Indeed he would lol It kind of blows my mind they’re not sold here in the US I feel like they would sell like hotcakes like think of how much Americans love small SUVs and with it being affordable, practical, and reliable
This is EXACTLY the sort of car that 80% of people need for 80% of all driving needs, (not including ego massaging), it is the right car for normal living. Love these "real" car reviews. Those part's prices must be making VAG owners very sad. Cracking review Matt, someone is going to be very happy with that car.
They are such sweet little cars, I love them. They're just so HONEST. No pretention, no one or no 'thing' pretending to be something they aren't. And I appreciate that.
I bought a Stepway brand new back in 2018, a petrol TCe 90. It was a great family car and did exactly what I needed it to do, reliably a cheaply. I chopped it in for the new shape Sandero TCe 90 at the end of 2021. The new shape cars are based on the current Renault Clio platform and are a quantum leap in quality and drivability. Prices have also risen noticeably, but are still more than reasonable when compared to their competitor brands. Badge snobs will never buy a Dacia, but to more practical and pragmatic individuals, Dacia's have a lot to offer. They also hold their value on the second hand market extremely well.
Have to say, for a 2013 Dacia it looks pretty good, its cleaned up very well. Used car prices these days are through the roof, so I'm sure this one will be snapped up at this price given the condition, new service, and an MOT with no advisories. Great vlog as always.
I am watching your videos from Romania. I am very happy that you did a video with a Dacia Sandero. Romanian car obviously. Keep up the good work. Love from Romania.❤️😎
not a very nice comment! it may be owned by foreigners, but surely it's still a Romanian brand? According to your logic, our beloved British brands, like Rolls Royce Bentley Aston Martin and Mini are no longer British, but german
@@anb2456 you are right. If the factory's equipment is german bought by germans, more or less the brand itself loses the authenticity by being Romanian/British brand.
I’m a Renault/Dacia mechanic, and I can’t really fault these. The only big thing that’s common is the power steering pumps can fail, usually when they’re about 7 years old (which are about £700 for a genuine one, and has to be programmed to the vehicle). There’s a couple of niggly things with the diesels (main one being the rubber pipes connecting to the DPF pressure sensor split, although they can be changed within an hour). In regards to the wheels, all Stepways had those same steel wheels with those same wheel trims
@@sambarker7930 correct. All the UK stepways were trims of one style or another and not alloys. Although you could get proper alloys in mainland Europe.
@@brianjohnson5789 ah right, I didn’t know that! Always seemed a bit strange to me, because in the UK until about 2016 you could get a Sandero with alloys, but not a Stepway
Think of the warning light at 12:32 as an ECG graph, and it makes sense. If it were yellow, it would basically be telling you to get the car serviced. In red, it can be a whole variety of things; basically, a general "Get this thing to the dealer ASAP so that he can sort out what's going on" thing. Edit: "Electronic Fault Warning Light".
@@kidcowdy1231 They're famous for that, so it's sort of a given. :) The Dacia in my household has served us well, as of right now, but I wonder what sort of quirky gremlins it will get as time moves on.
I like the Stepway. Top Spec is good. Engine's fine too - chippable if you need a bit more grunt. I like the way you say you are doing things 'in case Greta's watching'. I hear she's a big fan of your channel.
What a great little low budget car. Great for a run about & it's all sorted. Would give me some confidence that Dacia's can run well beyond 10 years old. Enjoyed this vlog Matt!!
I have a Dacia and I have had that exact light on my dashboard, probably a year after I bought it (brand new in 2015) while I was driving through Scotland. I took it to Renault a few times to figure it out, but at the risk of shocking everyone, they were not very useful. Best guess is that it's a short circuit, brought on by excess humidity - I just ignore it and the Duster never failed me so far.
Any trouble with this since? Just bought a duster a few days ago 2018 one and this light popped up and couldn't turn steering wheel at all, garage picked it up this morning to look at, hoping it's minor.
Living in France and I was in the Renault dealer the other day and spotted the new Dacia Jogger and was amazed how much Dacia have improved in styling and equipment. Certainly working hard to shake off the old image. Love the channel by the way.
Don't know where you got that information from but a clio is about 150-200kg lighter than a Jogger given the same spec engine. Also light cars use less fuel and don't wear their suspension parts as fast. Also what do you expect? It's basically a big Clio estate on a cheaper platform. By far the cheapest seven seater van on the market and it comes with LPG as standard which is very well integrated. Shows you remaining gas and estimated range in the display and even uses the higher octane rating of lpg and gives you 10hp more. So I ordered a sevem seater extreme on 1st december 2021 when they started accepting orders and got it on 1st April 2022. Paid 18600€ for an Extreme with the colour I wanted, Android Auto and heated seats. No Extreme+ I didn't want the electric handbrake and blindspot monitoring system. Car with seven seats, rear view camera, keyless entry, cruise control, led headlights, lpg which would've been an extra 1800€-2000€ on any other car. So I'm happy. Yes I got other cars too but they each offer a specific function and looks or style is noone of them. Why would you even buy a car for that? To impress people that don't give a shit about you and will instantly forget about you.
I owned a stepway about 5 years ago as a cheap runabout. I absolutely loved it for all the reasons most people would hate it. I found it comical for it's cheapness. It sounded like the horn was underneath the passenger seat and scared the shit out of me when I pressed it, if I went round a bend too quickly the fuel door would open and stay open until I stopped and closed it. And the seatbelt warning bing on the passenger seat would go off if I put anything heavier than a pen on it. I found it quirky. It never let me down once in 3 years of ownership
That reminds me . I had to recently jump a tiny little aigo that i pushed all the way to my 3 series in the car park..... it only occurred to me after I had pushed the thing about 30 meters that my car runs and i could have moved my car to it.
My daughter bought a 2016 Stepway diesel (at my suggestion) two years ago and it has been flawless. I know sales of new diesels have fallen off a cliff since then and might have expected the same for 2nd hand cars, especially those prior to Euro 6 emissions.
