At £179 a month Dacia’s seven-seat Jogger is possibly the bargain of the decade

THERE’S a lot of doom and gloom around.

We keep reading how we’re facing the biggest fall in living standards on record.

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Rocketing food and energy prices. Higher National Insurance contributions.

Soaring interest rates.

The average family will be £2,417 worse off this year.

So I’m here to counter that with a bit of good news.

The Dacia Jogger is a seven-seat family wagon which will cost you £179 deposit and £179 a month.

That’s £5.97 a day. Or a quid a seat for your six passengers.

Think about that for a moment.

That’s cheaper than a bus fare — and you’ll have a brand-new motor outside your front door, whenever you want it.

And you can play your own music.

Lambo lights

The Jogger sticker price is £14,995. The next-cheapest seven-seater I can think of is a Citroen Grand C4 SpaceTourer at £29k. Almost twice the price. The Volkswagen Touran is £30k.

You’ll struggle to find a five-year-old Touran with 50,000 miles on the clock for £15k.

All of which means Jogger is quite possibly the bargain of the decade.

Even the poshest Extreme SE version, at £17,395, is the same price as the cheapest Ford Fiesta.

And do you know what? Jogger is more than decent: Renault chassis, light yet strong, 1-litre turbo petrol, acres of space and only the tech you really need.
I’ve already suggested one to my best mate.

As for looks, it’s a bit of a mash-up. A sort of stretched crossover-cum-estate. It won’t boost your Tinder strike rate but it does look more expensive than it is. And it has the same Y-shaped lights as a Lambo.

The roof bars hold 80kg and can be turned 90 degrees, across the width of the car. Clever.

But the really clever bit is the versatility of this car. There are 60 seat configurations. The two single rear seats can be removed in seconds. They weigh just 10kg each. Whip them out and boot space increases from 212 litres to 699 litres as a five-seater.

Tip the middle seats forward and you’ve got a staggering 2,085 litres. Or a van, basically.

Load length is two metres. Load width is one metre. More than enough for tip runs, Ikea or for just sleeping in.

Put a tent box on top and you’ve got a four-bed chalet. Two up top, two in the back.

I should also add that it’s a proper seven-seater.

I’m 6ft tall and had plenty of headroom sat at the back. The wheelbase is 25cm longer than a VW Golf.

Up front, Jogger is copy-and-paste Sandero Stepway, which is no bad thing. The cabin is smart and soft-touch and comfy while all versions are equipped with air-con, cruise control and rear parking sensors.

Handles nicely

The base car has a smartphone dock. The mid-spec Comfort trim adds 8in touchscreen with reversing camera, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. That’s the one you want. It costs £16,595. But it’ll only be a few quid extra on finance.

Your engine choice is simple . . . because there is only one for now.

It’s a 1-litre three-pot, 110 horses, with a six-speed manual gearbox.

Hybrid to follow next year.

I’m not going to lie, you’ll have to work the engine hard going up a hill with seven adults on board.

But otherwise all is good. It handles nicely.

To sum up, then.

The Dacia Jogger: Comically cheap and stress-free motoring for £5.97 a day. For families on a budget, it’s a no-brainer.

I can think of nothing, apart from this newspaper, that represents such good value.

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