Dacia Duster.

[Radio Fixer]

I have been looking at the new Ford Fiesta which all the reviews like. It comes out consistently as one of the best of that size. Not for me really as I have the surf van but for my wife who wants 4 or 5 doors and has to be auto. There is a 1.6 L model that has some clever 6 speed gearbox that is split in two halves so that the next gear is always in the other part and ready for instant use. Apparently it makes for very seamless changes and the 6 gears does lots for the economy. Thats really not a problem as our mileage is so low.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_PowerS...ansmission

It seems Ford have a lot of cars that have been demonstrators and come with 2 or 3K on the clock at a saving of several thousands ... might be the way to go for me.

Only thing I don't really like is driving a car that is so common place but its not mine really so maybe I will learn not to care.

Gary

[Retired]

Hi,

I'd have put money on you going for a Honda Gary so good luck if you decide on the Ford.

Demonstrators can be excellent value but also many dealers in order to get their sales figures up in order to qualify for manufacturers bonus pre-register lots of cars selling these on at a large discount in order just to move metal these being brand new cars.

The Duster we are interested in has 6 speeds but manual. We've just had a visitor but after dinner I'll be browsing the web; one thing which is puzzling me at the moment are the Dusters regarding two and four wheel drive models; I know the base model is 2WD only but on other models it gives front wheel drive? I need to spend time digging a bit deeper.

Kind regards, Col.

[John M0GLN]

Thanks John for the information regarding the Dacia name.

I only knew about the Romania / Dacia connection from reading the book 'Dracula' by Bram Stoker, Dracula came from what is now Romania, and Dacia is mentioned in the book, but I'm sure that this will have no bearing on the cars performance.

John

[pwdrive]

That's the Yorkshire connection then, Dacia it is...

Lawrence.

[camallison]

I have been looking at the new Ford Fiesta which all the reviews like. It comes out consistently as one of the best of that size. Not for me really as I have the surf van but for my wife who wants 4 or 5 doors and has to be auto. There is a 1.6 L model that has some clever 6 speed gearbox that is split in two halves so that the next gear is always in the other part and ready for instant use. Apparently it makes for very seamless changes and the 6 gears does lots for the economy. Thats really not a problem as our mileage is so low.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_PowerS...ansmission

It seems Ford have a lot of cars that have been demonstrators and come with 2 or 3K on the clock at a saving of several thousands ... might be the way to go for me.

Only thing I don't really like is driving a car that is so common place but its not mine really so maybe I will learn not to care.

Gary

Exactly the same as the DSG auto gearbox that the Volkswagen/Audi Group fit to their cars. My Skoda Roomster is fitted with one, and consumption is better than the manual model. At the moment, I am getting far better consumption than the official quoted figures and that is after doing almost 2,000 miles of mixed driving.

You cannot feel upward gear changes and hardly feel downward ones on the DSG box. Driving is a lot less stressful too - just let it do its thing in response to the loud pedal.

Colin

[Retired]

Hi,

Since becoming interested in a Dacia Duster I've been looking out for them over the last couple of days whilst out in the car; not only haven't I seen one Duster I haven't seen any other Dacia models either which is rather disturbing me. I see lots and lots of Skoda's of all models in fact taxi drivers around here love the Skoda's. I'm not a sheep wanting to buy a particular car just because someone else has bought one but not seeing any Dacia's is rather surprising considering what such a bargain they appear to be; I should hate to buy one just to see the marque disappear the way Lada did? This might be a warning to me to stick with buying the Monte Carlo?

Kind regards, Col.

[Radio Fixer]

Thanks for the thumbs up on the clever auto box Colin1.

Yes! its does give confidence if you see a reasonable number of a given marque around Colin 2. I imagine the value drops like a stone if they disappear. Made in India so I read.

You would be pretty safe, almost bomb proof with the Skoda.

Gary

[ed731pdh]

When my next car upgrade comes around I'm going to give the Dacias a good look at mainly because of the mileage I do going to work. I'd much rather buy a cheap car with tried tech and thrash it into the ground on the work run than pay for a more expensive car and do the same to it.

