In Denmark we have a taxi company that runs Dacia Lodgy cars, and some cars in their fleet has run 1M kilometers with almost nothing but normal wear parts on the service history. Amazing economy

The duster is a small suv, the Sandero is a hatchback.

There is a saying here in Romania among mechanics, which translates to: Volkswagen and BMWs are in the auto workshops, the Dacia is on the streets, clocking miles.

Ayy, Romanian here :D Also the "ci" in Dacia is pronounced the same as "ci" in "ciao" italian. My dad had a 1310, then a 1st gen Dacia Logan since 2004. He still has it, bought new for about 5K euro, never broke down. And a new Dacia Duster 2023, top of the line 4x4 150hp engine for 21K.

When Dacia got bought by Renault, the french company decided to make the new Dacia models using the old Renault technology, engines, panels, etc. who were proven very reliable and had a budget price, while Renault developed new technology on the main brand. So Dacia became the budget brand of Renault on the european markets.

I drive a DACIA Dokker since 2017 and find it is an incredible value for its price. Fun fact: My car comes from a romanian brand, owned by a french brand and build in Marocco! 😅👍👍👍

Dacia are pretty good cars actually. We have them in Norway too - well done, Romania!

The yellow pickup had the hood scoop because the hood was design to be on a gas car and they put a naturally aspirated 1.9 diesel Renault engine in the pickups which didn't clear the hood. So then they just cut a hole in it and put a hood scoop to clear the engine. That was some cheap engineering at the time but you could identify the engine in those from a mile away.

Dacia is owned by the French Renault car company now, and they use Renault engines and underpinnings. They used to use superseded Renault tech, which were tried and tested designs needing no new R&D, which could be made and sold cheaply. Nowadays, Dacia cars are pretty modern, more stylish and better equipped, and whilst still good value, not quite as cheap as they were a decade back.

I bought 2. gen. Sandero in 2020, brand new for 9070€! They were lot cheaper few years back. I drive it every day, it is handling surprisingly good. Great car for that money.

Dacia is a beloved brand here in Romania. The engineers who worked on it put a lot of soul into their creation. There are also rich people who prefer a Dacia Duster because they don't want to waste money on a famous brand when Dacia offers them similar performance.

Interesting that you discovered Dacia! These Dusters are very popular in Europe, in fact the best selling SUVs over here. I have a 2019 Duster w. 4wd and a torquey diesel engine, a very good combination. It also has a 6 speed manual trans. Been very reliable in spite of the low price.

Hello. I have a Dacia Logan since January 2008. I don't really use it anymore, I have another car that I use every day, I drive the Logan only occasionally but it served me faithfully for years. No major expenses other than those for consumables and fuel. I also use it when going to work and on holidays. I've been with it in Greece, in Poland, on mountain roads or on highways and it has never put me to shame in front of other more expensive and better rated cars. When I bought it, I paid almost 11,000 euros because it was top of the range in terms of equipment at that time. It has air conditioning, on-board computer, front and rear electric windows, electrically adjustable and heated side mirrors, central locking with remote control, CD audio system with 4 speakers from Blaupunkt, power steering, ABS, EBD. The new models are much better equipped, including a start-stop system, keyless operation, cruise control, lane assist, hill assist, etc. The engine in my car is 1.5 dCi, i.e. 1.5 liter turbodiesel, common rail injection. The version on my car has 90 hp. The same engine in various power versions is also found on other cars from the Dacia range, but also on Renault and Nissan models, including one of the Mercedes class A variants. As for performance, 0-100 km/h in about 11 seconds and as the maximum speed, I went with it at 174 km/h on the GPS. this is because I have a 5-speed manual gearbox. Newer models with the same engine but 6-speed gearbox reach 190 - 200 km/h. It has the best consumption if you go on a long road constantly somewhere between 110 and 130 km/h. The consumption is somewhere around 4.3 liters per hundred km without air conditioning and about 4.8 liters per hundred km with the air conditioning on. In the city it consumes between 5 and 7 liters per 100 km depending on the traffic. All in all I am very pleased with it. It is a constitutive car. It doesn't offer you I don't know what, but it doesn't claim to either, and it does surprisingly well what it says it offers. The next car in its place will almost certainly be a Logan, obviously the new generation.

you missed the Dacia Spring, the cheapest all electric you could find and for the price, the range is really good (as a commuter car)! Also: Dacia are popular not only because they are cheap but also because they are incredibly reliable, they rate very high in the relialibility charts, mainly because they use less parts and the parts they use are from old models from Renault that have already been improved while they were sold on more expensive cars.

