Used Dacia Sandero cars for sale

Used Dacia Sandero pros and cons

Is a second hand Dacia Sandero a good car?

The Dacia Sandero is a small hatchback with a small price, and it’s beloved by canny car buyers who’ve worked out that although much cheaper than other small cars, the Sandero is at least as good, and often better, than the rest. It’s like finding out that the supermarket’s own-brand cereal is tastier than Frosties. 

If you’re expecting hair-shirt minimalism on the inside, prepare to be surprised. Okay, so the Sandero isn’t the last word in style and luxury in the cabin, but this model has an interior that’s a  big step up from the cheap and grey look of the previous Sandero.

There’s good visibility all-round, and adequate legroom and headroom in the rear, although if you want more of that, go for a SEAT Ibiza instead. At 328 litres, the Sandero’s boot isn’t the biggest in the class (that’s the Skoda Fabia with 380 litres) but it’s fine. 

Just as you don’t expect luxury from a Sandero, you don’t expect sports car-like handling either, and the Dacia duly, er, doesn’t deliver. However, it’s certainly not bad with light steering which is good around town (but rather too light at higher speeds and on twisty roads). Basically, the Sandero is good at what most people will want it to do — school runs, the ‘big shop’, the odd run down the country to visit relatives. It’s even quite refined and comfortable on longer journeys, so it’s a solid all-rounder.

There’s a question mark over safety — Euro NCAP only gave the Sandero two stars, a very poor rating, but Dacia hit back saying that the Sandero is a fundamentally safe car, and it only gets marked down because it doesn’t have some of the more expensive electronic safety systems, which it says its customers aren’t interested in anyway.

What to look for when buying a used Dacia Sandero

Dacia’s reputation for reliability is good — as shown by the fact that the Dacia Duster finished first overall in the Driver Power Top 50 Cars To Own survey. Meanwhile, Dacia as a brand finished in 22nd place out of 32 brands in the overall customer satisfaction survey, with 22% of owners reporting a problem with their car — a relatively low number. 

There have been reports of problems with the bi-fuel LPG system inducing rough-running and automatically switching back to petrol power, so beware of that. Thankfully, Dacia has an extended warranty programme, which runs for as much as six years, so it’s worth seeking out a Sandero that’s still covered.