Good news! A month with a Dacia Logan MCV
Discussion
I have to eat my own cynicism. I bought a Dacia Logan MCV estate, been driving it for a month now.
Short story; old car had about £9K left in it as a P/X and I had £3K in the bank. £12K to spend for eco-box. Wanted an estate for bikes/dog. Had an E Class estate a couple of years ago, and missed that. Short list: Fabia Estate, or Kia Spottage thing.
Tested those, and yawned a bit, drove new Dacia Logan MCV turbo diesel-90, as dealer is local. Has all the toys; sat nav, BlueTooth, cruise, air-con, parking-things, black metallic. £11K, on the road.
First shock was how good turbo DCi90 engine is. Pulls like a train, albeit a goods train. Black interior a bit 2007 Golf-y. Zero VED. Great motorway cruiser. France is full of them.
Just back from Brussels; 62 mpg at er, outside lane speeds. 680 mile range.
Sad to say, but I'm liking it very much.
Short story; old car had about £9K left in it as a P/X and I had £3K in the bank. £12K to spend for eco-box. Wanted an estate for bikes/dog. Had an E Class estate a couple of years ago, and missed that. Short list: Fabia Estate, or Kia Spottage thing.
Tested those, and yawned a bit, drove new Dacia Logan MCV turbo diesel-90, as dealer is local. Has all the toys; sat nav, BlueTooth, cruise, air-con, parking-things, black metallic. £11K, on the road.
First shock was how good turbo DCi90 engine is. Pulls like a train, albeit a goods train. Black interior a bit 2007 Golf-y. Zero VED. Great motorway cruiser. France is full of them.
Just back from Brussels; 62 mpg at er, outside lane speeds. 680 mile range.
Sad to say, but I'm liking it very much.
Jim AK said:
Been thinking about 1 of those to,replace our 03 Astra shed for sometime now.
Read a few reports that seats were uncomfortable, I have a lower back issue, also the residuals seem quite good, although I suspect we would still have it when my daughter learns to drive so that wouldn't really matter.
Good to see some constructive comment about them.
The driver's seat height on the Lauréate models is adjustable. There are several degrees of 'not quite right'. I finally got acclimatised to it by tilting the seat back. Read a few reports that seats were uncomfortable, I have a lower back issue, also the residuals seem quite good, although I suspect we would still have it when my daughter learns to drive so that wouldn't really matter.
Good to see some constructive comment about them.
The residuals are a few percent better than Skoda, say Autocar, but the Logan is bit like those old Fiats; they don't cost a lot to start with.
Logan's zero-rated VED is pleasing.
So far, nothing has fallen off.
Edited by Slushbox on Sunday 3rd July 12:11
RammyMP said:
I was thinking of getting one as a cheap motor for work as the 'management' have dropped the mileage rate this year. Might look at leasing one!
Cheers.
Well, do test one. The Victor Meldrews on the Dacia Forum get 70 mpg out of them, which won't be exciting in any sense. I think they only ever drive downhill. Cheers.
There's an Eco button, which mostly seems to throw all the boost away.
The DCi90 engine with the Eco button turned off actually feels like an older petrol 2 litre Ford Mondeo, above 2000 rpm. It's 'Not Bad At All.'
Annual servicing is quoted at about £150, all in.
" followed one of these on the A34 today for sometime and it kept losing speed on steep hills forcing me to overtake it and then on the flat, it caught up and passed me a number of times which was slightly irritating.
How does the 90bhp engine deal with maintaining speeds on steep hills?"
No problems here. Gears are long-legged. I keep the tacho above 2000 rpm. That's 70mph in fifth, and that's where the boost starts. Cruise control maintains this all the way up the M3, without slowing down.
So it might have been either of the petrol engines. Or they may have had Eco switched on, which feels the same as applying the handbrake slightly.
The Renault DCi90 (K9K) engine has got a suprising amount of shove, once it gets on boost. So it keeps up with, erm, lane three traffic very well. They are actually brisk when they're on boost, but out of puff by 4000 rpm. By then you're doing 90+. Hasn't slowed on any hills, yet. Car is new, so not loosened up. Don't use 'Eco'.
The 1.5 diesel is the star, with 220Nm of torque. Keep it at 1800+ rpm for boosty fun.
Only downside so far is that the front cupholders don't hold Costa Coffee cups.
How does the 90bhp engine deal with maintaining speeds on steep hills?"
No problems here. Gears are long-legged. I keep the tacho above 2000 rpm. That's 70mph in fifth, and that's where the boost starts. Cruise control maintains this all the way up the M3, without slowing down.
So it might have been either of the petrol engines. Or they may have had Eco switched on, which feels the same as applying the handbrake slightly.
