Dacia Bigster Review & Prices

The Dacia Bigster is a medium-sized budget SUV that majors on value. It’s roomy, looks cool and drives surprisingly well, yet costs about as much as a small hatchback from a posher manufacturer. It does feel cheap in places, though, particularly some of the interior materials and technology.

The Bigster is a bit like a really good all-you-can-eat buffet - you think it’s just piled high and sold cheap, but then discover that several of the dishes are actually very, very tasty. It’s similar in size to the Nissan Qashqai, placing it firmly in the family SUV heartland.

Even a top-spec hybrid Bigster costs about as much as the cheapest versions of the (still very affordable) Citroen C5 Aircross and Nissan Qashqai. For the Dacia’s starting price of around £25,000, you could also consider a Chinese budget SUV such as the MG HS, Jaecoo 5 or Chery Tiggo 7, or a smaller model from an established brand, such as the Volkswagen T-Cross.

However, the Bigster is larger and more rugged than those alternatives. That makes it an ideal family companion if you live in the countryside or regularly venture down the road less travelled. It’s equally capable in town or on the school run, with plenty of boot space for big shopping trips.

The styling is genuinely cool. It’s essentially a larger version of the popular Duster, with a blocky shape that looks as though it could be built from Lego. Y-shaped daytime running lights mirror the Dacia badge, with the same motif used at the rear. Chunky wheelarches, hidden door handles and interesting trim details complete the rugged, surprisingly handsome look.

There’s enough room for six-foot adults to sit in the back, while the boot is enormous regardless of engine choice - far larger than the alternatives.

You can quickly see where Dacia has saved money, though. Poke around the cabin and you’ll find cheap materials, including a dashboard trim strip that feels as though it came from a budget 3D printer. Everything feels solidly assembled, but certainly not luxurious.

That simplicity can work in the Bigster’s favour, particularly in Extreme trim, which gets washable upholstery and a rubber boot mat.

Engine choices include a 140hp front-wheel-drive mild hybrid and a 130hp four-wheel-drive version with extra off-road features. The best option for most people is the 155hp full hybrid, which is efficient and easy to drive. We managed 55mpg, although it isn’t as quiet at motorway speeds as a Citroen C5 Aircross, while its hybrid system feels clunkier than those in the Jaecoo and Chery.

The Bigster feels slightly firm over bumps in town, but it’s comfortable on the motorway and surprisingly nimble on twisting roads. Its rugged styling isn’t purely cosmetic, either, because even front-wheel-drive versions cope well off-road thanks to sturdy construction and generous ground clearance.

Verdict

The Bigster is an excellent family SUV, sitting perfectly on the cheap-but-charming scale. It costs about the same as a smaller Ford Puma while offering more space than a Ford Kuga, with enough standard equipment to avoid feeling barren.

If you like the look of this big, great-value SUV, then check out the latest Dacia Bigster deals on Carwow or see what Dacia Bigster leasing offers are available. You can check out other great Dacia deals, or find a used Dacia for sale. And remember that Carwow can even help you to sell your old car when the time comes.

Prices for the Dacia Bigster kick off at just over £25,000 for an Expression model with the two-wheel drive mild hybrid engine. The posher Journey or an Extreme models are reasonably priced at well below £27,000 each.

That makes it closer to small SUVs such as the VW T-Cross or Ford Puma in terms of price, or comparable to used models of family SUVs like the Hyundai Tucson or Ford Kuga.

All models have a 10.1-inch infotainment display with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, alloy wheels, a rear view camera, keyless entry and dual-zone climate control. Step up to Journey and you get a bigger digital driver’s display, built-in sat-nav, an electric tailgate and posher sound system, while Extreme models add a panoramic sunroof.

A huge boot and loads of room in the back seats - not all the storage is well thought-out, though

Space in the front seats

Space is one thing the Dacia Bigster isn’t lacking. The front seats aren’t particularly supportive in the corners but they are wide, flat and comfy for long journeys. The steering wheel has plenty of adjustment, as do the mirrors, so drivers of all shapes and sizes can get comfortable.

Space in the back seats

The Bigster’s rear seats are pretty cavernous for a car of this price. A six-foot adult can sit behind another with room to spare, and there’s space under the front seats to slide feet. Headroom is great too, even in models fitted with the panoramic sunroof.

Centre occupants don’t sit notably higher than the outer two because the seat base is quite flat, and though there is a hump in the floor, it’s not too intrusive.

ISOFIX points

ISOFIX points to mount child seats securely are present in both outer rear seats, and there’s loads of space for a bulky rear-facing chair, with nice wide-opening doors too. The centre console does extend back quite a way, however, which robs the middle seats of a little leg room.

Boot space

The Dacia Bigster has an absolutely massive boot. The two-wheel drive mild hybrid model has up to 677 litres of space, beating just about everything else in the class bar the much larger Skoda Kodiaq’s 910 litres. Opt for the four-wheel drive model and capacity drops to 629 litres, while the full hybrid has 612 litres.

That’s still huge when you think that a Nissan Qashqai has just 504 litres of space, a Kia Sportage 591 litres and a Skoda Karoq 521 litres.

