gearfreak – Member
£700 gearbox rebuild shortly after £200 on new brake calipers on current 07 golf has resulted in requirement for car which spends less time in someone else’s company.

But having spent £900 on it why not just keep it, use it and get the benefit rather than getting rid of it for something else?
It’s not like it’s exactly old, is it? – and there’s a lot of truth in the expression “better the devil you know….”

And I know what I’d rather have – an eight year old Golf or a new Dacia? No contest.

So the Dacia won’t be worth much after 3 years but it wasn’t much to start with. Unlike the poor Polo driver who’s paid over £7,000 in depreciation just so no-one sneers at his cheap Romanian ex Renault!!
But you’ve spent 3 yrs in a Dacia!

A lot of people like to sit in a car that offers a nice environment and a bit of style, not an awkward looking car with a dashboard made of plastic as thin as a yoghurt pot!

Well, of course you’re right. That’s why people buy Audis or whatever.

But I think if it was my money I might think twice about a bum basic spec Polo. I mean, have you actually experienced the full horror of keys that you have to turn in a lock and windows that you have to wind??? Give me yoghurt put dashboards any day 🙂

” I mean, have you actually experienced the full horror of keys that you have to turn in a lock and windows that you have to wind??”

im quite happy with my keepfit windows thanks.

“And I know what I’d rather have – an eight year old Golf or a new Dacia? No contest.”

based on paying to fix an 8 year old golf id be all over that dacia like a rash. over priced VW garbage. – the doors closed nice though.

Big deal its better than the bus or standing on the train

But is it better than a 3 year old Polo (or other decent car)?

Not for me.

As for the OP – you don’t like spending money, so you spent a load more? Ok that makes sense 🙂 £700 on a gearbox is better than £7000 on a crap new car, to me.

crap new car

What brings you to that conclusion? Got any hard evidence to back that?
Dacia’s are great. I have a Duster. It’s never missed a beat.

define crap ? if it stops and starts reliably and doesnt cost a fortune to maintain then its not crap.

doesnt have the right badge or go fast , handle well, look like an extension of your living room makes it a crap car ?

Crap in this context means noisy, unrefined, uncomfortable, and so on. I don’t care about badges, looks or sportiness, but I do care about aesthetics, comfort and ergonomics and economy.

I could be wrong about Dacia, I’ve never been in one. I’d look at one next time if the reviews suggested it was worth it.

Scoff all you like, it’s just the way I feel. I wish I didn’t care about those things, then I would probably find it easier to buy cars.

If Fiat do a special deal on the Panda 4×4 I’d jump at it- 9k would seal it 8)

Some would call that cheap crap!

Crap in this context means noisy, unrefined, uncomfortable, and so on.

But in my experience, having actually bought and driven a Dacia none of your comment is true.
It’s not the most amazing environment to be in but who cares, it’s cheap and it works – a damn sight more reliable than a 52 plate Discovery I had for 3 years (bought 3 years old).

The Dacia duster has pretty good residual value

http://www.carbuyer.co.uk/reviews/recommended/slowest-depreciating-cars-motors-that-hold-their-value

Not sure how this translates to the car in question other than they are both Dacias

The golf is a marginally better place to be, mainly as its a bit quieter. The dacia was surprisingly nice to sit in and quite comfy. Who knows if the golf will now continue without needing further work, or if something else will go pop next week, its 8 years old with 90k miles. The dcia is brand new, and based on tried and tested tech so really shouldn’t have any issues. Mebbe keeping the golf would be OK, but I’d rather avoid unessesary trips to the garage.

jota read futher up – dacia are keeping the residuals artificially high.

Doesn’t really matter if they’re artificially high or naturally high

it does

they cant buy back every dacia ever made residuals will crash – mark my words. to buy on the back of strong current residuals would be fools folly.

especially after the rusty sills debauchal on the uk imports from the far east.

I know its a Sandero- but avoid buying a used Duster – or double check it allover carefully incase its one of those rusting ones that were made pre-Romanian production.

