Dacia Is Doing A Good Job Of Frustrating Americans With Its New Under-$29,000 Wagon That We Can’t Have

The average transaction price for a new car in America today is over $49,000, and the number of cars you can still buy in these States that are United is not huge. There are still some decent options out there, like Honda Civics and Toyota Camrys and Mazda3s and a few others, but if the selection were a buffet, it’d be closer to the kind shoved into the corner of a strip club than, say, one at the Sizzler. And yet, during this time of good cheap car options, here comes Dacia announcing a pretty cool-looking new wagon (they say crossover, but this is a wagon) called the Striker, and it’s supposed to start under €25,000, which comes to about $28,000-$29,000 Freedom Dollars.

The Striker is mechanically pretty much the same as the Dacia Bigster, an SUV launched last year, but with less of a tall, SUV-type profile and more of a, as I said, station wagon silhouette. Dacia calls this a “disruptive silhouette,” but those are ridiculous, meaningless marketing words, so I’m not going to use that.

Both vehicles are built on Renault’s CMF-B platform that is used for cars as varied as the Nissans Juke, Kicks, and Note, the Mitsubishi Colts, Renault’s Clio and Captur, and more. An all-wheel-drive version is expected to be available from the beginning, and if the drivetrains actually are shared with the Bigster, we can likely expect a 1.2-liter inline-three engine working in close partnership with a rear-mounted electric motor for a combined 152 horsepower, with some other hybrid variations and an LPG version available.

Full details about the Striker won’t be coming until June, but we can at least get a look at it now, and overall, I’m pretty impressed. This doesn’t read like a bottom-end-of-the-market car at all, I don’t think. It’s not particularly small, and very little about it seems to be built to a budget, at least visually. Dacia’s press release describes it with the usual eye-rolling PR talk frippery, though they at least acknowledge the station wagon-ness of it all:

“Dacia is strengthening its offensive in the C segment with Striker, a new multi‑energy crossover that combines the dynamism of a station wagon, the practicality of a spacious hatchback and the ground clearance of an SUV.

True to Dacia’s DNA, Striker features a robust and confident design. Its dynamic lines, aerodynamic silhouette and assertive vertical front end are complemented by the brand’s new, modern daytime running light signature. Particular attention has been paid to design details, including a distinctive front‑door animation and a glossy black rear link between the lamps, enhanced by a technical grain that reinforces the vehicle’s modern and durable character.”

I’m not exactly clear what they mean by “front door animation,” but I’m sure it’s a pretty good time. Speaking of the front doors, I’m not sure if that black angled strake under the side mirror serves any function, but I like the way it looks. Here’s the video:

It’s pretty handsome, overall, I think. It doesn’t feel too trendy or like it’s trying to hard to be something it isn’t, even with details like that floating roof/broken C-pillar which – you know what – I kinda like here.

The proportions feel pretty good, and, if anything, it seems like it’s downplaying the big wheels/high-ish ride height stance, which I think is part of why it reads more wagon than SUV. Well, that and my own hopes.

There’s a good amount of clever incised details on the body panels to give some visual interest and character, like those two sausage-shaped ones on the rear tailgate that almost read like handles:

The taillights are an interesting T-shaped design, and, since this is European, there must be amber indicators hidden in there somewhere. There’s a strip of black plastic linking the taillights but, notably, no wide full-width light strip like so many new cars feature. Maybe Dacia’s just saving some money, but I can’t say I’m missing it. There’s plenty of cars with this neo-heckblende design on the roads already.

The bumpers at each end feature a lot of black, unpainted areas on the cover, which is a good thing, I think; a fully painted bumper is a liability, and more than a little stupid. The grille has a nice bold graphic look with its six silver colons, and lends itself well to a one-line email signature “=o:::DC:::o=”. Kinda? Maybe that doesn’t work so well. My one-line signature of a VW Beetle, though, works great: (O\_|_/O).

I’ve always liked Dacia; the Romanian company sure has come a long way from its days of building Renaults under license, though in that era they definitely built plenty of wagons I think are pretty cool:

Based on this initial look, I’m pretty impressed with this Striker. And a little maddened, because if Europe can get new under $30,000 station wagons, why can’t we? European emissions and safety standards aren’t that different than ours? Sure, it’s a bit less hp than a lot of US market cars have, but at the same time, it’s absolutely fine.

An option like this in the US market you would think would be very welcome; maybe something like this could be used to help revitalize Nissan? A new Nissan Gloria? Stanza? Bluebird? Maxima? Axxess? There’s so many names to pick from! Sadly, I think we’ll just be watching this one from across the sea.

Top graphic image: Dacia