The rear seats fold easily from the back thanks to handy catches, and they go in a 40:20:40 split rather than the more common 60:40. This gives you a lot more flexibility with how you want to maximise your boot space.

Interior storage and accessories

Front-seat occupants get good-sized door bins big enough for a large water bottle, a space to put a mobile phone (wireless charging pad on some models) and a pair of cupholders underneath a rubberised sliding cover which can also become a general catch bin.

If there’s just two passengers in the back, the centre seat folds down to become an armrest - but it’s much wider than a normal armrest would be, and feels restrictive. It does include cupholders and slots to hold a smartphone, though its hard plastic back isn’t very comfy.

Dacia offers a range of accessories for the Bigster including bicycle racks, a cargo box for the tow hitch, roof bars, a camping sleeper pack for the back seats and even an espresso machine.

Looks great, but feels its price in places - the Dacia Bigster’s interior does some things really well but could be cleverer in others

There are some real highlights when it comes to the Dacia Bigster’s interior. First is that it retains plenty of physical switchgear such as full climate controls and a switch to turn off the driver assists. This all means you don’t need to faff about with the touchscreen too much when driving.

The 10.1-inch touchscreen runs pretty simple software. It’s really easy to figure out what you’re after and navigate to it using shortcuts down the side of the screen. You also get wireless smartphone connectivity to enable you to run your choice of map apps.

There’s also a nice clear digital dial display, 7.0-inches on the entry-level car and 10.0-inches on the others.

Another nice addition is the Dacia YouClip system. This is a little square mounting point that you’ll find dotted about the car, and it can be used to clip accessories to. There’s a phone holder, a cupholder, a light, a luggage hook, and more to come.

While you might not feel the Bigster’s price tag in the design, you’ll soon notice it in the materials used. They’re uniformly hard, scratchy plastic, and a few textures - like the strip that runs across the width of the dashboard - feel as though they were produced very cheaply indeed on a 3D printer. Not the nicest feeling.

Everything is quite hardwearing, though - it’s perfect for rugged, outdoorsy families who love a hike (and the muddy boots that come with it.)

Very comfortable and easy to drive - but a bit noisy on the motorway and not much fun in the corners

The Bigster has great visibility thanks to big windows all round. Its square dimensions mean you can judge where the corners of the car are quite easily, and all models get front and rear parking sensors and a reversing camera to help you judge even better.

The full hybrid engine is the only one that comes with an automatic gearbox, and it works very well around town. We found it would run on electric power most of the time at slow speeds.

The Bigster has soft suspension which deals pretty well with lumps and bumps on the road and speed humps around town. When you put your foot down though the gearbox does take a few seconds to gird its loins, and it can feel quite clunky as it changes ratios.

Once you’re up to the national limit the Bigster remains comfortable and feels stable, with the adaptive cruise control and other driver assistance features working well. You do notice that it’s noisier than other family SUVs, though, mostly in terms of wind noise. A Nissan Qashqai or Skoda Karoq are much more hushed at a cruise.

The Dacia Bigster has light steering and doesn’t weigh very much. It feels relatively nimble but there’s almost no feedback about what the front wheels are doing. If you’re after an SUV that’s sporty to drive, consider the SEAT Ateca or the smaller Ford Puma.

Disappointingly, Dacia was ranked last out of 30 car brands in the 2026 Driver Power survey. You do get a seven-year warranty, provided you continue servicing your car at an approved Dacia retailer, but that's not as generous as the cover offered by Toyota or Kia.

That being said, there have been no recalls for the Bigster since its launch. That’s promising news, but the Bigster is still quite a recent model so there hasn’t been time for potential long-term issues to rear their heads.

Dacia Bigster Euro NCAP (2025): 4/5

Adult occupant: 69%
Child occupant: 85%
Vulnerable road users: 60%
Safety assist: 57%

The Dacia Bigster was tested by Euro NCAP in 2025, where it scored three stars. The adult occupant score came back as 69%, and the child occupant score is 85%. Dacia famously doesn’t chase NCAP scores, as they often hinge on the assistance tech rather than the crash protection.

The Bigster does come with most of the safety equipment you could want, including adaptive cruise control and even necessities like blind spot monitoring. Still, its main alternatives all have four or five-star scores.

There are three quite distinct engines in the Dacia Bigster. The entry-level choice is a 1.2-litre three-cylinder with 140hp, which emits 122g/km of CO2 and claims to return 52.3mpg. There’s also a four-wheel drive version of this engine, which has 130hp, emits 134g/km of CO2 and returns 47.1mpg. Both of these get six-speed manual gearboxes.

At the top, there’s the 155hp full hybrid model, which pairs a 1.8-litre petrol engine with a couple of electric motors and a crazily complex automatic transmission. It’s very efficient indeed, emitting just 106g/km of CO2 and claiming more than 60mpg. During our time with it, we saw nearly 55mpg over a mixed test route - very impressive.

None of these make for particularly good company car choices, as their CO2 emissions aren’t anywhere near as low as a plug-in hybrid or fully electric alternative, so they suffer with high Benefit-in-Kind tax. First year road tax rates will also be quite pricey, but not ridiculously so. And the Bigster should be efficient on fuel, plus it shouldn’t cost you an arm and a leg to insure either.