Dacia Sandero

[sandspider]

Hi all

The wife is considering one of the above. They seem to be a decent car for the money, without paying for a better known brand. Does anyone have a Dacia, and are they good? Anything particular to look out for? They seem to be well thought of generally. (We're looking at second hand, but 2 - 4 years old maybe).

Cheers.

[Blackpowder]

Duster got a fair review in the Christmas edition of,'The Field@.

 

Blackpowder

[millrace]

Pretty sure the parent company is Renault and a lots of the parts are now entwined......

[figgy]

All Renault Nissan parts. Look at how much you save used to buying new or ex demo.

Brand new from 6k can't be bad at that money.

 

[McSpredder]

Bought a s/h Duster 4x4 diesel (67 reg) last November, no problems at all so far (total mileage now 19k).    Computer says overall 52.8mpg in my ownership.   Chose that car because I wanted good ground clearance, fat tyres on small wheels, manual parking brake, general simplicity (not interested in being fashionable, or 0-60 times, or high speed cornering).

 

Minor niggles include instrumentation  - no coolant temp gauge at all, and other than speed and fuel you can only have one thing visible at a time (total miles OR trip miles OR range OR mpg OR ambient temp, etc).   Built-in satnav demands street name and house number (does not accept postcodes) and is too low down to look at safely while driving.

 

Last summer the main dealers had lots of 3-4 year old Dusters being traded in for the new model, so presumably owners had not been deterred from buying Dacia (although a cynic might suggest that no other franchise would look at them as trade-in).

 

Sandero Stepway seem to be popular with older folk, who find it easy to get in and out because of its suspension height.

[Zapp]

My wife has a sandero.  The gearbox is a bit clunky but other than that a decent little car.

[benbobailey]

hello,

           Duster diesel 4x4. Does what it says on the tin.Reasonable costs, decent mpg, plenty room for dog box etc, no complaints. A few pound more than Sandero but  worth it for me.

  regards

[Walker570]

Nice looking Duster for sale at my local garage...Four Counties, No Mans Heath.  I have just purchased a Skoda Fabia from him for my wife and I have had all my serving there for over 20yrs. He only buys in and sells quality second hand, genuine dealer.

[Blackbriar]

Got a couple of mates who have Dusters and they love 'em !

[JRDS]

My wife has one, tinny and very slow with cheap plastics but other than that it does what it says on the tin. It has been reliable.

[humperdingle]

I bought a ‘64 Dacia Duster 4wd in November - It’s been great so far.

inside looks fine, although it is the higher spec ‘Laureate’ (Now called Prestige)

Really punchy 1.5 Renault diesel engine.

 

Never had a drive in a Sandero, though, so can’t really comment directly.

[Aled]

I've got a 4x4 Dacia Duster 13, I am very pleased with it, and will probably buy another one!

Cheers

Aled

[sandspider]

Thanks all, sounding fairly positive. Reliability is more of a concern than style or performance! Think a Duster is out of budget (and possibly a bit big), but we're trying a Sandero this weekend, so should know more after that.

Cheers.

[Rewulf]

Base model, Sandero stepway petrol comes in at 9k brand new, Im not sure how much a 2-4 year old one is worth.
A diesel one is 3.5k more expensive, and anything except white costs another £500
There can be a massive price difference between say , a base petrol model, and a higher end diesel, nearly TWICE the price on a new one, this will probably reflect somewhat on second hand cars

The petrols are 3 cylinder, but seem to be reliable, the newer 1.3 ce is said to be more economical than the 1.2 ce, both are turbo , so theres adequate power.
The 1.5 dci is tried and tested in various Renaults and Nissans, and is very economical 65 mpg is easily do able.

They are basic, even top end ones are basic ,compared to your average Renault or Peugeot ect.
Looked at buying one for the FIL but he has set his heart on a 2008 now.
As a budget car , the Sandero takes some beating.

[GingerCat]

I had the 1.5d in a quashqai and couldnt get above 52 no matter how I drove it. I'd be amazed if you got 65 with the same engine in a duster. 

It's cam belt driven as well and not cheap to replace every 4 years. Otherwise a decent enough engine. 

[Rewulf]

2 minutes ago, GingerCat said:

I had the 1.5d in a quashqai and couldnt get above 52 no matter how I drove it. I'd be amazed if you got 65 with the same engine in a duster. 

It's cam belt driven as well and not cheap to replace every 4 years. Otherwise a decent enough engine. 

We are talking about a Sandero, quite a lot smaller, plus , was your  Quashqai AWD ? Makes a big difference.

My Grand Scenic has  a 1.5 dci in it, its a pretty heavy car, but that does nearly 50 mpg round town, On a motorway it can easily do 65 mpg and is 105 bp.

[figgy]

Wife's Renault Kadjar 1.6 DCI AWD has averaged 46 mpg over 10 thousand miles. Driven normal no hard driving and nearly always in eco mode. At least five thousand is motorway miles.

Not bad but not great either. Probs break 50 mpg with me driving it on a run maybe mid 50's at 50 mph

Dacia is bit lighter but less power so not that dissimilar being based on the older platform.

Edited April 5, 2019 by figgy

[sandspider]

Thanks gents.

We're looking at petrol, don't want diesel - already have one diesel car and it's a bit of a pain with DPFs, EGR valves etc. We'll see how the test drive goes!

[GingerCat]

6 hours ago, Rewulf said:

We are talking about a Sandero, quite a lot smaller, plus , was your  Quashqai AWD ? Makes a big difference.

My Grand Scenic has  a 1.5 dci in it, its a pretty heavy car, but that does nearly 50 mpg round town, On a motorway it can easily do 65 mpg and is 105 bp.

Yeah i can see that, it was a 2wd version and not driven hard at all, couldn't get over 50mpg. In fact it didn't make much difference how it was driven.  Id also be surprised if the weight was that much more than a sandero to make such a difference (+15mpg)

I hear various views on the duster from those that have them. Haven't heard a thing about the sandero and I don't know  what car its based on. I'd be interested in its safety rating. If it's any good it may be a contender for a replacement when mrs gingercat wants a new one. 

[Rewulf]

Sandero probably based on megane running gear. 

Around half a tonne difference between the qashquai and Sandero, depending on model. 

Nissan claim 75 mpg at 56mph for 1.5 dci qashquai! Obviously that test track, but all my Renault diesels have been excellent on economy, that's why I've run them for 15 years, and will continue 

[GingerCat]

75mpg for the 1.5 is a fantasy. I can only assume it was a downhill track with a fair wind behind it. Currently my renault koleos 2 litre d is doing between 42 and 47 depending on if 2wd or automatic. It's an xtrail underneath and quite good so far. 

Edited April 5, 2019 by GingerCat

[Zapp]

We have had two.  The first one was the 1.2 or 1.3 petrol engine - that was ok but it got rear ended by a new driver who wasnt paying attention while Mrs Zapp was waiting to turn off a main road.  She was hit at about 50 whilst static and the car soaked it up and injuries werent as bad as could be expected, so a big tick in that respect.

The newer one is the 0.9 petrol and its actually a much more pokey engine, and pretty economic.  From what you've been saying it sounds like an ideal car for what you need.

[sandspider]

Thanks zapp, sounds encouraging again.
Sandero is ncap 4, but it is quite a small car...

 

[mick miller]

I'm waiting for this to land later this year...

https://uk.motor1.com/news/304542/dacia-duster-pickup-confirmed-2019/

In petrol 4x4 and with a set of decent tyres, damn near perfect for me.

[figgy]

Mick that duster pick up looks like the jumbo pick up from years ago.