My father is trying to find something to replace his 56 reg Octavia with 140K on the clock.

The brief is something reasonably priced (max 9K), not too old (4 years) and with a lowish mileage. He likes something that would be decent enough for overtaking and driving in France.

 

This morning we set off for a Skoda dealer in Wolverhampton - Trust, to look ironically at a Ford Focus Estate 1.6 within his budget, 12 plate, less than 15K. It was on their website this morning 1am.

When we got there the car had been sold. Quite annoying. Furthermore the price on the car was £9700 not £8700 as advertised on the website. We had a brief look around the forecourt (no Fabia estates within budget - another thing he is considering).

On walking into the showroom - before the door was opened the salesman were shouting hello at us, after eyeing us up like hawks!

We asked about the Focus, apparently it was sold last night.... Why couldn't their website be updated - oh it takes a few days to go through their system!!

 

Anyway we pressed on to Autosales at Burntwood, for the hope of finding a Fabia Estate. No joy - only 1 there which was over budget.

 

We decided to visit a Dacia dealer (as you can get something new for the price of a used Skoda). It wasn't particularly on the agenda though Dad had mentioned they are cheap last week. We went into the dealership in Cannock to ask about the Sandero. The sales guy I asked couldn't have looked more disappointed when I enquired about it! He started telling me roughly about the basic model which I knew about (wind up windows, black bumpers, steel wheels, no radio etc) and that we wouldn't want that model. He then said for £800 more you get central locking, electric windows and a radio with colour coded bumpers. He presented a printed out brochure (and apologised for it). I asked about looking at one, to which he replied they didn't have one there! The only models he had were a Stepway and a Duster, and a 2nd hand Logan. He pointed to where they were on the forecourt and after that we were left to ourselves. A sales woman came out of the showroom and said about how to get into the boot (a lever in the drivers footwell) on the Stepway and later the sales guy mentioned there was a Duster in the showroom which was open as the one on the forecourt was locked.

It was quite a disappointing experience really. The Logan has a huge boot which Dad liked. They weren't quite as basic as I had envisaged.

Were weren't offered a test drive or approached for anything otherwise.

I think Dad is considering a Logan, though I said he needs to try driving one (1.2 or 1.0 turbo petrol engines and a 1.5 diesel)!

 

On heading home we stopped by Faintree - then shut by the time we got there. There were some Fabias and Rapids on the forecourt which he was considering too.

 

I thought you might appreciate the information about Dacia and the dealerships we visited.

What about a Hyundai i30 or ceed

Cheers seboni - I know they have been scouring the net for potential cars. I will suggest those

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/used-cars/hyundai/i30/used-hyundai-i30-1-6crdi-active-5dr-calne-fpa-201503141724514?logcode=p

If Faintree are anything like Furrows in Oswestry, then you should receive excellent service. I've not used the sales side but both service and parts with no issues. Plus from when I was last in plenty of repeat customers.

Sent from my Galaxy S5

Wouldn't touch the Dacia, it's a Ten year old Clio basically, they've just added weight and made it a lot slower

Wouldn't touch the Dacia, it's a Ten year old Clio basically, they've just added weight and made it a lot slower

**** me, having had one I didn't think that was possible. Fair play to them!

I cannot think that you are a bit daft travelling to view a specific car seen online without phoning ahead to check it is still in stock.

1.6 tdci / hdi? I'd say you dodged the bullet there.

Yep, ce'ed or i30 take a bit of beating in their class.

Kia. Neighbour has one and she loves it.

My Cee'd was spot on! The estate is a decent size and the engines are good. Mine had the 1.6 petrol and it was spot on in the 42000miles I pit on it.

- Thanks for all of the replies

 

The only reason we didn't ring ahead was due to seeing it very early that morning (1am) on the net and thinking the sales guy would be hounding us as soon as we arrived if we rang about it before. Ah well, we know for future reference.

 

Cheers for the posts on the Dacia's too. It just seems really good value when you can get something brand new for the price of a used Skoda. I'm not massively into them, though can see the logic in considering one. What wasn't so good was the attitude in the show room!

Is the Logan based on an old clio still or something different? I think my father is considering this over any of the other models. A Duster is out of budget though he quite liked it!

 

Thanks for the ideas on Kia's and Hyundai's. He had a couple of Hyundai's before the Octavia so he is thinking about them. I didn't think i30's made it into the budget, though that one isn't bad.

Wouldn't touch the Dacia, it's a Ten year old Clio basically, they've just added weight and made it a lot slower

 

Might be alright if you get the super basic one. The one Renault I bought had loads of issues but all with electrics and other extras. The 1.5dci engine was pretty decent.