Our car is a Dacia Duster I am wheelchair disabled and it is easier to transfer into as it has an optional foot rest along the outside. Incidentally it is smashing on flooded roads. The space at the back is fab too. We got the 4x2 version.

I drive a 2021 Dacia Duster as a job car. I'm totally amazed by it. A cheap car that competes and most of the time beats the expensive cars of it's class

A few details about Dacia: - it is called after Dacia land (first wiki page you opened) - used to be budget brand, not so much anymore, at least compared to the local average income) - it is a brand owned by Renault - Dacia cars are reliable, with average maintenance costs - they use really small engines (0.9 to 1.3 liter petrol engines)

Good news! Very good quailty, low cost cars. Reliable too. I see lots of them on the street. If you don't have a big budget, these are worth a look.

The badge snobs hate them and value conscious people who think all the high tech rubbish isn’t needed love them! I’ve had 3, Duster 4x4 150 bhp tce Prestige, Sandero Stepway Prestige 0.9 tce 90 bhp cvt and currently a Jogger 140 bhp hybrid Extreme which is perfect for getting my Bull Mastiffs in. I also have an older BMW e60 525i and tbh all the Dacia’s actually have more tech and equipment than that does 🤷🏻‍♂️. My Jogger still has all the airbags, active braking, blind spot alert, sos call system, climate, cruise, touchscreen with CarPlay, heated seats etc. It’s a 7 seater but you can remove the rear two seats and you have a huge load area. They actually sell a sleep pack for it which turns the rear into a double bed with storage as well as a tailgate tent. Very practical cars.

Lodgy owner here. Very happy with my "voâturescu romanescu" made in Morocco 👍 Cheap, reliable, 7 seats. Perfect for our needs in Europe and I will put in tho boat when I retire to Africa where my old Kangoo already awaits us.

Dacias are known for having the opposite philosophy of luxury sports cars, basically using the minimally viable motor/horsepower and infotainment system. But considering that most European countries aren't Germany and are limited to 120/130km/h on highways anyway this usually doesn't matter. Especially onsidering most people only move their own ass plus maybe one passenger and or three days of groceries, so you'll never need it unless you absolutely want fast acceleration.

Dacia1100 and 1300 were Renault 8 and 12

I drive a 2014 Duster 4x4 diesel, chose it because it seemed to be the best fuel economy 4x4 on sale at the time, can get 60mpg on long journeys. 228k miles and been very reliable, only had to change alternator, lower control arm and a rubber hose. New rrp was £14,000 in 2014, but a base spec petrol 2x4 Duster Access was £8,995 back then. They also now sell an LPG Duster, and in LHD markets there is an EV called Spring.

‼️Dacia just unveiled the Dacia Sandrider, their 2025 Dakar Rally Car with a 360 HP Nissan engine. One of the pilots is Sebastian Loeb

19:58 - Commercial means they are work vehicles, usually with only two seats and a cargo area in the back.

the 1.5dci engine owned by Renault is used by Dacia, Nissan, infiniti and Mercedes. I put over 650 thousand kilometres on my Renault Fluence, never once gave me any problems

We have a Dacio Sandero Stepway (the higher riding semi SUV version). Old logo version. Very reliable 1.5 liter 4 cylinder turbodiesel engine that Mercedes also put in the Smart. Great engine. Manual shift of course (5 speed). Good looks. No problems with that car. You see the low price level in some small finishing details, but they are really very good value for the money. The trick is to use the same instrument panels, buttons, seats and such in different models. And most of the tech is Renault so any mechanic in France can repair them. Parts are affordable too. The Duster SUV comes in frontwheel drive and in 4x4; the latter does pretty well in offroad use. Our Sandero consumes close to 5 liters of diesel per 100 km. What's that, 60 miles to the gallon?

I remember one Dacia commercial where they used "Another bites the dust" but changed it to "Another one buys a Duster"

May: Good News! Clarkson: What? May: the new Dacia Sandero will come to Britian!

Dacia i think is today the cheapest car brand you can get in Europe. 20 years ago it was Lada, Skoda and so on.

