One correction. Yugoslavia or know in UN under full name ‘Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia’ as name suggests was a socialist country. Actually it would be a good series as there were a lot of car, truck and bus manufacturers in Yugoslavia after WWII. Just a thought
Cheers for taking the time to clear that up. BTW, I'm Romanian and I knew a lot about most of the cars you mentioned, but I did not know about the Dacia D6 Estafette. Learning something new about Romanian cars from an English channel, how cool is that? 😀
Another correction is that the Dokker is actually sold in Western Europe. Its sold in at least Portugal (www.dacia.pt/gama/dokker.html, Spain (www.dacia.es/modelos/dokker.html) and Italy (www.dacia.it/gamma/dokker.html). Even in France, where it seemingly isnt sold anymore it seems it was at some point. I thought I was going crazy as I distinctly recalled seeing them here in Portugal 😂
Actually, the 1.6l (102-00) version was just bored-out version of the 1.3l (1289cm3) 810-99 Cleon-Fonte local version, nothing special to it. The only modifications were the camshaft (to allow more air into the cylinder) and the double barrel carb. There were OHC versions of the 1.6l made too, they were more obscure - mostly present on the 1325 and competition models.
Here is a joke: An American, a french man and a Romanian get in an accident and total their 3 cars. The American thanks God for saving his life, looks at the car and says: oh well, I'll work harder next month and I'll get another car. The French guy thanks God for saving his life, looks at the car and says "oh well, I'll work harder for the next 3 months and I'll get a new one". The Romanian guy starts cursing and breaks down crying yelling "I worked a lifetime to buy this car!" The other two look at each other, then ask: "Why did you buy such an expensive car?"
Ok, Iranian here, let me tell our sad story: domestic car manufacturers here make outdated french cars like pug405 and 206. And a 206 is about 6 years of average salary. A Pug2008 which is imported and thus has heavy tariff is about 25 years of salary. So, enjoy your cars.
Didn't he flip the joke around when Dacia actually did come to the UK? I think when Hammond made a comment about how James feels about Dacia finally selling the Sandero in the UK, James gave a sort of "I have no idea what the hell you're talking about!" reply??
Don't want to bash anybody, but you should have looked closer. A picture of Dancila next to a Duster 2 concept saying "the Romanian president would become the first Dacia Duster owner" is a bit sketchy to say the least :D
Dacia is sold under the Renault brand in India. The Logan and Duster have been hot sellers. Logan was very popular with the Cab drivers, I have seen examples that have clocked 500,000 km to 700,000 km. Romanian products are very good.
They've been sold in Bangladesh as well, but it didn't succeed. Renault stopped selling these Dacias as soon as they had arrived, and I'm a bit saddened by that.
Had a Sandero stepway for three years then I got a 17 plate duster brand new. Loved both. Never had any problems of any kind started perfectly great fuel economy. They deserve their recent success.
@@ursutapan2098 I miss my duster 😥 was the 1.5 TDI and felt fine if I had kept it i was planning to tint the rear glass and upgrade the front bulbs to xenons and a remap of the ecu but, I sadly had to give it up a year and a half after getting it. Put 16k on it in my time and, it was lovely to drive. The compliant handling and fuel efficiency made it a great choice when I was living in a rural area commuting a lot and had young children. Now I am rolling an 06 Saab 93 TiD Vector with 198k on it 7 of which are mine and, rear discs and random electrical issues and a troubling floor well leak, its a solid old tank of a car great for motorway cruising etc for very cheap money nowadays...
@@retroracingshirt591 Hmm no, what do you mean? Duster , Sandero Stepway and Logan are made at Mioveni in Romania. Renault owns Dacia, but renault doesn't produce these models in their range
Nice thing about Dacia is that its humble and works perfectly..no wonder that in big cities (london, rome, etc) they are everywhere.. if you are not a badge snob, they are nicely build cars. Having a skoda, i am thinking about buying one!
Wow, judging by the challenges Dacia has faced over the decades they must be a very a tough and resilient car company, which makes their current (well deserved) success even more impressive.
I remember my grandfather giving my father a Dacia 1300 as a present in the early 2000s, it had green "leather" seats and it was white as snow, I loved that car!
Duster was the car that started the segment of mid size SUV in India (under Renault branding). It held it's position high until Korean duo caught up with Hyundai Creta and Kia Seltos. Sadly Renault is being very lethargic in pushing the car and is slowly fading into oblivion.
Love my Dacia Duster LPG 2020. Great car so far! The Prestige version has nothing to envy (much) more expensive SUVs. Was delivered on time (6 months) despite covid factory closure. Big thanks & bravo to the Romanian workers.
@@mateuszzimon8216 All these were ordered in the early 90s and after. The previous ones (early 70's) were soviet made. I have been told we traded oranges and lemons with them.
Well if you live in Romania, and i think you do, it's not true now! Dacias don't cost 34.000 euro! The income mentioned in the video was the average one, not the minimum one.
@@mariavalentina3075 300 euro/month minimum net * 48 months = 14.400 euro A new Dacia Logan is 8.400 euro www.dacia.ro/gama-dacia/noul-logan.html but you can further shave another `1.400 euro through the state-subsidy if you turn in your old car! So then, it's 7.000 euro, and almost exactly the minimum wage for 2 (two) years! But this is the absolutely worst Financial situation possible, and you certainly would buy a second-hand car if you were in that position, for much less! I was referring to the average wage because it's the closest thing we have to understanding the most probable scenario! But why are you guys doing this? Why are you victimizing yourselves in such an exaggerated manner! You're annoying!
Funny story about the Estafette: local legend has it that Ceausescu's wife, Elena, thought it was too similar to the VW Transporter of the time, and didn't want the people getting "hippie" ideas, thus never making it to mass production
"Imagine paying 4 years of salary for a car." *Laughs in Turkish Economy* All you get for 4 years of salary is a 2005 smthn VW. If you want a new one, cheapest option would at least be 7 to 8 years. Which is probably a Fiat, a Renault or a Dacia with lowest of low specs. Unbelieveable that a communist country was selling cars cheaper than us. Contrary to Romaia though we can supply, there is no demand.
I mean we have so many factories of foreign manifacturers like Hyundai, Renault, Honda, Fiat etc. It is a damn shame we can't produce our own. Every model under the Turkish car branding was a derivative. Anadol used a Cortina chassis and engines, don't get me started on Tofaşes. It's a hugely expensive and difficult job to start a car company from scratch and I can see why people were and still are reluctant though...
