Dacia Jogger review

If the interior of the new Dacia Jogger looks somewhat familiar, then that’s because it probably is. From the B-pillar forward the interior has been lifted almost perfectly out of the Sandero.

It’s an entirely serviceable design and one that you’ll have no problems living with from day to day – no danger of all the aircon controls being shifted to a touchscreen display here. And this car does get manual aircon as standard even on the cheapest versions, which is a bonus.

What are the different specs like?

The entry level Essential trim does without any sort of touchscreen entirely, instead connecting your phone to the car’s audio via Bluetooth and offering a helpful place to store your phone so that you can see the display for navigation purposes.

Mid-range Expression and top spec Extreme SE Joggers get a digital driver's display and 8.0-inch touchscreen, complete with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone connectivity. This is especially good news as the native satnav on the Extreme SE looks prehistoric, and you'll want to override it with Google maps immediately.

Is there enough space inside the Jogger?

The Jogger’s main draw is that it has seven seats, and it has been thoughtfully designed to take a 1.9m tall adult in every seat, with the rows arranged stadium style. Tall grown-ups might not be entirely thrilled about long journeys in the very back of the car – especially as the seats aren't the most comfortable we've ever tried – but they’ll fit, and that’s the main thing.

The rearmost seats can be folded or removed (and they weigh a spritely 10kg each, which is impressive) and the second row of seats will fold and tuck in behind the front row. Those ones don’t slide or come out, but you’ll have to go for a more expensive rival for such fanciness. With all the seats up you’ve got a paltry 160 litres of bootspace, rising to 565 litres with the third row folded down and 1,807 litres with the second row felled two. It’s an impressive load space, one metre wide and two metres deep.

Dacia says that there are 60 possible combinations of seat in the back of the Jogger, which sounds plausible but the kids could spend a good chunk of half term counting them if you wanted to keep them busy. The carmaker is also keen to point out that the hybrid does compromise load space in the way so many other hybrids suffer from.