Does anyone on here own one. If so, what do you think of it. My wifes thinking about buying one. I don’t trust on-line ratings.
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I don’t know much, if anything about the Duster, or many other cars as my choice is decided by what I can afford
However I have a friend who does look into these things, and this was his opinion of Dacia - poor quality, and a poor after sales service
You’d be better off getting a secondhand car of a better make than a new Dacia
If you’re looking for a cheaper new car then Skoda are very good since they were taken over by Volkswagen
Skoda use the same floorpans & many components as VW, and are, in effect, VW’s budget brand
He mentioned 4x4s, and I’m afraid I’ve forgotten some of the names, but he said that there was an Audi 4x4, and the VW Touareg was based on that, and the Skoda 4x4 was based on that, and thus ultimately on the Audi model
Also that VW had worked hard to overcome Skoda’s image & reputation, so their after sales was good & generous
The Skoda Octavia is a 4x4 that looks more like a family estate car than a boxy Land Rover lookalike
Hi
Dacia use Nissan and Peugeot floor pans, suspension, engines and transmissions.
There are a few Dacias round here, used as general runabouts.
Friend of ours has one she loves it, gets three retrievers in the back with plenty of space to spare. I think only problem she had was a gears problem last year that seemed to take a while to get the parts to fix it, came from France I think but time it took must have come via China and the moon.
Thanks for the replies. We have a Skoda Octavia at the moment and my choice would be to buy a second hand Skoda Yeti. The prices of the VW’s and Audi’s is just nuts plus they are too wide for our garage;-). It’s funny you mention gears Julie as I’ve just been reading that the 2016 models had gearbox problems.
Now all I have to do is change my wifes mind:mrgreen:.
The write ups are quite good but do mention that the base model is VERY basic(Poverty model) ie. No radio, air con etc. and to add £2k for the extras.
It’s cheaper than the Fiesta entry level model and Fiat’s cheapest Panda.
There is an updated model out which adds a few extras ( in Laurette spec, ) which is much improved in both quality and refinement, a useful place to look is on the honest John site, where the reviews are unbiased, and you can look at the good/bad points of most cars, the new duster actually looks quite nice with just a hint of Land Rover especially in copper
One of my friends ‘road tested’ a Duster last Autumn and, although she liked it overall, she found it difficult to get in and out - she has an arthritic knee. She opted instead for the Dacia Sandara Stepway as it has a higher sill - absolutely loves it - says it is a joy to drive. Her Weimaraner love it as well - lots of room for him.
I went out and about this morning to have a look around and was surprised to find there are six Dacia dealers within 50km of us. I only spoke with two today and found quickly it’s not going to happen overnight. One dealer said from ordering to delivery could take up to four months.:shock:
Here is a link to what my wifes new car will look like. We only have photo’s at the moment as the delivery date is between the middle of July and the middle of August. The dealership where we ordered the car said they have never had such a rush on a car like the Duster. The dealer we dealt with said there are days when they only have enquiries about the Duster and they sell Renault, Hyundai and Dacia. We’ll just have to wait and see.
Quote " One dealer said from ordering to delivery could take up to four months."
Have to say that would worry me if something happened and the car needed a new part. Had that problem with Kia and no loan car even though it was still under warrantee. They had to send for a part and it was being sent by ship so took weeks to get replaced. So no new car and warrantee not extended either
That’s terrible Realspeed. What happens if you need a car for work or hospital/doctor appointments? Somehow that doesn’t sound right to me.
The Duster comes with a three year warranty and we’ve extended it to six as we plan to sell the car after five years and so with one year warranty. We have a service contract with the handler and that includes a replacement vehicle for any service/work done on the car. We pay €10 when the car is serviced but for warranty work it’s free. All the big car dealers in Germany have replacement vehicles but I don’t know about the smaller ones.
Isn’t Dacia a subsidary of Renault? Certainly should guarantee some sort of quality.
Kev
we had so many problems with new Kia cars you would not believe . I had warped brake disks at 800 miles. A common fault I found out but no recall from Kia- not going into 4WD and the warning ABS/ brake light coming on, went back to 2 main dealers 4 times , eventually down to corroded wire underneath and they refuse a complete rewire just a joint repair UNDERNEATH would you believe- the engine diesel pump failed that was the Sorento
My wife had a Kia C,eed again load of problems even down to radio faulty and rusting alloy wheels. Yes alloy doesn’t rust but these so called ones did
Kia refused to do any replacement cars even under warrantee
If I were you before buying is find other Duster owners and see what they say first. I don’t know the brand well enough to comment on reliability.
That is what i did before getting a Nissan x trail, I asked a load of " squashy" owners in supermarket car parks to see what they said about Nissan
I feel sorry to hear you had so many problems Realspeed. A neighbour has a Sportage and they have had a lot of problems with the car and warranty.
My wife has wanted to buy a Duster for the last six years. I’ve done the carpark thing and asked people with one guy even offering to let me take his for a test drive (I thanked him kindly but refused the offer:-D). There’re German Duster fora and the car is a bit of a cult thing in Germany. The last two models have ironed out the problems of their predecessors. It’s still the cheapest SUV on the market and it’s shaping up to be the most successful model ever for Dacia/Renault.
Yes Barry. Dacia is 90% owned by Renault and is becoming a bit of a headache for them because the Duster is starting to have an effect on the more expensive Renault cars with sales going down. I’m sure they’ll work it out:-D. I think the key is the Renault motor. I think Renault is the largest producer of engines world wide. Mercedes use Renault motors in some of their cars. We opted for a 125hp turbo charged petrol engine. We test drove the 115hp turbo diesel as well but the petrol engine has lots more power and we need it to tow a caravan.
I think if you want it for towing then I would have thought the diesel would have been the better option as it turns out more power (torque) at lower revs, which is the ideal really for that task.
We thought that also Barry but we do a lot of short trips where we live and that’s not good for a diesel. We discussed it with a number of dealers but they advised against it even though my wife drives a 30km round trip to work and back. It’s not far enough to be good for the motor.
That makes sense yes, and I also suppose it depends on how often you tow, if it’s just now and then that would make the petrol turbo a good choice…
I’ve had my Kia Sportage for four years this June and it’s been excellent thus far. With all the crap about diesel engines flying about these days perhaps it’s time to invest in a petrol motor?
The Duster has got good reviews and I like the look of it.
Here’s the review.