Plus he can pronounce car brands without trying to put on a French accent. Just say the name in your own accent. It's like watching officer crabtree from "allo allo"
My first and so far only experience with Dacia is when I drove a 4x4 Duster (diesel) from Zagreb to Dubrovnik, and then back again. Great car for the money.
It's so weird to hear the history of our car brands in English. We really have talented people that have the best ideas for new prototypes and the lack of funding doesn't help at all but the new base model from Dacia has a phone holder integrated in the dashboard that uses your phone as an Infotainment and it's also used as the car's stereo. Incredible!
Love already the new sandero. Build on the new Clio platform. Would be sold in Belgium for 8990 euro (basics) and the Clio price is 15.850 euro. Honostly I think it would be a hit👍
That phone dock is, to me, honestly the best idea any car maker has had when it comes to interior entertainment systems. It saves the manufacturer from having to buy another IPad to glue to the dashboard, it (presumably) saves the driver from stupid connect-to-the-car-in-30-steps bullshit and it's the most futureproof out of all of them - you can always buy a new phone if you want.
"Dacia has a phone holder integrated in the dashboard that uses your phone as an Infotainment and it's also used as the car's stereo. Incredible!" Amazing, now it's on par with all the cars made in last two decades who had AUX in.
The Dacia 1300 was my dad's first car. We went through quite a few adventures with it. It was built as a tank. A guy with a VW Passat smashed into our rear and they broke their car. Our rear bumper had to be repainted. :-)))
I first saw a Duster in Iceland a couple of years ago. They weren't highly regarded by those that had big budgets, but they were all over the place. Its a good looking thing. I wish they were sold in the States. I wouldn't mind having an unusual, cheap 4 wheel drive for occasional use.
Thanks for the episode! Dacia 1300/1310 was our national car for four decades. In the late communist years, you had to wait around 5 years to purchase one. My dad managed to buy one faster with an additional 50% over the normal price. He still drives it everyday since, but bought an Audi in 2010 for long trips.
I still reckon the best advertising they ever got in the UK was the running Top Gear "Great News!" Joke about the Dacia Sandero. It elevated it from "here's just another cheap car" especially when it turned out to be a good little car.
@@EmyrDerfel it was destined for scrap anyway, the body was rusted beyond road legal. But since it was taking up space in the yard, I took everything apart and then cut the body with an angle grinder. It was fun.
Thanks very interesting, as always. Nothing wrong with the present day Duster, and I have seen the assembly line on another youtube video, they have their quality issues sorted. Tesla could learn some lessons from Dacia on QC.
Cracking video, really enjoyed finding out about the history of the Dacia, it's been a car on my radar off and on for a while, it may be a contender to replace our family car next year
I can't believe! Big Car made an episode about Dacia! I hit the "Like" even before I began to watch! Thank you guys! Always a pleasure to watch your "stories"!
0:56 That's a photo of the central area of Oradea, Romania, the city that I live in, taken in the 1960s. It makes me feel so proud. Thank you for covering the Dacia story, sir! Your videos are awesome! :)
@@BigCar2 You may not know but Omu is not a name but means the man, and subtire means thin, but here has the sense of well educated or wealthy. In conclusion the wealthy man. 🙂 By the way, when this pandemic creasiness will end somehow, some times, you should visit Oradea as it is a nice city which is on his way to be refurbished. The city center is an open air Art Nouveau museum, literally. You'll find also 2 brand hotels to stay: Ramada and DoubleTree by Hilton. Keep it up with your good work!
Happy memories of my first car - a 1974 Renault 12TS. I never knew that it lived on for so long, but wearing a Dacia badge. Mine was very reliable with its 1.3 pushrod engine managing nearly 200k miles before the body fell apart around it!
Whomever designed the Duster deserves an award, it strikes an excellent balance between off road ruggedness and urban style and practicality. To my eyes it's a good looking car... 👍
Great vid again sir, very informative, I remember the original duster, a lot were an Orange colour or white or blue. Yes Dacia have come a long way thanks to the help of Renault. Wasn’t the Sandero based on the mid 2000 Renault Clio with the same mechanicals?
The Dacia Logan was a popular car here in Venezuela (sold under the Renault Logan name). Sadly Renault slowly dissapeared alongside Mazda, Nissan, Honda, Citroën, Peugeot and many others that imported cars instead of producing cars in the country like GM, Ford, Chrysler, Mitsubishi, Toyota and Hyundai did back then (right now the national production is paralyzed and you can only purchase imported cars without any kind of credit/loan, only in cash).
Thanks for that. I've had my Duster for over a year now and still love it. I don't understand what's not to dislike. I chopped my A3 Sportback in for it and haven't looked back.
I would like to ad to the fact that Dacia did a sports car, it was called...Dacia Sport. It was just a 2 door Dacia 1310, but it's so special because Renault never made a 2 door variant of the car so it's kinda 100% romanian built. They are really sought after right now in Romania, great examples are worth up to 8.000 €. You can see the car at 6:46
Vrea cineva să dea 8000 e pe știfturile alea? Poate vreun colecționar. Am condus una, problema cu ele era tabla - slabă la 1300 în general, dar încă mai slabă la Dacia sport. În plus, de la uși în spate nu se găseau bucăți de caroserie de schimbat, așa că erau peticite și chituite la greu. Altfel, mai ușoară și cu același motor fiind, am făcut câteva chestii "off-road" din care m-am mirat că am trecut cu bine :-)))))
That’s a well researched video! Impressive. I grew up with and learned to drive on these cars and I never knew half the things you presented. A lot of nostalgia watching this! Great job mate!
My dad has a 2005 Logan(second-hand), first registered in 2005, but it become his everyday vehicle in 2009. My granddad has a 2007 Logan MCV (brought from Germany), first registered in 2007, but it become his personal transport in 2020.
love my 71 reg sandero! had never considered Dacia in the past! loved these since i first saw one and thought ohh whats that!? so much better than the previous models.
Oi, Lodgy driver here! This car, despite it's nitpicks over the build quality, is actually a nice reliable MPV, already sitting very high in it's non-crossover variants. But I can't stand that 2nd gen of this model was stripped of their reliable petrol engines (using 1.6 l unit with 102 HP output through 5-speed manual gearbox) and left the diesel units only. Pity, I wanted to give the 2nd gen a try.
Have several friends that have got a Duster 4x4 for use in the rural winter locations they live in and the cars handle the conditions very well (snow covered country lanes). the Duster bodyshell looks very similar to the Nissan Qashqai to me.
