Dacia Duster or Nissan Qashqai?

[AnIncandescentGlow]

Looking for a new family car and would appreciate your thoughts. 😊
We'd like an SUV with a large boot. It would mostly be for small daily trips and occasional longer ones. These are the 2 we're looking at. I'd be grateful for any feedback from those of you who have/had either of these cars. Thank you. 😊

There will always people who have good experiences with a particular car when others have problems. I'm betting that you put your car in for a regular service...expensive as that may be. I have told my DD that when her car is no longer within warranty to take out an extended warranty or at least (if she is struggling financially) take it to a dealership for an oil and filter change at least once a year.

So speaks someone who bought an MG sports with an old K Series engine...my biggest and most expensive mistake ever!

Have you considered Suzuki Vitara? Not as expensive as Nissan and very reliable. Boot space will be comparable. None of these will have as much boot space as an estate car though.

I had a Qashqai from new until it completely broke 1 years later. It looked nice and felt quite lux inside. However I don’t know if we were unlucky but there was no end of problems mechanically. I’d avoid

My understanding is that Duster has a lower safety rating because it doesn’t have some of the electronic features like lane drift alerts, not that the physical car is any less safe.

Out of the two I'd probably go for the Duster.
Someone close to me that works for a large motor group with various franchises was telling me that Nissan are about to disappear. They are producing very little by way of new models and the models they do have are selling poorly. Not just that particular franchise but globally.
Dacia seem to be doing well.
If nothing else the Qashqai is an plug ugly car. It's huge and lumpen on the outside for no particular reason, the interior is disappointingly cramped.

My qashqui is extremely economical, and a diesel. Cheap to run. In terms of insurance, tax is fine. It does around 65 to the gallon, but I do regular long journeys.

Threads like this will always attract those who’ve had the very best, and the very worst of experiences.

See my above post about the Tucson I had. It was a top spec diesel engine.

After the engine blew up, we researched it and it was a common issue that Hyundai were refusing to acknowledge. Just make sure you look very carefully at the specific engine type and any known issues that haven’t been recalled.

To add to my post, I've never owned or driven either. The Duster seems a popular car...is a less gimmicky vehicle and looks better.

On top of that, I'm not a person to judge...I've just bought a Berlingo panel van as my vehicle.

This - it’s basically safe - it won’t fold into pieces when crashed or do anything dangerous- it just doesn’t have any fancy extra safety features.

I’ve had 3 Dusters and I liked them - not fancy or sporty but nice to drive, roomy and with a decent sat nav, radio, camera etc.

i now have a car with all the extra safety bells and whistles and I tend to turn them off!

Nothing special on the outside but the Citroen C4 Grand spacetourer is huge on the inside with lots of glass and visibility ( great for car sickness). Its a 7 seater so when the third row of seats is not in use the boot is cavernous. Lots of leg room and space to deal with car seats on the second row.

The cabin space is great too! The middle row of seats can individually move forward and backward too as needed.

We have a Qashqui and love it, boot space is good, it has a shelf (handy to store stuff underneath and the shelf makes a great baby changing spot), when the shelf is out we can easily store a bugaboo bee, two scooters, 4 pairs of wellies/walking shoes and still have room for more crap 😃. It’s not a big SUV, my brother has a Tucson which is a big bigger and also lovely. I plan on probably sticking with Qashqui’s from this point on!

We’ve had a couple of things go on it but that’s usual for its age now and it’s had less issues than our old cars. Definitely test drive the one you want though, don’t rely on buying something you’ve never driven before via Cinch or similar.

I had a diesel Qashqai first when DS was 9 and we did over 100,000 miles in it - we loved it and apart from regular servicing the only other thing we were get had to pay out for , as expected, were new tyres - my most favourite car I've owned.

Because of the mileage and age we decided to trade in for a new petrol Qashqai 18 months ago - worst mistake ever - we have had so many issues with it which Qashqai have argued over and tried to say guarantee doesn't cover it - and customer service from them has been non existent /abysmal - we will not be buying another one and are selling this one very soon .

Forgot to say never had a problem on either model with the boot handle and we find the boot space pretty good

I looked at both of these and went for a Kia sportage ,
no regrets !

Ouch !!! 😬

We had a Qashqai+2 and loved it - but so did someone else and it was stolen, lol. It was 10 years old and we ended up getting a brand new Prestige (top range) Dacia Duster for cheaper than a 2nd hand Qashqai! The Duster is brilliant - no issues with it, easy to drive, has all mod cons, very spacious for family of 3+dog. Its utilitarian, but that's perfect for a family car. And under warranty as new (but not been needed). If i had any complaints it would be that the wing mirrors aren't electric folding on turning off the car - buts that's literally it.

I swear by my Dacia Logan

I love my Ateca.
Roomy inside, with a boot that will hold 4 adults suitcases, and comfortably take four adults, 5 fit fine for shorter trips.
The visibility when driving is far better than the qq had.
It drives much better than the qq - the gearing works better, and it accelerates well. The qq really struggled with this especially up hill. I hated overtaking on the motorway on those long steady inclines in the qq.
Very easy to park, a good turning circle - another thing lacking on the qq.

I had a Duster. It was great for what I needed, very roomy. Managed to fit in twins and all the stuff they needed for uni. It drove well, never had any problems with it. I downsized as I didn't need a big car once my kids didn't need lifts.

My friend had a Qashqai and had nothing but trouble with it. She was glad to be rid of it.

I have a quashqai desiel and the mileage is great, we've driven to Scotland comfortably with 2 children in car seats and all the luggage. My biggest annoyance is the window screen, it takes an age to demist. Other than that no other problems.

We bought a Duster in 2021 when we needed a car immediately and there were supply problems with most cars, something about the computer motherboards IIRC.

It’s basic (the gear stick is just a metal rod and a vinyl cover, the sunshades are flimsy and we upgraded models to get more comfortable seats) and noisy on the motorway. The rubber seal around a rear door had to be siliconed back into place and the bodywork is so thin it flexes if you push it! It looks like a SUV but performs like an estate. DH says the turning radius isn’t great, so more reversing etc when parking. I haven’t found that but I’m a patient parker.

Our only breakdown in 5 years was coming down an Austrian mountain when the brake pedal lost contact (!), so potentially fatal. We were still under international warranty and it was fixed free of charge by Austrian Renault.
We bought it on HP with the option to pay a final maxi payment or give it back. We expect to buy it outright as it’s done such low mileage with us.
Boot space is fine for student moves and holidays for 3. The back seat folds down as 1+2.
I’d give it a 6.5 out of 10 because it feels more basic than the C3 Picasso I had previously, built 10 years before. That was my mummy wagon for pushchairs etc. but the electrics were very bad and I know the UK version had usable brake cables running under the passenger footwell!

Have a proper read of the safety reports, not just the headline star rating. Theyre insightful.

Oh goodness, there's a couple of horror stories here 😳 I know there's probably going to be, but those are pretty scary.
The Tucson I found is a 2019 model. I love it, but am a bit nervous about it now, as I've read quite a bit about the engines failing.
The Ateca is a strong contender now. So thank you for that recommendation! 😊 But there's only one and I'm worried it will go before we can go see it.

I think (ironically due to the thread!) that the Qashqai is now out of the running and the Duster doesn't seem to be all round what we're looking for. I'm so grateful for all the insight.