[Retired]

Hi,

Thanks Gary. Yes if Dacia's didn't catch on in the UK and the marque disappeared then it wouldn't bode well for those who have bought them?

I can very well understand your views ed in buying one of these Dacia's and running it till it drops; they do come with the manufacturers warranty of 3 years which can be extended at little cost so if all you want is basic transport and cover lots of miles these cars are bang on.

Yesterday in order to avoid sunburn here in Yorkshire I spent a lot of time reading car reviews on the web covering both Dacia and Skoda cars.

I really did fancy buying a Dacia Duster at first but looking more deeply into these cars and reading the reviews I think it highly likely Bron and I will be buying the Skoda Fabia in August when our current Aygo reaches three years old.

Most of the Duster reviews were very good indeed but one or two gave the Duster the thumbs down. One guy running the basic petrol engined Duster complained that he could only achieve 20 mpg?

Thin paint was mentioned a few times leading to early rusting.

As a buyer looking at the Duster it does look exceptional value for money and given its size it is in basic model. If I like a white car then OK but because these are fully stripped out other colours will set me back around £495? All Dusters are not 4WD which surprised me; 4WD will add another couple of grand to the price?

Metallic paint and 4WD still only brings the Dusters price up to the Skoda Monte Carlo and on face value the Duster would appear better value?

In order to gain decent mpg the Duster would have to be a diesel model. Bron and I only travel 7,000 miler per year which throws up a major problem. The PARTICULATE FILTER. A modern diesel needs to cover long journeys in order to keep the particulate filter working correctly; short journeys destroy these filters by sooting them up.

I've just been browsing YouTube looking for particulate filter information and there are lots of videos on the subject. Apparently these particulate filters are monitored and once they start to soot up diesel is automatically injected into the filter and ignited the very high temperature achieved then burns the soot allowing the soot to be exhausted as ash which is much less harmful to the environment. So far the particulate filter then should be self cleaning and not a problem? However if I've got this right; un-burnt diesel can end up in the engines crankcase thereby diluting the lubricating oil and even worse the turbo could suffer very expensive damage? I'm not an expert on these matters only just trying to avoid an expensive mistake but I have heard of diesel engine particulate filters so thought I'd do a bit of research; here is a sample YouTube video which is of interest;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSPQ3Gktpl8

Another consideration for us is that a Duster would need to live on the driveway whereas the Skoda would squeeze into our garage; about a month ago I left the Aygo on our driveway thinking I'll turn the garage into my full time workshop but the following morning I spent quite a while scraping deep frost from it which I disliked immensely; that night I put the Aygo away again and it's seldom been frosty since then; just my luck but it brought it home to me that most winters living here have extended periods of frost; ice and snow; it just won't stop raining now so any car on our driveway would suffer this terrible weather.

Skoda are now very well regarded cars and the marque has been around forever. The Dacia is relatively new to our shores and any new car will possibly be OK at first but what happens when these reach three years old and get some mileage on them?

Perhaps Bron and I are missing out on a very good car in not buying a Duster but safer than sorry for us. We won't cry about buying a Skoda Monte Carlo because I believe the Skoda is going to be the better car choice for us; given our yearly mileage a diesel is unsuitable which is a pity otherwise a Duster could well have appeared on our driveway in August.

Kind regards, Col.

[camallison]

The Skoda Fabia has the same engine as our Roomster, 1,2TSi. If you go for the 105PS, rather than the 85PS, then performance is good without having to change gear so often. I was very surprised at the performance overall of ours and have grown to really love driving it, even in stop/start situations. The same engine appears in many of the VAG derivatives and so they will have plenty of usage feedback and I would think design will have really settled down. Last of all, the engine/gearbox is built in the VW engine factory and shipped to Skoda to just drop in.

One thought struck me - how long has the Monte Carlo variant been available? It may be the end of model special meant to clear existing stocks.

Colin