What a brilliant video! And special congratulations for mentioning the D33 project -99% of Romanians never heard about it. I would like to add: 1. Renault tricked VW twice a. In the 60's Romania was about to produce VW beatle, but mr C. de Gaulle visit România and suddenly we switched on with Renault b. In 99' soon after VW bought Skoda, we were discussing with Hyunndai, Renault came to the table, then VW contacted the Romanian Government to present the intention to buy Dacia too. Next week, Monday Renault was the announced winner of the bid 2. Dacia Solenza was never intended to sell so much, was mainly a school project for people at the factory to think and develop a product as Renault did.
Great video. I drove logan and duster, and it's really amazing how much of a car you can get for that money!!! If you are not crazy about build materials in the interior (they mostly use hard plastic) and luxury feeling, these cars are just great.
Renault launched the Duster with their company logo in India. It became a massive hit. My parents have one. It's not the cheapest SUV in the Indian market but it's the cheapest from a European brand. We've had it for 8 years so far. Absolutely no issues and perfect for Indian roads that are more potholes than roads.
I was going to tell about pronunciation but then I saw your comment. Anyway, after watching this video, I really want to congratulate you for an excelle t and very well documented video. Thank you!
With a basic Ford Fiesta at nearly £17k, I bought the Sandero Stepway 2017 for just over £7k. I love its looks, it's cheap to run, its white goods on wheels, but it drives like you'd expect a modern hatchback to drive. There's absolutely nothing wrong with it, for the same money I was looking at Vauxhall viva, Ford KA etc, yet this beats those on shear size alone. The 0.9 TCE turbo engine is very lively out of eco mode and it really pulls, but getting 50 mpg+ around town. Has plastic wheel trims which look like very convincing alloys, so if you scratch them you can cheaply replace them. Robust materials inside, good radio with Bluetooth so you can play music from your smartphone, basically all you need in a car.
Recent history of Dacia was quite unknown to me...indeed I didn't know the name plate still existed, never mind that they were doing so well...maybe they should try Canada again! Love the blooper reel on the end, too...
We had an 1310 combi in the early 1990's. It was an OK car, after my father spent countless hours replacing every critical part with Renault ones. It was barely a Dacia any more, but it served us well on a road trip from Budapest to Barcelona and back. After the Ceausescus received their lifetime achievement awards from the people, used Dacias were in super high demand. People stood on the roadsides on Hungary, holding up cardboard signs: "Will buy Dacias!" My father sold ours to one of these guys and our next car was a Suzuki.
For a short period after comunism fell, you could import any car to Romania. The Romanians ditched their Dacias and bought old western cars. (They were still better than Dacia.) But this lasted only a few months, than the government decided that only cars not older than 8 years could be imported. Those were expensive and you had to pay customs for them. Excepted were Romanian cars, as these were considered reimports and no customs had to be payed. So the Romanians reimported Dacias (and at some extent ARO) from the entire ex-comunist countries like especially Hungary and the GDR.
Have a 2022 Duster Prestige. Its 1/3 of my yearly income and I absolutely love it. Having so much for so little is mind boggling. I use and abuse it a lot- and its so far been the most reliable car I have ever had.
Happy second gen Duster owner here 😎 And yeah, I originally started considering the brand after James May's jokes... Who later admitted that he actually does like the brand, jokes aside.
As a Romanian I'm quite impressed by the level of your documentation for this video. You got one thing wrong though, the Romanian economy was very powerful at the time, but most of it's products went for export in exchange for western currency. This is why you saw people standing in line at the grocery store. It's not because they didn't have money, but because there was nothing to buy.
You should do a video on Tata Motors, and how they now own Jaguar and Land Rover, now that's a heck of story to talk about! I always look forward to you uploading a new video! Good stuff! Keep going!
Awesome Dacia History video . In 28 years i've been driving , i drove Audi to Volvo & a lot in between but my 2012 Sandero Base is the most reliable car i've driven with the best and fastest heater . Even more reliable than my Kia . I hope you will do Wartburg one day , since you did have the Knight version sold in Britain if i remember correctly ! Thanks again ; Greets from Flanders ,Belgium .
I don't believe my eyes what I am reading here. Did you said your Sandero is even more reliable than your Kia!? Well, man, you should explain this to all those guys who think Korean cars are the most reliable in the world. I am not saying that those are not reliable but let's be honest though. I'll drink a Stella Artois for you. Cheers or Noroc as we say in Romanian ( pronounced norok and has the meaning of good luck). 🍻
@@l.e.i.4111 I mean what i say as i live in a community that houses a lot of pensioners . 2 or 3 have been asking about my Sandero wich has led to me bringing them to my dealer to test one & my neighbor across from me being so impressed with my car that she bought a 2019 Sandero in highest trim . Mine will be 8 1/2 now with 91K km & the only thing that happened was a door pocket & door locking pin to become loose & 3 lightbulbs to replace . Only in July 2020 for the 1st time i needes new discs in front. Love this Sandero MkI . Had more trouble with my Kia Carens & Audi A4 Avant 1.8. Enjoy the Stella !
My grandpa had a British racing green like 1300 back in the day. It was considered a upper middle class vehicle back then in east Germany. Fascinating how long it prevailed :-) you have a Lada video as well?
I think this was your best video yet! :) I saw an early Logan at a local used car dealer and thought that someone should save it (not me, as my wife would kill me), because THAT was the car that started Dacia´s new career.
I like the high suspension and soft tires that is common across the modern Dacia lineup, the roads here are really bumpy and in the Dacia you can hear the bumps when driving over them but not feel them in your seat.
Renault saved Dacia. And Dacia's cars saved Renault in Brazil. We have all those Dacias here under Renault brand. You forgot to mention a very strong point from current Dacia's cars: they may be spartan but have very good internal space. A humble Logan may look small but has more internal space than a current Toyota Corolla and it's trunk is bigger too.
My dad worked in the ARO Factory, those were the best offroaders ever made in the world, he was testing them, and the test was quite brutal. He was also working inside the factory. (Campulung Old Factory).
When I was kid my father owned a Dacia 1310. I remember lovely long trips through the mountains with it. It was a very simple car but I have good memories.
17:48 I think the new Dacia Sandero is a surprisingly good looking car. I’d be more inclined to get one of those over the equivalent Clio it’s based on, not only is it supposedly half the price I think it’s a far more attractive car: in my opinion the Clio’s styling is an ugly mess.
