Dacia Duster

[figbat]

This has been discussed before, it gets marked down on the brakes because the system is not fully up to date.

It also performed very badly in pedestrian impact protection (a worse result than for the driver assist score).

 

[Fab Foodie]

iirc @Fab Foodie has one.
But may be wrong

Correct Sir!
@gavroche
Ha, I drive a C1!
We originally had the 1.6 petrol which was thirsty and a bit gutless and now have the 1.5 diesel which returns 60mpg and has power aplenty.
I'm not a 'suv' style car fan (it's @Hill Wimp car), but it's a great car for the money, spacious, comfortable, drives well enough, quiet enough. Good boot space for the 2 whippets (and more).
This is our 3rd Dacia and (touch wood) they have all been very reliable. My son has my old Logan and that's 100k miles of trouble-free motoring to date.
All the parts are from the Renault stable - you'll recognise sat-navs and switches/aircon all that stuff from Captur and Clio, so it's all good. Servicing is inexpensive.
It's also heartening to see they are now the taxi-drivers goto car in many parts of the worl. Rock-up in the heat of Cairo or the -20C of Moscow and you will see Dacias with monster mileages ferrying you around.

However...yesterday saw the new Jogger - what a great design. If it had the diesel engine we'd have signed on the spot. Very good interior design if space/utility is your driver.

Thing with Dacia is they are built well enough and do everything well enough. I had an Audi Q3 in Italy last week and was really not a great deal better, handled like a blancmange and probably cost twice the money.
A recent Autocar report says that Dacia also have among the highest repeat-purchases/loyalty of any brand - some of us look past the badge.

Duster diesel - buy with confidence. 1.6 Petrol avoid. 1.2Petrol has good reports. There's a lot of info on Dacia fb groups too.

 

[Bonefish Blues]

This - Dacia sell the cars with less 'idiot driver kit' in them, so get marked down with NCAP. TBH, I don't want lane warning, haven't needed radar brake assist etc. My BIL has this all switched off in his car and the bleeping is annoying.

It's part of the Dacia marketing, giving you stuff you do want in the price bracket. And I don't blame them, cars are becoming too complicated and needing dealers to turn off a warning.

It's the equivalent of buying a s/h car that's say 4-5 years old, and I don't see that being levelled against s/h cars in the way it has become a trope for Dacias.

 

[cyberknight]

And @cyberknight has a Dacia I think

My folks have had a Stepway for 3-4 years and it's been fine. Bit basic, but nothing to go wrong TBH and they share engines with Renault/Nissan. Petrol if doing lower miles.

As CXR says, look for any accident damage, have a ride in it/drive it. Check condition of pads and discs !

indeed we have a stepway too, mrs ck loves it but as said above the fitted pads wore out relatvily quickly compared to some cars but the new pads have been fine

 

[gavroche]

Well, I have been on a bike ride and stopped at the dealer to look at the car.
It has had 3 owners, 1.5 diesel, 136 000 miles, had a new clutch and flywheel fitted, satnav, bluetooth, 6 speed gear box and new tyres.
I couldn't take it for a drive as I was cycling. The engine is the same as I had on my Renault Captur so a good one and economical.
Now it is up to my step daughter to make a decision.

 

[CXRAndy]

It will need a new cambelt and water pump installing. If it was done at the correct service interval 72K miles. Its literally around the corner for another one. An awful lot of miles for a 8yr old car. Service history vital, oh and coking up of inlet valves might need attention-no small job.

Quick cambelt video

View: https://youtu.be/NAiKMetp2cE

 

[gbb]

Are there any known clutch issues ?.
A colleague had a Sandero, found it OK but quickly moved up to a Duster. Its had two clutches go in it in fairly short order. First covered under warrantee, the second they tried to work out of claiming it must be her driving. She played hardball with them and they climbed down. She'd had enough and moved onto a Kia now.

 

[bonzobanana]

I had a look at Dacia's a few years ago and at the time the depreciation was very low making s/hand purchases pretty poor value. Even the most reliable cars i.e. Japanese can start throwing up problems if the car is very high mileage too because things do wear out. I personally would aim for a lower mileage vehicle perhaps one that has fast depreciation and so you get a lot for your money. SUV's are popular but an estate can deliver better road handling, more usable storage, lower insurance rates and increased reliability with lower maintenance costs as not as heavy or oversized so can have smaller simpler engines and smaller tyres etc. Estates being less popular now often depreciate faster. It's also important to keep cars simple for reliability, manual gearbox, 4 cylinder engine ideally without a turbo or if with a turbo one that has a great reputation for reliability and a long life. Look for an engine with a chain rather than a belt. I seem to remember the Indian Dacia Dusters were very poorly made and quality improved when the Romanian factory started producing right hand drive versions, not sure what year that was.

For older cars its worth checking out the reliabilityindex which unfortunately is no longer live so you have to use the wayback machine. Sometimes you have to keep retrying to get the right reliability page for the car you are interested in. Unfortunately I don't think Dacia's are listed there. The most reliable Mercedes Benz models have Renault sourced engines very similar to Dacia engines. Basically they featured in more entry level, lower spec Mercedes models which also typically had less options fitted.

https://web.archive.org/web/20210430103028/https://www.reliabilityindex.com/manufacturer

 

[fossyant]

Are there any known clutch issues ?.
A colleague had a Sandero, found it OK but quickly moved up to a Duster. Its had two clutches go in it in fairly short order. First covered under warrantee, the second they tried to work out of claiming it must be her driving. She played hardball with them and they climbed down. She'd had enough and moved onto a Kia now.

