Dacia Sandero Car Review

Facts At A Glance
Car: Dacia Sandero
Prices: £7,000 [est] – on the road INSURANCE GROUPS: 3-5 [est]
Emissions: 115g/km – 150g/km [est]
Performance: [1.5dCi] Max Speed 100mph / 0-60mph 15.0s [est]
Fuel Consumption: [1.5dCi] (combined) 65mpg [est]
Safety: Twin front & side airbags, ABS, Brake Assist [est]
Dimensions: length/width/heightmm 4020/1750/2590

COST CUTTER

Our Rating: 4.9 / 10

Dacia is bringing its Sandero ‘world car’ to the UK but does the UK want it? Steve Walker takes a look.

The public address system crackles into life. "Would the owner of the green Dacia Sandero please come to reception?" That’s your car: How you react to this fictitious situation will speak volumes about whether the Dacia Sandero is the car for you. If you’re the type of person who feels quite happy about bowling into reception and admitting ownership of the budget Romanian hatchback currently residing in the Managing Director’s parking space, the Sandero could be a viable option. If, on the other hand, it all seems a teensy bit embarrassing, perhaps Dacia’s affordable five-door isn’t for you. This is no reflection on the car itself but rather on the importance we place on what our cars say about us.

Dacia has quite a history but you’re unlikely to be aware of much of it. The important bit to grasp is that since 1966 it has worked in close proximity with Renault and since 1999, it has been a wholly-owned subsidiary of the French manufacturer. Today, Dacia is being groomed as Renault’s ‘world car brand’, a manufacturer of low cost, reliable vehicles designed for sale in some of the world’s less prosperous areas. In the UK, Dacia’s Sanderos will campaign predominantly on price. Its target customers are motorists wanting to spend as little as possible on their new car and who don’t much care whether they are at the height of fashion or in its murky depths.

Dacia has quite a collection of different models but only one platform. The Sandero rides on the same underpinnings as the saloon, MPV, van and pick-up versions of the Logan, featuring a basic set-up of MacPherson strut front suspension and a torsion beam at the rear. Some models have anti-roll bars to sharpen up the handling and all Sanderos feature a high 155mm ground clearance, a legacy of their design for use in countries with poor quality road surfaces. Some would argue that we live in just such a country ourselves and the extra ride height of the Sandero along with its underbody protection should certainly help it negotiate potholes, speed humps and even unmade roads more effectively than your average compact hatchback.

The Sandero is powered by a range of Renault-sourced engines, two petrol and two diesel. These are proven units and should tally well with the Sandero’s quest for robust reliability. There’s a 75bhp 1.4-litre petrol unit and a 90bhp 1.6, while diesel customers can select from 68bhp and 86bhp versions of Renault’s ubiquitous 1.5 dCi common-rail diesel.

The Sandero is quite a size, its 4.020mm length and 1,750mm width position it between the supermini and family hatchback categories. There should be space for three across the rear bench and there are child seat fixings on all three berths. The boot is 320 litres in capacity and with the rear seat backs folded down, this grows to 1,200 litres.

The Sandero looks like a perfectly respectable family hatchback. The wide grille curves gently around the nose and cosies up to the large headlamps. The wheelarches blister out from the flanks and the roofline drops away to towards the rear for a mildly sporty look. It’s a car that reminds of you of an assortment of others but the amalgamation of design cues works well. Inside, the Dacia’s focus on keeping costs to a minimum is likely to be more keenly felt in the materials employed but the facia is of inoffensive design and effort has clearly been made to mimic the feel of more mainstream hatchbacks.

Equipment levels on the Sandero are variable across the range with some lower spec models even missing out on power steering. All models, however, feature a specially designed ventilation system that’s intended to address the needs of drivers in extreme climates. The ducting has been specially designed to produce a rapid rise in temperature at start-up to improve driver comfort in cold conditions and also to deliver a powerful flow of cool air when it gets hot.

On the safety front, there’s a good range of features available including an advanced ABS system with brake assist and brakeforce distribution and four airbags. The Sandero comes with a three-year/100,000km warranty an