The Renault DCi90 (K9K) engine has got a suprising amount of shove, once it gets on boost. So it keeps up with, erm, lane three traffic very well. They are actually brisk when they're on boost, but out of puff by 4000 rpm. By then you're doing 90+. Hasn't slowed on any hills, yet. Car is new, so not loosened up. Don't use 'Eco'.
The 1.5 diesel is the star, with 220Nm of torque. Keep it at 1800+ rpm for boosty fun.
Only downside so far is that the front cupholders don't hold Costa Coffee cups.
" it was something silly like £80 per month for the [diesel] Sandero, peanuts really for a good workhorse and peace of mind. "
And no VED. I was originally tempted by a Duster, but the Logan grabbed me in the showroom. 62 mpg will do fine.
Brisk motorway test drive was the clincher. And there's enough space in the back for a bike with the front wheel still on.
Someone was saying that if you buy on Dacia Finance they chuck in either the extended warranty or free servicing, plus £500 dealer contribution.
And no VED. I was originally tempted by a Duster, but the Logan grabbed me in the showroom. 62 mpg will do fine.
Brisk motorway test drive was the clincher. And there's enough space in the back for a bike with the front wheel still on.
Someone was saying that if you buy on Dacia Finance they chuck in either the extended warranty or free servicing, plus £500 dealer contribution.
satinder said:
I'm a taxi driver & have driven one for a while for work. I can recommend the 1.5 dci version as its caused no drama or major costs in 180k miles so far, its been a totally reliable workhorse.
Good news, indeed."I rate Dacia as a brand and think they're good car. "
Yes, seems so. Under the tin it's a Megane estate, for the most part. And, I said I would never buy a French car...
Renault now have the Renault RS Sandero, with a 145 HP engine. If it becomes a Dacia RS over here, that could be fun.
Edited by Slushbox on Monday 4th July 06:19
"Any pics?"
Well, they all look alike. The black ones can moonlight as a hearse. Dealer pics only, so far.
Lauréate spec comes with tints and Sahara alloys. Note thrilling front splitter, a lá Touring Cars.
Thrill to the peek of the intercooler, front left. Throw up at the horrible AA sticker.
Lovely! And those mirrors are heated and electrical. What next!
Well, they all look alike. The black ones can moonlight as a hearse. Dealer pics only, so far.
Lauréate spec comes with tints and Sahara alloys. Note thrilling front splitter, a lá Touring Cars.
Thrill to the peek of the intercooler, front left. Throw up at the horrible AA sticker.
Lovely! And those mirrors are heated and electrical. What next!
Edited by Slushbox on Monday 4th July 11:24
"All current Dacias (certainly the Logan and Sandero if not the Duster) are based on the previous generation Clio rather than a Megane;"
Thank you for the clarification. I didn't understand the footy analogy, but France is indeed awash with Dacias.
There's a press report someplace that said that Renault France wanted a budget range to absorb the market sector which tends to buy used cars. Now they buy new Dacias instead of new Renaults.
There is a Dacia Day at Bruntingthorpe Proving Ground (LE17 5 Lutterworth) on 13th August if anyone local wants to pop in for a bit of Logan-ing, or Dusting, or Sandero-ing. Dacia UK are there, I believe. There will be a 4x4 'test track' for the Dusters.
Thank you for the clarification. I didn't understand the footy analogy, but France is indeed awash with Dacias.
There's a press report someplace that said that Renault France wanted a budget range to absorb the market sector which tends to buy used cars. Now they buy new Dacias instead of new Renaults.
There is a Dacia Day at Bruntingthorpe Proving Ground (LE17 5 Lutterworth) on 13th August if anyone local wants to pop in for a bit of Logan-ing, or Dusting, or Sandero-ing. Dacia UK are there, I believe. There will be a 4x4 'test track' for the Dusters.
HTP99 said:
No they don't, not in the UK anyeay; Dacia and Renault customers were very different people and anyway Renault market share is rising.
I did say 'Renault France'. Renault's market share fell slightly in 2016.Here's the figures:
'For the first time in five years, Renault’s first-quarter passenger car registrations [France] topped 100,000 in 2016, with sales rising by 6.7% and market share at 19.9% (down by 0.3 points).
Dacia [France] registrations rose by 16.8% in the first quarter of 2016. Dacia ranks fifth on the French passenger car market, and fourth if we consider retail customers alone. Dacia, fourth in the retail passenger car market, outpaced market growth.'
Source Groupe Renault: http://media.renault.com/global/en-gb/renaultgroup...
Edited by Slushbox on Tuesday 5th July 08:00
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