Probably the driver - FIL killed clutches then moved to a auto.

 

[gbb]

Probably the driver - FIL killed clutches then moved to a auto.

TBF, you can't blame the dealer for considering this....but as she said, she's never had a car that needed a clutch replaced, ever.

Same for me, had a clutch bearing go once but that was me abusing it

 

[gbb]

I had a look at Dacia's a few years ago and at the time the depreciation was very low making s/hand purchases pretty poor value. Even the most reliable cars i.e. Japanese can start throwing up problems if the car is very high mileage too because things do wear out. I personally would aim for a lower mileage vehicle perhaps one that has fast depreciation and so you get a lot for your money. SUV's are popular but an estate can deliver better road handling, more usable storage, lower insurance rates and increased reliability with lower maintenance costs as not as heavy or oversized so can have smaller simpler engines and smaller tyres etc. Estates being less popular now often depreciate faster. It's also important to keep cars simple for reliability, manual gearbox, 4 cylinder engine ideally without a turbo or if with a turbo one that has a great reputation for reliability and a long life. Look for an engine with a chain rather than a belt. I seem to remember the Indian Dacia Dusters were very poorly made and quality improved when the Romanian factory started producing right hand drive versions, not sure what year that was.

For older cars its worth checking out the reliabilityindex which unfortunately is no longer live so you have to use the wayback machine. Sometimes you have to keep retrying to get the right reliability page for the car you are interested in. Unfortunately I don't think Dacia's are listed there. The most reliable Mercedes Benz models have Renault sourced engines very similar to Dacia engines. Basically they featured in more entry level, lower spec Mercedes models which also typically had less options fitted.

https://web.archive.org/web/20210430103028/https://www.reliabilityindex.com/manufacturer

But even the old 'its chain driven, not belt, so it's better' ... doesnt always hold.

Mazda 3s, from say 2005 till 2012' ish are for the most part chain driven. They're failing, you'll see them up for sale as such.
Chains stretch causing timing issues, chains break, guides break.
I'm not sure the old adage a chain is better than a belt is true anymore.
Years ago, cars just did'nt do the mileage they can easily do now so chains never / rarely went before something else did anyway,

 

[gbb]

This has been discussed before, it gets marked down on the brakes because the system is not fully up to date.

This is true of course.
My old 2015 Astra was (iirc) NCAP 5.
The following year, the same car couldnt achieve new requirements (lane control, autonomous braking etc) so it's NCAP rating would have been downgraded.
It doesnt make the car unsafe, it just means newer cars meeting the new requirements are safer.
Just a generalisation relating to one aspect of overall safety of course, but true nevertheless.

 

[CXRAndy]

But even the old 'its chain driven, not belt, so it's better' ... doesnt always hold.

Mazda 3s, from say 2005 till 2012' ish are for the most part chain driven. They're failing, you'll see them up for sale as such.
Chains stretch causing timing issues, chains break, guides break.
I'm not sure the old adage a chain is better than a belt is true anymore.
Years ago, cars just did'nt do the mileage they can easily do now so chains never / rarely went before something else did anyway,

I think a big part is lubrication or lack of. Alot of vehicles now have tiny amount of sump capacity that oil life/quality is quickly diminished if service intervals are not adhered to. In fact I think that's where some of the problems are started. My daughter had a Polo for 6 years little 1.2 petrol. I'm pretty sure oil change was once every 12k miles. It only had 3 litre sump capacity.

I changed it every 5k miles because it was such a quick easy job. Ran sweet as anything even with 80k miles on it. I maintained that car from brakes to suspension and engine. Did all the regular service work way before it was officially due. I read so many posts of rattling cam chains and timing problems with this engine. If only they had fitted a 5 or 6 litre sump

 

[fossyant]

But even the old 'its chain driven, not belt, so it's better' ... doesnt always hold.

Mazda 3s, from say 2005 till 2012' ish are for the most part chain driven. They're failing, you'll see them up for sale as such.
Chains stretch causing timing issues, chains break, guides break.
I'm not sure the old adage a chain is better than a belt is true anymore.
Years ago, cars just did'nt do the mileage they can easily do now so chains never / rarely went before something else did anyway,

Hmm, I've always gone for chains - 140k and 20 years on mine, 10 years on MrsF's car, 17 years on our old Yaris, it's still local at 23 years old....

 

[fossyant]

I think a big part is lubrication or lack of. Alot of vehicles now have tiny amount of sump capacity that oil life/quality is quickly diminished if service intervals are not adhered to. In fact I think that's where some of the problems are started. My daughter had a Polo for 6 years little 1.2 petrol. I'm pretty sure oil change was once every 12k miles. It only had 3 litre sump capacity.

I changed it every 5k miles because it was such a quick easy job. Ran sweet as anything even with 80k miles on it. I maintained that car from brakes to suspension and engine. Did all the regular service work way before it was officially due. I read so many posts of rattling cam chains and timing problems with this engine. If only they had fitted a 5 or 6 litre sump

Same with any car, maintenance is key. Regular oil and filter changes aren't expensive. That reminds me, need to do mine and MrsF's soon.