riv

Following on from the discussion as to how expensive second hand cars are in Portugal, I am psyching myself up to buying a new car , and have seen online only good reviews of the latest model of the Dacia Duster.

Just wondering if anyone has already bought one and / or has experience of Dacia dealers in the Algarve area ?

EU.flag

https://www.euroncap.com/en/results/dacia/duster/29898

Moses2013

That's the thing though and Dacia buyers won't even mind if it was 1 star safety rating. Those looking for a new cheap SUV type car see the 3 stars as a bonus, so due to price it always gets good reviews if you can save 5K. I was looking at cars myself last week and did have a look at it but not impressed. I also had a look at Kia Stonic, Hyundai Bayon, Nissan Juke and Seat Arona as I'm not prepared to buy Hybrid now. After a test drive the Arona tops the list for me. Not too big, good ground clearance and value, nice features.

Alan PT

Arona is a nice car, kind of an Ibiza on stilts. But not really a fair comparison with a Duster as it's starting price is a good 30% more.

Be slightly careful of cross comparing the Euro NCAP ratings, as they evolve from year to year, so a model which got 5* a few years ago might only get 3* now

Moses2013

Must say I'm looking in Ireland and cars are more expensive here anyway. The price difference between the Dacia Duster Prestige and best offer I got for Seat Arona XP was 3.000€. The bigger boot you get with Dacia is a bonus but have no kids and with the seats folded it's more than enough for me. Since we drive a lot to Spain it just felt better for the price and want a good balance between city and long distance driving.

sportpix

After seeing Jeremy Clarkson review the Dacia I have not looked at them myself. However, this thread has made me think seriously about what to buy when I get back and I have spent the weekend looking at the websites of many manufacturers, except Dacia, that is. I’m more sure I’m any further forward for my research and possibly more confused. My wife thinks we should look at EV or hybrid models, and with the cost of fuel in Portugal being so high she certainly has a point. She asked me (as she has still not been to PT) whether there are many charging stations but I can’t remember as I was not been looking for them previously. Is there a benefit with hybrid as opposed to EVs? In HK we have a huge first registration tax so new cars are very expensive. Does Portugal have the same? With money still being cheap to borrow I’m wondering whether to buy a new car on the drip.

Alan PT

Charging network in PT is fairly good, but still the obvious benefit of hybrid over pure EV is that you can go more than a few hundred kms without having to stop for a hour or two to recharge. Depending on your use, that may or may not be a problem (if you only go a long distance once or twice a year, maybe it makes sense to hire a car for those journeys)

Hybrids that charge off the engine seem a bit pointless to me (in theory they are a little more economical but I'm dubious whether that is really true in the real world), but plug-in hybrids make a lot more sense - electric for short, low speed trips, add in combustion power for less frequent journeys at higher speed/longer distance.

You won't make the numbers stack up vs combustion in purely financial terms, but financial reasons are only a part of most peoples purchase decision

Moses2013

Everyone will have different needs, so if it's self-charging, plug-in hybrid or EV only you will know what makes sense. https://www.theportugalnews.com/news...motoring/63227
Personally I don't see the benefit right now because I drive long distances, so will just stick with petrol now until there are better deals and cars available. If you only drive to the supermarket, EVs seem like a good choice but then you are not really saving money either and would be better off cycling if it was really about saving money. Our neighbor bought a Toyota Corolla hybrid but she said it's not as efficient as she expected it to be and what puts me off is that all are automatic, might suit others.

riv

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After seeing Jeremy Clarkson review the Dacia I have not looked at them myself.
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But I don't think he HAS reviewed the current , new, version of the Duster. Or at least the only reviews I can find online connected with J C relate to previous versions.

The reviews you can find on Youtube all major on how much of an improved version the latest one is ~various refinements normally available in more expensive cars.

sportpix

Good PN story. Having had three Volvo XC60s I’m leaning towards an XC40 as I think that will be plenty big enough for me and my golf clubs and then the wife when she finally gets to PT. The plug in hybrid seems to come out well on some of the reviews. Not sure how much stock to put into such things as inducements are often given to write favorable spin.

Alan PT

Car reviewers are rarely openly dishonest, but manufacturers don't fly them to nice places and feed them nice food just because they are friendly people, they recognise the unconscious bias it creates. But in any case, reviewers will rate according to their own bias and a 20 year old will often have quite a different experience with a car to a 60 year old. Not to mention Mr Clarkson, who I find highly entertaining but who never tried or claimed to be an impartial, fact based reviewer!

Car brands are a funny thing too, there's a lot of historical emotion attached which may or may not be relevant today. People get sniffy about Romanian Dacia (actually French owned for over 20 years), not about Swedish Volvo (actually Chinese owned for over 10 years). People only kind of came to that realiisation (a bit) with Audi/VW/Seat/Skoda since they were quite blatant about it

Bottom line - other peoples opinions are actually much less useful than your own in making a decision

macliam

I agree. In the UK, when faced by needing to replace our old car with something in the present climate, I realised I only needed a small, efficient vehicle. Having driven the old SEAT Arosa in Portugal, I looked at the SEAT Mii and found that there were two for sale quite close to me. All the UK press were saying the Mii was "similar to the VW Up! and the Skoda Citigo, but with little to recommend it". Well, good for me - personally, I didn't like the lego-car look of the Up! (I think it's that glass tailgate) and I didn't like much of what I saw from the Citigo in terms of colourways, etc. However, I looked at a metallic black Mii "Design", four doors and a "conventional" look apart from a few styling details. Then I took it for a test drive and was amazed how nippy it was, how capable the tiny engine seemed to be and how much space it allowed me and my 6ft passenger. It's like a tardis inside, able to clip along quite nicely while using minimal fuel and is comfortable (although the suspension is quite hard on rough roads). 2 months later, I'm still really pleased with it - and I drove it 5-hours each way on a cross-country jaunt at Christmas!

Think what you really need and then try for yourself.... you might be surprised!