Hi, Ian! Nice video! I'm an owner of a Dacia 1300 from 1979 (pretty much just like the one at 11:58 except mine is red) and what I can tell you about owning one is that they do indeed break quite a lot, but they are ridiculously easy to repair also because the engine bay was designed in such a way that you have a lot of space. Because they are so repair-friendly, you could say they are quite eco-friendly as well since there still a lot of elderly people daily driving them. I don't daily drive it, it's just for car meets and parades and everytime we take it out for a spin, people turn their heads since this is still considered Romania's people's car and many people have fond memories about them. About later models, I like the early 2000 models more than the current ones as they were basiclly refreshed designes of the same late 60's car they were producing for over 30 years. They looked retro, while still being somewhat modern, especially after 2000 when they introduced EFI and Euro 2 catalyzers (on the same engine they used for more than 30 years). That's also why I think I will buy a 2004 Dacia 1310 (2004 being the last year of production) and daily drive it. Modern Dacia's just look boring in my opinion. They look soulless and made out of plastic. Older ones have an unmistakeable engine sound, when you close the doors they sound like pure metal, the clutch pedal always squeaks, the car always smells like petrol etc. It just feels alive. Anyway, I will now try to attach a few KZfaq links that are relevant to the topic. And again, great video! Cheers from Romania! :) Last Dacia 1310 (21st of July 2004) kzfaq.info/get/bejne/ftSPlJpmnMDLiGw.htmlsi=6R4yydD_87Tns-sM 1998 (no, not '88, it's from '98) Carburated Dacia 1310: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/iJx9rLaet5q5aIU.htmlsi=M5-077u2Czji9tDb 2003 Dacia 1310 with EFI: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/pLR0fcyAtLqpaHU.htmlsi=UcBWuFv0Sc5pAwVs

That Dacia PickUp is traditionally called Papucl, meaning Slipper because of its shape. The Papuc car was the first 4X4 Dacia and it was and still is very popular for farmers as it is a very durable car, easy to fix, cheap to fix too and very versatile.

The current Dacia duster you saw in the commercial is the best looking Duster of all the generations

My first car was a 1973 Renault 12 Gordini, but a lot of the parts on it were from Dacia 1300's because they were interchangeable and they were still making them well into the 90s.

you do have dacia in US for sure, there is actually a club where people drive old Dacias in a parade like fashion once a year.

Romania had the following companies: Dacia ARO UTB (for tractors) Roman (Trucks and buses) IAR (Airplanes especially military jets) DAC (Another truck company) Olcit Daewu (I don't know exactly if it was 100% Romanian, but I know they had a factory locally) Right now in Romania are factories for: Ford Dacia Iveco (and I don't know if there are others too)

Been driving 2018 Dacia Sandero for a year, bought it for 4k€ it has all i need; cruise, A/C etc. With 0.9 tce engine its most economical car to run I've ever had, around 4,4l/100km (64mpg).

Dacia was quite popular in the GDR. They made Renault cars in license. The Dacia 1300 was a Renault 12 in license. The rally lights were quite popular in the GDR in the 80's. The license plate says it is registered in Halle/Saale.

Good cars. Really. Reliable . Many with 500k + miles on the clock. Also since you said it, Romania produces: cars, trucks, busses, trains, trams, ships, planes, plane engines and more.

I feel like 80% of the rental car fleet in Iceland is the Dacia Duster. It's EVERYWHERE. That's a testament of toughness. Now I want one to toss around everywhere.

The logo always reminds me of the DeLorean logo.

Very popular in the Uk .Basically taken over where Skoda was say 15 years ago .Owned by Renault .I think some of there cars use say the Clio drivetrain /engine from a previous model line . Seems very popular in South America though often badged Renault in those markets .In Colombia where they are assembled for instance I think they are the most popular model line in the country . They are cheap ,but not terrible by any means .

you can look over the ARO, is an old romanian offroad car and was used in military and was a daily car. It will be intresting if you make a reaction

I have a station wagon from Dacia and it taken me around everywhere even on gravel roads.

20 years ago, first dacia were sold in france, there were 1 years wait to have a car. the second cars dacia cars were more expensive than the brand new one, because of the wait

It is a budget brand from Romania that has always been associated with the Renault concern. During the communist era, it produced the Renault 12 under license. Dacia Duster is an off-road SUV with a manual gearbox, 4X4 reduction gear (Nissan) and engines from the Japanese company Nissan (used in the Nissan Juke model). The best is the 4x4 petrol version with factory LPG refueling installation . It meets high ecological standards and is very cheap to operate (a liter of liquid gas costs USD 0.72). Perfect for trips to the forest for a 2+2 family

Hey man, great clip! Dacia started building cars under license from Renault in '66. Dacia 1100 is actually the Renault 8, Dacia 1300-1410 is the Renault 12.