@@oceandrive7283 sales of new diesels dropped mostly cos car makers have stopped offering them on many models and trim levels, not driven by consumer demand, rather by top down blob & government fashions putting pressures on car makers
12:00 They don't mention this in the manual but that indicator is trying to say there's a problem with the injectors. That's what the service mechanics said it means
Good buy that! They seem really popular these. The only thing I've noticed is that the sills on some early standard ones are rusting now. I bought a Duster Ambience brand new on finance in 2017, it had the later Renault Nissan petrol engine. For £150 a month I didn't expect much but it was quite a good car. Huge cuboid load space, stop/start but no A/C. It was a bit grim to sit in, with back breaking seats on long journeys but for the money what was I to expect. Redundancy meant I had to relinquish it sadly. Good value all round though, someone will be happy with that Stepway for sure.
people slate the dacia brand but they dont realise that they give you things you need not what you dont need. great value motoing for a decent price great video did enjoy it thanx
I managed to get a Dacia Sandero from a local dealership for £2500 recently, full year's MOT, no warning lights or obvious problems...other than 106k miles and Cat N. A month in and it feels like the best value for money car I've bought...maybe check in with me in a year though.
@@Dnserror88 flew through its MOT no worries, haven't had it serviced, still going strong! Just put petrol in the filler cap and air in the tyres. I get over 500 miles to a tank of fuel. Will just bin it when it inevitably leaves me stranded at the side of the road, I've seen plenty of much newer cars broken down during my ownership though!
If you don't mind a cheap interior these are great honest tools for doing the job of being an affordable small family car. Exciting or desirable they are not but there are other cars that can fulfill those needs. The Sandero is an unpretentious honest car designed to do the job without breaking the bank, like Skoda promised in the 90s. Great to see you show that a "cheap" 10yr old car with nearly 100k on the clock is destined not for the crusher but to be cheap dependable and practical transport for someone. Top work as ever 👍
Good, honest motoring. If I recall, most of Dacia's offerings used to keep their value quite well, and as you mentioned, don't take long to sell on the used market.
I have a Dacia Logan, and that squiggly line thing is "electric problem" warning light. There are 2 versions, the yellow one and a red one. The red one means that there is a serious electric issue according to the car, but the yellow one, in my experience, means basically nothing. I have driven over 60 000 miles approximately with it on, and i ask the mechanic to reset the errors every time i go in to get a service done, and then it is off for a month or two and then it turn on again, but there is no consequence to it turning on. The car drives and behaves perfectly normal. I have also driven a company Dacia Logan way back, couple of years ago, and it also had that warning light one (in the yellow colour), and that car had 180 000 miles and it drove perfectly fine
Good honest assessment of the Dacia , Matt. There was a good reason why the car retailed at £2200 with service history. Did you bring your diagnostic tool to test? Keep up the good work.😊
Definitely not a brand for badge snobs but a smart buy if you can look past the badge. Personally I owned a first gen Logan which was as basic as a model T. :)) In 9 years of owning it it I basically had zero issues with it even though I bought it when it was 6 years old. Truly the cheapest way of motoring in modern days and it was the reason I liked it so much. Dirt cheap to run and repair even by eastern European standards. And by the way, all but the latest Dacia models were based on the old Renault Clio 2 platform.
In fairness Matt, you really do deliver great content. I enjoy watching your channels. Looking forward to more content from both channels!! Ger Dublin Ireland 🇮🇪
All the Dacias are breaking down while other cars last for years.Dacias are made from left over parts from Nissan Renault Mitsubishi. Which all have poor build and reliability problem very hard to find any old Dacias on the road because they breakdown and cost to much to fix. How many kms has this pile of crap have on the odometer these are a big money pit that nobody wants.
Ive got a 68 plate Duster and I love it, no nonsense family car which im not so fussed about my kids wrecking in the back and it has a large boot which was good for the prams when they were younger.
Awesome stuff Matt. I went online and it mentioned Dacia Duster electric / electronic fault light. If this symbol illuminates in red and is accompanied by a alarm beep whilst driving, it indicates a critical electrical or electronic malfunction that may result in a risk to vehicle occupant safety.
It also lights up red when you get your rear breaking bulb died. So it might be not that critical as it stands in the manual... I mean, you should not driving when you're out of breaking lights. But it is easy to fix. Also as mentioned in the video. It might just light up on jump start.
These are really nice cars. Friends of ours who are pretty well off love theirs because of its sheer practicality and lack of pretence. It’s cheap to run and repair, well made and durable. I run a 107 for the same reason and it’s amazingly comfortable and quiet, with the right tyres. Ok I’ve got a fireblade bike as well which is a little dearer to maintain 😂. It looks great now and will do someone well, won’t let them down and have no nasty surprises! 👍
@@pauldarby8398they’re basically 90s Renaults and the engines are solid. It’s just the electrics you have to watch out for. They are quite flimsy trim wise as well.
@@pauldarby8398 they are what’s called a ‘parts bin’ car. They use many many older Renault components that have been tried and tested for years. This saves on development costs and helps keep the retail price down. For example the window switches are from a mid 2000’s Clio and so on and so forth. The 1.5 diesel is the same used in countless cars across the Renault Nissan range and even found it’s way into the Mercedes lineup of recent years. The metal on the body can be thin so are prone to door dings in car parks. The earlier dusters suffered from rust issues as they were directly imported and intended for warmer climates. They couldn’t cope with the UK/Irish climate. This is long sorted now. I would recommend them to anyone that is looking for value and simplicity. The more modern ones even look good. I intend on buying the Bigster when it is released in a couple of years.