I love Dacia. Though our insane taxes make them less affordable then they should be ( about twice the price of their counterparts in their home country :-X ) they are still cheap to run and very reliable. I think the pure no-nonsense simplicity and bare essentials are a statement in itself and I'm loving it as much as I did the more expensive German cars I used to drive.
Great video, as usual. You mentioned that dacia were prodused in South Africa. That's correct, the first sandero was built here by Nissan , and sold as a renault. Nissan is still building the dacia pick up. The Nissan np200 a top leller in sa and neighbouring countries.
Erratum: The Nova's 1.6L engine only had Citroën carburettors, not the whole engine (which was just an enlarged Dacia 1310 engine).
One correction. Yugoslavia or know in UN under full name ‘Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia’ as name suggests was a socialist country.
Actually it would be a good series as there were a lot of car, truck and bus manufacturers in Yugoslavia after WWII.
Just a thought
Cheers for taking the time to clear that up.
BTW, I'm Romanian and I knew a lot about most of the cars you mentioned, but I did not know about the Dacia D6 Estafette. Learning something new about Romanian cars from an English channel, how cool is that? 😀
Another correction is that the Dokker is actually sold in Western Europe. Its sold in at least Portugal (www.dacia.pt/gama/dokker.html, Spain (www.dacia.es/modelos/dokker.html) and Italy (www.dacia.it/gamma/dokker.html). Even in France, where it seemingly isnt sold anymore it seems it was at some point.
I thought I was going crazy as I distinctly recalled seeing them here in Portugal 😂
Actually, the 1.6l (102-00) version was just bored-out version of the 1.3l (1289cm3) 810-99 Cleon-Fonte local version, nothing special to it. The only modifications were the camshaft (to allow more air into the cylinder) and the double barrel carb. There were OHC versions of the 1.6l made too, they were more obscure - mostly present on the 1325 and competition models.
May: ,,Good news!"
Clarkson: *,,𝙒'𝙊𝙏?!"*
May: ,,The Dacier Sandero is almost here in Britain!"
I think the running joke about Dacia on Top Gear helped sales and brand recognition in the UK too.
Good news!
WHAT??
The new Dacia Sandero has arrived!
A great moment in TopGear.
James May liked the Dacia Sandero.
GOOD NEWS
James has forever etched Dacia in my American mind which may never see one in person
Shame they couldn't have done the same with Rover ffs...
It's a bit funny to think that Dacia used to sell essentially rebadged Renaults and now Dacias are being sold under Renault badges :))
How's the saying? ... the wheel is spinning! :)
Well current Dacia cars are Renault's anyway. But a lot of the engineering, assembly and work for the Renault cars is done in the Romanian factories.
Buying Dacia was the best idea Renault had, they made good profit.
@@onzaueb Basicly new Sandero is old gen Clio
@@dixion1000 I totally agree with you, and it is a strong brand
*Car is 30 years old*
Dacia: Ah, time for another facelift!
Nnononono what are you thinking. Thats too early, lets wait 10 years more. Add another trim
@Alex Sohan yeah but Dacia 1300 and 1310 where kept until 2006,a car first produced in 1969 and they didn't made any major change, just some facelifts
@@annoyinguser Wrong, only until 2004, the 1307 was made until 2007
@@blue7081 I know Dacia 1310 Break was until 2006
😂😂😂👍👍👍
No freaking way. You did a Dacia video. That's awesome!
Wow nu stiam ca te uiti la Big Car
jura te Marius ca te uiti si tu la el❤️
Dacia has grown so much. I always like to see new model on streets, and since Logan they were getting just better and better
ua-cam.com/video/iPrUs_0zKQ4/v-deo.html chio lays collection romania
Nu cred ca te uiți și tu la el
My father worked in Dacia factory for over 45 years, it was the only job in his life.
Wow that's awsome a hard working dedicated worker.
The pension he received must be like winning the lottery 10x.
Man I wish I had that job.
Did he get a gold watch when he retired from the factory.
Big Car: "Imagine paying 4 times your annual salary for the car that you drive today"
Portuguese Viewers: **sweating profusely**
Here is a joke: An American, a french man and a Romanian get in an accident and total their 3 cars. The American thanks God for saving his life, looks at the car and says: oh well, I'll work harder next month and I'll get another car. The French guy thanks God for saving his life, looks at the car and says "oh well, I'll work harder for the next 3 months and I'll get a new one". The Romanian guy starts cursing and breaks down crying yelling "I worked a lifetime to buy this car!" The other two look at each other, then ask: "Why did you buy such an expensive car?"
*Malaysian and Singaporean has entered the chat*
That's still the case all over the world. Even in the USA the average car costs more than the average yearly income. Cars are expensive.
Ok, Iranian here, let me tell our sad story: domestic car manufacturers here make outdated french cars like pug405 and 206. And a 206 is about 6 years of average salary. A Pug2008 which is imported and thus has heavy tariff is about 25 years of salary. So, enjoy your cars.
@@Espakho they still make the 206 in Iran? What's it called? I'd love to see it.
"When one door closes, another one opens" - Dacia 😅
Nice one 😂
Awsome 😂😂😂
@@TinuVoicu That is the new app from Dacia.
Yes. As a former Dacia owner I can confirm, that if you close the driver side door, the passenger side opens
Inspirational
The dacia 1310 was a briliant car , you can’t imagine how abused they were in rural parts of romania , but they kept running
Defenetly
And could be serviced by any blind drink Romanian farmer at the road side.
Ok boomer
1310 was a horrble car , the trabant was the real king :)
@@jimby_vokk3110 the trabant allthough it´s reconised as a car ,any 14 year old could make a better car using it´s computer or smartphone
Good newss .its the dacia sandero,
I was waiting for that comment
Anway
@Alex Sohan what
@Alex Sohan oh no anyway
Didn't he flip the joke around when Dacia actually did come to the UK? I think when Hammond made a comment about how James feels about Dacia finally selling the Sandero in the UK, James gave a sort of "I have no idea what the hell you're talking about!" reply??
"Hard to start, hard to stop". Running joke on Dacia 1300 back in the day in Romania.
At least the joke was running....
I know that from experience.
Greu de pornit greu de oprit ;))
Not that bad at all really.
Better then the trabi....
Hello from Dacia home country. Really accurate, complete up to the EV just announced. Thanks a lot!
Thanks Cezar!
