What he said.

My only exception was putting a heated front screen in the landy – because it was easier and cheaper than fitting a heater that could keep the window fog and ice free in winter.

They make Dusters in Russia for the local market…

As an asside have the dacia dealers stopped buying back all the used stock and keeping the resale artificially high ?
Dont believe that the used car price on autotrader are anything like the true residuals,

I’m not calling you a liar (I’ll save that for another thread 😉 ) but surely it can’t really be worthwhile to do this?

Wouldn’t a used yeti for 14k or a qashqai or a Crv be a better option

Not really, no. They’d be different options though. The Duster is a utilitarian car for people who value that, who just want a car to be a car and don’t care about all the peripheral niceties or impressing the neighbours. It’s not competing with higher spec cars.

Incidentally I had a new Quashqai for a few months earlier this year. Hateful thing, couldn’t wait to give it back.

You could get a 3 yr old Forester for that budget…

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201505203634797?search-target=usedcars&page=1&sort=default&postcode=gu72ra&onesearchad=used%2Cnearlynew%2Cnew&radius=1500&maximum-age=up_to_3_years_old&model=forester&make=subaru&logcode=p

I know which I’d rather have,

though I’ve just picked up a ten yr old Panda 4×4 which is the absolute nuts!

Panda 4×4! Now I’m jealous, I thought they’d all rotted away. They were very popular with ski mountaineers and cross country skiers when new. Astonishing traction in snow. In the unlikely event it stopped four occupants could push/bounce/carry the thing back on track it was so light.

Heated seats: on days it would be cold enough to use those I get into the car wearing warm clothes with enough insulation not to feel how cold the seats are. Some people leave home in shirt, drive to the office and walk 20m from the car park, not me.

Believe me, I work outdoors all through winter and don’t go to work in a shirt – having leather seats and the option to warm them up on a cold morning at 5am is a big bonus. BTW – leather seats tend to be comfier and more practical – i.e. easier to clean

Electric stuff: which will fail sooner or later.

I’m struggling to think of any electric function that’s failed on me yet – possibly due to my determination to never buy a French car

Climate control: a heater and windows.

Opening a window, sat in traffic doesn’t do it for me in 25 degree heat – and aircon is great for clearing fogged up windows too

Audio gubbins: if I drove more I’d fit something simple and aftermarket with a USB socket and hi-fi quality speakers. On the integrated things there is just too much to go wrong.

Already got a Bose system as standard – had a weird buzzing from the amp a couple of times, but all fine now and apart from that nothings gone wrong yet. I can play CD’s, DVD’s when stationary, MP3’s, bluetooth streamed music, internet radio

Sat nav: I like maps and knowing where I’m going. For long trips I print out the Via-Michelin route.

So on your long trips, do you read the Michelin route on your lap, or keep pulling over – and does it tell you how/where to avoid traffic?

Hands free. I’m a believer in stopping when convenient and phoning back when stationary.

I’m a believer that when running a business, living in the 1980’s doesn’t work

I like comfortable seats, they can use as much naff plastic as they like for the rest, except: the steering wheel, I’d have happily paid more for leather rim.

I like comfortable seats – big leather comfortable seats that you can easily adjust electrically with little distraction from driving. With leather seats you get a leather steering wheel…

It’ not so much Luddite as liking simplicity, a bit like riding a bike with hub gears and puncture resistant heavy tyres on a Winter commute.

I wouldn’t ride one of them either, when we have much more efficient designs of bicycle engineering these days

Sounds like your minds made up then.

Dont expect an urgent my sound systems broken and i nearly crashed post from me and edukator.

Tbh i try and drive my car as little as possible, i dont need an extension of my living room to make it comfy, im perfectly happy on my bike. The cars just convienance and shopping trolley.

the only cars ive ever had electrical failure on were a mk4 golf and an mk6 escort – although it more had a total electrical melt down due to the loom rubbing on the bulkhead.

Opening a window, sat in traffic doesn’t do it for me in 25 degree heat

Our house sits around 25°C much of the Summer when 35°C outside is common. I don’t buy dark coloured cars and there’s always a bottle of water in there, to drink or splash around when getting back in after the car has been left in the sun and everything is too hot to touch.

Even with hands free research has shown a phone conversation is a distraction. Look at the statistics for fatal accidents in which use of a phone was the reason or a contributory factor. There was a thread on here about a woman who killed a cyclist while programming her satnav and hadn’t looked ahead for several seconds.

Big leather seats: I’m not big or fat, and like the grip of textiles. My living room doesn’t move much so I have a leather sofa.

I have a pretty good memory for maps and pull over as necessary. I do go wrong from time to time. The last time was forgetting which valley Tignes is in and doing 10minutes up the wrong valley before a sign told me.

I wouldn’t ride one of them either

I’ll ride any bike I can, I like bikes and ride anything from a unicycle to MTB tandem accepting them for what they are and enjoying their idiosyncrasies. Cars are transport when there’s no suitable public transport. I know I shouldn’t be using one and don’ take much pleasure in it – except on a snowy mountain road just after the plough has cleared it 😳

I’m struggling to think of any electric function that’s failed on me yet – possibly due to my determination to never buy a French car

I had a moment in our Passat when the base of the heated seat burnt out, while I was on the motorway. I have one door of the Galaxy that does not always open on central locking, the Toyota had an aftermarket sunroof that leaked if parked downhill, meaning the sunroof would open itself.