Hi Ian Dacia was founded by a partnership between Renault and Romania in the 60's. The 1st model was the 1100, a Renault 8 mounted in Romania. Then they made the 1310, 1410 and so on, all based on the Renault 12. There were pick ups, coupés, 5 door versions, which didn't exist here in France, all based on the Renault 12. The Securitate (local secret police) had Dacias 2000, simply rebadged Renault 20. Anywhere else Dacia cars are sold as Renault cars.

I typically don't subscribe to reaction channels, but that cat has won me over. Nice move ;)

Im suprised to hear that the company is that old, I don't think I heard of them or saw any Dacia cars in real life until maybe sometime around 2010 when the Sandero was first launched, I guess they really ramped up production and became more mainstream/international after Renault took over, which makes sense since Renault is one of the biggest manufacturers in the world, they have the resources, facilities and know-how to help a small manufacturer grow quite quickly

@19:00 those prices are with RABLA program where you trade your old car in.

At 12:50 I saw your figurine back there and it was based on the exact model AND color you were wathing on the wikipedia 😅

S.C. Automobile Dacia S.A. is owned by Renault S.A.

Nice that you have taken the time to do this video for Dacia. I'm from Romania.

I bought my brandnew Dacia Sandero 12 years ago for 8000 Euros. This was about 1/3 of the price of a VW Golf, which size is similar to the Sandero. I'm 100 percent satisfied with it, not missing all the little unnecessary things, which make other cars expensive and heavy

6:16 We got the Sandero Stepway III 2022 Bi-Full. 90 hp on euro95 (petrol) and 100 hp on LPG. It’s ouwer 3th Dacia. The first two were te biggest models. Dacia Lodgy. Bothe were diesels.

As a romanian, i want to thank you for covering this. Last year i bought a Sandero Stepway, in the Extreme configuration. It has the bi-fuel Eco-g 100 engine. Excelent for fuel costs. It's FWD, but has the Extended Grip system from Renault. I tested it in the forest of Romania, both on muddy and snowy roads. I was quite impressed. Of course, it's not on the same level as a 4×4, but it could save you from a nasty situation. I truly love this car, and i'm looking forward to the Bigster.

Was one of the first ones to buy a Dacia Duster in 2010. Never regretted the purchase ! The car passed the TÜV every time since then without any problems :) (edited for spelling mistake)

my wife has a Dacia Sandero since 2008 and so far it has not had any defects

Dacia Sandero it almost surpassed the sales of the tesla model y, placing it in 2nd place at the European level after the tesla model y

James May of Top Gear / Grand Tour fame was always banging the Dacia Sandero drum! Good News!!!!

Tge synmbol is the first is made of the letters "D" and "a", but a bit more stylish. Pretty cool. Resembles an X so it's kinda catchy.

Dacia is constantly being improved and has cool, sleek lines Greetings 🇪🇺🇳🇱

My grandpa has a 2019 Dacia Duster. It´s quite a bang for the buck, but you notice the lower cost right when you touch it anywhere. The doors feel quite lightweight as does the steering wheel. And lots of scratchy plastic in the interior. I bought a Škoda Karoq last year and I can’t complain. It’s about 200-300k CZK more expensive than a Duster though. Dacia Jogger hybrid is an excellent budget 7 seater in my opinion.

you should check Automobile ARO another brand of auto that was made in romania

The most common rental car here in Iceland is a duster, they just rack endless miles and are know to be super reliable. Its not easy being a rental car, especially here in Iceland.

Well they brand themselves as the status symbol for those who don't need status symboles. I like that attitude.

The Dacia 1300, from 1973, is a Renault 12. Very very popular in Australia in the 70's. Rode well on our bad roads - that magic French suspension. Were made here or put together here via CKD - Complete Knock Down. Last forever. Feels like driving a large car. Came in awesome pastel colours like our famous Kingwood's and Falcons and Valiants. Until lead was banned. The same car was sold in Turkey under a Turkish car maker. Lada sold the Samara and little 4wd Niva here in Australia. The Niva being very durable. Peter Brock even was involved with a version of the Samara. Can see on KZfaq on Australian car adverts/research.

Second car manufacturer in Romania, after Dacia is Ford with models like Ecosport, Puma and some vans.