Don't want to bash anybody, but you should have looked closer. A picture of Dancila next to a Duster 2 concept saying "the Romanian president would become the first Dacia Duster owner" is a bit sketchy to say the least :D
@@SorinVasilescu point taken 👍🏻
Dacia is sold under the Renault brand in India. The Logan and Duster have been hot sellers. Logan was very popular with the Cab drivers, I have seen examples that have clocked 500,000 km to 700,000 km. Romanian products are very good.
They've been sold in Bangladesh as well, but it didn't succeed. Renault stopped selling these Dacias as soon as they had arrived, and I'm a bit saddened by that.
Had a Sandero stepway for three years then I got a 17 plate duster brand new. Loved both. Never had any problems of any kind started perfectly great fuel economy. They deserve their recent success.
i ve got first gen logan 2004 at RomanianMOT 90% of them no problem smoke emission test mint. petrol simple aspirated renault engines built like tanks
@@ursutapan2098 I miss my duster 😥 was the 1.5 TDI and felt fine if I had kept it i was planning to tint the rear glass and upgrade the front bulbs to xenons and a remap of the ecu but, I sadly had to give it up a year and a half after getting it. Put 16k on it in my time and, it was lovely to drive. The compliant handling and fuel efficiency made it a great choice when I was living in a rural area commuting a lot and had young children. Now I am rolling an 06 Saab 93 TiD Vector with 198k on it 7 of which are mine and, rear discs and random electrical issues and a troubling floor well leak, its a solid old tank of a car great for motorway cruising etc for very cheap money nowadays...
They are rebadged Renault
@@retroracingshirt591 Hmm no, what do you mean? Duster , Sandero Stepway and Logan are made at Mioveni in Romania. Renault owns Dacia, but renault doesn't produce these models in their range
@@ursutapan2098 the Sandero and Duster are fine but the Logan idk how you can drive that, every corner I thought the car was gonna tip. Awful drive.
Nice thing about Dacia is that its humble and works perfectly..no wonder that in big cities (london, rome, etc) they are everywhere.. if you are not a badge snob, they are nicely build cars. Having a skoda, i am thinking about buying one!
Yes, indeed they do the job of getting your from point a to point b
Wow, judging by the challenges Dacia has faced over the decades they must be a very a tough and resilient car company, which makes their current (well deserved) success even more impressive.
I remember my grandfather giving my father a Dacia 1300 as a present in the early 2000s, it had green "leather" seats and it was white as snow, I loved that car!
I've been to Romania a few times over the years and survived numerous trips in Dacia taxis. They're fine.
Me too. Spent hours in them over lumpy roads. There's no other choice of transport anyway!
I rode in one in Ecuador in 1994. They must have had some sort of barter agreement- Romanian cars for coffee or bananas.
did you ever stop to think that maybe the Dacias survived with YOU because you were a tourist and didn't want to make a bad impression?
The cars aren't what you survived. You survived romanian cab drivers. Which, in case you wondered around Bucharest, is a remarcable achievement.
@@bogdanrus7953 I've heard they are almost as bad as Sofia taxi drivers.
We rattled a Duster across Namibian dirt roads for a month
I'd buy one tomorrow if they were sold here in Australia, sadly they aren't
Duster was the car that started the segment of mid size SUV in India (under Renault branding). It held it's position high until Korean duo caught up with Hyundai Creta and Kia Seltos. Sadly Renault is being very lethargic in pushing the car and is slowly fading into oblivion.
The rattling is a feature.
i'll send you mine, mate! all i want in return is a baby kangaroo to raise him as my own and teach him romanian MMA
Look for Dacia Duster rebranded as...Nissan Terrano. 😅
This year or the next one they will be in Australia,lucky you
Love my Dacia Duster LPG 2020. Great car so far! The Prestige version has nothing to envy (much) more expensive SUVs. Was delivered on time (6 months) despite covid factory closure. Big thanks & bravo to the Romanian workers.
In Athens Greece, for years all our dark yellow electric buses were from Romania called "trolleys"... (another great video by the way)
Soviet Union. They were from Soviet Union.
@@kostis2849 Thank you, didn't know. Soviet quality !
I just google it, on wiki they listed Fiat's, Neoplans (germany) and Van Hool (Netherland).
And new order on Solaris (Poland)
@@mateuszzimon8216 All these were ordered in the early 90s and after. The previous ones (early 70's) were soviet made. I have been told we traded oranges and lemons with them.
The almight Troleu! i will never forget it
"Imagine paying 4 times the annual salary for the car you drive today" - I dont need to imagine, it's all around me here 🙂
Lol that’s what I thought
Well if you live in Romania, and i think you do, it's not true now! Dacias don't cost 34.000 euro!
The income mentioned in the video was the average one, not the minimum one.
Am si eu un Sandero 🇷🇴👍
@@purpleldv966 but not a lot of the people are getting the medium wadge, so it s true till today
@@mariavalentina3075 300 euro/month minimum net * 48 months = 14.400 euro
A new Dacia Logan is 8.400 euro www.dacia.ro/gama-dacia/noul-logan.html
but you can further shave another `1.400 euro through the state-subsidy if you turn in your old car! So then, it's 7.000 euro, and almost exactly the minimum wage for 2 (two) years!
But this is the absolutely worst Financial situation possible, and you certainly would buy a second-hand car if you were in that position, for much less! I was referring to the average wage because it's the closest thing we have to understanding the most probable scenario!
But why are you guys doing this? Why are you victimizing yourselves in such an exaggerated manner! You're annoying!
Funny story about the Estafette: local legend has it that Ceausescu's wife, Elena, thought it was too similar to the VW Transporter of the time, and didn't want the people getting "hippie" ideas, thus never making it to mass production
This might be very plausible, I've heard that before as well.
Lol...:)))))
LOL WUT!!
Very interesting (and funny)! Thanks!
"Imagine paying 4 years of salary for a car."
*Laughs in Turkish Economy*
All you get for 4 years of salary is a 2005 smthn VW. If you want a new one, cheapest option would at least be 7 to 8 years. Which is probably a Fiat, a Renault or a Dacia with lowest of low specs.
Unbelieveable that a communist country was selling cars cheaper than us. Contrary to Romaia though we can supply, there is no demand.
Laugh in Argentinian economy as well u.u
I'm from the UK, and I love visiting Turkey, it's one of my favourite countries. I wouldn't mind bringing a Tofaş Murat back with me!
Ask your local dictator why your economy is what it is.