When you say “based on tried and tested tech” you do realise you are talking about Renault tech don’t you? Not as bad as a Peugeot or Vauxhall I’ll grant you, but the fact it’s off an old Clio doesn’t exactly set my mind at ease…

What are they doing with the ones they buy? Respray then put them back in the dealers? 🙂

No ones answered the issue if you will die or not……having test driven the 1.2, if that’s the variant you have brought, yes there is a possibility unless you have a huge gap in any traffic that you’re pulling out into…….I’ve driven more powerful non turbo 1 litre shite heaps with more pulling power! Having said that I did consider the 1.5 dci engine variant…..but bought totally different age/type car in the end.

I have been looking at the dacia dockker, which doesn’t seem to be listed on the UK dacia site. Looks good for a runaround that will take bikes in the back.

“bit of style”
Its a car FFS! 🙄
About as important as a fridge.
Oh yeah and I guess the Jimny anti fan at the top hasn’t spent 10 years in one going by the comments.

bit of style”
Its a car FFS!
About as important as a fridge.

Try driving 40,000 miles a year in a fridge.

Accept that some people may have different requirements for something they actually spend quite a lot of time sat inside.

Trail rat, out for a spin…

Said it before . My car is just another white good. It may as well be a washing machine.

And having driven a Mk1 1.2 Clio for 2 months (we’ll skip over why my tenure as owner came to an end) it’s not something I’d be averse to repeating as long as it wasn’t a rusty death trap, I didn’t have to do mega miles in it, it wasn’t like sitting inside a rock tumbler at speed and the pedals aren’t offset like they were in the Mk2.

As for mechanical bits, yes please. Lighter, simpler, don’t break. What’s not to like?

Said it before . My car is just another white good. It may as well be a washing machine.

I chose my washing machine based on the features I wanted it to have, and cost. And no it’s not a Miele or other flash lifestyle brand, it’s a Hotpoint. It cost a bit more than the cheapest possible model, but nothing like as much as a Miele. Same for my fridge as it happens, and my car.

One of the things I like about my washing machine is that it’s really quiet, enabling us to sit in the kitchen and socialise when it’s on, without any interruption – even when it’s on a spin. I like quietness in cars too.

So the white goods analogy is also a bit silly in this case.

not really – i picked my washing machine based on the ability to wash clothes

i just use the timer function to make it work at times when im not in the kitchen 😉

boils down to money i guess.

totally different if your car earns you money and drivings part of your job its your office pretty much you spend alot of time there.

I think the white goods analogy is a good one. You bought your washing machine based on required specs and then I’m guessing you never thought about it again and won’t until it comes time to replace it at the end of its useful life. Some people do that with cars, others would rather trade up to a Meile for no other reason than prestige.

True. But simply wanting something that does its job nicely (ie is comfortable, quiet, sufficiently performant and not ugly) is not the same as searching for prestige.

I drive a Prius ffs, that’s even less prestigious than a Dacia. But based on what I know I would still rather the Prius. However I won’t discount Dacia when it comes to change because I haven’t looked closely.

not really – i picked my washing machine based on the ability to wash clothes

You had your criteria, you chose according to those. I did the same with my car. Prestige or vanity wasn’t one of them.

However there is one more issue – driving can be fun, washing clothes never is. That affects car choice.

agreed , and i use the same criteria when i chose my cars…

cheap , ability to move bikes……

you choose cars and white goods like i choose bikes/componants.

just a case of where we choose to divert money too.

but to say a car is crap cause it doesnt have a flash interior/exteriors a bit shit.

Why do STW’s always get to the stage where its ‘this is what I do so it must be correct’.

Its a crap car compared to offerings from Ford, Renault, Vauxhall etc etc. It is basically a modern Daewoo, a rebadged old car with a few modern looking bells and whistles. Its cheap because Renault have re engineered most of the parts it uses to be better, safer, more fuel efficient and basically have had their money worth out of it and passed/sold it on to Dacia.

The cost is low which is great but anyone saying they have great residuals, I would like to see anyone come up with proof of anyone selling one outside of a dacia dealership for good money.

At the end of the day, its not right or wrong to spend £6000 + on a cheap car. Would a 3yr old fiesta for £6k be a better buy? IMO yes. But its an opinion.