The inverted snobbery angle appealed to us, we find cars as status symbols quite an amusing concept

Ignore the inverted snobbery and anti status symbol excuses for a moment and look at all the reports of terrible build quality in this thread. Still feeling smug? It’s really not a crime to want a car that doesn’t rattle, rust or fall apart. I accept that some people genuinely don’t care, or want a new car and can’t afford to spend more, but you are not fooling anyone with those sort of excuses. It’s not just about the badge, it’s about the quality of the product.

I have one and like it. Mine is a 2013 Laureatte so I have bluetooth but no satnav, electric windows, aircon, etc. A little basic but it all works well and if I’m being picky the only thing I’m missing is a button to launch voice control of my mobile. I can answer calls, control music, etc but can’t just press a button and ask Cortana to do my bidding 🙁

I’ve only had it since July and have averaged 49.83 MPG over 3417.4 miles (yes I have a spreadsheet). Mine is 2 wheel drive and a lovely UN white. Also, for me, depreciation is irellevant. I want over 10 years of minimal expense then it can go to the scrappie when I’m done.

Take a test drive and decide for yourself.

You could get a 3 yr old Forester for that budget…

^This! xlots!

And it doesn’t tick the ‘snob’ box either as they are invisible to people. I’ve had 5 Subarus and not had a problem with any of them.

Yes but you don’t get Romanian design, French electrics and Indian build quality with a Subaru do you 🙂

According to Honest John, my Spanish designed, Romanian built Seat is the most reliable model of any VW/Aude/Seat/Skoda group have ever built.

5 subarus – either your 70 or you dont keep your cars very long if at all beyond the end of warrenty….

Angeldust – did you miss the part where I said we have one and we like it? Neither my wife or I have any problems with the build quality, and I couldn’t care less if the interior is plastic. We’ve had 2.5 years now, from new, and had no problems whatsoever.

It’s a car for people who don’t care about cars. I suspect you either get that or you don’t.

5 subarus – either your 70 or you dont keep your cars very long if at all beyond the end of warrenty….

Been driving 30 years so I’ve had a few cars.

ah so assuming you’ve had no other cars an average of 6 years.

making the 3 year old forester you can buy for your 14grand a 9 year old car when you sell it with 110k on the clock.

You’re making a lot of assumptions trail_rat. My wife had 2 of them.

A 10 year old Forester even with 100k on still goes for 4 to 5k now.

Mine was 2 years old when I bought it. 4×4, not an amazing amount of toys inside. This model

https://www.willhaben.at/iad/gebrauchtwagen/auto/dacia-duster-dacia-dusteer-laureate-dci-110-4-wd-134829147/

It had 100,000km when I bought it and I got it for 10,500 euro in a private sale. For about £8k it’s a lot of car. I think it’s a great and will keep it long term (I had my last car 15 years – mk2 golf gti).
With Dacia, snobs will always look down on them. Haterz gonna hate.

We considered a Dacia when we got our new car at the end of last year – the thing that put us off was the small boot. It did feel a bit cheap, but I don’t do enough milage in the car for that to be a serious worry.

Angeldust – did you miss the part where I said we have one and we like it? Neither my wife or I have any problems with the build quality, and I couldn’t care less if the interior is plastic. We’ve had 2.5 years now, from new, and had no problems whatsoever.

Have you missed all the posts above regarding how dire the build quality is? Both perspectives are valid of course. Caring about the badge, and caring about quality/design are separate issues. Also, your expectations may vary.

What I’ve read above are people who had hired or test driven a Duster and didn’t like it, and people who actually own and live with one who do like it. So how is that I’m making excuses for something we’re perfectly happy with? Our car doesn’t rattle, rust or fall apart, it meets our expectations as a means of transporting the family around.

Other people might value some/more luxury, and that’s fine, but we’re not fussed about that. We could have spent more on a ‘nicer’ new car or the same on a ‘nicer’ second hand one, but we chose not to because we’d rather spend that money on things that do matter to us.

As I said, you either get it or you don’t.

I’ve driven a rental Renault Duster for 3 weeks and it’s ok. Couldn’t see myself buying one above other options out there.

I was gutted that I could only get £1500 for a BMW 316ti with 70k miles on the clock that I had to sell last year. There are some great bargains out there.

I own a Kia Mohave so not sure what that says about me.

Not much more to add I’m afraid!

I bought a Duster last December. It was one of the indian one’s that are thought to be susceptible to corrosion (I like a gamble! 😀 ), it was Waxoiled to within an inch of it’s life at the dealers and some of the paint under the bonnet had been redone. On the upside I gave them my knackered Focus and 7 grand and rolled away in a new car with 3 years warranty.

So far no problems and still happy with it. I don’t get excited by cars anyway and they’re just a box to travel about in to me. If you think of it as an ‘Aldi/Lidl car you won’t go far wrong. I’m going to keep it until it dies anyway.