That’s nonetheless wonderful for a automobile I’ve used for completely the whole lot, even towing my bike trailer with an (admittedly mild) previous Douglas on the again.
It nonetheless amuses me that this ultraaffordable automobile, for which you will get solely two choices (metallic paint and a full-size spare wheel), has automated lights and wipers, local weather management, auto walk-away locking and an autorelease electrical handbrake – plus a knurled gear knob, identical to a Bentley.
Provided that the Stepway is performing so effectively, it’s not laborious to know the reality of Dacia’s declare that that is Europe’s hottest privately purchased (versus enterprise fleet) automobile. Possibly enterprise fleets must get with this system as effectively.
One current attention-grabbing episode was spending per week in a Renault Clio powered by the identical 1.0-litre petrol turbo engine because the Dacia’s – and driving on the identical platform – to clock the variations. The truth that the Stepway has a barely lumpier journey and creates a bit extra highway noise is comprehensible sufficient, provided that there appears to be like to be £3000-ish additional worth in it. However you must surprise which got here first: refinements to the Renault’s platform and engine to make them quieter and smoother or deliberate omissions of sound-deadening measures to create a small however noticeable distinction.
The one significant fault I can discover with the Dacia, given its nice worth and tools and respectable high quality, is the lumpy engine response, which features a gigantic flat spot round 2800rpm that you could by no means fairly ‘drive round’. Within the Clio, curiously, the identical was current, nevertheless it was far much less noticeable, inflicting me to surprise once more whether or not my very own automobile’s electronics would profit from some kind of reprogramming.
Sufficient readers have now raised this subject, both by way of possession or on take a look at drives, to persuade me that it’s a real foible of the Sandero Stepway. Earlier than I write about it once more, I’m going to raise the cellphone and set up whether or not a treatment exists. If it doesn’t, it most likely ought to.
Adore it: Outrageous worth
This sector is meant to be full of options, however you received’t discover one other automobile with this a lot functionality for the cash.