Good evening Matt, I actually have one of these exactly the same spec but my was white I bought it brand new on a 2014 plate and to be fair I was very surprised how good it was apart from the notchy gear change. I traded it in in 2016 for a brand new duster which was it equally is good . and I imagine it will sell very quickly for you and give you a nice bit of profit. Cheers Phil from Newark
I bought a preregistered new one identical to this in 2017 - in my defence, I was going through a very difficult divorce so I was being careful with my spending at the time. I did 89k miles in 3.5 years with absolutely no faults, although I always felt like I'd been kicked in the backside after more than an hour or so behind the wheel... You get quite a lot of road, wind and tyre noise. I changed the tyres which dramatically improved things. No self-respecting car thief would be seen dead pinching one so you can leave it parked knowing you can return to it later 😊 Honestly, it wasn't terrible, but I am much happier to be back to driving a Volvo V70 and an Audi TT again 😊
I have a Dacia Sandero Laureate hatchback version and that red warning light with the “graph” is just telling you it needs a service it comes on red when it’s over due by a significant time, mine comes in near the service time but it’s orange to start with, leave it much longer and it goes red 😊
Looks great after the makeover. Solid little cars and the parts prices are super cheap. I had an allergic reaction just watching that dog hair flying around when you moved around in the cabin! Your videos are great. Funny, info-packed and relatable.
Dacia engineers really did a good job with the new Dacia 2023 models that look very good. I have a Logan 2022 LPG with the best fuel economy compared to gasoline/diesel, and the equipment is sufficient and useful at a price of €16,000
we have a 2013 Mk1 sandero 1.5 diesel with only 45k on the clock and it regularly returns 87mpg on a long run at a constant 70mph, it doesnt have air con though, around town it should do around 65mpg if you change the oil every 5k , ours goes from Northampton to the isle of sky about four times a year so 1400 miles round trip there and back. for a 13 year old car it has never failed an mot or aquired any advisories, its the most relaible car we have ever had and weve had a few french cars. just try jumping a Citroen battery it will spin the rev counter dial around and make it stick so you have to dismantle the dashboard to fix the rev counter dial an absolute nightmare.
It's Impressive that you can release videos on a consistent basis considering you include before/after transformation of the cars which could be days/weeks/months apart.
James May loved Dacia's during top gear 'news' back in the day. Arriving 10+ yrs on - 2nd hand high mile examples Matts driving aren't to be disregarded.
Gonna be honest fella and this is not something you'll like but i always forward thru the carvertical bit...... still love your vids - I love the looking round bit and the final outcome 😀 cheers mate - keep her lit 👍
Good morning Matt, what a transformation. As others have said first time I’ve seen a non-starter on your channel. Hope it sells and you make a few pounds. Thank you for taking the time to upload another video. Ged
Its a car for people who just want a car and arent bothered about keeping up with the jones's, and it really is quite a good car. sure its like mid 00s renault but without the annoying atm key fob or the flaky electronics, and hopefully much better built than the 00s renaults
I bought a 2017 Stepway for £7500 with 6500 kept it for 18 months and sold it for £7505 with 18000 on the clock, it was white and I kept it immaculate it was a 0.9 tce and it was a hoot to drive, quite rapid in boost mode, not a single rattle. I loved it but just didn't need a second car. Great cars.
Love these videos you learn something new each time you watch them and the before and after transformation is amazing and not to leave out matt’s sense of humour 🤣
Ngl the moment you mentioned dropping it to your mechanic I thought to myself "he's gonna condemn it, he's gonna condemn it, he's gonna condemn it..." simply because of the value of the car and what's wrong with it I'm surprised you turned this around Matt you actually do work miracles :)
I've driven a Logan for the last 7 years . (The Logan is the "estate" version of the Sandero.) It has never given me one minute of trouble in all that time. A great car. I will be buying its replacement, the Jogger, in several years time when my Logan finally bites the dust.
Fun fact this car has the same engine in the A180d from 2013 to 2022 still uses the same engine 1.5 DCI is a good engine they are reliable if you maintain them yes they have some issues but the parts are cheap. In Turkey this engine is very popular because it's always in cheap cars like the Renault Symbol they are used as taxis and some engines go over 1 million km's and it can put out over 130 HP with a tune but do not tune it if you want reliability that makes it worse
In the first 5 years normally nothing happens, the next 5 years however will be interesting. Because on used car market sites, you hardly find a Dacia or even Renault with more than 200.000 kilometers.
The sign is related to the annual review. Appears after a year since the last revision. The manufacturer recommends changing the oil and filters every 20,000 km or annually
My microwave has a symbol like that. It means that grill mode is selected. Check the boot of the Dacia for a perfectly roast chicken. I bought a new Clio in 2001. A few days after the dash told me to stop immediately. Turned out they’d fitted the wrong instrument cluster at the factory and it was looking for an oil level signal my car didn’t have. One correct cluster later , and a courtesy car which broke down, my Clio was fixed and was a great little car….. I’ve tended to avoid Renault products since…..
Dacia's are what i call a sensible car, they are not full of complex electronics that will fail sooner or later, and if something breaks they are cheap to repair. The early samples were a bit too cheap inside, but later models are far better. Provided they have been serviced, they will last you many miles for far less than the more popular brands.
Years ago we bought cheap and cheerful cars from Russia etc. They were crude but got us from A to B and you could repair them at home. You can't do that with an EV.@@worldhello1234
Having a Renault Clio 3 this is almost the same car. Besides being a comfortable ride, they are cars you can rely on, besides from minor drawbacks. (cranksensor on petrol engines ;), wiper assemblys constantly brake and are really expensive ) The worst part are the absolutely insane replacement part prices from Renault, even though some years ago they have been sued and lost - but it didn't change the insane pricing...
Yep some of their parts are silly money. A scrote nicked one of our towing eye blank covers on a MK2 Duster. Had to buy the pair. Cheap silver plastic panel about 7.5cm square - £40.
Ola is hello in Portuguese and the Spurs stickers are probably from when Jose Mourinho owned the car, to keep a low profile driving in and out of the ground.