End of the day, the only warning I would give anyone looking at these cars is do not buy it on big finance and expect to get out of it without negative equity (Within 3-4yrs). You may be able to change for a Dacia again but your chances of getting back into ‘normal cars’ will be difficult.

but to say a car is crap cause it doesnt have a flash interior/exteriors a bit shit.

Fair enough – I will rephrase that to ‘not something I’d like to drive around in’. But I don’t go for flashiness, so don’t make me out to be a tart please 🙂

I test drove a Duster while ago as I thought a bit of povvo chic would be a good thing.

I does all the things a car should do, but just felt like a great way to buy a new 15 year old car. Will be a great buy for many who just want a car to run for a good few years.

I quite like the stepway though, although I imagine a C4 cactus may be getting a good coat of looking at.

However there is one more issue – driving can be fun, washing clothes never is.

Depends on how rattly the machine is and what floats your boat 😉

I’d like to think a Dacia is considerably better than a Daewoo though, Renaults aren’t generally known for lunching head gaskets.

something that came to me on my lunch time run as i surveyed the folk out driving was …..

cheap car does not always mean cheap parts.

it would be interesting to see the cost of wheel bearings/brake calipers/steering parts/shocks and springs….id imagine they will be based on old clio parts but “slightly” different – would be interesting to see how much of the parts do cross over.

although tht said …. warrenty to 5 years and at 6 grand that almost meets my 1k per year per car operating costs to just throw it away… not that i would.

Its a crap car compared to offerings from Ford, Renault, Vauxhall etc etc. It is basically a modern Daewoo, a rebadged old car with a few modern looking bells and whistles. Its cheap because Renault have re engineered most of the parts it uses to be better, safer, more fuel efficient and basically have had their money worth out of it and passed/sold it on to Dacia.

The cost is low which is great but anyone saying they have great residuals, I would like to see anyone come up with proof of anyone selling one outside of a dacia dealership for good money

Wow Littlesthobo, you’re a lot more bitter than you seemed on the TV!

Aren’t all the engines and gearboxes in the UK Dacias the same as the current Clio/Juke/Whatever….? You can buy the 1.2 16v in a Clio or Sandero, the same with the 0.9 turbo, the 1.5 diesel… So not that old really? I think the platform is old Clio but the mechanicals are a bit more current.

And the brand hasn’t really been available long enough in the UK to judge residuals. But CAP data is usually a good guide – and the Sandero looks pretty good against the competition back on page 1. And I think the residuals are holding up well in more mature markets like Germany where they’ve been able buy them for longer.

Still, haterz are gonna hate. End of the day someone on here’s bought one, someone’s thinking about one – why should you tell them they’re wrong just because you wouldn’t do the same? All a bit judgy isn’t it?

It a car made to a small budget. It may be old Renault parts but that doesn’t mean it will be to same “quality control” of when they were made previously. Poor materials can make a even a well designed part rubbish. Look at the Chinese copies of old Hondas motorbikes. The difference between the copy and the original is all too evident after a year or two.

Conversely. It doesnt mean that the copy will be worse……

Personally i love the fact that french cars get loads of stick , means i pick them up dirt cheap and run them for years without issue…..

why should you tell them they’re wrong

I’m not calling anyone wrong for wanting a Dacia. They are calling me wrong for NOT wanting one 🙂

OK, so update now we’ve had the car for a few weeks.

It goes, stops and does all the things you would expect a basic car to do. It’s the 1.2 which is apparently gutless and lacking in power, but seems to work fine and while it’s not the last word in performance it does what it needs to do. So far got 46.5mpg from it, mainly from communting, done a couple of longer trips. It’s a bit noisy at 70, but it’s fine. All in all so far so good.

If I had to do 40k miles per year I wouldn’t want to do them in Dacia, but as we do about 8k I recon it’s a bargain.

my french mate bought a logan a few years ago, she’s racked up some serious mileage in it (been from the loire to eastern europe a couple of times) and she really likes it – loads it up with wine to take to the commercial tastings/trade shows and it’s never let her down, decent on fuel and the radio works

good news gearfreak – i believe it will be very good at being a people mover and i have already got the used duster in my sights for replacing the mrs berlingo when it dies.