New DACIA JOGGER Hybrid 2023 | exterior, interior #new_car #dacia #jogger #hybrid _2023

New DACIA JOGGER Hybrid 2023 | exterior, interior #new_car #dacia #jogger #hybrid _2023Show more

The new Dacia Jogger is a seven-seat, C-segment MPV – on the face of it, the kind of car that a great many European car makers once made (think Ford Grand C-Max, Renault Grand Scénic and Vauxhall Zafira) but whose place in the market has lately been usurped by the crossover SUV.
Mixing crossover and MPV design cues, the Jogger is nothing more or less than Europe's cheapest seven-seat passenger car; but its versatility goes father than even that would imply.

There are now two engines, and a couple of transmission options, for the Jogger, and only three equipment levels.
Entry-level Essential has no infotainment system, although it does have stereo speakers through which your smartphone can play music or digital radio. It also comes with manual air conditioning and manual cruise control, as well as automatic headlights and an AEB crash-avoidance system as standard.
Comfort cars add modular roof rails, automatic wipers, a reversing camera and touchscreen infotainment, while Extreme SE models get factory-fit sat-nav, wireless smartphone mirroring, alloy wheels and heated seats.

At just over 4.5 metres in length, the Jogger is a little shorter at the kerb than a typical C-segment MPV, but that doesn’t prevent it from offering usable passenger accommodation for up to seven.
At just under 1.7 metres tall and with 200mm of ground clearance, it’s also little higher of profile than most typical MPVs and is intended as what we might have called a soft-roader a few years ago: a car to easily tackle uneven tracks and the like.
Dacia has stopped short of giving the car four-wheel drive, though, or all-season tyres or even an off-road-style traction-control regime.

Simplicity certainly seems to save weight for this car. At as little as 1205kg unladen in its entry-level form, the Jogger is 200kg lighter than the very lightest Volkswagen Touran that UK customers can currently buy – but it’s still rated to haul more than 600kg of combined cargo and passenger ballast and to tow 1200kg on a braked trailer.
You might not see many Joggers towing bigger caravans, then, but it’s the kind of car that could certainly handle a smaller one, or a trailer tent.
Two engines are offered in the car: firstly Renault’s turbocharged 1.0-litre three-cylinder petrol, which makes 109bhp and a healthy 148lb ft of torque and drives through a six-speed manual gearbox. A 1.6-litre full-hybrid petrol-electric option, also currently powering the Renault Clio E-Tech, provides the Jogger’s only two-pedal powertrain option.

The Jogger’s design is likeably functional, from the upright rear window to the kinked upper window line, which makes extra head room for passengers travelling in the rear (and visually references cars like the Matra Rancho).
All versions get wheel-arch cladding, chunky bumpers and stylised roof bars as standard, but on middle and upper-spec cars, those roof bars convert really simply into an elegant lateral roof rack of their own.
Mid-spec Joggers like our test car also feature 16in steel Flex wheels with very alloy-like covers that are intended to be easier and cheaper to replace, when damaged, than real alloys might be.

The Jogger’s interior doesn’t make it the most spacious, adult-appropriate seven-seater family car you can buy, but so much could generally be observed about so many compact MPVs; and the Dacia is ingeniously versatile, more than passably pleasant, and well enough appointed and prepared for the practicalities of modern life.
You get a clear sense that this car is supermini-derived from the driving position, which is a little perched. Although it doesn’t offer abundant leg room for taller drivers, our tallest tester (6ft 3in) was still comfortable at the wheel.

The throttle response is more crisp and the power delivery more linear elsewhere in the rev range. A 0-60mph clocking of 11.0sec need be no embarrassment for the Jogger in normal daily driving, when it has more than enough performance to move with the general cut and thrust and to manage single-carriageway overtaking comfortably enough.
The light but fairly slick and well-defined manual lever makes up for a slightly woolly-feeling clutch action, so shifting is no chore – provided you don’t hurry changes through more quickly than suits the slightly gelatinous feel and the gentle natural syncopation of the whole apparatus.
The brake pedal is progressive and easy to modulate; and it managed to pull the Jogger to a standstill from 70mph in less than 50 metres in slightly damp test conditions, even on modest-sized 16in wheels and 205-section tyres, which is equally respectable.

The Jogger’s faintly astounding entry-level price is £14,995.