We also had Aro, first turbocharged diesel 4x4 and the first with (if i remember correctly) independent suspension on a 4x4. You should also do a video about the om601-om606 engines from mercedes. There are multiple om606 with more than 600hp and revving to 7-8k (as a idi diesel)

Awesome reaction and yes its another car from romania call ARO the suv 4x4

Hi Ian and greetings from Europe! A fairly intriguing and interesting topic about the car and truck brands from Europe that americans aren't familiar with... and vice versa. Though us Europeans are mostly familiar with your brands since they are somehow present on our market as well. We are exempt from most of the model line, and so was in the past due to american cars being too big for our roads, parking lots and garages, also large fuel consumption and import costs. Yeah there are some american brands like Rivian, Fisker, Buick... from the defunct ones Oldsmobile, Pontiac (there were two or three models from Pontiac in European market as well...) beautiful cars. You can see them only on car collector events. As for European ones there is quite some major ones in car segment. You've mentioned Opel, Renault, Škoda, Dacia, Lada. There are also: - Lancia - Citroén - Peugeot - Seat - Cupra From old defunct ones Rover, Saab (not so interesting since they were available in US as well) and also some eastern european ones like Wartburg or FSO. Russians also have Zil, Volga or newer Aurus. There are a lot more of them defunct or present. But these I guess are/were the major ones. On bus and truck market there is much more of unknown stuff. There are a lot of Turkish brands present nowadays, like: - Otokar - Temsa and -Anadolu Isuzu - Mercedes Benz (Truck and bus) - Volvo (Truck and bus) - Solaris (Bus) - Neoplan (Bus/German) - Setra (Bus/German) - Scania (Bus and truck) - Iveco (Truck and bus - very popular) - Daf (Truck) - VDL (Bus) - Van Hool (Bus) - Heuliez Bus (Bus) - MAN (Truck and Bus) There are also Ford and Renault trucks present in Europe. In the past there was a lot of Magirus Deutz which is now incorporated into other brands. Hope you find some of these data interesting and useful for maybe another video. Kind regards and good luck with new videos.

Dacia was something of a latecomer to the major European manufacturer scene, but the brand's gradual resurrection since the 1990s is a success story on par with that of Škoda. 🙂 Romania used to have another passenger car brand in the pre-1990s era, Oltcit, a collaboration with Citroen, but it didn't last long. The name was a combination of Citroen and Oltenia, the latter a name of a southern Romanian historical region. (Probably where they assembled those Romanian Citroens ?) The fact that Dacia stuck around and narrowly survived, was by the 1990s, about one of the few positive legacies of the former Romanian dictatorship. A by-and-large local car brand that would slowly recover by the 2000s and then start getting successful internationally. Since Romania is a Romance-speaking country and has long historical ties with France, it's no surprise their passenger car brands collaborated closely with French car-makers in the post-WWII years and that Dacia as the main surviving car maker became a subsidiary of Renault. The Dacia Logan from twenty years ago was the first one since the Renault takeover that became a real breakout model, much like the Felicia and especially the Octavia did for Škoda back in the mid-to-late 1990s. Funnily enough, the Logan has also sold just fine in other markets where Renaults and other French cars are commonly sold and seen. Including North African ones. You laugh, but even in The Bourne Ultimatum, which premiered in 2007, one scene where Jason Bourne evades the police in Tangiers, Morocco, has the local police driving a Dacia Logan patrol cruiser. I've always found that detail cute. :-) Back then, people were appreciative of Dacia finally breaking out internationally, but I doubt anyone would have predicted how well it would do by the early 2020s. Volkswagen has Škoda as its older Czech sis who often even outperforms some Volkswagen sales, and Renault has Dacia as its younger sister that's also selling very well in a lot of niches that Renault might not always cover.

Dacia 1300 was based on Renault 12.

Regarding to the logo, the current logo that you see on the 1st advert is a D and C joined together so it read Dacia, before it had the full name like Porsche until last year where they did some rebranding. It is a very good brand for the money, simple mechanical car, with general quality interior to take you from A to B. Using older renault parts, engines, etc... makes them actually more reliable than current renaults 😂

Bought the 2022 Duster with 5 year warranty, good car so far. I like the height, I can go offroad easily. They are skimping on everything though, you get it with 3l fuel, no engine liquid

When you do a video about Opel I highly recommend looking into their older models. Their ‚golden era‘ kind of ended in the 2000s. But they used to be a premium brand with very luxurious and sporty cars.