I mean we have so many factories of foreign manifacturers like Hyundai, Renault, Honda, Fiat etc. It is a damn shame we can't produce our own. Every model under the Turkish car branding was a derivative. Anadol used a Cortina chassis and engines, don't get me started on Tofaşes. It's a hugely expensive and difficult job to start a car company from scratch and I can see why people were and still are reluctant though...
@@AlfaGiuliaQV You can try. If you are not a citizen of Turkey. I honestly won't
This should be guest-narrated by James May, on principle. Is one man’s undying love of a Sandero not enough? 😂
I'll give him a call...
"I love the Dacia Sandero" - James May while driving a Lamborghini
Plus he can pronounce car brands without trying to put on a French accent. Just say the name in your own accent. It's like watching officer crabtree from "allo allo"
Good moaning.
ua-cam.com/video/LTTfDuoqT94/v-deo.html this is romania in 2010
My first and so far only experience with Dacia is when I drove a 4x4 Duster (diesel) from Zagreb to Dubrovnik, and then back again. Great car for the money.
My kids used to love the advert with the tag line "another one drives a duster"
It's so weird to hear the history of our car brands in English. We really have talented people that have the best ideas for new prototypes and the lack of funding doesn't help at all but the new base model from Dacia has a phone holder integrated in the dashboard that uses your phone as an Infotainment and it's also used as the car's stereo. Incredible!
Love already the new sandero. Build on the new Clio platform. Would be sold in Belgium for 8990 euro (basics) and the Clio price is 15.850 euro. Honostly I think it would be a hit👍
Most cars today have either bluetooth or aux cable that allows you to use your phone as the radio and entertainment device
De nu era daca si cu parca construiau romanii OZN-uri.
That phone dock is, to me, honestly the best idea any car maker has had when it comes to interior entertainment systems. It saves the manufacturer from having to buy another IPad to glue to the dashboard, it (presumably) saves the driver from stupid connect-to-the-car-in-30-steps bullshit and it's the most futureproof out of all of them - you can always buy a new phone if you want.
"Dacia has a phone holder integrated in the dashboard that uses your phone as an Infotainment and it's also used as the car's stereo. Incredible!" Amazing, now it's on par with all the cars made in last two decades who had AUX in.
The Dacia 1300 was my dad's first car. We went through quite a few adventures with it.
It was built as a tank. A guy with a VW Passat smashed into our rear and they broke their car. Our rear bumper had to be repainted. :-)))
Probably the best video on youtube about the history of Dacia. Well done !!
Love my Dacia Duster - most practical and enjoyable car to drive, and I've had VW/Seat and Jaguar before!
Greetings from Romania! Well-documented and to the point. Thank you for this video.
I first saw a Duster in Iceland a couple of years ago. They weren't highly regarded by those that had big budgets, but they were all over the place. Its a good looking thing. I wish they were sold in the States. I wouldn't mind having an unusual, cheap 4 wheel drive for occasional use.
rastas _ true, but we don’t get a Dacia Duster to kick around either..! I still kinda want one.
I drove a rental Duster in Iceland. It was a diesel and I wish I could get one in the US.
@@1chumley1- I also drove a 4 wheel drive Duster in Iceland- 900 km in the snow very impressive!!
as a romanian.. i thank you!
Great video, it's my country's car brand, and we are very proud of it!
Thanks for the episode! Dacia 1300/1310 was our national car for four decades. In the late communist years, you had to wait around 5 years to purchase one. My dad managed to buy one faster with an additional 50% over the normal price. He still drives it everyday since, but bought an Audi in 2010 for long trips.
Clear concise speaking, excellently presented well thought out and conveyed, all the reasons I love this channel
Bought a Dacia Duster last year. Fantastic jeep and I love it. Very popular in Ireland.
I still reckon the best advertising they ever got in the UK was the running Top Gear "Great News!" Joke about the Dacia Sandero.
It elevated it from "here's just another cheap car" especially when it turned out to be a good little car.
Maybe even from their Romania special
I love these videos. As an American I really like being introduced to cars I've never seen via this channel.
Yes. American cars a really very poor.
yes english very poor
There's one in New York at least: business-review.eu/culturelief/photo-gallery-remarkable-dacia-1300-auto-to-be-seen-in-lockdown-new-york-city-209525
My MCV Lauréate 1.6 16V is now over 13 years old, still doing a fine job and faster than I need.
I knew that Dacia was active around Europe before they came to Ireland, but I had no idea of this much history. Thanks for the video!
Good news everyone! The Dacia Sandero!
Anyway...
I had a Dacia MCV 7-seater for 7 years. It was the most reliable car I had, until now. Super reliable, versatile, relatively cheap.
Whaaat? Nooo. Thank you sir for this episode - I am from Romania.
You're welcome Alin. I hope it does your country justice.
Romanian fan here too! My dad had a 1300, 1310 and then a Nova. I took the 1310 apart when I was a kid.
@@BogdanSerban Did you put it back together again, or is that the reason your dad got the Nova?
@@EmyrDerfel it was destined for scrap anyway, the body was rusted beyond road legal. But since it was taking up space in the yard, I took everything apart and then cut the body with an angle grinder. It was fun.
@@BogdanSerban ,,Și așa a făcut Dacia, mecanici!" 😂😂😂
Thanks very interesting, as always.
Nothing wrong with the present day Duster, and I have seen the assembly line on another youtube video, they have their quality issues sorted. Tesla could learn some lessons from Dacia on QC.
Cracking video, really enjoyed finding out about the history of the Dacia, it's been a car on my radar off and on for a while, it may be a contender to replace our family car next year
@Ambrosios3 Yup, that's why it costs half of an actual Renault. But many people don't keep them more than 5-7 years so it's still good.
I can't believe! Big Car made an episode about Dacia! I hit the "Like" even before I began to watch!
Thank you guys! Always a pleasure to watch your "stories"!
Glad you liked it Dan!
0:56 That's a photo of the central area of Oradea, Romania, the city that I live in, taken in the 1960s. It makes me feel so proud. Thank you for covering the Dacia story, sir! Your videos are awesome! :)
Glad you liked it Omu!
@@BigCar2 You may not know but Omu is not a name but means the man, and subtire means thin, but here has the sense of well educated or wealthy. In conclusion the wealthy man. 🙂 By the way, when this pandemic creasiness will end somehow, some times, you should visit Oradea as it is a nice city which is on his way to be refurbished. The city center is an open air Art Nouveau museum, literally. You'll find also 2 brand hotels to stay: Ramada and DoubleTree by Hilton.
