It seems that Skoda has moved upmarket over time although the Rapid may be a reversion to the earlier ethos of good value whilst not being particularly ground breaking.The wife has just purchased a Dacia Sandero Stepway Laureate which at £10K is the top model with turbo petrol engine,SatNav,Rear Parking sensors etc.First drive took me back to the Skoda of 15years ago whereby the car was made from recycled well proven VW bits.In this case the recycled bits are Renault/Nissan.Would Skoda be better getting back to it's previous "function over frivolity" policy or has it surrendered  this area to Dacia?

I don't think Skoda are particularly bothered that they've priced themselves out of the lower end of the market.

They have long enough waiting lists, and more than enough people happy to buy at the prices they charge.

Superb 280 L&K 4x4 Combi at £39k is evidence of that. 

Were Skoda (under VW ownership) ever as bargain basement as Dacia? They are positioned to compete with Hyundai and Kia rather than Dacia, neither of which are particularly cheap brands anymore.

But if neither Skoda, nor Hyundai and Kia are considered cheap, is Dacia playing alone in this segment?

 

In fact, one can define cheap in terms of reputation, value-money ratio, or just money. This creates ambiguity.

I think yes, Dacia are where Skoda were 10 years ago: Cheap no-frills cars for the sensible man made from hand-me-downs that just did the job. Kia and Hyundai are pretty close to Seat/Skoda respectively but I can't think of another brand that is near Dacia.

 

I think the biggest reason they are not selling like hot cakes is the same as what kept Skoda down - badge snobbery.

Edited 11 March, 201610 yr by Huskoda

I recently heard Skoda (and to a lesser extent Hyundai and Kia) are forging themselves a new market segment of "premium economy".

 

Much like the rise of Aldi and Lidl in the supermarket sector, a lot of consumers today are looking for low cost alternatives to the mainstream, but without the compromises of an all-out budget option.

Edited 11 March, 201610 yr by naxtek

That makes sense actually. Premium economy sounds about right for Skoda, just like VW are premium standard - an everday brand, but supposedly a cut above Ford, Opel et al. Seat seem to be the odd one and end up with some odd models as a result.

My Son has just bought a Dacia Sandero 1.2 75BHPish Petrol and he loves it. Just over 6K I think he paid.

 

Bought it on Finannce to get the 5 year warranty/Full RAC cover then paid the Finannce off.

 

His attitude is " If you dont pay a lot you dont loose a lot "

Edited 11 March, 201610 yr by Auric Goldfinger

I want to like Dacia, but every one I've sat in has been a bit too budget for me.  Beige scratchy plastic interior? No thanks.

 

 

Case in point - that silver metal boot lock on the boot sticks out like a sore thumb.  I haven't seen one of those on a mainstream car since the 90s.  There must be SOMETHING better in the Renault parts bin they could use than that?

Superb 280 L&K 4x4 Combi at £39k is evidence of that. 

 

If it's the one I posted thats Second hand

 

 

http://www.skoda.net.r66.co.uk/carview.aspx?id=605585513

 

 

Thats almost six and a half Dacia's

Edited 11 March, 201610 yr by Auric Goldfinger

As a Renault owner I wouldn't buy anything that used their parts. I hope they use more Nissan parts than Renault ones. My primera was faultless for 14 years where my Renault scenic is sat on the drive again in many parts waiting for me to fix it with very over priced parts. I know that as soon as I fix it, after a month or so, there will be another warning light/message on the dash and another pile of cash vanishing from my bank.

As a Renault owner I wouldn't buy anything that used their parts. I hope they use more Nissan parts than Renault ones. My primera was faultless for 14 years where my Renault scenic is sat on the drive again in many parts waiting for me to fix it with very over priced parts. I know that as soon as I fix it, after a month or so, there will be another warning light/message on the dash and another pile of cash vanishing from my bank.

One good thing about Dacia is that they allow you to take out an extended warranty at a very reasonable price anytime during the year after purchase.The wife is in love with the Sandero at present but when the honeymoon period is over and if she still likes it we will extend the warranty just in case the Renault parts are as unreliable as you suggest.However from the reports I read Dacia have a good reliability record.As regards driving the Sandero I would say it is a lot more fun than my Toledo but the Toledo feels like a limousine in comparison.

My thoughts exactly about the last two posts. Absolutely loved my Primeras, had 4 of them until they changed the style, that stupid space age dash and fugly body style.