His claim of 60 miles per gal how often does that ever happen round town and short trips which 95% of motorist only use their vehicles for the fuel consumption will be less than half that figure.
it was in 2021 as there was a Sandero access with steel wheels, don't think many bought them so it wouldn't be the cheapest now since that spec is gone
Even youtube is in on the humour... just as you're trying to bump start it, youtube breaks to a "Carly" ad... this one has had me in tears...you know...😂
Add the new Mk 8 VW Golf to that list as well, even the top spec R does not have one fitted as standard. Obviously cost cutting from VW as my 2014 Golf R had one fitted as standard.
Love your video's, Matt! Great format, very enjoyable. Always cool to see what treasures you find in these cars. Particularly like to see you go through the car's history with service books etc. Always surprise! This Dacia seemed to have a pretty weak battery, causing in to go flat in minutes. But it wasn't replaced by your mechanic? Keep them coming! All the best to you!
I’m waiting on delivery of an extreme version of this car. Hadn’t even heard of Dacia before feb this year. I’m hoping it’ll be a good car. My second choice was a Skoda Fabia Monte but it was £8k more!!
Somehow even though the most mundane cars of all time make me watch your reviews Matt, you have a power of making some very boring cars seem interesting, and for that I thank you ! Big fan 😊
James May would be so proud
I swear I was going to write this comment word for word 😂
@@samybreezy2768
Me too. :)
Captain slow 😂😂😂
Indeed he would lol It kind of blows my mind they’re not sold here in the US I feel like they would sell like hotcakes like think of how much Americans love small SUVs and with it being affordable, practical, and reliable
Oh no... anyway
This car is pure Top gear and James May, Dacia couldn’t have asked for a better marketing campaign 🤣
James may, show b a spokesperson for the company
I'm surprised that 'Good news' or 'Great news' isn't their slogan
Good news everybody!!!
Literally bought a 2014 plate one today exactly the same for £2100. 91k miles bit grubby inside. Years MOT and cambelt just done! Im happy with that😊
This is EXACTLY the sort of car that 80% of people need for 80% of all driving needs, (not including ego massaging), it is the right car for normal living. Love these "real" car reviews. Those part's prices must be making VAG owners very sad. Cracking review Matt, someone is going to be very happy with that car.
Ok... what do you drive?
@@TheSultan1470your sister .. wruum wruum
@@AB-cg9np Yeah, expected reply
@@TheSultan1470 15yr old Picanto.. How about you?
@@megapangolin1093 Ok, hope it serves you well
They are such sweet little cars, I love them. They're just so HONEST. No pretention, no one or no 'thing' pretending to be something they aren't. And I appreciate that.
Spot on! Love them for that.
Um... yeah. Like a budget car. Which it was intended to be. Genious.
They’re hugely popular in France, I love em.
@@TheSultan1470Ok "genious"
@@TheSultan1470 Oh the irony 🤣
I bought a Stepway brand new back in 2018, a petrol TCe 90. It was a great family car and did exactly what I needed it to do, reliably a cheaply. I chopped it in for the new shape Sandero TCe 90 at the end of 2021. The new shape cars are based on the current Renault Clio platform and are a quantum leap in quality and drivability. Prices have also risen noticeably, but are still more than reasonable when compared to their competitor brands. Badge snobs will never buy a Dacia, but to more practical and pragmatic individuals, Dacia's have a lot to offer. They also hold their value on the second hand market extremely well.
Have to say, for a 2013 Dacia it looks pretty good, its cleaned up very well. Used car prices these days are through the roof, so I'm sure this one will be snapped up at this price given the condition, new service, and an MOT with no advisories. Great vlog as always.
most people on council estates wont drive anything older than five years
@@saysitallrealy791 ...what's a 'council' estate?
housing estate where people on benifits live@@jeffgraham6387
@@jeffgraham6387 Projects...social housing...
poor people drive dacias @@saysitallrealy791
All the car you will ever need ! The Renault sourced 1500 diesel is the best engine ever made . 70's mpg. You do the maths !
Another quality video Matt. Quite refreshing to find a car that’s cheap to maintain (discs and pads etc) 👍🏻
I am watching your videos from Romania. I am very happy that you did a video with a Dacia Sandero. Romanian car obviously. Keep up the good work. Love from Romania.❤️😎
Hahaha Dacia is not Romanian anymore. It's owned by French Renault and also all the car parts are Renault. No Romanian there beside the assembly.
not a very nice comment! it may be owned by foreigners, but surely it's still a Romanian brand? According to your logic, our beloved British brands, like Rolls Royce Bentley Aston Martin and Mini are no longer British, but german
@@anb2456 you are right. If the factory's equipment is german bought by germans, more or less the brand itself loses the authenticity by being Romanian/British brand.
@@PaulMaier BREXIT voter detected
Correct they are not British anymore. Same as MG.@@anb2456
what a really good video and it made me very happy to watch this, so big thanks from Denmark
Matt. I have a logan 1.5 dci, all Renault as you know. Best car for reliability and value I've ever had. Love the posts, keep up the great work.
Great vid, have 2 stepways in my family, done 300,000 between them, and so far only tyres oil and filters,
I’m a Renault/Dacia mechanic, and I can’t really fault these. The only big thing that’s common is the power steering pumps can fail, usually when they’re about 7 years old (which are about £700 for a genuine one, and has to be programmed to the vehicle). There’s a couple of niggly things with the diesels (main one being the rubber pipes connecting to the DPF pressure sensor split, although they can be changed within an hour).
In regards to the wheels, all Stepways had those same steel wheels with those same wheel trims
Apart from techroads which is a different style trim
The other common fault is drivers seat when on lowest setting can rock back and forwards. Mostly fixed under warranty if the first driver was tall
@@brianjohnson5789 wheel trim is the plastic cover to make the steel wheel look better
@@sambarker7930 correct. All the UK stepways were trims of one style or another and not alloys. Although you could get proper alloys in mainland Europe.
@@brianjohnson5789 ah right, I didn’t know that! Always seemed a bit strange to me, because in the UK until about 2016 you could get a Sandero with alloys, but not a Stepway
Not a bad run-around! I quite like Dacia's styling - it's not ground breaking but it just works!
