Id say 15yrs ago against hyundai too.. 10 for kia.. on par with daewoo just before the chevy rebrand.

we had hyundais at home from 2001 bought new and they were decent (first santa fe) a getz in 2003 when new - the cdx 1.1was a cracking small car. Went like the clappers...

Whereas my Hyundai was a 1985 Stellar GSL bought nearly new for peanuts.  And cheapness was it's only virtue.

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

That's the french way of building cars historically. Anything french would just keep on driving while bits keep falling off all the time.

For German speakers I watched this episode of PS Profis earlier.

 

They come up with a brand new Dacia vs an Octavia estate 1.4 TSI and she picks the Octavia in the end.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VIGQRGz4EY

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.

 

I dunno they seem to be selling pretty well around here. Plenty of people are not 'car' people and a car is nothing more than a white good to them. Dacia suits thes people. Mate of my Dad's is as tight as a tight thing with money but he bought a new 4x4 Duster and is very pleased with it.

 

Far too little to distinguish between VW/Seat/Skoda now. They all seem a bit overpriced.

Dacia are where Skoda were in 1995/6 before the Octavia was launched though Dacia do have the Duster but apart from that the Sandero mirrors the Felicia and the Logan (estate) Mirrors the Felicia estate(though with more modern options such as built in nav etc)

Just coming up to 25K miles in my Logan TCE Laureate with Media-Nav.

 

Cost £10K.

 

Utterly brilliant car.

 

Near 600 litre of load carrying capacity.  Cruises at inidicated 80 mph no problem, does 50 mpg on average.  Has air con, cruise and a good Media, Satnav and phone system (for £300).

 

Only issues. slightly annoying the service internval is only 12.5k miles and not 18k like other Renault models.   Slightly plastic inside but it is a workhorse, if I want a bit of luxury I take the Jaag for a bit.  No auto avaiable yet but that should be corrected with the Easy-R models hopefully being released soon.

 

Absolutely Dacia has replaced Skoda as the European value brand a recognised by Whatcar for the last 3 years or so.  Do not regret buying it for a minute and I bought a Felecia in mid nineties and had more than a dozen Skoda over two decades.   Hope the new Megane is going to be a corker as Skoda UK treated my dealership so badly that my last remain Skoda in the fleet, a Fab 2 HTP, once gone in a year or two, will be my last VAG car unless/until they return to their values of good engineering and value like Skoda had in the nineties and noughties.  Until then Dacia or Renault all the way.  

Edited 18 March, 201610 yr by lol-lol

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.

 

Yes.

 

Felecia in the mid nineties.  Priced then around 2/3 rds of a VW etc not the 90% it is now and with poorer residuals you are often better going for a VW or an Audi as a result. 

If you are not a "car person" into driving dynamics then I think Dacia are a good choice.

I've been to a dealer and test drove them, the Sandero Stepway in particular I liked and would happily have as a run around if we didn't have the Roomster.

(which is worth about the same as a new Dacia Sandero Stepway despite it being less than a year old).

Cheap and cheerful, but drives OK and feels good for the price.

 

Just a shame there are some small things missing, like a height adjustable seat.

 

They are getting more and more popular, personally I see quite a lot of them on the roads.

It's like Dacia are where Skoda were in 2000/2001.  Just bringing out some decent models and becoming more and more popular, despite the poor brand image.

For German speakers I watched this episode of PS Profis earlier.

They come up with a brand new Dacia vs an Octavia estate 1.4 TSI and she picks the Octavia in the end.

Blaupunkt für mich.

Blaupunkt für mich.

 

I could have a Logan TCE and a Sandero 1.2 town car for the price of an Octy and with an Octy have a car that doe not carry any more plus have to deal with with the smeg dealers who are left as most of the good ones now do not do Skoda and is left to the soulless corporate chains doing Skoda retail..

 

 

I do like the idea of a 1.4 TSI DSG mind you as a bit of kit, ticks a lot of boxes except the price and therefore pence per mile owning/running it.

 

Now if you could get a new one for £11K?

