1996 Dacia 1310 L 1.4 petrol from Romania

Summary:

Own one and you will get good driving skills and excellent mechanical knowledge

Faults:

I had to replace the water pump for the windshield washer at 4000km, never had to do it again afterwards.

I replaced two light bulbs from the tail lights during all these 5 years.

At 40000km I had to replace the bearing from the left rear wheel.

At 20000km I had to replace the joint bushes of the right front wheel.

I had the braking pads (front wheels) replaced every 8000 km as I am driving it quite hard.

General Comments:

If you want to take some performance out of the car you have first to do some adjustments of the engine yourself, and then you must scream the engine at 6000rpm. This is not a particularly good treatment for the engine but I have driven it this way the first 40,000km and nothing went wrong. A replacement of the cam shaft with a slightly sporty one is strongly recommended.

There are some strange noises coming from the dashboard when driving on bumpy roads.

The huge majority of problems are due to the bad Romanian roads and especially to the careless drivers who are expecting the reliability of a Rolls Royce from a 3000 USD car.

Overall, the car needs to be taken care of, but if you do that it is quite rewarding to see that it drives nicely afterwards.

One more thing to have in mind when you appreciate the car: even though it is so cheap, there are a lot of Romanians that can only dream about having a new one.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 5th March, 2001

27th Mar 2001, 07:35

Did anyone smash the front screen by tipping the passenger seat? The head rest connected with the glass, I laughed at the bad design.

28th Apr 2001, 23:50

I have to disagree, my Uncle has had his Dacia since 1973 and the little thing is still running strong. I live in Canada and let me tell you, if ANY North American was faced with the conditions the Dacia is faced with the car would come apart. On a recent trip back I saw a brand new Chrysler 300M and the thing looked beat to pieces, none of the body seams lined up and the front end was out of alignment. I would have to say that the Dacia is the perfect car for Romania, it is durable, simple and cheap to fix. He just bought a brand new Dacia 1600 Drop Side, and having driven it let me tell you, it is an awesome car for what you pay for, decently powerful, great brakes and handles well. It could be worst guys, you remember the Trabant, Olcit and the Dacia Lastun??

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1999 Dacia 1310 L 1.4 gas from Romania

Summary:

Cheap car, cheap car parts but no quality!

Faults:

You can expect everything to go wrong! My first Dacia from 1979 is more reliable than the new one! Electricals, suspension, carburettor. It can go wrong but anyone can fix it.

Strange sounds from everywere, leaks, no insulation inside. It is like Dracula's castle!

General Comments:

It is very cheap (3000 usd) but if you fix one problem, it will find another so be brave and try not to fix if it is not important!

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 14th November, 2000

5th Mar 2001, 04:20

I had my Dacia since September 1996 and I haven't encountered any major difficulties. The car is extremely cheap, even when you buy it new. When you appreciate this car you have to take into account that it is at least 3 times cheaper than any other car in its class. In this case you shouldn't be surprised that it takes about 15 seconds to accelerate from 0 to 100km/h, nor by the multitude of noises, comming mainly from the dashboard.

Indeed, it is annoying to have a top speed of 140km/h (I drove mine with 160 and nothing bad happened), but the main problems of the car are due to the bad roads in Romania, and the careless drivers who don't take care of them. They should understand that a car that costs only 3000 USD when it's brand new cannot have the reliability of a Rolls Royce. You have to remember that this is the only new car affordable for the vast majority of the Romanians, not to mantion that not few of them can only dream about a new Dacia.

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1991 Dacia 1310 TLE 1.3 from Romania

Summary:

Very cheap, but very poor quality

Faults:

Almost everything.

I had to fix (read re-build!) most of the parts, from engine to paint, from electric circuits to chairs.

If you rely on the original spares, you can replace the same part twice in two months.

With some Renault 12 replacements (more expensive) you might have a chance.

General Comments:

Is one of the cheapest cars in the world, but the quality is alike.

You have one year/10 000 km warranty, but you have to pay tips to the workers in the service to get it fixed "for free". And you might expect problems any time, even in the warranty period.

You cannot leave the city without a complete toolkit, and some mechanical knowledge. Otherwise you might get stuck in the middle of the road.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 23rd May, 2000

27th Apr 2001, 15:33

You are right. The painting, the steel, all the materials are of very poor quality, but it is fun: you buy one and in about 2-3 km you can begin to repair something. It will be never OK, something will be out of order any time, but you will be able to travel where you want ignoring the situation, the engine will work for about 40000-70000 km without repairing.

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