Dacia Lodgy and Dokker LPG - big and cheap

© DaciaThe capacity of a small bus at the price and running costs of a city car – Lodgy in all its glory. Dokker adds the practicality in the form of sliding side doors

German customers can already order their Lodgy and Dokker (the latter in two versions – a passenger car and a cargo van) with dedicated LPG installations. What’s interesting, gas supply systems are now available without any additional fee, so money stays in the customers’ pockets from the first kilometer. Dacia knows what it’s doing – between January and November 2013, there were twice as many Dacia gas-powered cars registered than similar ones by any other brand in Germany. By adding the LPG systems for free, Dacia is on the right track to further outdistance their rivals.

ffordable prices is certainly something that also helps the Romanian cars. A seven-seat Lodgy with an 84 hp, 1.6 MPI engine powered by autogas costs only 11,490 EUR, the equivalent of ten not excessively high salaries (in Germany). According to the manufacturer, the car needs only 8.6 l of gas per 100 kilometers and exhales 139 g CO₂/km into the atmosphere. Fuel consumption is naturally lower on petrol (6.7 l/100 km) but despite this, emission of CO₂ is higher (155 g/km). Better equipped versions of the car cost 12,190 and 13,290 EUR.

Passenger Dokker with the same engine is available from 10,490 EUR. Even the cheapest version is equipped with sliding doors on both sides of the body. But the supply version of the car is the one with the best price to value ratio, starting from 8,490 EUR. And even this version has a central locking, electrically adjustable and heated door mirrors, and a practical shelf above the windscreen as standard.

All three cars (Lodgy and both versions of Dokker) are equipped with 34-liter LPG tanks, mounted in the spare wheel space. The cars are warranted for 3 years with a mileage up to 100 thousand kilometers. With these prices and conditions, we dare to say that Dacia’s vans will sell like hot cakes. Taking into account high expectations of German customers, we wouldn’t expect big queues at the Romanian manufacturer’s show rooms there, but when these models finally make it to Poland, they might be big hits. Why wouldn’t they when you can carry seven people over 100 km for less than 5.40 EUR?