Dacia Sandero Review (2013-2020)
Dacia Sandero cars for sale
3.0
Expert review
Pros
Very cheap to buy
Roomy and practical cabin
Affordable to fuel and insure
Cons
Modest safety standards
Stingy list of standard kit
Basic fit and finish
The CarGurus verdict
Judged on its own merits, there are a number of superminis that you would buy before the Sandero. The Fiesta and Ibiza are more fun to drive; the Fabia is more practical; and the Rio and Hyundai i20 have better warranties.
But the Sandero has its own USP: it's cheap and cheerful, and there’s a lot to be said for those low prices in these straitened times. If you want or need a car, and have a limited budget, you could do a lot worse than pick up a Sandero. True, it isn’t as good in most departments as more established rivals, but being inexpensive and reliable – which the Sandero is – it still has a lot going for it.
And it's not as if you have to hold your nose while driving it, either (which we wouldn’t recommend from a road safety point of view). It performs perfectly well, is comfortable enough to travel in and is spacious enough for most owners’ needs. It’s not going to win any engineering or styling prizes, but the Sandero is no joke.
The Dacia Sandero is a joke. Or, at least, it was for many years on a certain popular TV car show. A supermini that would be the cheapest new car on sale in Britain? Built in Romania? Laughable.
But dismissing the Sandero is a fool’s errand. First off, Dacia is owned by Renault, which, it's fair to say, knows a thing or two about building cars, right up to ones competing in Formula One. Secondly, Dacia has taken tried and tested technology and used it as the basis for the Sandero.
The result is an inexpensive budget supermini that offers straightforward, accessible motoring to many drivers. However, that means that it doesn’t have to try hard to appeal, which is something that is reflected in its utilitarian exterior design. It’s not unattractive per se, but neither will it win any awards for automotive styling. It’s a fairly plain-looking car with slightly slabby body panels that lack fussy character lines, but after a facelift in 2016, changes helped add a more modern look, with new front and rear lights, and tweaks to the grille and bumpers.
The cabin really highlights the budget nature of the Sandero, which can best be described as basic. Hard (and hardy) plastics abound and it all feels very functional. Revisions in 2016 did add a little more refinement, with chrome accents in the dashboard and on the air vent surrounds, while the steering wheel was given a new softer-feel finish. An easy way to tell if a used example comes from before or after the facelift is to see where the electric window switches are located: the early cars have them in the centre console, but after 2016 they were moved to the more logical position on the actual doors.
One advantage the Sandero has over many of its rivals is its practicality. The rear has really good head- and legroom, more than many rivals, such as the Vauxhall Corsa and Volkswagen Polo, while the boot capacity of 320 litres (1,200 litres with the rear seats folded down) is only bested by the Skoda Fabia and Seat Ibiza.
As you can imagine from a car built to a budget from older mechanical components, the Sandero isn’t as engaging to drive as the likes of the Ford Fiesta or Seat Ibiza. It’s consistent, though, and while the steering is a little heavy it’s accurate enough. There’s enough grip and while there’s a little more body roll than other superminis, it’s controlled enough in the hands of most drivers on most roads. The ride quality is better and the soft suspension does a pretty good job or ironing out some of the worst road surfaces, even if it still never quite manages to settle fully.
The Sandero is not, as you might expect, what you’d call refined. There’s a fair bit of wind- and road noise, due to the absence of significant soundproofing, and the engines are fairly raucous. And while performance isn’t too bad, none of the versions available break the 10-second barrier for the 0-62mph sprint.
Entry-level Access models are extremely spartan inside. They didn’t even come with a radio as standard, but they did cover the basics, such as electronic stability control, power assisted steering and rear ISOFIX points. To be honest, unless you’re in dire need of basic transport we’d probably steer clear of these examples.
The mid-spec Essential trim is a useful step up, with electric windows, a Bluetooth- and USB-enabled stereo with DAB radio, air conditioning and height adjustment for the driver’s seat and steering wheel.
Top-spec Comfort models were actually quite well-equipped for their original price. Alongside the refinements found on the Essential, you’ll get cruise control, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, rear parking sensors and satellite navigation. Compare this specification to an older Corsa or Fiesta for the same money and you might be pleasantly surprised.
The Sandero is cheap to buy and it's also relatively inexpensive to run, too, reinforcing its value-for-money appeal.
The diesel engine that was available in the Sandero was a 1.5-litre dCi 90 four-cylinder unit producing 89bhp (it was upgraded to a Blue dCi 95 in 2019) that achieves fuel economy figures of 80.7mpg under the old NEDC testing regime, but this was downgraded to 58.8-62.7mpg under the more accurate WLTP system.