Edited 18 March, 201610 yr by lol-lol

I keep seeing a Dacia Dokker van knocking about round here. From a read, it seems to be a very cheap (7000 Euro) and very similar alternative to the Kangoo.

I keep seeing a Dacia Dokker van knocking about round here. From a read, it seems to be a very cheap (7000 Euro) and very similar alternative to the Kangoo.

 

Saw massive numbers of Dacias all over Europe during last summer.  Some models we do not get in the UK ie the Lodgy which is on the same floor plan as the Dokker.

 

In some countries the Dacias are selling up to half of what the main Renault brand is doing.

 

The engines, like the TCE, is bang up to date in the Renault range, chassis usually last generation ie Clio 3 in the case of the Sandero and Logan.  

 

Not too much of a penalty IMO and it is partly why the model is so cheap as all the R&D and tooling has  been paid off by the time the production lines have been shifted to the second place of manufacture.

 

Reseached the EuroNCAP which worried me initially and if you get beyond the star rating which is a over-simplification it is not too bad.  All cars have ESP as well as ABS.

 

Put on the 16 inch wheels from the Stepway on my Logan so it runs on the 205s rather than 185s/15s and look more in balance.  All season Nexen tyres chosen. Works well. Steering wheel cover to fatten up the skinny standard wheel.   

There's a big Eastern European population round here, so I do see a fair few of the Dacias that they don't sell over here.

 

There's a two-tone, yellow over white, Logan saloon round the corner. It's an odd looking bugger - I think it's the ride height, but I keep thinking a Mad Max bull bar would suit it.

Edited 19 March, 201610 yr by StevesTruck

As regards the perceived superior reliability of VAG group cars it is Honest John's opinion that it is a myth and that they are no more reliable than the rest.I know that his pontifications are not universally appreciated on this forum but he does have some evidence to back his utterances.

As regards the perceived superior reliability of VAG group cars it is Honest John's opinion that it is a myth and that they are no more reliable than the rest.I know that his pontifications are not universally appreciated on this forum but he does have some evidence to back his utterances.

 

Hence VAG only offer a poxy 60k miles warranty as standard.  Oh you want a warranty as long as 100k, have to pay extra for that.

 

Many companies offer 100K warranties now GM, Kia/Hyundai, Renault as standard.  Dacia is only 60K for some reason but that is how long my lease is so it will go back or be used a a hack car if I but it after 3 years for 3K I think it is roughly valued. 

Heres my issue - longevity.

ie if dacia is where skoda was 15yrs ago, will there be as many mk1 dusters/sanderos etc still on the road in 2030 as there are mk1 octys and furbys on the road from 2001 today? Im not sure...

Not really a relevant question is it in 2016?

 

What matters more to some will be how many 2013 Dacia are on the roads in 2020 compared to 2013 Skoda Citigo, or Fabia that around the same RRP.

Or even how many 2016 models from Dacia, Skoda, Seat or other lower priced cars.

We were on Euro 5 Emissions and now new models are Euro 6.

Heres my issue - longevity.

ie if dacia is where skoda was 15yrs ago, will there be as many mk1 dusters/sanderos etc still on the road in 2030 as there are mk1 octys and furbys on the road from 2001 today? Im not sure...

I think the difference is that Skoda has been making cars for a long time and we all remember Skoda's of old in the UK and all of the jokes. Skoda re emerged as a 'budget' brand under VW and have moved away from being a 'cheap VW'. Dacia however have only been around since the 1960's and have only recent years appeared in the UK. I drove a Sandero rental in South Africa in 2010 and it was truly awful, it was gutless and the steering at best was vague. No doubt the new Dacia's are much better now, once it becomes an established brand the prices and trim levels probably rise, just like Skoda. 

Maybe worth looking in 2016 Dacia at the trim levels you get now.

