Dacia Spring: what you need to know before buying it, real consumption and autonomy

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Dacia Spring & egrave; the economic electric car par excellence, a term that must be taken with a grain of salt since there are on the one hand electric quadricycles, partially usable for the same functions as & quot; city car & quot; even with the limitations of the case, on the other hand the Chinese are also arriving in Italy.

Today, however, Spring remains the obligatory choice for those who want to switch to electric but can; also be an alternative to the petrol car if inserted in the context of a city and extra-urban use, the classic commuter that does not tackle too much ring road/motorway. Let's see why & eacute; and how it behaves when driving.

  • ROAD TEST
  • CONSUMPTION AND AUTONOMY
  • CHARGING AND COSTS
  • COCKPIT AND LUGGAGE
  • PRICES
  • VIDEO

ROAD TEST

A little more; of 20,000 & euro; for the entry model of a vehicle that must absolutely contain costs given the extra charge of the battery pack. The incipit is used to understand and frame Spring, a double-sided car that comes with a raised drive (but not high in absolute terms, more like a crossover to be clear), a soft and very easy steering and comfort necessary for the urban environment.

The dimensions – & egrave; narrow on the outside but acceptable for four in terms of internal width – they make it really practical because & eacute; you can park easily , it allows you to take advantage of rear sensors and rear view camera (if present) and in city traffic you can juggle that & egrave; a pleasure . In addition, the power is; the right one also for the ring road, you can safely overtake given a couple always available: instantaneous s & igrave; but not high in absolute value. Comparable, for & ograve ;, to the small cars with the most gasoline; cheap.

Very soft setup , a feature that turns out to be a double-edged sword. Finch & eacute; holes and bumps are not extreme, everything is fine: Spring tackles the roughness without hitting the back; of medium intensity, she never bears the weight of her and is very soft, suffering from & ograve; in extreme situations where the excursion is not enough and the little sustained calibration brings the shock absorber to the beat. L & igrave; the blow & egrave; dry.

On balance, however, in the city guide it is enough to accept a roll present even when facing a roundabout and the game is; made because & eacute; Spring & egrave; practical, easy, economical to maintain (we will see consumption in the dedicated chapter) and solid in the frame. It also digests dirt roads well without getting upset: on the other hand & egrave; a car born on roads far worse than ours .


The other side of the coin concerns for & ograve; obvious limitations behind the wheel, sometimes able to turn into defects. The first is that of the driving position: fixed . Only the seat is adjusted, and you can only do this forwards/backwards and in the backrest. Thanks to the absence of adjustments for the steering wheel, there are two cases. Are you perfect for the & quot; standard & quot; position? Excellent, you will travel comfortably.

You are slightly more & ugrave; tall? After an hour of driving you will begin to suffer from a position that puts too much strain on the right leg: it is my case and I am (only) 1.76m tall: going backwards with the seat would not solve as the arms would be too far from the steering wheel. In the small journeys of a few tens of minutes it is not; a problem, but already; spending an hour and a half behind the wheel leads to numbness in the leg.

The consequences of an & quot; old school & quot; platform must also be pointed out; and wheels with 165/70 tires with a reduced footprint compared to what – usually – we are used to. Starting from the rubber, the obvious limit is; that in the estate, especially in the wet. Here the ABS becomes hyper-apprehensive, it activates with an anticipation to which it is egrave; hard to get used to with modern cars and at first it can be also scare.

In general, all electronic controls are incisive and anticipated , Dacia has privileged safety and this allows you to throw yourself into the corners with the & quot; gas & quot; open knowing that she will cut power to the wheels immediately and in an important way, limiting understeer. The pedal then has an intelligent mapping, damped in the moments immediately following the start to avoid slippage and & quot; bad & quot ;.

REAL CONSUMPTION AND AUTONOMY

Champion in consumption, with an asterisk . Dacia Spring wins over many competitors for efficiency, intended for & ograve; as a ratio between weight and consumption given the presence of a compact battery. Is not serious; the perfect relationship in general, the Brianza Ring has shown how Kona Electric manages to be better if we call into question the motorway, but it is; the perfect relationship for the city & agrave ;.