The Sandero range also has a pair of petrol engines in the range. Until 2016 there was a 75bhp 1.2-litre engine that returns 47.5mpg, but this was replaced by a three-cylinder 74bhp 1.0-litre SCe 75, with a fuel economy figure of 54.3mpg, but this is also an NEDC figure, so real-world returns are likely to be in the mid-40s. The other petrol engine is an 89bhp turbo TCe 90 that returns 57.6mpg, but again, expect less when driving on a daily basis.
Vehicle Excise Duty (car tax) is also manageable, thanks to low CO2 emissions. The diesels emit just 98g/km, so if you pick up a car registered before April 2017, this will mean you won’t have to pay any tax. Cars registered after that date will cost £150 a year to tax. The petrol cars have emissions ranging from 109g/km (TCe 90) to 117g/km (SCe 75), so that means £20-30 for pre-2017 cars and the same flat-rate fee of £165 for later models, while the 135g/km emissions of the pre-2016 1.2 will cost £165 a year.
You might expect such a cheap car to also be cheap to insure, and it is, with different versions ranging from group 5 to group 10. There are rivals with lower insurance groups, though - there are Fabia variants in group 1 and even Fiestas in group 2 - but the lack of better security equipment is likely to count against the Sandero.
Servicing is a straightforward proposition, with 12,000-mile intervals. Owners can also take advantage of pre-paid servicing schemes, with prices ranging from £169 from a minor service to £259 for a full service plus MOT.
The Sandero is built from parts and components that have been tried and tested over a number of years, so that seems to stand it in good stead, as most issues should have been ironed out in the years before the Sandero started production. In fact, there are very few real problems. There are some reports of issues with the catalytic converters, engine management systems and rust, but these are remarkably few and far between.
This means that the Sandero has done pretty well in customer satisfaction surveys, finishing in an impressive second in the small car class in one poll. The Dacia brand has also recorded 12th place in a reliability table of 31 manufacturers.
Sanderos originally came with a three-year, 60,000-mile warranty (with a two-year paintwork guarantee and six-year anti-corrosion policy on top), which could be extended to five years or seven years for an extra fee. Just be aware that many of the first-generation examples will now be outside of this warranty period.
There have been four recalls for the Sandero. Diesel cars built between 2013 and 2015 were recalled for a potential fuel leak in June 2018. Some 2015 cars had a steering defect, with a risk of the drive rotor at the ball joint on the steering rod breaking due to excessive stress, so there was a recall in August 2018. The other two recalls – in August 2018 for cars built in late 2012 and January 2019 for cars built in April-August 2018 – related to concerns about airbags not deploying. If buying a car that might have been built in these slots, check whether it has been taken to a dealer to have the car checked out.
- The Dacia Sandero was once the cheapest new car on sale in the UK, with a starting price of less than £7,000 in Access spec. However, don’t expect to find many of these cars on the used car market: British buyers like a few creature comforts in their cars and the Access model has few of these. The fact that the windows are not electric might baffle some children who have never seen winders, for example, and you don't even get a stereo, let alone a touchscreen.
- The Dacia Sandero uses engineering technology that dates back to the early 2000s that was developed by the Renault-Nissan Alliance and used as the basis for a number of popular models. Perhaps the best way to consider the Sandero’s technology is to think about the mk3 Renault Clio that went on sale in 2005, because that is a car that shared its mechanical components with the Sandero. At a time when the majority of new cars achieve a five-star safety rating from Euro NCAP, the Sandero only managed a four-star score. This isn’t unexpected, considering it was using technology that was older than most of its rivals, but neither is it that bad. It was given a score of 80% for adult occupant protection and 79% for child occupants. There are airbags to protect the front, side and chest, and Isofix child seat anchor points in the rear, but the seatbelts don’t have pretensioners, which is rare these days.
- If you want a budget option (of the supermini class’s budget option), try and find a Sandero in the entry-level Access trim. It is really basic, though, and it's only available with white paint and black plastic bumpers, meaning it looks like something that UN troops would roll around in.
- The most economical Sandero is the diesel-engined 89bhp 1.5-litre dCi 90, with an official 80.7mpg on the combined cycle (of the old NEDC fuel economy test). It doesn’t exactly make for quick progress, though, with 0-62mph taking 11.8 seconds.
- The top-of-the range Sandero trim levels that offer the most equipment were called Laureate until 2018, when the named was changed to Comfort, but the specification stayed broadly the same. These were priced at £2,000 more than the base-spec model when the Sandero was new – a significant premium on a car that started at under £7,000 – but they make a good buy on the used market.
- None of the Sandero variants offer anything that could be considered strong performance, but the ‘quickest’ is powered by Renault's TCe 90 petrol engine that produces 89bhp and coasts its way to 62mph from a standing start in a pretty leisurely 11.1 seconds.
