Dacia Sandero – The Cheap And Cheerful Family Car

Our budget hatch holds its own on longer stints, despite the bullies

Is it just me, or do wise old Chinese proverbs have a habit of making themselves known when they are most appropriate? After more than 1000 miles in Britain’s cheapest new car, the Dacia Sandero, I came across this particular piece of wisdom: get knocked down seven times, stand up eight.

Dacia Sandero

It struck a chord not because I’ve been knocked down, I’m pleased to report, but because life with the Sandero requires a certain resilience. Not, you understand, because it has any particular shortcomings, but because when you drive around in a car with no discernible badge value, black bumpers and a UN peacekeeping white paint job, certain people tend to bully you a bit.

It struck a chord not because I’ve been knocked down, I’m pleased to report, but because life with the Sandero requires a certain resilience.

By ‘certain people’, I do of course mean drivers of so-called executive cars. In particular, that’s you Mr. Audi or Mrs. BMW, especially if you were on the M25 last Tuesday morning, or the A3 on Wednesday afternoon. There I was, minding my own business on a 500-mile plus journey over two days, taking in a trip to Essex to catch up with Alan Henry, ex-F1 editor of this parish, then Jonathan Palmer at Brands Hatch, and then Lord March at Goodwood. Was your progress really so important that you had to sit an inch from my bumper, just to move a car’s length closer to your destination? Well, clearly it was, because that’s just what you almost invariably did.

But although their insistence on proving their superiority was frustrating, it also highlighted one of the main triumphs of life with the Sandero. Even with its small 1.2 petrol engine, bereft of meaningful horsepower or torque, it has more than enough pace on a motorway to stick at whatever speed they care to travel at, unless they are utterly intent on landing themselves in front of a magistrate.

But although their insistence on proving their superiority was frustrating, it also highlighted one of the main triumphs of life with the Sandero.

As a result, my premium badged friends may be able to bully their way into arriving at their destination first, but I can say with certainty that I will pull up only seconds later. And I will take a great deal of smugness from doing so in a car that has left upwards of tens of thousands of pounds in my pocket, holiday fund or whatever takes my fancy.

Although they could point to their leather seats and upmarket air-con systems, I increasingly find myself asking how important these things are. The Sandero’s steering wheel doesn’t adjust for rake or reach, and the seat movement is limited, but I can’t say that I felt fatigued after these two-hour journeys. No question, the ride leaves a little to be desired and the engine is noisy above 3000rpm, but the latter is at least fixed by turning up the $375 radio.

Jim is enjoying the simplicity of life in the Sandero lane

So although I’ve been driven to become a little defensive about the Sandero, the truth is that I’m delighting in my time with this no-frills car. It’s early days, but so far it has been a pleasure to be in something so free of preconceptions and unnecessary add-ons. I may not be able to persuade ail other road users of its merits, but I’m reveling in the experience of finding these things out for myself.