The data recorded in our test circuit in real conditions (highway, ring road, extra-urban, city & agrave;, ups and downs) drops significantly when we bring Spring into its environment, the urban one . Already subjecting it to a further 30 km from Monza to Milan, the average had dropped to 13.8 kWh/100 km.

On the plain and in ideal conditions, then, the constant 70 km/h can be traveled with about 6 kW of power and the constant 90 km/h requires 10/11 kW, negligible figures that translate into a real autonomy. between cities and extra-urban that can & ograve; effortlessly reach 200/250 km . More & ugrave; if you are a bit traffic conscious. Watch out for regeneration: not very powerful engine, poor regeneration. In reality the peak & egrave; not even 10 kW and & egrave; instantaneous, the average & egrave; much more; low: Spring & egrave; a car that prefers to roll by inertia and completely eliminates one-pedal driving from the equation. Is not serious; a defect because & eacute; consumption ( between 10 and 11 kWh/100 km in the city ) gives reason to Dacia … in the context in which this car fits.

REFILL The other aspect to evaluate is; recharging, I wait for & ograve; it must – once again – be contextualized. Dacia Spring & egrave; electricity for the city, those who buy it for long and frequent journeys are deluding themselves. A 6.6 kW single-phase charger may seem like a little compared to the average of the 11 kW three-phase present on today's electric machines but the Spring battery & egrave; small in the face of excellent city efficiency.

The & quot; full & quot ;, the full recharge of Dacia Spring, costs less than 5 & quot; from home . The consumptions detected by the test need 28 & euro; for 1 month of home-work (60 km/day with ring road).

For this, 8-14 hours are enough to recharge from home depending on whether you have a wallbox or not (even 3.7 kW is enough). Who can not & ograve; recharge in the garage, you will have to & agrave; only find 5/6 hours a week to top up the columns: at the supermarket or in the public ones, if available in the area. For this reason, the optional 600 & euro; for charging in DC & egrave; not recommended: not only & quot; would steal & quot; a hold to those who have objective needs; fast charging, but & egrave; also limited to 30 kW. It clashes with the use of this car and with common sense.

COCKPIT AND TRUNK

The comforts base there are: the air conditioner & egrave; with manual adjustment but & egrave; effective and practical even in demisting, without giving up the side if not for the impossibility; to set a & quot; number & quot; corresponding to the temperature. The USB socket on the infotainment frame joins the 12V at the bottom and powers/connects the smartphone for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto (with cable). The infotainment system is very simple, the standard navigation should only be used as a backup in case of absence of connection but, with Android Auto and CarPlay, the fluidity; & egrave; excellent, better than most competitors; expensive . And the screen & egrave; opaque to limit reflections.

The main flaw is; the absence of automatic emergency braking which would be the only ADAS essential for a city car.

Spare wheel Very smooth Android Auto and Apple CarPlay Rear camera and rear sensors Non-adjustable steering wheel and seat No front armrest No automatic emergency braking

PRICES AND CONCLUSIONS

Evaluate Dacia Spring & egrave; difficult because, today, there are none like her. The list price is; low in relative terms, but a limatina would be appreciable to put everything back into perspective in a context without incentives: so & igrave; by doing it would be able to compete with thermal city cars: a similarly equipped Panda City Life costs 18,650 & euro; (just over € 16,000 in promotion) but does not have rear view camera, navigator and emergency call that are present on Spring Comfort from € 21,600.

The speech changes by calling into question incentives. In that case it becomes a best buy if we try to price it with the old (and terminated) state incentives: less than 10,000 & euro; in case of scrapping and only 11,160 & euro; for the top of the range version.


Clear, therefore, that the final price will determine & agrave; the choice in comparison with a gasoline subcompact. Different & egrave; the speech if you are looking for an electric for any reason (access to limited areas, savings on operating and maintenance costs, environmental issues and so on): in that case, if it meets your needs, & egrave; the right one, accepting the various compromises mentioned above.

ONLINE CONFIGURATOR DACIA SPRING

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