Only time will tell whether the Duster has such collossal cylinder bore wear after 30,000 miles (Due to fuel injectiors that leak when the engine is switched off) that its unable to achieve the acceleration to warrant Encap 5

Couple that with a winning policy to give this common fault a "Stiff ignoring" across two brands and 20 Years and you've got a World beating recipe for a follow-on sale. Not !

Nick

Edited 29 June, 201213 yr by Clunkclick

Do you spend sub £10k on a new car, to pop to the supermarket and around town in, with the warranty or buy a 3-5 year old car that might not be any safer anyway?

A lot of people will buy a car with a warranty, run it, then at the first sign of trouble outside of that (or before) shift it on.

Cheap as chips and probably still a lot safer than an old R reg etc.

I've been watching you tube clips of the duster off road and it looks brilliant for the money. With regards to clunkclick's remark about engine wear after 30,000mls, it's the same 1.5dci unit that I have fitted in my laguna I believe? It's now on 45,000 and still like brand new, if you look on autotrader/eBay you'll find loads with excess of 100k so I think they should e fine.

With regards to the 'poor' 3 star rating. Fair enough it is poor when hitting a concrete block at 35mph but if it went head on with a Fabia, octavia or even my 5 star laguna I honestly think I would rather be in the duster as due to its ride height it'll just mount the bonnet of a standard car and come through the windscreen. So I think I would rather have a Dacia steering wheel imprint on my chest than a Dacia grille imprint on my forehead. That said, I wouldn't like to slide kno a lamp post in one!

Edited 29 June, 201213 yr by mdon

That said, I wouldn't like to slide kno a lamp post in one!

No matter how strong you build any car, that's practical to drive, if you hit a lamp post, telegraph pole or tree side on, you're probably dead anyway.

Saw a car that a drunk driver had put into a tree sideways at not massive speeds. It was a 2 year old car (last year) and the drivers side and the passenger side were the same part of the car.

It's not pretty.

Edited 29 June, 201213 yr by cheezemonkhai

I've been watching you tube clips of the duster off road and it looks brilliant for the money. With regards to clunkclick's remark about engine wear after 30,000mls, it's the same 1.5dci unit that I have fitted in my laguna I believe? It's now on 45,000 and still like brand new, if you look on autotrader/eBay you'll find loads with excess of 100k so I think they should e fine.

With regards to the 'poor' 3 star rating. Fair enough it is poor when hitting a concrete block at 35mph but if it went head on with a Fabia, octavia or even my 5 star laguna I honestly think I would rather be in the duster as due to its ride height it'll just mount the bonnet of a standard car and come through the windscreen. So I think I would rather have a Dacia steering wheel imprint on my chest than a Dacia grille imprint on my forehead. That said, I wouldn't like to slide kno a lamp post in one!

Sorry mate ,I was being sarky.

I was referring the cylinder bore wear on the early petrol Polos and Fabias (And possibly on some Yetis) which is severe, tragic and ignored by VAG.

I was trying to say that given that this is the starting position of a number of Skoda owners on this site, their consideriation of a Renault badged as a Dacia, with only an ENCAP 3 (shock. horror) couldn't involve any greater loss for the owner. After all they could have a Fabia with a full main dealer service history which after 53,000 miles blows a litre of 15w/40 engine oil every 600 miles and is still street legal !

After that one. I'll probably be joining the West German football coach for the next five years assembling VWs in Bulgaria.

Nick

Edited 30 June, 201213 yr by Clunkclick

Sorry mate ,I was being sarky.

I was referring the cylinder bore wear on the early petrol Polos and Fabias (And possibly on some Yetis) which is severe, tragic and ignored by VAG.

I was trying to say that given that this is the starting position of a number of Skoda owners on this site, their consideriation of a Renault badged as a Dacia, with only an ENCAP 3 (shock. horror) couldn't involve any greater loss for the owner. After all they could have a Fabia with a full main dealer service history which after 53,000 miles blows a litre of 15w/40 engine oil every 600 miles and is still street legal !

After that one. I'll probably be joining the West German football coach for the next five years assembling VWs in Bulgaria.

Nick

Ah right, sorry I'm a bit slow! My old 1.8 20v used to burn quite a bit of oil, I didn't realise it was a common fault!

I slid sideways into a lamp post in 1990, driving a 1969 Triumph 1300...... I think Im still alive, so I reckon a Duster would be fine!

Quite frankly, I'd rather buy a new "rubbish 3 star" Duster than any other 3+ year old car. Here in Sweden they salt the roads so much during the winters that it completely negates any rust protection your car might have. Depending on the car, and what part of Sweden were talking about, it's not unheard of that a five year old, normally used, car has rust holes in the lower body and floor.

I was in an accident about two years ago. I was a passenger in a 2003 Volvo V70 with around 100k on the meter where the car's frame actually cracked and split. Ironically, i driving a 2000 Fabia with 120k miles at the moment. If the underside wasn't healthy as a horse, I wouldn't go any were near it.

Edited 1 July, 201213 yr by DaKKs_152

Don't be under any illusions, but cars are NOT designed to withstand side impacts with trees. No matter how many little NCAP stars they have. They are designed to dissipate the energy via varying strength steel and a very strong passenger safety cage. But hit that cage side on (with a tree or pole) and alas this will be in every instance the outcome:

From: http://www.autoevolution.com/news/ford-mustang-owner-hugs-a-tree-8-hours-after-purchase-46011.html (And yes he was probably speeding but I think the effect will be the same at any speed when hitting a tree side on, in any car)

To see the varying strength steel at work just search for the Fifth Gear old Volvo vs Renault Modus crash on YouTube. It shows clearly how the little car was the one to be in vs the old heavy car that did not have the energy dissipating measures.

Tend to agree with that.

My 1974 Alfa Sud hit a roadside cast-iron stink pipe head-on @ 30 and although the engine was pushed back a foot to eighteen inches, it didn't really breach the passenger cell, such as it was . . . and. 6 years on from new, it was severely rusted and holed by that stage. However, the top of the cast-iron pipe which broke-off and fell on the car left a impressive indentation in the roof and bonnet which obviously weren't pre-stressed to absorb an impact in this direction.

Nick

Edited 2 July, 201213 yr by Clunkclick

To see the varying strength steel at work just search for the Fifth Gear old Volvo vs Renault Modus crash on YouTube. It shows clearly how the little car was the one to be in vs the old heavy car that did not have the energy dissipating measures.

Fifth gear is a cheat. The Volvo in question didn't have an engine. The 94X is still a damn safe car, despite its age. They're extremely popular with low budget racing and I've seen quite a few accidents, even been in one. 1992 940 Turbo, front side impact at about 70kph. I walked away with a stiff neck.

EDIT: For the record. 40mph (Fifth gear) is nearly 70kph.

Edited 2 July, 201213 yr by DaKKs_152