I think what i said is relevent - if the thread opinon is leaning towards dacia being what skoda was 15odd yrs ago then the dacias have to last as long on the road as the old skodas have. Other wise the dacia is just a cheap disposable car, where skoda was economical to buy and run as they lasted very well, so you only needed to purchase one of them fine, they have problems, but on the whole the old soldiers (mine included) are still battling old age and winning...

if there are as many dusters still running in 15 yrs as there are old octavias today (i regularly see old 1999 regged ones around still) then yes they are the skoda. But if, as i suspect by the LACK of old renaults around, there arent many dacias of the current /recent sales still running in a few yrs time then they arent the new skoda, instead more like the pre chevy daewoo - cheap, middling equipment / spec, vanish after a while due to disintegrating thin metal..

Edited 20 March, 201610 yr by mac11irl

I think what i said is relevent - if the thread opinon is leaning towards dacia being what skoda was 15odd yrs ago then the dacias have to last as long on the road as the old skodas have. Other wise the dacia is just a cheap disposable car, where skoda was economical to buy and run as they lasted very well, so you only needed to purchase one of them fine, they have problems, but on the whole the old soldiers (mine included) are still battling old age and winning...  if there are as many dusters still running in 15 yrs as there are old octavias today (i regularly see old 1999 regged ones around still) then yes they are the skoda. But if, as i suspect by the LACK of old renaults around, there arent many dacias of the current /recent sales still running in a few yrs time then they arent the new skoda, instead more like the pre chevy daewoo - cheap, middling equipment / spec, vanish after a while due to disintegrating thin metal..

 

I would hope just about any car from the 1990s or before is consigned to the scrap yard except may be a few classics who have special permission to drive on the roads in the year 2030 or so.

 

All cars would be automatically operated as driverless.  You call up a car with your Google device, (Apple have long gone out of business) and a Google driverless car arrives outside where you are a few seconds later.  It takes to where you want to go and drivers off again for another call or to a holding area.  Car companies contract manufacture Google cars.  The cars run a single cylinder engine and are mainly electrically powered for motion and internal comforts.  Might have Audis (love the bit in I Robot with the Audis), BMWs, Citroen, Dacia/Renault or whatever but this cars will push virtually all manual cars off the road.

 

Driving a 90s car ie a car without ABS/ESP/EBA and front and side airbags seems like taking huge risks and the same would apply in the year 2030, driving a car from the mid-2010s decade would be nuts. 

 

https://youtu.be/PPTWUzAxyzg

The idea of driver less cars arriving following a phone call would be great and like many things seems far fetched at the moment but could amaze us and come true (r.e The Internet and Mobile phones in my lifetime).However a word of caution here just after WW2 the railways were starved of investment as it was confidently expected that within ten years the populace would be being ferried about by helicopters!!

I would hope just about any car from the 1990s or before is consigned to the scrap yard except may be a few classics who have special permission to drive on the roads in the year 2030 or so.

 

All cars would be automatically operated as driverless.  You call up a car with your Google device, (Apple have long gone out of business) and a Google driverless car arrives outside where you are a few seconds later.  It takes to where you want to go and drivers off again for another call or to a holding area.  

I call the car at 4:30am spend 1/2 hr loading tools spare parts etc, drive me 230 miles to my customer (great I can have a kip on the way) I don't want to stop to re charge the batteries on the way either. At the customer I might be there 1hr or all day. Then off to a hotel and 100 miles to the next job etc. Can I keep the car all week?

 

Driverless cars are in their very early development and I would guess we are looking at 20 years before there are any numbers of these on the road and it won't suddenly change overnight. A couple of accidents in the early days of development on public roads will put them back a few years.

 

Edit: If the car gets a puncture do I change it or does the car do it itself?

Edited 20 March, 201610 yr by moley

 

 

All cars would be automatically operated as driverless.  You call up a car with your Google device, (Apple have long gone out of business) and a Google driverless car arrives outside where you are a few seconds later.  It takes to where you want to go and drivers off again for another call or to a holding area.

 

 

So essentially you perceive a future where everyone travels around by taxi, But without the taxi driver talking ****** all the time you're being ferried about?

Let me think about this for a while...

 

Edit: Had an hours thought, and decided the ignore function is still necessary.

Edited 20 March, 201610 yr by Rustynuts