Conversely, we’d expect a drop-off in winter, too. At our recorded efficiency, the Spring is capable of a real-world range of 134 miles. Dacia quotes a range of 140 miles on the WLTP combined cycle, which rises to 190 miles in the urban cycle.
Given its size, purpose and range, the Spring is best suited to a buyer who can top up at home, so the fact that its rapid-charge speed hits only 30kw is not a huge issue. It hit its advertised speeds whenever we did use a rapid charger, and officially, a 20-80 per cent top-up takes 45 minutes.
If you want to save energy when it’s cold, you can pre-heat the Spring while it’s plugged in. As you might expect at this price point, there’s no energy-efficient heat pump available to help reduce the load on the drive battery when driving on cold days.
| Model | Battery size | Range | Insurance group |
| Spring Electric 45 | 26.8kWh | 140 miles | 24 |
| Spring Electric 65 | 26.8kWh | 140 miles | 25 |
Insurance groups
Depending on the powertrain, the Spring sits in either group 24 or 25 for insurance. That’s high for a small city car, so it will be worth shopping around.
Tax
From April 2025, all new cars with a list price of less than £40,000 are subject to the same vehicle excise duty (VED) rates, irrespective of powertrain, so the Spring will cost the same amount as a combustion-engined car or PHEV for road tax. The first year will still only set you back £10, though.
Depreciation
The Spring is predicted to hold on to roughly 44 per cent of its value after three years or 36,000 miles. That’s very similar to the Leapmotor T03’s figure, and better than the similarly sized but more expensive Hyundai Inster.
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The Spring has been built down to a cost, but clever use of materials boosts its appeal
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The Spring’s fantastically intuitive cabin looks funky, but predictably feels a little cheap in places.
Interior and dashboard design
A basic, rugged cabin design is exactly what you would expect of a car at the price of the Spring, and from that point of view, it hits the brief. The dash design takes inspiration from the Duster’s, with its copper highlights and angular air vents, but the simplicity of the main controls is what the Spring does so well.
