What are Dacias like to drive?

[EatSleepRantRepeat]

I need a much larger car for regular long distance motorway driving (300 miles each way), and looking at monthly PCP costs at the moment, the most sensible financial choice would be a small petrol Dacia SUV until electrics become more capable for that kind of distance.

(I hate Elon Musk with a passion, so there is no way I'd consider a Tesla).

Does anyone have experience with running a Dacia and any plus/minuses for having one? Or other similar brands I may not have tried? The only thing that puts me off so far is I've heard Dacia is owned by Renault, which seem to have a lot of things go wrong with them - my friends' Renaults run like a bag of spanners. I can afford an upmarket brand if I have to, but I don't see the point if petrol will be phased out shortly after paying it off.

Any advice from Dacia car owners (or similar) welcome!

We have a 67 reg Dacia Sandero Stepway. 0.9 Petrol engine. We bought the top of the range with all the bells and whistles. Same trim on a Nissan would have been £21,000 - ours cost £11,400.
It has been bomb proof. I don't drive, DW does and she absolutely loves it. We went away for Xmas, packed it to the roof, two dogs and two large humans - it soared up to Northumberland, no problems.
We wish we had heard of Dacia before.
People are snotty about Dacia, they have no reason to be, they're very well built, amazingly cheap for the money.
Go for it (and no, I don't work for Dacia!).

Love ours! It's a duster and a real work horse.

Bil has one too on a pcp, 21 plate top of the range etc, 180 a month

I can't get over how much they have as standard

Heated seats
Cameras
Parking sensors
Heated windscreens
Auto air con
Apple car play
The boot is huge
There is a charger in the boot so camping supplies can be charged up whilst driving so you can get out and go immediately

We have the Bi fuel option so we can add lpg.

@Dontletthemuggglesgetyoudown @allthelittleangelsriseupriseup thank you so much for this - it sounds just what I'm looking for, a proper work horse! I'm guilty of believing the hype sometimes when it comes to marketing, and if something is too cheap being a bit suspicious of it - it's not wanting to be stuck with a lemon. What's the acceleration like - my city car is quite poor for this so I end up with twat drivers up my arse when I'm trying to overtake a lorry (I never lane hog and always pull back in once safe to do so!).

We have a duster and it’s a great car. I love it.

Hmm, I'll be honest, acceleration used to be very nippy - the engine is less than a litre- so works very hard all the time, not so good since they introduced the new eco petrol, we have definitely noticed that when it's cold, it's slow pulling away, but once it's warmed up, it's OK.

Brilliant, it sounds like a goer

I wanted one but no automatic option, manual only

Sorry that was on the Duster

I think they’re doing an automatic now, wankywomble.

Watching with interest as we’re thinking of a Duster as our next car - we’ve got a Skoda Yeti which we love and which is really popular with its many fans, so of course they decided to stop making it . The Duster seems the closest match in terms of spec and looks.

Had a brand new Sandero as a courtesy car whilst my Renault Grand Scenic was in for service/mot then subsquent fix. It was horrible to drive, basic, sat nav was a pain to use. I'd rather go for an older nicer car. It felt like a car made in the 1980's.

Lololololooolooool
Sorry OP - Romanian of a certain age
Whud have thought it

We have just got rid of our Dacia Duster. It was awful. Guzzled petrol, had no go about it and felt like a tin on wheels. Has really put me off Dacias.

Sandero step way here and absolutely love it. Agree it's a work horse and you can fit so much in it, economical and easy to drive.
The only thing that is slightly off putting is that on a long drive I find my back aches, but I'm not sure if that's just because I'm used to very old cars that have very soft (worn!) seats!
Would absolutely get another one (ours is 4 years old- bought from new).

We have a petrol lpg duster which we had in 2020. I don't drive yet but dh does and he really likes it. Our previous was a Renault Kadjar and the stop start kept failing on that. It is basic but drives well and is comfortable. The lpg has been particularly useful with the petrol prices recently as well.

DH has a 2015 Sandero which has done well over 200k (long motorway commute) and it’s still perfect.

He’s been getting it regularly serviced and the only thing he’s had to replace has been his tyres.

He much prefers driving it to my Golf, even though the finish isn’t as high a standard.

They’ve upgraded the sandero since and the new model is a nice looking car which a much improved interior. Wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them.

@Halsall thanks for the heads up. Bought a RAV4 in the end but it's one to consider when it's ready for changing

Like driving on cloud 9, makes me so happy to think of all that money saved every time I get in it. Constant money saving. Never gone wrong.

Wouldn’t touch another one with a barge pole. So many things that you can’t buy ‘generic’ parts for. Mines is a sandero but a starter cost me best part of £400. New window wiper motor had cost me about £500. Horn went. Proper replacement £300 I got a bypass done for £80 by our local garage. I just need it to make it to my MOT in October and then it is gone. Also feels really heavy to drive and definitely not quick off the mark when accelerating

We have a 19 plate 1.3l petrol duster and it’s amazing value for money, great MPG and drives well. We use it for camping and fill it up with everything and you can’t tell. Easy to park too. We got the almost top of the range one and it’s fab.

The latest Sandero is seriously slow. Fine round town but the gutlessness will soon become tiring on a long motorway journey. Not sure I’d regularly want to do 300 miles in one.

I like my stepway but I’m not into cars at all, I’m just happy to get from A to B
I do find it light on petrol use, and acceleration is good enough for me (mine is 0.9 petrol).
There’s different levels of basicness with them. Mine is pretty basic on features but that suits me fine.
It takes a roof rack which was a big selling point for me.
I’ve had a couple of coil springs go, and the exhaust has been replaced. It’s a 2014 model so I’d expect it to be needing attention by now anyway.

Whilst it's a standard 'ok' to drive, it's like going around in a tin can. The build itself is very cheap, hearing the tinny noise of the door closing jars me every time.

They do get about alright, just not with any quality.

We rented a Dacia Duster for a vacation. Big mistake! It used a lot of petrol, and it feels like sitting in a tin box. It was so noisy inside the cabin I could hardly hear what my DH said and he was sitting right next to me. The kids and DH complained about the noise as well.

I love mine but I'm not a car person. I bought it because it was cheap. At my last mot nothing at all needed doing and I find it good for fuel too.

Dh is very into cars and he hates it but I don't care about all the bells and whistles I just wanted something cheap, reliable and with plenty of boot space and that's exactly what I got.