Dacia Bigster review

While some cars seemingly require a degree in cryptanalysis – the art of creating and breaking codes – to understand their names, the Dacia Bigster is a bit more simple. In short, it’s big.

More specifically, the Bigster is longer (by 23cm) and taller (by 6cm) than the closely related Dacia Duster small SUV. That makes it the largest Dacia yet and a member of the family SUV class.

Despite its size, you can't have the Bigster as a seven-seater (you'll need the Dacia Jogger for that) but it does have loads of boot space. Every version has a petrol engine, either with mild-hybrid or regular hybrid tech. 

As for rivals, the Dacia Bigster is up against the Kia Sportage – named best in class at our 2025 Car of the Year Awards – but being a cheaper, more budget-conscious buy, it’s arguably in closer competition with the Citroën C5 Aircross and MG HS. Read on to find out how we rate it in all the important areas...

So far we’ve tested the Dacia Duster Hybrid 155, which is the only regular hybrid option and comes with front-wheel drive and automatic gearboxes. It combines a 107bhp 1.8-litre petrol engine with a 50bhp electric motor and 1.4kWh battery, with a second motor that acts as starter/generator.

Technical details aside, all you need to know is that it’ll pootle around town and cater for a low-effort cruising on quiet, smooth electric power alone. What’s more, it’s better at doing so than a Citroën C5 Aircross Hybrid 136.

The Bigster’s engine will fire up if the battery is low on charge or you ask for a burst of acceleration. Speaking of which, while the official 9.7-second 0-62mph time is nothing to write home about, the Hybrid 155 delivers acceleration that’s swift enough for most scenarios.

It’s slightly quicker than a Renault Symbioz, but if you want stronger performance, consider the Nissan Qashqai e-Power or, even better, the Kia Sportage HEV. Just keep in mind that those are more expensive.

There are also two mild-hybrid engines, starting with the 136bhp Mild hybrid 140. It, too, has front-wheel drive and delivers similar on-paper performance to the Hybrid 155.

Meanwhile, the 128bhp Mild hybrid 130 4x4 has four-wheel drive (hence the 4x4 in the name) and is a couple of seconds slower to 62mph. Both mild hybrids come with six-speed manual gearboxes.

Anyway, back to the Bigster Hybrid 155. Overall, the driving experience is pretty good. It’s comfortable around town and on motorways, and the suspension is soft enough to cushion you well over most bumps.

The ride has a firmer edge over harsh abrasions though – the Skoda Karoq tackles those kinds of imperfections more gracefully. That firm edge comes in handy during cornering, helping the Bigster resist body lean: it stays more upright than the slightly wallowy Citroën C5 Aircross.

For a family SUV of its size, the Bigster feels composed, and the steering, while a bit rubbery and numb, is precise enough to give you confidence. You’ll have to up your budget to get significantly better handling – the Kia Sportage is a good option there.

The Hybrid 155 has not one, but two auto gearboxes – a two-speed one for the electric motors and a four-speed one for the engine. A similar set-up is used in the Dacia Duster Hybrid 140 and Renault Symbioz where it's quite slow and jerky, but in the Bigster it works well, feeling smoother and more cohesive.

Our complaints about the Duster and Symbioz's rather vocal and coarse 1.6-litre engines have been addressed to a degree, but the Bigster Hybrid 155’s 1.8-litre unit still becomes rather loud and rough when you’re accelerating hard.

There’s a small amount of wind and suspension noise, but if you take into account that noisy engine, there are plenty of quieter family SUVs available – the Kia Sportage and Skoda Karoq to name two.

“On smooth, winding roads in the French countryside, I found the Bigster more composed than I thought it would be.” – Oliver Young, Reviewer

Fans of high driving positions will be glad to hear that you sit suitably high up in the Dacia Bigster – even more so than you do in a Dacia Duster.

It grants you a commanding view ahead, while tall windows give you great all-round visibility. Still, for that extra peace of mind, every Bigster gets rear parking sensors and four cameras – located on the front, back and each side. 

There’s also plenty of adjustment in the seat and steering wheel, so it’s easy to find your ideal driving position. The seats themselves are soft and comfortable. On the other hand, you’ll have to upgrade to Journey or Extreme trim to get adjustable lumbar support – and that’s only for the driver.

Every Bigster has a digital driver’s display – a 7in one in entry-level Expression cars and a 10in one in range-topping trims. We’ve tried the larger screen and it’s crisp, clear and fairly configurable, with the ability to display a sat-nav map.

What’s less impressive is the infotainment touchscreen. The graphics are decent and, at 10.1in, it’s a good size, but we found it really sluggish. Sometimes several seconds passed between us prodding the screen and it responding.  

