Romanian budget brand Dacia has, in recent years, been on the rise. The former Eastern-Bloc carmaker is Renault’s dollar-store sub-brand, and it’s fast been making a reputation for itself as the go-to marque for those looking for an affordable ride.

But there is nothing remotely fast about the Spring, the company’s new EV. To be fair to Dacia, the 44 HP Spring is designed with urban use in mind, and the 5.8sec 0-30 mph (0-48 km/h) time is only likely to induce slight sleepiness rather than full on narcolepsy.

But try to do anything more energetic than simply keep up with the pedal cycles and it’s a different story. Zero to 62 mph (100 km) takes 19.1 seconds and by 78 mph (125 km/h) it’s game over, presuming you can actually find space to get there – there are no salt flats in France.

To put that torpidity in context, here are seven ridiculously slow old cars that could leave a Spring eating dust at the lights.

AMC Gremlin (1977)


Power: 80 hp
Max speed: 97 mph
Zero to 60 mph: 15.7 seconds
AMC’s freaky-looking 1970s subcompact could certainly give the Dacia a scare, even in full gas-crisis mode and equipped with Volkswagen’s 2.0-liter four-cylinder motor instead of the torquier straight six.

Yugo GV (1986)

Power: 55 hp
Max speed: 90 mph
Zero to 60mph: 13.9 seconds
Car and Driver called it ‘the worst car in history’ but this Yugoslavian box was an unexpected hit with frugal Americans thanks to a $3990 price. Mechanically, it was a rehash of Fiat’s old 127 but a 0-60mph time of 13.9 seconds means it’s more supercar than supermini next to the Dacia.

Plymouth Horizon (1978)


Power: 70 hp
Max speed: 96 mph
Zero to 60 mph: 14.0 seconds
Developed from the European Chrysler Horizon, the Dodge Omni and Plymouth Horizon were the first front-wheel drive cars built in the U.S. They’re mostly forgotten these days except for nutty Shelby GLH hot hatch, but even the bone-stock 1.7 Horizon could show a clean pair of heels (if not a clean tailpipe) to the Dacia Spring.

Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme Diesel (1978)


Power: 105 hp
Max speed: NA
Zero to 60 mph: 18.2 seconds
Oldsmobile’s wrong answer to the question of how to improve late 1970s gas mileage was a legendarily unreliable diesel V8 that made just 105hp from 5.7-liters. But presuming it could manage not to blow up for 18 seconds, the Olds would still pip the Dacia in a drag race.

Buick Century (1936)


Power: 120 hp
Max speed: 82 mph
Zero to 60mph: 16.0 seconds
Okay, so Buick’s Century was one of the quicker cars of the period, but that period was the Great Depression, for heaven’s sake. We’d be pretty depressed if we were driving a Dacia and got blown away by a car built when FDR had only just got comfy in the Oval Office.

Volkswagen Beetle (1977)


Power: 48 hp
Max speed: 80 mph
Zero to 60 mph: 17.2 seconds
Despite being designed when some people didn’t even have electricity in their houses, never mind their engine bays, the Beetle has a spring in its step that the Dacia can’t match.

FSO Polonez 1500 (1979)


Power: 76 hp
Max speed: 92 mph
Zero to 60mph: 17 seconds
Another Eastern-Bloc atrocity, the Polonez wasn’t sold in America, fortunately for Americans, and there are hardly any left in Europe. But watch out if you’re cruising through Warsaw in your Dacia and one pulls alongside at the lights: you don’t stand a chance.

Correction Check:  We mistakenly referred to the Yugo as a ‘Czech’ box when we all know it was in fact built in the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Sorry about that comrades!