Think of the warning light at 12:32 as an ECG graph, and it makes sense. If it were yellow, it would basically be telling you to get the car serviced. In red, it can be a whole variety of things; basically, a general "Get this thing to the dealer ASAP so that he can sort out what's going on" thing.
Edit: "Electronic Fault Warning Light".
Really? A 10 year old Renault biased car with electrical issue, that’s unheard of isn’t it? 😂😂
@@kidcowdy1231 They're famous for that, so it's sort of a given. :)
The Dacia in my household has served us well, as of right now, but I wonder what sort of quirky gremlins it will get as time moves on.
Ah, the warning light to alert you you’re driving a Renault. No wonder it’s red.
@@thearousedeunuchit was sarcasm
@@Lb.q2 I know. That's why I said it's a given.
without your intervention, there was only one direction this car was going in! look at it now, it looks fantastic!! well done Matt.
I always liked the Dacia Stepway. Just simple, practical and quite stylish in its own way. Great transformation 👍
I like the Stepway. Top Spec is good. Engine's fine too - chippable if you need a bit more grunt. I like the way you say you are doing things 'in case Greta's watching'. I hear she's a big fan of your channel.
What a great little low budget car. Great for a run about & it's all sorted. Would give me some confidence that Dacia's can run well beyond 10 years old. Enjoyed this vlog Matt!!
How is it little?
@gamesmaster1060 Just a figure of speech and it's a smallish car. No insult intended. I love the Sandero
Great little practical run around that somebody would be more than happy pleased pottering around in that 👍👍
@@brianmcclure8012Actually, it's just below average
We have dacia cars here that have been running for well over 20 years :))
As there's more dog hair in the front do you reckon Fido's been pounding the miles! 😂
I have a Dacia and I have had that exact light on my dashboard, probably a year after I bought it (brand new in 2015) while I was driving through Scotland.
I took it to Renault a few times to figure it out, but at the risk of shocking everyone, they were not very useful.
Best guess is that it's a short circuit, brought on by excess humidity - I just ignore it and the Duster never failed me so far.
Any trouble with this since? Just bought a duster a few days ago 2018 one and this light popped up and couldn't turn steering wheel at all, garage picked it up this morning to look at, hoping it's minor.
As if by magic, I was searching your page for a Stepway review as I've just bought one. And here you are, you never fail to provide.
You buy a car and then look for a review?
@@mariemccann5895😂
In an insane world it’s the sanest choice 🙃…
I'd already looked at reviews, but I wanted a High Peak Review purely for the enjoyment.
@@mariemccann5895😂
Matt, I bought an F10 520d M Sport touring last week after watching your video, very happy with a great car.
Living in France and I was in the Renault dealer the other day and spotted the new Dacia Jogger and was amazed how much Dacia have improved in styling and equipment. Certainly working hard to shake off the old image. Love the channel by the way.
Jogher is a huge car, but weighs the same as a Clio! An empty tin can on wheels.
@@DashCamSerbia is that good or bad?
@@Goriaas Bad. Thin and weak steel used for the chassis and the panels.
Don't know where you got that information from but a clio is about 150-200kg lighter than a Jogger given the same spec engine.
Also light cars use less fuel and don't wear their suspension parts as fast.
Also what do you expect? It's basically a big Clio estate on a cheaper platform.
By far the cheapest seven seater van on the market and it comes with LPG as standard which is very well integrated. Shows you remaining gas and estimated range in the display and even uses the higher octane rating of lpg and gives you 10hp more.
So I ordered a sevem seater extreme on 1st december 2021 when they started accepting orders and got it on 1st April 2022.
Paid 18600€ for an Extreme with the colour I wanted, Android Auto and heated seats. No Extreme+ I didn't want the electric handbrake and blindspot monitoring system.
Car with seven seats, rear view camera, keyless entry, cruise control, led headlights, lpg which would've been an extra 1800€-2000€ on any other car.
So I'm happy.
Yes I got other cars too but they each offer a specific function and looks or style is noone of them.
Why would you even buy a car for that?
To impress people that don't give a shit about you and will instantly forget about you.
The best thing to do after walking into a Renault dealership, is to turn around and walk out again.
I owned a stepway about 5 years ago as a cheap runabout. I absolutely loved it for all the reasons most people would hate it. I found it comical for it's cheapness. It sounded like the horn was underneath the passenger seat and scared the shit out of me when I pressed it, if I went round a bend too quickly the fuel door would open and stay open until I stopped and closed it. And the seatbelt warning bing on the passenger seat would go off if I put anything heavier than a pen on it. I found it quirky. It never let me down once in 3 years of ownership
😂
hilarious 😂
That reminds me . I had to recently jump a tiny little aigo that i pushed all the way to my 3 series in the car park..... it only occurred to me after I had pushed the thing about 30 meters that my car runs and i could have moved my car to it.
My daughter bought a 2016 Stepway diesel (at my suggestion) two years ago and it has been flawless. I know sales of new diesels have fallen off a cliff since then and might have expected the same for 2nd hand cars, especially those prior to Euro 6 emissions.
Have they though?
@@ln5747 New sales defiiately have. ULEZ, also the end of Euro5 and below diesels.
@@oceandrive7283 sales of new diesels dropped mostly cos car makers have stopped offering them on many models and trim levels, not driven by consumer demand, rather by top down blob & government fashions putting pressures on car makers
@@brianjohnson5789 Technological evolution
The 1.5? Good idea, seems strange to me that people go for the 0.9...surely a nightmare on any motorway?
