Which car for occasional trips? Dacia?

A question about : Which car for occasional trips? Dacia?

I have no experience of buying cars.

I am looking for a reliable car, which I will use for trips out of town, shopping, occasional roadtrips, but not for commuting. I’m very open to any brands and sizes of car, but ideally I would like something with air conditioning.

The car which is on my mind is a new Dacia Sandero Laureate for Ј8,795. For a similar price I know I could get, for example, a second hand VW Polo or similar, but would that really be any better?

Since I won’t be using it every day, I don’t need a particularly luxurious car, but I would like something with very little maintenance.

As I mentioned, I am totally inexperienced in buying and owning cars, so any words of wisdom from past experience would be appreciated.

Best answers:

• Annual mileage? Budget? Which engine were you intending to specify?
  To get aircon you need to pay for the premium Laureate spec, as you've said, and that brings it up nearer to the price of competitors: it's the base models that are incredibly cheap. Having said that, it's still a lot of car for the money, and should be reliable, since it basically uses Renault Clio components.
  However the residuals on Dacia are pretty weak, so the real cost of ownership over say 3 years or so may not be any cheaper than other small cars.
  I'd be looking at more sophisticated vehicles such as the Hyundai i10 too.
  The bottom line is that if you want a new car at this price, there's not too much competition, but buying second hand would get you something much more enjoyable to drive, and still with some warranty left on it.
• look at joining a local car club or hire a car when needed. No hassles of ownership although will have hassles peculiar to the scheme.
  If you really want a car of your own the Dacia or something like a Fiat Panda would do just fine. I have covered a lot of miles in Italy on various trips in hired Pandas and always quite liked them.
  For what you need dont buy a diesel.
• Whats wrong with a secondhand car?
  You can spend less than half that to buy the same thing, reliable car, can be used for shopping trips etc etc with air conditioning.
  I spent less than a quarter of your budget on a Vectra C 1.8 petrol a year ago with 50K on the clock, done 10,000+ miles and just had to buy tyres and engine services so far.
• @macman Thanks, yes that's a good point about cost of ownership. I suppose the problem is I don't know how long I would keep it for. Maybe I should assume 3-5 years. How do I know how much it will depreciate over that time?
  To answer your questions, at an estimate, I would say my annual mileage would be 5-6000 and my budget is flexible, but I would prefer not to spend more than the cost of the Dacia (so Ј9k) - so that's why the choice as I see it would be new Dacia or second hand something else, that may be nicer but may be more hassle. Also, if I were to buy something second hand, presumably I should reduce my initial budget to pay for more maintenance along the way?
  @loskie Yes I've thought about a car club and renting etc, but the "hassles", as you say, would be too annoying for me. And thanks for the point about diesels - that's what I was thinking, it's not worth it for my low mileage.
• @Foxy-Stoat Thanks - nothing at all wrong with second hand. Where would I start to look? I've had a look on autotrader, but I suspect it's not the full picture. Do you look online, or do you go to showrooms, or private sellers? Just looking for a starting point I guess
• I would look for one owner, fully serviced cars upto Ј4,000 say. I prefer to buy from private sellers at this level. Remember, a trader will sell a Ј3,000-Ј3,500 car for Ј4,000-Ј4,500.
  Autotrader and Ebay.
  Keep it local as well, as driving hundreds of miles to look at badly described cars isn't much fun.
• A 5 year old Ford Focus will easily last you another 5 years and save you a lot of money in depreciation.
• I bought a skoda fabia 1.4, 5 years old, low mileage, last year for exactly that purpose, from local dealer with full service history. Cost Ј3250. Been ideal. Has ac and capacious boot, 4 door and three in rear at a pinch. Plus it is not too noisy, often problem with cheaper cars. Basically a rebranded VW Polo.
• For 9k you could have a seat ibiza toca good build quality and volkswagen reliability.
  I can see what people are saying about buying second hand. But there is also the risk that you get a car that gives you no end of troubles. Buying new you have your warranty and should only realy cost you tax, insurance and fuel over the first three years. I knowthat could happen with a second hand car too
• Built in India, low level of protection in a crash??? AVOID
  You seem to want a new car, a friend retired and wanted a small reliable new car so I went with her to look at a few and she bought a Hyundai i10.
  That was four years ago and she still has it, only goes to the garage for routine service and sailed through the MOT.
• Only the Dacia Duster was built in India. Paint was poor, production now moved to Romania with the other models. Romanian built models have been acceptable.
  Other cars are built in India too, Nissan Tilda, Skodas under licence plus I am sure many others
• Thanks all. So I've had a look on ebay, which had loads of cars so quite helpful!
  Now I'm changing my mind and moving more towards something second hand, but nicer, like an Audi - perhaps 3-4 years old with 50-60k miles on it. Have I gone too far the other way? What mileage is too high? Does anyone have any experience with them (maintenance-wise)?
• How about a 3 year old Kia Piacanto
• I'd definitely recommend checking out the new-gen i10 and going for a test drive. Well equipped, 5 year warranty, very refined and a big step up on the previous model. Winning lots of 'car of the year' type awards - take a look on google. Ј8,500 would get you a brand new SE model with aircon, cruise control etc. I've had mine for about 9 months and love it.