Dacia Logan- opinions please

[Rovinghawk]

I'm planning to go to Romania in August and need to hire a car. I'd originally intended something along the lines of a Mondeo but the Logan was suggested as nearly as good at half the price.

If anyone has actual experience of the Logan I'd appreciate some feedback on it.

RH

[alsem]

unreliable and ugly

[TheHeretic]

Quite a few on the roads here. Not a pretty car, but they seem to pootle along decently. No idea on reliability.

[5potTurbo]

Dacia is Renault, Romanian style.
If it goes wrong, at least you know they'll have the parts locally!

[Bluebarge]

It's old Renault technology re-packaged. Are fairly simple so reasonably reliable. Should do fine for a cheap hire car.

[jimbo65]

A little basic but I have had one a couple of times whilst in Romania,
had no problems and as mentioned you will not be alone with a Dacia and
any problems that may occur will be sorted quickly.

[llewop]

We've got a few of them on the project

they are exactly what they are designed to be: cheap as chips versions of Renault (some are badged as Renaults)

not fast, not well equiped, not that comfortable in the back (especially the estate)

drive ok as long as you reset your expectations


don't forget: Top Gear's infamous Dacia Sandero is the hatchback version

[Codswallop]

When are you going to get the chance to drive a Dacia again? When I go on holiday, I always like to try the local flavours/ cars, and I should guess that the Dacia will also have a certain charm that only slightly rubbish cars can have.

[shirt]

it's a massive pile of steaming turd if viewed in the context of the mondeo. judged against cars in its class then it's acceptable, if dated visually.

if like me you like your hire cars to be basic, small and stty so you can wring the neck out of it and hit potholes [of which there will be many] and bumps at full speed, i suggest you go for it.

best rule for foreign car hire is go with what the most numerous car in the fleet.

[TheHeretic]

There is a brand called 'Great Wall' which has some new cars out. Could be worth a look if they are available.

[shirt]

there are loads of great wall pickups around here. i had assumed they were just L200's owned by one of the construction outfits

[TheHeretic]

shirt said:

there are loads of great wall pickups around here. i had assumed they were just L200's owned by one of the construction outfits

The 3 cars they have released look half decent. Some overtook me on the Sofia-Varna road, they were obviously demos as they were all snickered up, and they weren't too bad at all. The pickup looked like, as you say, the L200 pretty much. €12,500 to buy in Bulgaria.

[shirt]

a quick google suggests they have a factory assembling kits from china in romania. same in egypt which i guess explains the pickup's popularity here. nice name for a pickup, the wingle!

their small car appears to be a yaris with a beaver's face grafted on front



wtf is this though?

[TheHeretic]

They have just opened a factory in Lovech, Bulgaria as well.

[markh1973]

alsem said:

unreliable and ugly

ugly - yes

but apparently Dacia come second only to Audi in the JD Power Survey in Germany.

And they will be available in Britain later in the year according to Dacia.co.uk

[Rovinghawk]

I'll be driving the Trans Fagarasan Highway.

From your comments I think the extra for the mondeo is justified.

Thanks, all.

RH

[PhillT]

They sell them here, badged as Renault. I drove one a few months ago. It's as basic and cheap as motoring gets, short of going to the Chinese brands. But you can rinse the nuts off it and the handling is surprisingly good not as lousy as I expected.