Went Renault and what didn't fail actually fell off, the engines and gearboxes couldn't fault, it was everything bolted on around them.

Now my daughter wants a Renault MPV. I went looking for one for her, against my advice not to.

First salesman's words when enquiring about one on his forecourt, you don't want Renault, steer clear. Now I've never heard that before from a place selling cars.

That Dacia Duster advert on TV is catchy though.

i must admit the duster advert is good and catchy

 

the only thing about dacia is it's based on Renault electronics, that's blown it for me

 

but yes they appear to be where skoda were 15 years ago when the Octavia was released, budget price with good specs (with a few limitation like bland plastics etc)

 

skoda to me last years did not offer what I wanted at the price I expected from the brand, they are trying to hard to move up (or being pushed up) the pecking order of VAG and becoming another bland VW clone box, the different models have all now lost their individual styling and personality, now all pretty much look the same from front and back due to "corporate" styling

 

the interesting twist would be if dacia brought out a hybrid / phev / electric vehicle in their current price range, that could be a game changer

The new fiat tipo is a very good value for money...?

I find it a lot of car for the money

The new fiat tipo is a very good value for money...?

I find it a lot of car for the money

It's a direct competitor to the Notchback Rapid, albeit slightly larger. Can't comment on its ride, but the 320 Nm of torque provided by the 1.6L diesel MTJ2 engine is an impressive figure.

FIAT invented the common rail system for modern automobiles (and was stupid enough to sell it to BOSCH afterwards) so I would trust them with their engine. The rest of the car however, not so much, especially when it's made in Turkey.

Medium sized and big Fiats always depreciate savagely whether they are good cars or not..  I think the Multijet engine is poor too (having 130000 miles of experience with it).

 

I've never heard anything positive about old Renault motors either so why would I buy one dressed up (down?) as a Dacia.

 

I think Dacia now is where Skoda was in 1980 - selling very out-moded transport to buyers who cant afford anything better (or safer - who buys a new car these days

without 5 stars from NCAP?)

Edited 14 March, 201610 yr by camelspyyder

I'd say at the minute, Dacia are the new "Old Skoda", of the Estelle and Favorit era. Basically alright, but cheap for a reason.

But their marketing (along with Hyundai it seems) is pretty modern.

 

They come over here (to a perceived competitor's website) and bang on endlessly about the cheap virtues of a Logan or i20 and eventually some of us will go and have a test drive.

 

 

 

 

It worked on me, I've tried out an i10 and i30.

Edited 14 March, 201610 yr by camelspyyder

Not much in the Motor Trade depreciates as much as a Seat with main dealers of  other manufactures avoiding taking them in as trade ins if they can.

Dacia are cheap to purchase and suit plenty of buyers and people that want a keeper and reliable transport,

 they are selling well in the UK and that is something Seat struggles to do in the UK.

I don't think I'd buy any Renault product as a "keeper" or indeed "reliable".  But something from the VW parts bin? Yes please.

 

And 10 years later, when I move it on, yes it will have depreciated a lot - probably as badly as the 2x 10 year keeper FIATS I got rid of fairly recently.  Only a problem for those that buy and sell often I think.

 

Dacia are right down there with Daewoo, Ssangyong, Zastava and Lada in my book.

camelspyyder, assuming you've owned both, how is the Multijet as compared to the TDI?

The 1.9 Multijet is  prone to going out of tune over time with MAF and EGR issues.  These issues made it dangerously gutless at low revs IMHO - a nightmare when emerging at T-Junctions -and are expensive to fix.  It's also very picky about poor quality fuels.

 

And it's so heavy! The wear and tear on tyres, ball joints, springs and so on is just horrendously expensive, probably more than you save on fuel.  That said, in the Multipla (with its vast frontal area) it did 44 mpg around town, 44 in the country and 44 on motorways so in that sense at least it could be relied on.

 

It was in my experience a smoother motor than the VW 1.6TDI ( which is fairly renowned as gruff ) which I've tried a few times, but honestly, I cant recommend the FIAT 1.9 (even when it's hidden in another brand of car - Vectra, Signum, Astra, Zafira, Cadillac BLS and Suzuki SX4 as well as some Saabs )

Edited 15 March, 201610 yr by camelspyyder

I agree with StevesTruck.

Dacia are where Kia and Hyundai were ten years back, and where Skoda were fifteen years ago.