Dacia Jogger Hybrid With Sleep Pack

Camping Editor, Iain Duff, road tests the Dacia Jogger Hybrid and the kit that transforms this family car into a mini camper

The last few years have seen a growing trend for different ways of camping.

Whether it’s campervans, roof tents or trailer tents, since Covid, campers have been seeking out alternatives to traditional tents or ways to complement their existing camping set-up.

It’s all part of the movement towards being able to enjoy spontaneous adventures without being restricted by trying to search for a pitch on a campsite. 

One of the options that has become popular since the pandemic is car camping. Essentially this is converting your car into what amounts to a micro camper. For some it’s just a case of flattening the back seats and laying an airbed and sleeping bags on top. But, for the more enthusiastic, you can buy a camping box which sits in the boot and folds out to create a bed with storage underneath – and maybe even a swing-out kitchen unit.

With its Jogger, Dacia, Renault’s budget brand, has taken this one step further by creating a camping kit that comes with the car and turns it into a mini camper – at the fraction of the cost of an actual campervan. Of course, this is in no way a campervan or even remotely close to one. In fact, it’s only a little more sophisticated than the aforementioned airbed-on-the-back-seats approach. There’s no cooker or sink, no comfy lounge area, no dining table, heating or fridge. Apart from a bed, you don’t get any of the basics you would expect to find in a campervan. 

However, that doesn’t mean it has nothing to offer. If all you are looking for is something that allows you to park up in a lovely spot, quickly set up camp, then move on early the next morning, then this could work for you. And paying extra for the tent certainly opens up more opportunities.

The car

But before we look at the camping set-up in more detail, what about the car itself? First and foremost, like all Dacias, the Jogger is great value for money. This fully equipped automatic comes in at under £24,000, which is a great price for a car of this size and spec. It uses a 1.6-litre petrol engine which is paired with an electric motor, making it Dacia’s first hybrid model. This set-up promises fuel efficiency, especially in city driving.

Inside, the Jogger might look and feel a little plasticky, but it’s fitted with pretty much everything the modern driver would expect, including hill start assistance, a reversing camera, front and rear parking sensors, cruise control, blind spot warning and an 8in multimedia display with DAB, and Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. There’s keyless entry, automatic windscreen wipers, heated door mirrors plus air-conditioning. It’s an impressive spec list.

The Jogger is certainly not an off-road vehicle, nor does it pretend to be, but it copes perfectly well when you leave the Tarmac to negotiate bumpy campsites. On the road, the Jogger Hybrid feels smooth and responsive. The automatic transmission makes city driving a breeze, and the regenerative braking helps recharge the battery while you drive. And no, it’s not built for speed, but for families or adventurers it’s perfectly adequate.

The Dacia Jogger Hybrid starts at around £22,995 in the UK and the fully specced model on test is £23,645. The Sleep Pack, including the camping box and mattress, will add £1,565 to the total cost and the tent and blackout window blinds are another £537. So, you’re looking at £25,747 for this fully equipped version. For a hybrid with this level of versatility and all the camping set-up, that’s great value, especially when you compare it to a campervan. So, as a family car it scores highly, but is this really a serious camping option?

Camping

The basic Sleep Pack that converts the Jogger into a mini camper is a large wooden box that sits in the boot. There are two obvious problems with this… one is that you lose the third row of seats that makes it a seven-seater. The second is that it takes up a lot of the boot’s storage space, and that means limiting the amount of luggage you can take with you. On the plus side, most of your camping gear can be stored inside the box.

The bed is pretty easy to set up and with a couple of trial runs at home you should have it mastered. Push the front seats forward, flatten the back seats, release the catch then fold out the bed frame. Unfold the base and pull out the side slats, then slide the mattress into place and you’ve got your double bed. And yes, it is a double, but only just. It’s 130cm wide, which is comparable with many campervan conversions, and the mattress is quite comfortable, but the lack of headroom does make it feel very claustrophobic at night. Getting in and out of the bed also requires some agility and flexibility, especially when there are two sharing the bed. You also have the option of adding blackout window blinds (at another extra cost) for more privacy and to keep the sun blocked out in the morning. I’d say these would be an essential purchase.

You could leave it at that, but if that all feels a bit cramped, you can add a rear tailgate tent to the Sleep Pack (for an additional cost of course) and that will give you additional living and sleeping space. Now, I’ve been pitching tents for many years but I have to admit this was far more difficult than usual, so practise first before heading out. I’m not exactly sure what it was that made it so tricky, but the instructions were vague and there just seemed to be an awful lot of material flapping around. Even when the tent was standing, attaching it to the back of the car proved to be another challenge. After a lot of faffing around, I finally got there, and it really did add a lot of extra accommodation to the set-up, both sleeping and living. 

Overall, the Dacia Jogger Hybrid with the Sleep Pack is an affordable, practical option for anyone who loves a bit of adventure. It’s not just a car – it’s a lifestyle choice and if you’re after something efficient, spacious, and ready for road trips, this is worth considering. But the bigger question is, why bother? On its own the Sleep Pack is of limited practical use and only really becomes effective when paired with the tailgate tent. Perhaps a better option would be to buy the Jogger, which we loved, and spend the extra Sleep Pack money on a good standalone tent or maybe even a set of roofbars and a roof tent.