12:00 They don't mention this in the manual but that indicator is trying to say there's a problem with the injectors. That's what the service mechanics said it means
Good buy that! They seem really popular these. The only thing I've noticed is that the sills on some early standard ones are rusting now. I bought a Duster Ambience brand new on finance in 2017, it had the later Renault Nissan petrol engine. For £150 a month I didn't expect much but it was quite a good car. Huge cuboid load space, stop/start but no A/C. It was a bit grim to sit in, with back breaking seats on long journeys but for the money what was I to expect. Redundancy meant I had to relinquish it sadly. Good value all round though, someone will be happy with that Stepway for sure.
people slate the dacia brand but they dont realise that they give you things you need not what you dont need. great value motoing for a decent price great video did enjoy it thanx
That sounds very similar to the early Lada Samara from the early 90s. "Everything you need and nothing you don't"
Didn't really end well did it
@@gerryattrickbiker Yes it sounds similar. It's not.
I managed to get a Dacia Sandero from a local dealership for £2500 recently, full year's MOT, no warning lights or obvious problems...other than 106k miles and Cat N. A month in and it feels like the best value for money car I've bought...maybe check in with me in a year though.
anything new?
@@iacoxx still going strong!
So how's it going now, a year later? Hope all is well!
@@Dnserror88 flew through its MOT no worries, haven't had it serviced, still going strong! Just put petrol in the filler cap and air in the tyres. I get over 500 miles to a tank of fuel. Will just bin it when it inevitably leaves me stranded at the side of the road, I've seen plenty of much newer cars broken down during my ownership though!
If you don't mind a cheap interior these are great honest tools for doing the job of being an affordable small family car. Exciting or desirable they are not but there are other cars that can fulfill those needs. The Sandero is an unpretentious honest car designed to do the job without breaking the bank, like Skoda promised in the 90s.
Great to see you show that a "cheap" 10yr old car with nearly 100k on the clock is destined not for the crusher but to be cheap dependable and practical transport for someone. Top work as ever 👍
Good, honest motoring. If I recall, most of Dacia's offerings used to keep their value quite well, and as you mentioned, don't take long to sell on the used market.
I have a Dacia Logan, and that squiggly line thing is "electric problem" warning light. There are 2 versions, the yellow one and a red one. The red one means that there is a serious electric issue according to the car, but the yellow one, in my experience, means basically nothing. I have driven over 60 000 miles approximately with it on, and i ask the mechanic to reset the errors every time i go in to get a service done, and then it is off for a month or two and then it turn on again, but there is no consequence to it turning on. The car drives and behaves perfectly normal. I have also driven a company Dacia Logan way back, couple of years ago, and it also had that warning light one (in the yellow colour), and that car had 180 000 miles and it drove perfectly fine
Good honest assessment of the Dacia , Matt. There was a good reason why the car retailed at £2200 with service history. Did you bring your diagnostic tool to test? Keep up the good work.😊
It actually looks a lot cooler than an equivalent Juke. I even think that this looks just as funky as a captur in stepway spec
Definitely not a brand for badge snobs but a smart buy if you can look past the badge. Personally I owned a first gen Logan which was as basic as a model T. :)) In 9 years of owning it it I basically had zero issues with it even though I bought it when it was 6 years old. Truly the cheapest way of motoring in modern days and it was the reason I liked it so much. Dirt cheap to run and repair even by eastern European standards. And by the way, all but the latest Dacia models were based on the old Renault Clio 2 platform.
@@mick6721 erse
Good News! The Dacia Sandero is looking like a good bit of business! Matt even managed to stay more or less within budget!! WOW!!
In fairness Matt, you really do deliver great content. I enjoy watching your channels. Looking forward to more content from both channels!! Ger Dublin Ireland 🇮🇪
Clare ireland
I think this is the first time I’ve seen a High Peak Auto not start
Yes. 1st time I've seen it too.
the lexus is220d had a similar problem
My heart sank for Matt.
All the Dacias are breaking down while other cars last for years.Dacias are made from left over parts from Nissan Renault Mitsubishi. Which all have poor build and reliability problem very hard to find any old Dacias on the road because they breakdown and cost to much to fix. How many kms has this pile of crap have on the odometer these are a big money pit that nobody wants.
@@MichaelEnright-gk6ycDeluded
Ive got a 68 plate Duster and I love it, no nonsense family car which im not so fussed about my kids wrecking in the back and it has a large boot which was good for the prams when they were younger.
Good cars those Dacia's. No pretentiousness, just a solid reliable workhorse. Thanks for the vid!
Thanks for watching!
Awesome stuff Matt.
I went online and it mentioned Dacia Duster electric / electronic fault light. If this symbol illuminates in red and is accompanied by a alarm beep whilst driving, it indicates a critical electrical or electronic malfunction that may result in a risk to vehicle occupant safety.
It also lights up red when you get your rear breaking bulb died. So it might be not that critical as it stands in the manual... I mean, you should not driving when you're out of breaking lights. But it is easy to fix. Also as mentioned in the video. It might just light up on jump start.
That weird warning light is for the emissions. Anything from sensor to DPF failure.
Love the videos would be good if you inform us if the vehicles sold for the asking price.
These are really nice cars. Friends of ours who are pretty well off love theirs because of its sheer practicality and lack of pretence. It’s cheap to run and repair, well made and durable. I run a 107 for the same reason and it’s amazingly comfortable and quiet, with the right tyres. Ok I’ve got a fireblade bike as well which is a little dearer to maintain 😂. It looks great now and will do someone well, won’t let them down and have no nasty surprises! 👍
I sold Dacia for a while at a main dealer. They sold really well and had a good straight forward customer base. I really liked working for that brand.
Are they quite reliable cars?
@@pauldarby8398they’re basically 90s Renaults and the engines are solid. It’s just the electrics you have to watch out for. They are quite flimsy trim wise as well.
@@pauldarby8398 they are what’s called a ‘parts bin’ car. They use many many older Renault components that have been tried and tested for years. This saves on development costs and helps keep the retail price down. For example the window switches are from a mid 2000’s Clio and so on and so forth. The 1.5 diesel is the same used in countless cars across the Renault Nissan range and even found it’s way into the Mercedes lineup of recent years. The metal on the body can be thin so are prone to door dings in car parks. The earlier dusters suffered from rust issues as they were directly imported and intended for warmer climates. They couldn’t cope with the UK/Irish climate. This is long sorted now. I would recommend them to anyone that is looking for value and simplicity. The more modern ones even look good. I intend on buying the Bigster when it is released in a couple of years.
