Kia V Dacia

[McCrash]

My Dad had a wee accident in his Polo. Nothing major, just clipped the wing. We painted and fitted a new genuine VW wing and it's as good as new but he has now lost heart in it and fancies a change. He was big into fast Fords in the past but now he's getting a bit older now and just likes a car he can jump into and drive without it breaking down.

He is looking at Kia and Dacia (Yeah, we had a row over it being pronounced Dat-cha lol). Specifically the Kia C'eed and the Dacia Duster.

In my eyes, Kia have proved themselves on the market lately and the fact they can offer a 7 year warranty says they have a lot of faith in their product. However, Dacia offer a 5 year warranty, also a pretty bold statement.

I would tend to sway more towards the C'eed, again because Kia have really proved themselves lately, and I have never seen one coming into my garage for anything bigger than an oil and filter change.

He is seriously considering the Dacia though (it is really cheap!). We live in a very rural area, no salt, no snow ploughs etc. and he thinks it would be great in the winter. I'm a bit apprehensive of the fact it's Renault based and in my experience, everything Renault over the past 10 or so years has been inherently dung for want of a better word.

So what would a Dacia be like to live with in the real world? Would he just be paying for a broken heart? Which would you choose and why?

 

[HDi fun]

The 'budget' brands are re-inventing themselves big time. Not sure which I'd choose but I do like the looks of the Kia C'eed Station Wagon.

Very pretty.

Not ever driven a Kia or a Dacia (though I have driven a few Hyundai Coupes and they're extremely pleasant, especially the V6 - not supremely rapid but it has a feelgood factor about it with good torque, well matched gearing and sounds beautiful) so cannot comment upon real world appeal but something tells me that things have moved on enormously.

The new bargain basement cars will likely be Chinese built but I curious to see what develops over the coming years.

Go test drive a few different models and see what you reckon is my advice.

 

[Yugguy]

I've been looking at this recently as I ponder what to do with my car allowance. I found that altho the Dacias seem cheap, once you spec them to a decent level they are about as much as 2 or 3 year old mainstream car. And the Kias aren't as cheap as they used to be, they've gone upmarket these days.