 

Thought about an older Honda? I picked up mine at 4yr old but was able to negotiate a 3yr maufacturer warranty with breakdown on it for £250. It's already paid for itself with a couple of niggles and one bout of stupidity on my part.

Not worth spending a little on tidying up the octy and keeping it running?

You'll lose more on depreciation on something newer than you will spend on tidying things up and strappying on a new turbo "just incase".

 

At 140k, I'd say it's got plenty of life in it still.

Thank you aspman and cheezemonkai for your replies

 

Yes I must admit I was dubious when we started talking about Dacia.... We were discussing it last night, if it has a warranty on it and you keep it for three years and then shift on, it kind of makes sense! :| If it goes wrong then I would of thought the garage should supply a courtesy car to tidy you over whilst its fixed.

One of our friends only buys Hondas and can't recommend them enough! Dad had a conversation with him about them today, so its certainly worth considering.

 

After Sunday aspman I think I suggested that! We have been looking at cars on the net for weeks then spent two days looking at them in garages. Dad was originally thinking of keeping it for another two years, though having spent a bit more on it recently I think they have been re-considering their position.

 

Cheers again.

You can get longer warranties on the Dacia. I think they can go up to 5yr on a new one.

 

[clicky click] they've actually got a deal on it

 

http://www.dacia.co.uk/vehicles/offers/free-5-year-warranty/

Thanks aspman

 

We had a basic brochure which mentioned the warranties. You can pay to extend if it isn't included as well.

If you're going from a diesel TDI engined Skoda to a Dacia (or anything Renault/Nissan) with the 1.5 dci engine, then prepare to be disappointed with the torque, because it's an optional extra and they ran out of them before production started. It's not a bad workhorse provided you don't want to overtake anything in a hurry, and it's nowhere near as economical as the VAG TDI engines, but it's just gutless.

Thanks for that Rustynuts

 

Dad definitley wants petrol as his next car. I said he needs to test out the petrol engines they offer and also the VW TSI's and petrol variants on the Fabia's.

Do you know what Dacia's are like in terms of reliability? I know they haven't been available that long (max 2 years)?

They're all Nissan/Renault underneath, essentially. So there shouldn't be too much reliability issues I suppose. Early Dacia Dusters were prone to terrible rusting on the bodywork seams, but not sure if that's been sorted now. I was considering a Duster for work, but that sort of put me off.

That rust issue was addresses almost as soon as the 'Autoexpress' article appeared.

 

They took the good bits and built Dacia and the purchase or lease is amazing value for money.

& i am pretty sure a Dacia in 2020 that is registered in 2015 will be wearing just as well as a Skoda registered this year.

 

If looking at a Duster you need to see the seating position suits the driver,  because it is a rather odd sort or ergonomics.

 

There are some very good value small petrols available from Kia, Hyundai, Renault, Citroen, Toyota that blow the Volkswagen Group out of the water,   must be the German Economy that has the VWG pricing themselves out of the UK new car sales.

 

Maybe check out the offers on the Suzuki's in stock at Dealers and the new Cars about to come out.

Built in Central Europe and probably better Design & Quality Control than the 'European Manufacturers' and their penny pinching on parts,

That rust issue was addresses almost as soon as the 'Autoexpress' article appeared.

 

That may be so, but there are still Dusters out there rotting away quite merrily, and it would be "unfortunate" if someone's dad bought one because they were unaware of the possible issues.

Very true.  if someone that had bought one new at launch never read the reports or spotted the corrosion and took the car back in.

Because Dacia / Renault dealt well with it.

 

There are several threads in this forum and section Pre Launch and since that covered the subject.

The cars Warranty,

 Paint & Panel Warranties are obviously still running on any of the Dacia that were sold in the UK.

Funny that, because when I was researching it there were loads of people complaining that Dacia (Renault) were not doing much at all and refusing to admit it was an issue.

Must be how they are going about things.

Because i have inspected a few early Dacias and the owners had very good service from their local Dacia (Renault) Dealership.

 

Must be a Location Location Location thing,  ie Salt often applied on roads in Scotland,  people buy VFM cars for rural roads,

and if they see Corrosion on the vehicle they go to the Dealer Locally and want satisfaction & get it.

After all they have consumer rights, a Paint & Corrosion Warranty, and an Independent Report from a Qualified 

Examiner or Painter will have the Manufacturer having to Assume the Position.

Courts in Scotland are looking out for peoples rights over Corporations that are going to try it on.

 

Then there is also the thing,

If they do not get things sorted to their satisfaction they tell people, and they go online.

Good that people that have been given a Bum deal by dealers are posting online.

Edited 19 March, 201511 yr by goneoffSKi