@@JMc.DGreat post!
Good evening Matt, I actually have one of these exactly the same spec but my was white I bought it brand new on a 2014 plate and to be fair I was very surprised how good it was apart from the notchy gear change. I traded it in in 2016 for a brand new duster which was it equally is good . and I imagine it will sell very quickly for you and give you a nice bit of profit. Cheers Phil from Newark
Just good, honest cars. Basically an old clio under the skin. Timing belt has a couple years in it but the 1.5 renault diesel is a very reliable unit.
I bought a preregistered new one identical to this in 2017 - in my defence, I was going through a very difficult divorce so I was being careful with my spending at the time. I did 89k miles in 3.5 years with absolutely no faults, although I always felt like I'd been kicked in the backside after more than an hour or so behind the wheel...
You get quite a lot of road, wind and tyre noise. I changed the tyres which dramatically improved things. No self-respecting car thief would be seen dead pinching one so you can leave it parked knowing you can return to it later 😊
Honestly, it wasn't terrible, but I am much happier to be back to driving a Volvo V70 and an Audi TT again 😊
I have a Dacia Sandero Laureate hatchback version and that red warning light with the “graph” is just telling you it needs a service it comes on red when it’s over due by a significant time, mine comes in near the service time but it’s orange to start with, leave it much longer and it goes red 😊
youre a good un matt for making the cars worthy of buying , honesty as always great god luck . wish they were all like you.
Looks great after the makeover. Solid little cars and the parts prices are super cheap. I had an allergic reaction just watching that dog hair flying around when you moved around in the cabin! Your videos are great. Funny, info-packed and relatable.
Dacia design is quite appealing , all their cars look pretty good .
Dacia engineers really did a good job with the new Dacia 2023 models that look very good. I have a Logan 2022 LPG with the best fuel economy compared to gasoline/diesel, and the equipment is sufficient and useful at a price of €16,000
we have a 2013 Mk1 sandero 1.5 diesel with only 45k on the clock and it regularly returns 87mpg on a long run at a constant 70mph, it doesnt have air con though, around town it should do around 65mpg if you change the oil every 5k , ours goes from Northampton to the isle of sky about four times a year so 1400 miles round trip there and back. for a 13 year old car it has never failed an mot or aquired any advisories, its the most relaible car we have ever had and weve had a few french cars. just try jumping a Citroen battery it will spin the rev counter dial around and make it stick so you have to dismantle the dashboard to fix the rev counter dial an absolute nightmare.
17:20 "Give it a good ol' shake, so we don't leak everywhere."
Every man, at least 5 times a day. 😂😂😂😂
I think you might have diabetes
@@vp5633 I just drink a lot water 😂
Im extremely proud to say i have never seen ...even a clip of new top gear after may ..hammond clarkson left....grand tour all the way😁👍
It's Impressive that you can release videos on a consistent basis considering you include before/after transformation of the cars which could be days/weeks/months apart.
James May loved Dacia's during top gear 'news' back in the day. Arriving 10+ yrs on - 2nd hand high mile examples Matts driving aren't to be disregarded.
A good basic car. Less to go wrong. Will get you to where you are going. They've all got 4 wheels.
Gonna be honest fella and this is not something you'll like but i always forward thru the carvertical bit...... still love your vids - I love the looking round bit and the final outcome 😀 cheers mate - keep her lit 👍
I’ve just bought a brand new Dacia Jogger SE Extreme….they have actually got excellent reviews!! Looking forward to picking it up next week 👍
I love the fact you put the before, after and zometimes sale in one video, most would make us wait two, three or four videos for that!
Good morning Matt, what a transformation. As others have said first time I’ve seen a non-starter on your channel. Hope it sells and you make a few pounds. Thank you for taking the time to upload another video. Ged
Oh no! you have bought a Sandero!
Anyway, moving on to the next video! 📽 - J.clarkson
That extra light is essential a second engine warning light, although when it’s orange it’s usually the service light
I think this is the most enjoyable blog you have done, so cheap but so much fun to watch.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Its a car for people who just want a car and arent bothered about keeping up with the jones's, and it really is quite a good car. sure its like mid 00s renault but without the annoying atm key fob or the flaky electronics, and hopefully much better built than the 00s renaults
Turned this one round nicely Matt , looks the part for retail . Good luck 👍
I bought a 2017 Stepway for £7500 with 6500 kept it for 18 months and sold it for £7505 with 18000 on the clock, it was white and I kept it immaculate it was a 0.9 tce and it was a hoot to drive, quite rapid in boost mode, not a single rattle. I loved it but just didn't need a second car. Great cars.
Must be very rapid then... 0.9
diesels on a 17 plate were free road tax, cannot get better than that
Love these videos you learn something new each time you watch them and the before and after transformation is amazing and not to leave out matt’s sense of humour 🤣
Glad you like them!
@@HighPeakAutos yes Matt just wish there was more of them hope you are well best wishes ian
Ngl the moment you mentioned dropping it to your mechanic I thought to myself "he's gonna condemn it, he's gonna condemn it, he's gonna condemn it..." simply because of the value of the car and what's wrong with it
I'm surprised you turned this around Matt you actually do work miracles :)
I've driven a Logan for the last 7 years . (The Logan is the "estate" version of the Sandero.)
It has never given me one minute of trouble in all that time. A great car.
I will be buying its replacement, the Jogger, in several years time when my Logan finally bites the dust.
Same here, my wife has had a Logan for 6 years and the Jogger looks like a shoe in for it's replacement when the time comes.
Its a jogger with 145 hp and its quite agresive i think Tht one its better
(The Logan is the "estate" version of the Sandero.) - The Logan is the "estate" version of the Sandero.
