Dacia Spring | PH Fleet

Proper, it’s time for half two of our working report on the Dacia Spring Excessive 65, nonetheless the most cost effective and, at 951kg, the lightest electrical automobile on the UK market. Regardless of utilizing it solely for darting between Powys townships, and regardless of proudly owning three different vehicles, in three months we’ve managed to rack up nicely over 2,000 miles in our Spring. Charging solely at residence by way of a home 3-pin plug has been straightforward and issue-free, now that we’ve labored out that we will’t simply yank the charging plug out of the socket with out first unlocking the automotive. We additionally realized that we needed to unroll all of the cable off our common-or-garden extension reel to keep away from hotspot-generated tripouts.

A few of you may sneer at the usage of the phrase ‘energy’ in any evaluate of a 65hp automotive that takes one of the best a part of 14 seconds to hit 62mph from relaxation, however the price at which the Spring covers the bottom between 0 and 50mph stays simply as gigglesome now midway by our time with the automotive because it did in the beginning. One poster on the primary report (Lil Red GTO) stated that driving his spouse’s Spring was hilarious, like driving a base mannequin Peugeot 205 or a Citroën AX with a supercharger. We wouldn’t disagree with that.

Not that we’ll be doing it, however it will be attention-grabbing to place a 205 by one of many rural runs we use and see the way it compares time-wise with the Dacia. I’m guessing there wouldn’t be a lot in it, even in case you had one thing a little bit gruntier than a base 205. The Peugeot would in all probability be faster in a bend, however possibly not by as a lot as you may assume. I’m additionally pretty certain that when powering out of that bend and squirting as much as the following one, the Spring would depart it for lifeless. You’re simply by no means within the mistaken gear in an EV. 

The Spring’s excessive floor clearance did are available in for a little bit of criticism from some posters, however we just like the look of it and we additionally just like the reassurance it offers on the medieval tracks that Powys likes to name roads. We’ve been dwelling right here for 5 years and have up to now needed to have at the very least half a dozen suspension arms changed or repaired on our numerous vehicles. I can’t make certain of the precise quantity; I’ve really misplaced depend. All I’ll say is that I’m penning this having actually simply come again from the most recent ‘welderup!’ job, this time on our in any other case devoted previous Merc wagon. You may clearly hear the Dacia’s suspension working onerous on the worst roads, however up to now none of it has damaged.

The utmost payload for the 65 is 341kg, and it’s 10kg lower than that for the 45, which signifies that with 4 commonplace to giant Western adults on board, you’re not going to have a lot alternative for baggage. None of that is a matter for us as the youngsters are lengthy gone. We folded the again seats down on day one to make use of the automotive as a form of minivan, and we haven’t seen the seats since. Really, that’s not fairly true: we did get them out after we stopped to offer a paraglider a raise. They have been folded again instantly after. We requested Glider Man for a touch upon life within the again. He replied by saying it was a bit tight in there, which was comprehensible whenever you noticed how a lot legroom he had with two adults within the entrance. I’ve sat within the again myself with the entrance seat pushed ahead. In that configuration, the house each entrance and rear is completely acceptable for brief journeys, that are principally the one ones you’ll be doing in a Spring.

Speaking of civilisation, it’s time to cue up some Laurel & Hardy music. For one factor, the audio system have typically emitted a loud and relatively scary squawk whenever you’re approaching the automotive after unlocking it. It’s the form of noise extra mature readers will keep in mind their ’60s mains radios making whenever you turned them on. For an additional, out the place we’re, digital indicators are not often discovered and even FM could be elusive, so with the agricultural consumer in thoughts, it may need been good to offer Spring house owners the choice of entry to medium wave on the radio. Clearly, that isn’t going to occur, however you possibly can nonetheless purchase MW/FM transportable radios for lower than twenty quid. My accomplice, Krys, used to drive her previous Mk1 Mini round with a battery-powered radio cassette booming away on the again seat, so possibly that’s the reply for us. 

We’ve discovered the central infotainment display that’s included on the Excessive fashions to be a little bit of a weak spot within the automotive. A few of that’s all the way down to ignorance. There’s no rationalization of it in the one (and at 26 pages, appropriately light-weight) Sensible Information that comes with the automotive. The total Person Information is a 268-page PDF that needs to be downloaded and, in case you’re previous like us and want one thing ‘actual’ in your hand, printed off. We haven’t completed that as we will’t afford the ink. We’ve struggled to know the blizzard of random colors, squiggles, and icons on the motive force’s show for just about the identical cause. Once more, we really feel this is likely to be a typical downside for older house owners. 

When the infotainment display is working (it has blacked out fairly a couple of instances) and never attempting to aggressively take over your cellphone’s Bluetooth, you’ll want the digital dexterity of darts prodigy Luke Littler to pick issues on it whereas bouncing alongside the freeway, or low-way as we name them round right here. There have been plenty of low tyre strain warnings. After taking note of the primary couple and discovering them to be false alarms, we’ve been ignoring them. I assume there isn’t an unlimited quantity of air in these tiny tyres, so an equally tiny drop in strain may in all probability set off the TPMS, but it surely did grow to be a contact annoying after a dozen or so requests for us to get out and do one thing about it. Life’s too quick. 

Automobile: 2025 Dacia Spring Excessive Electrical 65
Worth as examined: £16,995
Run by: Tony M
On fleet since: February 2025
Mileage: 3,300