Keep it up with your good work!
@@l.e.i.4111 Thanks for the correction. I've been fortunate enough to visit Bulgaria, but not Romania. The churches in Bulgaria are amazing!
@@BigCar2 Romania is a nice country! It has beautiful landscapes!
Happy memories of my first car - a 1974 Renault 12TS. I never knew that it lived on for so long, but wearing a Dacia badge. Mine was very reliable with its 1.3 pushrod engine managing nearly 200k miles before the body fell apart around it!
>Imagine paying 4 times your annual salary for a car today
I don't have to imagine that, it's still the case here.
Thank you, David! You are right!
Whomever designed the Duster deserves an award, it strikes an excellent balance between off road ruggedness and urban style and practicality. To my eyes it's a good looking car... 👍
Man you deserve so many more subscribers, your content is gold
Can't imagine the number of hours of research to make such a detailed video. Awesome work.
I had a Dacia Duster as a hire car on my holiday last year. It was a great car. Loads of great tech and quite fun to drive too. I was impressed
What tech?
@@My-Opinion-Doesnt-Matter steering wheel and pedals, jokes aside, now they gave pretty much everything you need, android auto and so on
Great vid again sir, very informative, I remember the original duster, a lot were an Orange colour or white or blue.
Yes Dacia have come a long way thanks to the help of Renault.
Wasn’t the Sandero based on the mid 2000 Renault Clio with the same mechanicals?
Duster in orange was option, white was standard. Sandero was based on Clio 2 (generation with first Thalia)
Big Car: "Imagine paying 4 times your annual salary for the car that you drive today"
Portuguese Viewers: *sweating profusely*
The Dacia Logan was a popular car here in Venezuela (sold under the Renault Logan name). Sadly Renault slowly dissapeared alongside Mazda, Nissan, Honda, Citroën, Peugeot and many others that imported cars instead of producing cars in the country like GM, Ford, Chrysler, Mitsubishi, Toyota and Hyundai did back then (right now the national production is paralyzed and you can only purchase imported cars without any kind of credit/loan, only in cash).
That's just so sad for a country that has one of the biggest oil reserves in the world.
It is sad montly salary probably its the biggest issue how are things in Venezuela now getting better??
Thanks for that. I've had my Duster for over a year now and still love it. I don't understand what's not to dislike. I chopped my A3 Sportback in for it and haven't looked back.
Dacia was such a popular brand they went back in time and named a country after it!
I am from Romania and I own my self a Dacia 1300 from 1979
Impressive ! :)
I would like to ad to the fact that Dacia did a sports car, it was called...Dacia Sport. It was just a 2 door Dacia 1310, but it's so special because Renault never made a 2 door variant of the car so it's kinda 100% romanian built. They are really sought after right now in Romania, great examples are worth up to 8.000 €. You can see the car at 6:46
Vrea cineva să dea 8000 e pe știfturile alea? Poate vreun colecționar. Am condus una, problema cu ele era tabla - slabă la 1300 în general, dar încă mai slabă la Dacia sport. În plus, de la uși în spate nu se găseau bucăți de caroserie de schimbat, așa că erau peticite și chituite la greu. Altfel, mai ușoară și cu același motor fiind, am făcut câteva chestii "off-road" din care m-am mirat că am trecut cu bine :-)))))
That’s a well researched video! Impressive. I grew up with and learned to drive on these cars and I never knew half the things you presented. A lot of nostalgia watching this! Great job mate!
Thanks Cristi!
Finally some Dacia content and also educative video!
Thanks Big Car!
Glad you liked it Costi.
@@BigCar2Good evening, mr. Big Car! My favourite Dacia car is the Logan(1st gen phase 1)!
My dad has a 2005 Logan(second-hand), first registered in 2005, but it become his everyday vehicle in 2009.
My granddad has a 2007 Logan MCV (brought from Germany), first registered in 2007, but it become his personal transport in 2020.
My granddad's car is still a second-hand vehicle
love my 71 reg sandero! had never considered Dacia in the past! loved these since i first saw one and thought ohh whats that!? so much better than the previous models.
Oi, Lodgy driver here! This car, despite it's nitpicks over the build quality, is actually a nice reliable MPV, already sitting very high in it's non-crossover variants. But I can't stand that 2nd gen of this model was stripped of their reliable petrol engines (using 1.6 l unit with 102 HP output through 5-speed manual gearbox) and left the diesel units only. Pity, I wanted to give the 2nd gen a try.
Have several friends that have got a Duster 4x4 for use in the rural winter locations they live in and the cars handle the conditions very well (snow covered country lanes). the Duster bodyshell looks very similar to the Nissan Qashqai to me.
This was a real eye-opener. I am glad I watched. Thank you and stay well!
What a brilliant video! And special congratulations for mentioning the D33 project -99% of Romanians never heard about it.
I would like to add:
1. Renault tricked VW twice
a. In the 60's Romania was about to produce VW beatle, but mr C. de Gaulle visit România and suddenly we switched on with Renault
b. In 99' soon after VW bought Skoda, we were discussing with Hyunndai, Renault came to the table, then VW contacted the Romanian Government to present the intention to buy Dacia too. Next week, Monday Renault was the announced winner of the bid
2. Dacia Solenza was never intended to sell so much, was mainly a school project for people at the factory to think and develop a product as Renault did.
Great video. I drove logan and duster, and it's really amazing how much of a car you can get for that money!!! If you are not crazy about build materials in the interior (they mostly use hard plastic) and luxury feeling, these cars are just great.
I drive the Dacia Duster 2021, it's a beast of a car, almost no cost of ownership, and 4wd all for less than 20000usd great brand
Good story that, I love the "trying to add value locally" way of doing things, and they seem to be be building decent cars.
Renault launched the Duster with their company logo in India. It became a massive hit. My parents have one. It's not the cheapest SUV in the Indian market but it's the cheapest from a European brand. We've had it for 8 years so far. Absolutely no issues and perfect for Indian roads that are more potholes than roads.
I was going to tell about pronunciation but then I saw your comment.
Anyway, after watching this video, I really want to congratulate you for an excelle t and very well documented video. Thank you!