Once I saw a YT video from a guy who made animations. One was transforming a wrench into the (new) Dacia logo, the other was a scissor jack transformed to the Renault logo. Burned into my brain... 🙃

A Romanian vehicle that sold a lot in the 80s and beginning of the 90 in the states was Aro 10 hunter ot may be under a different name bat was a great 4×4

I have a Sandero stepway, love my car. I chose Sandero over Duster because I'm short and its a bit more difficult to get in and the seatbelts weren't so comfortable. Also, Sandero has the display higher, closer to the "road". And it's smaller, easier to park in cities

Super interesting video for me as a car salesman working at a Renault/Dacia dealership! 😅

Nice video, Dacia is really famous here in Romania, I think one of every 3 cars you see on the streets is a Dacia car. They even make a fully electric car, called Dacia Spring. I believe it's the cheapest electric car in Europe. Anyway Dacia is pronounced like Da"chi"a, chi being the same as in chili.

When the Sandero first went on sale in the UK in 2013, it started at just £5995 (£6195 with a radio/stereo). But that was a really basic model called the Access that they don't do anymore.

Greetings to America from the republic of Romania !

we have 4x4 dusters as government owned companies cars here in Latvia

The mighty Dacia, as Hubnut would say! I think it is pronounced "Dacha".

the cat just chilling in the background

The funny car @23:32 is more or less a Renault 12. The car was very popular in northern Africa, very simple mechanics and easy to maintain.

I own a Dacia Dokker Express van and I love it. :D

Ford of Europe would also be worth taking a look at. And the Seat/Cupra brands.

everywhere i go in romania, i always see a dacia logan or duster sometimes a lodgy or even an old solenza or break (or even the 1200!)

The amateur race car you saw is the Dacia Logan Cup. Great little thing Dacia made as an entry level car years ago. I used to race one for a couple of years. Low cost, easy maintenance. Beautiful. And competitors on the track usually kept a respectful distance. Why? Not because you were faster. But because any possible dent in your Dacia would cost just a couple of bucks to fix.

3 years ago the sandero was under 10K in germany. I think Dacia wouldnt sell well in the US because most new american cars do 0-60 in under 10 seconds and got more standart features.

The best thing about Dacia is that they use proven 'old' technology from the Renault group. Generally, in addition to being simpler, they have a very high reliability rate considering their price. On the other hand, the bi-fuel gasoline/GLP (eco-g) model is quite sought and is quite appreciated. AND! They are models with very low depreciation compared to much more expensive and better equipped standard cars. Without clearly mentioning the screw-up of the PureTech engines. Today, anyone who has a Peugeot, or other brands in the stellantis group (It's an authentic apocalypse, the timing belt problem), tears their hair out thinking that they could have chosen a cheaper car that is practically equally equipped and with much better reliability lol.. They are really the workhorses for a lot of people. So much, that its industrial van model sold under the Dacia brand was passed to the main Renault company, because it was practically leaving them without sales of their main brand. The bifuel model is one of the 'culprits' that makes people not even consider switching to full electric or hybrid. ps: I have ridden a Model 3 and a new Sandero relatively recently, and my God, TESLA has worse finishes and adjustments, that car creaks everywhere and the interior rolling noise is incredibly bad, but by far. The level is very high, Dacia is teaching the rest of the brands that a 'cheap' car can be assembled with very high quality controls and qualities in general.

I have a Duster 2016 Diesel Manual, I have all season tires and it eats snow and ice for breakfast

One of the best looking models is a Dacia Logan STCC which is very rare ( I think they only made 1 model of it ) and it was used for racing, there's a few vids of it around the internet

In Germany the Sandero and Duster are pretty common but Dacia was very looked down upon in the Car szene bc they are the "cheap brand" of Renault, which some people by itself view cheap and not reliable(it literally said Dacia by Renault on the back). They were also probably the cheapest cars you can buy here new, so that didnt help the image. The old ones really were "bland" cars but the newer models are slowly changing peoples opinions about the brand. Probably also bc new German models are getting so expensive but German brand loyalty is still strong here so any foreign car always gets shit on here. You should look up some Duster offroading videos, they are very capable offroad Machines as 4x4s. Greetings from Germany

Fun fact, the person who invented the wheels to be as they are now, was a Romanian.

The first Dacia, the 1100, is a licensed version of the Renault 8. The Dacia 1300 is based on the Renault 12, and both models were launched simultaneously. However, the Romanian state continued to produce a modified version of the 1300 until the 21st century. This collaboration, which began at the end of the 1960s, was made possible by the French President, Charles de Gaulle

The Dacia Duster has been around since the 1980s. The ARO 10 was sold in the UK as the Dacia Duster. Don't let the cheap price fool you. These are great cars that use proven technology. 👍