Dacia Spring

Priced from £14,995 on the road, the Dacia Spring will arrive in the UK in October as the cheapest electric car on sale (vehicles like the Citroen Ami or Silence S04 are quadricyles).

Given that it’s punily powered (44bhp) at that headline price and that moving up the model hierarchy is unlikely to prove prohibitive for most cash customers, it’s surprising to learn that many are ordering this new city car in its most basic form: at less than 15 grand, please, with 44bhp, and no matter that it takes 19.1sec to reach 62mph.

Of more interest to most customers, though, is the variant I’m testing here, which has a whopping 64bhp motor, pulling its acceleration from a 1965 Hillman Minx-equalling level to that of a 1992 Renault Clio 1.2 (13.7sec) in one fell swoop.

And it does so while not adding too much to the price: £15,995 in base Expression form or £16,995 in range-topping Extreme trim.

]]>