Dacia, the new everyman car?

[eldar]

I live the middle of nowhere. Until 3 months ago a Dacia was a rare as an F40. The nearest dealer is 40 miles away.

Now everybody is driving a 14 reg one.

Why?

[Troubleatmill]

Cheap reliable transport.

[rehab71]

The new inverted snob car

[Mr Daytona]

Price. For the cost of a 3 or 4 year old Focus or similar, you can have a brand new 14 plate warranted car sitting on your drive.

Now the Korean manufacturers have become more mainstream and comparable to Ford or Vauxhall, there's a gaping chasm where previous generation Renaults can make a killing.

[oilslick]

If they had air con in the base models I'd have one tomorrow as a daily.

[Test driver]

Maybe cheap but a budget Renault is unlikely to be reliable. Look awful too.

[tbc]

Reminds me of a late 90's Kia

For £6k for the base model it is awful, nothing refined , everything cheap feel. Basic options are ridiculous prices.

They are a bit like an Indesit fridge, cheap and does the job for a while but not very appealing.

I would rather buy a well looked after a 1-2 year old Polo/Fabia/Ibiza with 20-30k for £6k than a Dacia stheap which will lose half it's value within a year or two.

[Poopipe]

At 6k I wouldnt give a toss if it died the day the warranty period ended.

[vanordinaire]

I'm just back from the South of France and they are everywhere there. They seem to be better quality than most cheap manufacturers. I think heard somewhere that the Duster shares a platform (and lots of components)with the Nissan Juke and Renault Captur and if this is the case then it seems like a good deal although as soon as you start specsing them up to a reasonable level, the price shoots up pretty fast too.

[rallycross]

A new car for £6k is great just don't expect quality and customer service of a normal priced new car.

Owners are already complaining about rust coming through panels (roof, tailgate etc) and claims are being rejected by Renault.

[Hungrymc]

vanordinaire said:

I'm just back from the South of France and they are everywhere there. They seem to be better quality than most cheap manufacturers. I think heard somewhere that the Duster shares a platform (and lots of components)with the Nissan Juke and Renault Captur and if this is the case then it seems like a good deal although as soon as you start specsing them up to a reasonable level, the price shoots up pretty fast too.

That's interesting. The Juke / Captur I think is a Nissan lead platform so probably better engineering than the Renault stuff (I'm thinking of the quality and reliability discussion).

Would you say the other Dacias are better quality than other lower cost cars? What makes are you thinking of? I'm guessing not the Koreans etc so maybe Tata etc?

[CarlT]

The belief that current Renaults are unreliable and break a lot is unjust and with no evidence to back it up. The latest cars are as reliable as anything else on the market.

[Driver101]

CarlT said:

The belief that current Renaults are unreliable and break a lot is unjust and with no evidence to back it up. The latest cars are as reliable as anything else on the market.

They've got one of the worst MOT pass rates, Even cars going through their first MOT fail for worrying things.

Honest John released a break down on all the results.

Not sure where to extract overall reliability figures though.

[CarlT]

Driver101 said:

They've got one of the worst MOT pass rates, Even cars going through their first MOT fail for worrying things.

Honest John released a break down on all the results.

Not sure where to extract overall reliability figures though.

So, what are Dacia's MOT results and that of the Captur, New Clio etc etc?

[X5TUU]

Having had many many renaults (circa 14) and having a total breakdown count of 1 (wiper motor failed in severe rainstorm on the m62) I disregard the generic Renault are st and always breakdown comments

I have considered a Dacia as a daily, quite a few round here and I think they have that Russian utilitarian look about them, like an updated Lada Cossack ... bargain for the money IMO

[CarlT]

http://www.topgear.com/uk/photos/The-UK-ten-least-...

No Renaults in that list, but a couple of Fords and a BMW

[Driver101]

CarlT said:

Driver101 said:

They've got one of the worst MOT pass rates, Even cars going through their first MOT fail for worrying things.

Honest John released a break down on all the results.

Not sure where to extract overall reliability figures though.

So, what are Dacia's MOT results and that of the Captur, New Clio etc etc?

Dacia don't appear on this year's results. You can look yourself for the rest.

It is quite an interesting read and good to see a breakdown of all failures.

Some brands suffer more with very silly fails like light and tyres. Some suffer lots of mechanical issues.


http://good-garage-guide.honestjohn.co.uk/mot-resu...

[vikingaero]

A Sandero will only lose £3,600 with a capital outlay of £6k for a brand new car. A 3 year old VWGroupBox will lose a similar amount. If you compared new with new you'd have to pay £11,100 for a new Polo.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

tbc said:

I would rather buy a well looked after a 1-2 year old Polo/Fabia/Ibiza with 20-30k for £6k than a Dacia stheap which will lose half it's value within a year or two.

When you're paying £6K for a new car, who gives a monkey's toss about % residuals. It's completely meaningless.

Not everyone is into cars. Millions of people don't give a damn. They need to get from A to B reliably and cheaply. A friend has a Sandero and it's amazing for the price. Think she paid about £9K with a few extras. And no issues in the first 6 months.

[yosamuel]

They’re throwaway cars—they’ll do an okay job for seven years then get scrapped. They may be every bit as reliable as a Nissan they’re not cars that people look after and cherish.

This is a bad news for both the environment and the used car market.

Edited by yosamuel on Sunday 17th August 10:29