Expression trim misses out on sat-nav, but that’s fine: you can bypass Dacia’s software and run your own apps through the touchscreen using the standard Android Auto and Apple CarPlay smartphone mirroring.

The Bigster's interior very much fits Dacia's low-budget model. In fact, it's perhaps the cheapest-feeling interior in the family SUV class – even when compared with similarly priced Citroën C5 Aircross and MG HS.

Much of it is carried over from the Dacia Duster, meaning it’s full of really scratchy plastics. There’s some squidgy material on the armrests and, thankfully, some variety in terms of colour, but that’s pretty much it. 

“Build quality feels largely robust, but one piece of trim on the centre console did come out of position during my testing, which is slightly concerning.” – Oliver Young, Reviewer

This is where the Dacia Bigster shines. Up front, the driver and passenger have plenty of leg and head room, and they certainly won’t be rubbing shoulders – though the Dacia Duster (being the same width) is the same in that respect. 

Similarly, in the back, the Bigster and Duster are indistinguishable for sitting three abreast, which is to say it’s doable but perhaps not something three adults will be wanting to do regularly. Two six-footers be very happy there, with a couple inches of head room to spare and even more leg space.

The door bins are of a decent size and so is the glovebox. The Hybrid 155 in Journey trim has a raised centre console with a built-in cooler compartment in the armrest. On all versions, rear passengers get a fold-down centre armrest with two cupholders.

Unlike the Duster’s 60/40 split-folding rear seats, the Bigster features a more practical 40/20/40 split, and you can drop the seat backs by pulling levers in the boot. The seats don’t slide back and forth like the ones in the Citroën C5 Aircross and Renault Symbioz or do anything else clever.

The Bigster’s boot is, well, big – how big depends on the engine you choose. The Hybrid 155 has a boot volume of 612 litres, the Mild-hybrid 130 has 629 litres and the Mild-hybrid 140 has a whopping 667 litres.

For reference, the Kia Sportage and Skoda Karoq manage up to 586 and 588 litres respectively (as with the Bigster, some variants get less).

The Bigster has a height-adjustable boot floor, giving you greater flexibility in how you want to divide up your luggage. In its highest position, it creates a flat floor with the rear seats when they’re folded down.

“As someone who likes to carry around a bottle of water, I loved the Bigster's built-in cooler because it kept it nice and cold.” – Oliver Young, Reviewer

Like every Dacia, the Bigster is a low-cost option, and significantly undercuts all other family SUVs except the Citroën C5 Aircross and MG HS. The Kia Sportage, Nissan Qashqai and Skoda Karoq all cost thousands more.

The cheapest Bigster is the Mild hybrid 140 in Expression trim. We’ve yet to try it but it looks like it has all you need: respectable performance and a good amount of kit from the trim. It gets 17in alloy wheels, dual-zone climate control, a digital driver's display, an infotainment touchscreen and cruise control.

We’d suggest looking at Journey trim though. It’s a reasonable step up in price and gains a fair few creature comforts, including a premium 3D sound system, heated front seats, a heated steering wheel and an electrically operated tailgate.

If you want four-wheel drive, you have to get Extreme trim, although it's available with front-wheel-drive too. It gets copper-coloured details and hill-descent control. If you go ahead and choose the 4x4 version, you’ll also have driving modes to use, including for snow and mud/sand.

The most fuel efficient Bigster is the regular hybrid (Hybrid 155). Officially, it averages 60.1mpg, which is great for a family SUV of its size. For reference, the Sportage HEV officially averages 49.6mpg.

The other engines are good on fuel too. The Mild hybrid 140 averages 51.4mpg and the Mild hybrid 130 4x4 46.3mpg – that’s better than mild-hybrid engines in the Qashqai (44.8mpg) and Sportage (43.5mpg).

As for reliability, the Bigster has yet to appear in a What Car? Reliability Survey. However, as a brand, Dacia came sixth out of 31 car makers – a good, confidence-inspiring result. That's better than Kia, Nissan and Skoda. 

What’s more, every Bigster gets Dacia’s Zen warranty, covering the car for up to seven years, 75,000 miles as long as you service it at an authorised dealer every year. That’s better than most rivals, although Toyota gives you 10 years with the same servicing stipulation.

At the time of writing, the Bigster has not been crash-tested by Euro NCAP but it has a decent amount of safety kit, including automatic emergency braking (AEB), traffic-sign recognition, lane-departure warning and lane-keep assist.

“With two touches of a button, you can switch to your preferred safety settings. I found it very refreshing after putting up with annoying assistance features in other cars purely because of how confusing they were to turn off.” – Oliver Young, Reviewer

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