I’m not in the market for a new car, but I’m intrigued by the new Dacia Duster – A brand new 4wd for just £8,995. Is it a bargain, or a false economy.. you know what they say, ‘buy cheap, buy twice’! I know nothing about cars (other than what I think looks nice!) so views appreciated..

http://www.dacia.co.uk/vehicles/duster/explore/?utm_source=Google&utm_medium=CPC&utm_campaign=Dacia

Not bad looking either, and plenty of space…

must say ive been tempted to go and have a look but tbh your getting a 4×2 with a tiny engine for your 8995

by the time you get up into the HDIs with decent BHPs and 4×4 your looking at 12-14k with a couple of options into the mix.

and their website is horrendous.

Looks like I have been naively lured by the cheap entry price… good job I don’t need a new car!

Renault owns Dacia so they provide the mechanicals.

No experience of the Duster but other models such as the Logan are pretty reliable as there is very little to go wrong with them.

Power windows are an optional extra

didnt look like they were to me , you sure about that rich ?

i actually want keepfit windows/mirrors , im all for simple cars with no electrics. But sadly these days it seems to be cheaper for them to produce 1 model all with power everything rather than gear up to build keepfit doors and mirrors as well.

the actually the dacia dokker multi i fancy but its not here in the uk

New Dacia for £9k?
Or 4yr old freelander for same price?
Hmmm.

lets face it the dacia cant be any worse for reliability than anything the green oval produces (and im a landrover fanboi;))

The Duster actually uses a Nissan chassis platform and Renault engines

My mother in law actually has a Logan. I’d be amazed if it ever broke. My bike is far more mechanically complicated!

Renault owns Dacia so they provide the mechanicals.

😯

Can anyone else remember the Renault 12 derived Darcia? 😡

yeah rich just been reading about that

i like the sound of the system it has , FWD till you ask it not to be , can be auto 4wd or you can set it to lock where it gives 50% of power to the rear wheels.

what intregues me more is this on wiki

“The flexi-fuel (ethanol) version is available in several Western European countries, while the Bi-Fuel (LPG) version is mostly offered in Eastern Europe, Italy, Germany and the Netherlands.”

so why do we just get petrol and diesel options then?

Can anyone else remember the Renault 12 derived Dacia?

There are still plenty of them clogging up the roads of Romania. They made around 2 million of them.

I know a guy who used one with a Renualt 5 Turbo engine as a rally car 😯

There was a review on PH the other day

http://www.pistonheads.com/roadtests/doc.asp?c=47&i=26927

£11k for a new 4wd with locking centre diff is pretty damn good. Now just wait for one or two to become second hand with the associated cliff-like depreciation and they’ll be a bargain!

ugly as though

no as ugly as the ssangyong korando … the duster is damn site bigger and utilitarian to boot. – and the center locking diff is a big bonus over a VCU like the freelander etc

id still like keepfit windows and and LPG as an option 🙁

id give it at least a test drive when im in the market – i mean im driving a **** vauxhall frontera (not a sentence i thought id ever say) but ive had great luck with cheap french utilitarian motors – my van still lives long and prospers – 1.9 D poverty spec with 70odd k on the clock – the mrs is using it on the main roads into town just now as ive stolen her frontera to travel the back roads to my work

trailrat said-
actually want keepfit windows/mirrors , im all for simple cars with no electrics. But sadly these days it seems to be cheaper for them to produce 1 model all with power everything rather than gear up to build keepfit doors and mirrors as well.
if renault have anything to do with the windows THEY will pack up(allegedley)

Thing is rhino they make em with keepfit windows for other parts o europe and lpg and flexi fuel options !

Saw shedloads of them in France this year. Didn’t realise there was a connection with Renault so that kinda makes sense now.

It’s a renault put together in Romania, what could possibly go wrong?

Probably less than if it was put together in Renault land

Audis from Hungary, VWs from Slovakia, Fiats from Poland, BMWs from Safrica, who cares? It doesn’t matter what language the line workers speak, it’s how good the management is at quality control. Which brings us back to Renault…

I rather like that Duster rOcKeTdOg posted up. Totally utilitarian, but if you’re doing nothing but thrashing it round narrow, muddy, snowy, slippery country lanes and B-roads, then one of those with proper snow/winter tyres has got to be a good option.

Found an advert for that old Duster, that someone had put on Flickr, 1986, £4150!
If I had the money, and space wasn’t an issue, then one of these would be my weapon of choice:
http://www.topgear.com/uk/car-news/top-gear-awards-suv-of-the-year-2012-12-19

Entry 9k one is 2WD. I like the idea but I’d rather have a 6k Forester and 3k in a slush fund for any bills and/or save it. Freelanders are high st ATGNI-magnets.