The Spring has the perfect dimensions for city driving, but subpar materials

What always intrigued me about this car was its small dimensions. Spring is a city-focused car, one of the smallest in the segment, as it sits between something like the Hyundai i10 and the Suzuki Swift. You can park it quite effortlessly, you can squeeze it even where you may not expect to and that's its main advantage. Because it's such a small car, you only have enough room in the front. Whoever sits at the back better identify as a shopping bag or be a kid, or else, they won't fit.

The boot is also small, but not unusable, it's perfect for end-of-week grocery shopping and to carry around something for work.

I am not a large adult by any means, in fact I am smaller than most teenagers these days, so I had no trouble fitting in the front, where I had plenty of space, but in the back of the car, I had to squeeze a bit. What's worse if you are to spend some time on the backseat of the Spring is that you won't be able to see much in front of you. There are people who can get car sick if they can't see the road ahead and, in the Spring, this can be an issue, because the front seats are large and made from one piece, so you can't look between the seat and the headrest, because there's no space there.

The materials used by Dacia for the Spring are subpar to say the least. Very tough industrial plastic, no soft material in sight at all, but at least the plastics are matte and rugged, so they should be fairly resistant. The seats sort of resemble the ones found in the first generation of the Logan, but here, they also sport some vegan leather, which I am not a big fan of, since they will get very hot during the summer. You don't have heated seats or steering in the Spring, it's the absolute bare minimum when it comes to optionals.

What safety features can you count on in the Spring

Even the safety features in this model seem "unfinished". Dacia added on the Spring the bare minimum that the EU requires for the cars that are sold in the region. You have front and rear parking sensors, as well as a backup camera, similar to the ones found in the Duster or the Jogger, usable, but that's about it. The car warns you if you get too close to the car in the front and should even warn you, but I didn't try that personally.

You don't have blind spot monitoring, however. I understand that it's a small and short car and you might not need it, but I think that this safety feature would have been useful for the situations where you might have a black car besides you at night, especially if it doesn't have the lights turned on.

One more thing I want to mention regarding the materials in the Dacia Spring, the chassis on this car seems to be just as thick as a soda can. The Duster or the Jogger seem to be more premium cars by comparison. I can understand that they are also more expensive, but at over 19.000 euros, the price for the most expensive trim of the Spring, the Extreme model, this sort of build quality leaves a lot to be desired. Even the first generation Logan was built sturdier.

So far, it seems that I still hate the Spring, but I can't get over how cheaply the car is made, especially considering its retail price.

Dacia Spring is a car you can have fun with while going from A to B

Once on the road, I forgave some of those "sins", because the Spring is a very fun car. I had the 65 horsepower model for testing and I don't think I had this much fun even when I had the Megane E-Tech, for example. Either it's the small and barebones feeling of the car or its lightweight, but regardless of the reason, the Spring really is fun to drive. The steering is soft at any speed, even at 130 km/h, the top speed for the Spring.

The car is easy to control, but you have to hold the steering wheel firmly, especially when passing by a truck, because it's very lightweight. It weighs under one ton and has a ground clearance of 15 centimeters, so it feels just like the first generation of the Logan on the highway. The blowing wind moves the car from left to right, you hear everything from the outside and almost nothing from the inside, but that didn't matter for me.

I drove on the highway at the top speed limit for about 25 kilometers, I didn't feel endangered, but didn't enjoy the comfort that I had in other cars, such as even the Duster, which is way more stable at higher speeds.

On windy roads, the car tends to roll a bit, but I think this might actually be the feeling left by the seats, as it seems to be quite well-planted on the road, and the quick accelerations help you take-off rapidly. I also did a 0-100 test. The low weight makes it so that the car slips quite a lot until it gets the traction it needs, but once that happens, picking up speed is not a problem. If I was to compare it to something, it would be the 1.6 liter engine in the Logan.

So it has plenty of power, even for the occasional overtaking, but the main advantage of this small electric motor is that it is economical. After 100 kilometers driven on the highway, around villages, on national roads and in the city, the fuel economy that I got was 13.8 kWh. So, I basically used half of the battery, a result that is more than satisfactory, given that I drove it like I stole it mostly. If you are looking to get the best efficiency in the Spring, it's best to not go above 100-110 km/h, because that's where the battery will burn the quickest.

The high ground clearance and the short distance between the front and rear wheels make the Spring a handy crossover, you can even take it on country roads and on steep inclines.

The suspension is soft and "springy", pun intended, just like on the Logan. Again, because I am used to that car, it's not an issue for me, quite the contrary, I felt "like home". The car is fairly comfortable even on poor quality roads, but you will feel every imperfection.

So, who is the Dacia Spring for

Dacia Spring is an excellent car for the city, which can be driven out of it without an issue. It's for those who want the cheapest new electric car, those who want a compact car that won't pollute. Dacia Spring is a personal mean of transport and that's about it. It gives you the bare minimum comfort, it blows hot air during winter and cold air during summer. There's no heated seats or steering, but you can do without that. Those buying it will probably come from cars that didn't have those options.

Spring offers you reliability and minimal expenses, you don't have to worry about changing the oil, letting the engine warm up, the gearbox is a simple unit. It's a light car, with simple suspension and small wheels. There's nothing really that can break easily. It's very pocket friendly, but you have to know what you buy it for.

You won't use it for vacations, there's simply not enough space for that and the range is low. But you will commute to the office and back home for at least a week on a full battery, if you drive it for, let's say 30 kilometers per day in the city. You will be able to buy the weekly groceries and you can even drive the kid to school without breaking a sweat.

You won't be hunting for parking spots too much, you will be able to squeeze around the traffic easily, even on narrow streets, you'll conquer the city sustainably.

The Dacia Spring starts at 16.900 euros, without taking any discounts into account, for the Essential version and can go to almost 20.000 euros in the Extreme trim that I drove and that I personally recommend. This way, you get all the optionals, which aren't that many to begin with. What else can you buy at this price that is brand new and electric? Nothing.

This is why Dacia can afford to keep the price as high as they do. Spring is not a car that's worth 20.000 euros. Even 15.000 euros is a bit steep for the top version, but we have to take into account two things. The automotive market is off the charts when it comes to pricing in general and this especially affected lower-end companies, like Dacia. Secondly, the Spring has no competition.

There isn't a new electric car in Europe that can get even remotely close to the price of the most expensive Spring and this I think says it all. Until we'll have electric models at around 20.000 euros that will offer higher quality materials, better technologies or range, Spring remains the uncontested electric car for the city.