Is this the best family car? My first drive in the New Dacia Jogger

This is the updated Dacia Jogger, and it’s a hugely practical family car which has recently been given a few important upgrades. The styling has been tweaked, there’s a new hybrid engine option and it has some updated tech inside.

To find out if these changes have made a good car even better, I’ve spent a day driving the new Dacia Jogger. Here’s my honest review.

Interior: honest, with a few tech progressions

Inside, the Jogger makes its priorities clear: function always comes before form. The dashboard is straightforward, logically laid out, and very easy to get used to, which is great news for anyone tired of being lost in complex touchscreens.

There is a new 10.1-inch infotainment system which includes wireless smartphone integration, though I found it felt a bit sluggish in daily use. Menus take a noticeable amount of time to load and the sat-nav can be a bit slow to react. It’s not a dealbreaker in a sub-£20,000 car, but it’s certainly not as slick as the Google-based system in the Renault Symbioz.

The interior still carries that classic Dacia DNA; full of clever ideas that aren’t always perfectly executed. The USB ports are well-distributed, and I found the extra socket right next to the screen particularly practical for mounting accessories.

On the other hand, the cupholders are a bit too basic, as bottles tend to slide around while you’re driving because there’s nothing to hold them in place. While the door bins are okay, they aren’t exactly huge. Material-wise, there is still a lot of hard plastic, which was to be expected, but Dacia has done a good job of making it look higher-quality than it actually is.

Practicality: still the king of space

The Jogger really is in a league of its own when it comes to interior space. With up to seven seats and a massive boot ranging from 607 to 1,819 litres, it truly is the perfect family car.

The boot itself is large and usefully square, and because the loading lip is so low, it’s really easy to sling heavy items into the back.

In the rear seats, passengers get a decent amount of legroom, and headroom is good as well. It’s a shame the rear bench doesn’t slide, though, as that would have added even more versatility. The third row is adequately roomy for adults, although you wouldn’t want to sit back there for hours if you’re particularly tall.

There are a few other small frustrations, such as the middle rear seat having a seatbelt that comes out of the roof, making it more complicated than it needs to be to buckle up.

Furthermore, when you fold the rear seats down, you don’t get a flat loading floor, which is a clear downside for such a practical vehicle. That said, if you want maximum load space then you can just remove the rear seats entirely, turning your Jogger into a small van.

The new hybrid engine: efficient and perfect for the daily grind

The updated Dacia Jogger is available with a new hybrid engine, and it is easily the best engine choice. With a system output of 158hp, you won’t be mistaking this for a sports car, but it’s plenty powerful enough for daily driving.

I was also surprised by how often the Jogger drives on pure electric power, gliding quietly through city traffic and giving this otherwise rugged car a refined touch. The transitions between the electric motor and the petrol engine are smooth, even if the engine does get a bit vocal when you push it hard.

It’s the efficiency which impressed me the most though. Dacia claims this car will return 61mpg, and I’ve found this to be easily achievable. A nice surprise is the “B-Mode” for the gearbox, which increases the regenerative braking when you lift off the accelerator. This is a great feature in stop-start traffic.

On the road: a tale of two characters

When it comes to the actual driving experience, the Jogger has two distinct sides. The suspension is generally very good and does a good job of soaking up bumps, which is all you really need for everyday trips. However, the steering is surprisingly heavy which doesn’t quite sit right with the rest of the car’s relaxed, comfort-oriented character.

Once you get onto the motorway, the car’s budget roots become more apparent as wind noise picks up and the limited insulation shows that it wasn’t really built for high-speed cruising. That said, it’s still a comfortable car over long distances.

New Dacia Jogger design: smarter, but still not stylish

The Dacia Jogger has never been a car you buy purely for its looks. Even after this latest facelift, it remains more of a workhorse than a show pony, but the recent updates have certainly done it a world of good.

The newly designed front end looks more modern thanks to the sleeker lights and new grille. Dacia has also tweaked the rear, with posher-looking taillights which look a bit Volvo-esque. If you go for the Extreme trim, you get black 16-inch alloys and copper-coloured details that offer a little bit of lifestyle appeal.

While it still isn’t a head-turner, the facelift does add a little bit of style to this dowdy family hauler.

Safety and value

New regulations mean the Jogger now comes with a better range of safety kit, including lane-keep assist, emergency brake assist, traffic sign recognition, and driver drowsiness monitoring. Despite this, it remains a refreshingly simple car that doesn’t overwhelm you with annoying, intrusive tech, and there’s still a simple button you can press to switch off any annoying warning beeps.

The price is still the Jogger’s biggest selling point, and in this Extreme trim with the Hybrid 155 engine it costs less than £25,000. Being the top-spec version, you get heated front seats, a surround-view camera, wireless phone charging and 16-inch alloy wheels as standard.

It’s easily the best-value seven-seater on the market, with no other model really coming close in terms of price. If you want to save even more, the entry-level model starts from less than £19,000, and you can save a further £900 on a Jogger at the time of writing.

The verdict

The Dacia Jogger facelift isn’t a radical departure, but it is a targeted update that provides exactly what the car needed. The design is sharper, the hybrid engine is a big upgrade, and the tech is also improved.

Crucially, it remains an honest, pragmatic car without any unnecessary fluff. My time with it confirmed that the hybrid works brilliantly in daily life and the overall feel is much more modern. While weaknesses like the slow infotainment and basic materials remain, Dacia has improved the Jogger where it counts without trying to reinvent it. That, perhaps, is its greatest strength.

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