Thanks! 😃
With a basic Ford Fiesta at nearly £17k, I bought the Sandero Stepway 2017 for just over £7k. I love its looks, it's cheap to run, its white goods on wheels, but it drives like you'd expect a modern hatchback to drive. There's absolutely nothing wrong with it, for the same money I was looking at Vauxhall viva, Ford KA etc, yet this beats those on shear size alone. The 0.9 TCE turbo engine is very lively out of eco mode and it really pulls, but getting 50 mpg+ around town. Has plastic wheel trims which look like very convincing alloys, so if you scratch them you can cheaply replace them. Robust materials inside, good radio with Bluetooth so you can play music from your smartphone, basically all you need in a car.
Recent history of Dacia was quite unknown to me...indeed I didn't know the name plate still existed, never mind that they were doing so well...maybe they should try Canada again!
Love the blooper reel on the end, too...
We had an 1310 combi in the early 1990's. It was an OK car, after my father spent countless hours replacing every critical part with Renault ones. It was barely a Dacia any more, but it served us well on a road trip from Budapest to Barcelona and back.
After the Ceausescus received their lifetime achievement awards from the people, used Dacias were in super high demand. People stood on the roadsides on Hungary, holding up cardboard signs: "Will buy Dacias!" My father sold ours to one of these guys and our next car was a Suzuki.
For a short period after comunism fell, you could import any car to Romania. The Romanians ditched their Dacias and bought old western cars. (They were still better than Dacia.) But this lasted only a few months, than the government decided that only cars not older than 8 years could be imported. Those were expensive and you had to pay customs for them. Excepted were Romanian cars, as these were considered reimports and no customs had to be payed.
So the Romanians reimported Dacias (and at some extent ARO) from the entire ex-comunist countries like especially Hungary and the GDR.
România4Life Salutari din România!Congrats for this guy who didn't forgot about us🙃
Have a 2022 Duster Prestige. Its 1/3 of my yearly income and I absolutely love it. Having so much for so little is mind boggling. I use and abuse it a lot- and its so far been the most reliable car I have ever had.
The Duster is the perfectly sized SUV and it drives very nice. We don't have/deserve them here.
Happy second gen Duster owner here 😎
And yeah, I originally started considering the brand after James May's jokes... Who later admitted that he actually does like the brand, jokes aside.
It's not pronounced Dashia, the "ci" in Dacia is the same as "ciao" in italian.
English Speaking People can't be bother to even TRY to pronounce foreign Words correctly.
As a Romanian I'm quite impressed by the level of your documentation for this video. You got one thing wrong though, the Romanian economy was very powerful at the time, but most of it's products went for export in exchange for western currency. This is why you saw people standing in line at the grocery store. It's not because they didn't have money, but because there was nothing to buy.
You should do a video on Tata Motors, and how they now own Jaguar and Land Rover, now that's a heck of story to talk about! I always look forward to you uploading a new video! Good stuff! Keep going!
Finally a company that has managers that save the company instead of killing it
Romanian here: Thank you for this video! I really enjoyed it!
Awesome Dacia History video . In 28 years i've been driving , i drove Audi to Volvo & a lot in between but my 2012 Sandero Base is the most reliable car i've driven with the best and fastest heater . Even more reliable than my Kia . I hope you will do Wartburg one day , since you did have the Knight version sold in Britain if i remember correctly ! Thanks again ; Greets from Flanders ,Belgium .
I don't believe my eyes what I am reading here.
Did you said your Sandero is even more reliable than your Kia!? Well, man, you should explain this to all those guys who think Korean cars are the most reliable in the world. I am not saying that those are not reliable but let's be honest though.
I'll drink a Stella Artois for you. Cheers or Noroc as we say in Romanian ( pronounced norok and has the meaning of good luck). 🍻
@@l.e.i.4111 I mean what i say as i live in a community that houses a lot of pensioners . 2 or 3 have been asking about my Sandero wich has led to me bringing them to my dealer to test one & my neighbor across from me being so impressed with my car that she bought a 2019 Sandero in highest trim . Mine will be 8 1/2 now with 91K km & the only thing that happened was a door pocket & door locking pin to become loose & 3 lightbulbs to replace . Only in July 2020 for the 1st time i needes new discs in front. Love this Sandero MkI . Had more trouble with my Kia Carens & Audi A4 Avant 1.8. Enjoy the Stella !
@@foudo13 👍Impressive.
My grandpa had a British racing green like 1300 back in the day. It was considered a upper middle class vehicle back then in east Germany. Fascinating how long it prevailed :-) you have a Lada video as well?
Credit to the homework you do for these videos . Informative and entertaining . Thanks
I think this was your best video yet! :) I saw an early Logan at a local used car dealer and thought that someone should save it (not me, as my wife would kill me), because THAT was the car that started Dacia´s new career.
Thanks. I was pretty happy with how the script came out.
What a fascinating story from a brand I don't really care for. Fair play Dacia! Thanks again Big Car! 😊
I like the high suspension and soft tires that is common across the modern Dacia lineup, the roads here are really bumpy and in the Dacia you can hear the bumps when driving over them but not feel them in your seat.
Renault saved Dacia. And Dacia's cars saved Renault in Brazil. We have all those Dacias here under Renault brand. You forgot to mention a very strong point from current Dacia's cars: they may be spartan but have very good internal space. A humble Logan may look small but has more internal space than a current Toyota Corolla and it's trunk is bigger too.
had a 2019 duster techroad for about 3 months now, fantastic car. Gloucester to bristol and back everyday in nothing but comfort
Great news!
It's a video about Dacia!
My dad worked in the ARO Factory, those were the best offroaders ever made in the world, he was testing them, and the test was quite brutal. He was also working inside the factory. (Campulung Old Factory).
As a romanian I just want to say :" Thank you!"
When I was kid my father owned a Dacia 1310. I remember lovely long trips through the mountains with it. It was a very simple car but I have good memories.
17:48 I think the new Dacia Sandero is a surprisingly good looking car.
I’d be more inclined to get one of those over the equivalent Clio it’s based on, not only is it supposedly half the price I think it’s a far more attractive car: in my opinion the Clio’s styling is an ugly mess.
I LLLLLOVED this! thanks mate, i learned a few things about this legend of a car. much love from Romania!!
I love Dacia. Though our insane taxes make them less affordable then they should be ( about twice the price of their counterparts in their home country :-X ) they are still cheap to run and very reliable. I think the pure no-nonsense simplicity and bare essentials are a statement in itself and I'm loving it as much as I did the more expensive German cars I used to drive.
Great video, as usual. You mentioned that dacia were prodused in South Africa. That's correct, the first sandero was built here by Nissan , and sold as a renault. Nissan is still building the dacia pick up. The Nissan np200 a top leller in sa and neighbouring countries.