be upgraded from 165/70 R14 to 165/65 R15 tires and wheels. Be that as it may, the diameters of the front discs and rear drums stay put at 238 and 170 millimeters, respectively. Gifted with pseudo McPherson suspension for the front axle and an H-axle with helical springs in the rear, the Spring tops 78 miles per hour (125 kph).
Top speed doesn't matter in a city-centric electric vehicle, though. In addition to driving range, the other metric that matters is the sprint from zero to 31 miles per hour (50 kph). In this case, Dacia quotes 6.0 and 3.9 seconds, respectively, with 62 miles per hour (100 kph) coming in a rather lethargic 19.1 seconds for the Electric 45 or 13.7 seconds for the punchier Electric 65 version.
Priced at £16,995 on the road, which is merely two grand more than the base specification, Extreme Electric 65 builds on the Expression Electric 65 with goodies such as a 10-inch touchscreen, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a bi-directional charger to power external appliances, and snazzy copper touches to the cockpit and interior. What more could you want from a daily driver? If you're worried about rear legroom, you're better off buying a larger EV.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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