@@XzzVttll What? What's the point of repeating something the OP wrote without adding anything?
When your Logan bites the Dust-er?
Fun fact this car has the same engine in the A180d from 2013 to 2022 still uses the same engine 1.5 DCI is a good engine they are reliable if you maintain them yes they have some issues but the parts are cheap. In Turkey this engine is very popular because it's always in cheap cars like the Renault Symbol they are used as taxis and some engines go over 1 million km's and it can put out over 130 HP with a tune but do not tune it if you want reliability that makes it worse
It's a bit redundant saying you bought a "cheap" Dacia sandero. They're all cheap. They were cheap when they were new!
Yes, but this one's particularly cheap.
I've owned a Dacia Lodgy for the past 5 years. No issues so far, pure joy.
In the first 5 years normally nothing happens, the next 5 years however will be interesting. Because on used car market sites, you hardly find a Dacia or even Renault with more than 200.000 kilometers.
Great video Matt. Professionally presented.
You've done yourself and the Dacia proud.
Much appreciated!
James May as well.
The sign is related to the annual review. Appears after a year since the last revision. The manufacturer recommends changing the oil and filters every 20,000 km or annually
Not for badge snobs. That's why I like them.
You really gave me a whole insight on what to check for when buying a car. Looking forward to buying my first car. Thanks man for the wonderful video
My microwave has a symbol like that. It means that grill mode is selected. Check the boot of the Dacia for a perfectly roast chicken. I bought a new Clio in 2001. A few days after the dash told me to stop immediately. Turned out they’d fitted the wrong instrument cluster at the factory and it was looking for an oil level signal my car didn’t have. One correct cluster later , and a courtesy car which broke down, my Clio was fixed and was a great little car….. I’ve tended to avoid Renault products since…..
😂😂
I always thought when the red engine light comes on the car goes into limp mode......you learn something new everyday!
Dacia's are what i call a sensible car, they are not full of complex electronics that will fail
sooner or later, and if something breaks they are cheap to repair.
The early samples were a bit too cheap inside, but later models are far better.
Provided they have been serviced, they will last you many miles for far less
than the more popular brands.
Basic runabouts for people who don't care about cars but need one.
Years ago we bought cheap and cheerful cars from Russia etc.
They were crude but got us from A to B and you could repair them at home.
You can't do that with an EV.@@worldhello1234
My cabbie in spain has a logan (saloon version of the Sandero) just ticked over to 450,000km !
Having a Renault Clio 3 this is almost the same car. Besides being a comfortable ride, they are cars you can rely on, besides from minor drawbacks. (cranksensor on petrol engines ;), wiper assemblys constantly brake and are really expensive )
The worst part are the absolutely insane replacement part prices from Renault, even though some years ago they have been sued and lost - but it didn't change the insane pricing...
Yep some of their parts are silly money. A scrote nicked one of our towing eye blank covers on a MK2 Duster. Had to buy the pair. Cheap silver plastic panel about 7.5cm square - £40.
Good news! They've done an off-road version of the Dacia Sandero 😂😂
Never use LandSail tires, these are Chinese sheit.
Ola is hello in Portuguese and the Spurs stickers are probably from when Jose Mourinho owned the car, to keep a low profile driving in and out of the ground.
"Olá", technically. However, even Portuguese people type without the accentuation when texting.
love how honest you are mate, nothing hidden. Doing away with the 'dodgy car dealer' trope one video at a time
His claim of 60 miles per gal how often does that ever happen round town and short trips which 95% of motorist only use their vehicles for the fuel consumption will be less than half that figure.
My wife's 2014 Renault Captur 1.5 diesel is averaging 55 mpg over last 7 months so it's not too far off.
@@MichaelEnright-gk6yc?
Great video and content and result also! What's even more amazing is I / We are enjoying watching a video about a 10 year old Dacia Sandero 🤷♂️
Nice, you said "good news!" 😎I don't know if the Dacia Sandero is still the cheapest car to buy nowadays?
Perfekt TopGear reference 🙂
afaik it still is the cheapest new car in the UK. it's a Fiat Tipo where i live though.
it was in 2021 as there was a Sandero access with steel wheels, don't think many bought them so it wouldn't be the cheapest now since that spec is gone
The base Sandero (not Stepway) used to be about £8k but now £13,795 list !
@@Luckyjo21 i see
Even youtube is in on the humour... just as you're trying to bump start it, youtube breaks to a "Carly" ad... this one has had me in tears...you know...😂
When you realise your top spec 2016 VW Polo without a gas strut bonnet is outwitted by a 2013 Dacia that has them 😭🤣
Add the new Mk 8 VW Golf to that list as well, even the top spec R does not have one fitted as standard. Obviously cost cutting from VW as my 2014 Golf R had one fitted as standard.
@@michaeljohnson-li5nn it's not cost cutting, it's "weight optimisation" :)
@@michaeljohnson-li5nnyep older Polos had them. Cheapskate VW 😬
I found out in a similar situation, if you need to kick start a petrol its 2nd gear and 3rd gear for a diesel. Might come in useful somewhere 👀
Love your video's, Matt! Great format, very enjoyable. Always cool to see what treasures you find in these cars. Particularly like to see you go through the car's history with service books etc. Always surprise!
This Dacia seemed to have a pretty weak battery, causing in to go flat in minutes. But it wasn't replaced by your mechanic?
Keep them coming! All the best to you!
These videos of the cheap cars you do are great. Your sense of humour makes these videos even better especially on this video. Keep up the great work.
Glad you like them!
Had that light up on my duster it turned out to be extreme low tyre pressure due to a big screw in back tyre
I’m waiting on delivery of an extreme version of this car. Hadn’t even heard of Dacia before feb this year. I’m hoping it’ll be a good car. My second choice was a Skoda Fabia Monte but it was £8k more!!
Somehow even though the most mundane cars of all time make me watch your reviews Matt, you have a power of making some very boring cars seem interesting, and for that I thank you ! Big fan 😊
Glad you like them!