Dacia Sandero
GOODBYE
£14,795 OTR/£15,445 as tested/£213 pcm
WHY IT’S HERE
It’s no longer the UK’s cheapest new car, but is it still a TG hero?
DRIVERS
Greg Potts
THE DACIA SANDERO IS LEAVING THE TG GARAGE. IT’S HARD TO believe it’s been with us for six months already and that probably says a little about how competently it can cope with pretty much any situation plus a little about how forgettable it is
The latter shouldn’t really be an insult though The Sandero may be a little bland but there’s a very good reason for its simplicity Firstly it keeps the cost down This may no longer be Britain’s cheapest car at the time of writing the Kia Picanto pips it by just over but it is absolutely still one of the best in terms of value for money And as we’ve found over the past half year the simple drivetrain is a bit of a joy too
The Sandero is genuinely practical too The litre boot is plenty big enough and the rear seat space is cavernous compared with something like a Picanto Although speaking of rear seats we did have a rather strange issue with our particular Sandero towards the end of its time with us when there was a strange sloshing noise coming from under the passenger seat
A rummage around revealed a damp carpet in one of the footwells Dacia was keen to investigate the issue which meant swapping our car for what turned out to be an identical twin Apparently the issue was an aircon drain tube coming loose which Dacia described as an “unlikely event” and a “one off” rather than a thematic issue Good to know
Otherwise we didn’t have much to complain about after spending six months with the Sandero We did find that the USB connection dropped out intermittently and made using Apple CarPlay which is your only form of navigation a bit tricky though and the placement of the USB socket up on the dashboard means that your cable dangles down by your legs
Still we’ve had way more issues in the past with cars that cost two three four or five times more than the Sandero and we’re sad to see it go