Mk 2 Sandero Stepway, will it be rubbish?

[ThingsBehindTheSun]

My daughter is 17 in two months and has the following criteria for her first car.

1)It must be white or silver
2)Must be five door
3)Would be nice if it had a screen, USB and Bluetooth to integrate to her phone.

The criteria from me is
4)Insurable
5)ULEZ
6)Cheap road tax.
7)Budget is about £4K

Looking around, these cars seem to offer just about the newest car possible for the least amount of money. I know they are based on old Renault Clios, but that suits me fine as my family have run old Renault sheds for the last 15 years.

My only slight concern is the 0.9 TCE three cylinder engine, is this likely to die with a snapped timing chain the second I hand the car over?

If I didn't live 350 miles away I would be all over this

Any horror stories to put me off getting one of these?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/256520045363?itmmeta=01...

[ACCYSTAN]

If your buying used without a large dealership warranty (Arnold Clark, evans Halshaw, lookers, etc) that you can take it to a part of the dealership group who are local, then don’t buy it.

You have little to no protection buying used out of manufacturer warranty at such a long distance.

It’s a buyers market, shop around,

[Blackpuddin]

Friend brought a new renter over last week, said it was OK apart from seats which he and his GF both found very sweaty.

[stevemcs]

Just buy a Kia Picanto.

[Silvanus]

Sandero Stepway is a very decent car. Just make sure it's been properly serviced.

[ThingsBehindTheSun]

stevemcs said:

Just buy a Kia Picanto.

Kia Picanto/ Hyundai i10 is the other option and to be honest there is a lot more choice locally.

[RAB2000]

Just had a Sandero Stepway as a hire car and it had an electric handbrake. I hadn't thought about it much until I'd reversed it into a steepish uphill parking spot. When I went to pull away lifted the clutch and the car started rolling back so slammed on the footbrake and tried again and same problem. 3rd attempt got it away, possibly by holding the handbrake switch up. I've since checked online and it seems to be a known problem as from what I understand the car should have held using hill park assist until the clutch was engaged and moving forward. Was a scary moment with a parked car behind and has certainly put me off cars with similar set up.

Possibly it's only the very new ones that have the electric handbrake but something to bear in mind as I would want a new driver to learn manual along with a proper handbrake so they learn the feel of using the clutch and handbrake together to balance the car.

[RAB2000]

Just to add..... otherwise the car was quite nice and I like Dacia as a brand generally!

[ACCYSTAN]

It’s the new shape high spec model that have electric handbrake, no such ‘luxury’ in the previous shape Stepway

[ThingsBehindTheSun]

ACCYSTAN said:

It’s the new shape high spec model that have electric handbrake, no such ‘luxury’ in the previous shape Stepway

Yes it is the previous shape I am referring to, around a 2015 model.

As I said, my main concern is the engine being a 3 cylinder 0.9 turbo. The rest of the car is old Clio bits so now concerned about those at all.

[A500leroy]

Google Renault clutch judder.

[witteringon]

Just what is the point of an electric handbrake?

[HTP99]

ThingsBehindTheSun said:

ACCYSTAN said:

It’s the new shape high spec model that have electric handbrake, no such ‘luxury’ in the previous shape Stepway

Yes it is the previous shape I am referring to, around a 2015 model.

As I said, my main concern is the engine being a 3 cylinder 0.9 turbo. The rest of the car is old Clio bits so now concerned about those at all.

Perfectly reliable and strong engine as long as its been serviced correctly.

Edited by HTP99 on Tuesday 18th June 13:48

[Silvanus]

ThingsBehindTheSun said:

ACCYSTAN said:

It’s the new shape high spec model that have electric handbrake, no such ‘luxury’ in the previous shape Stepway

Yes it is the previous shape I am referring to, around a 2015 model.

As I said, my main concern is the engine being a 3 cylinder 0.9 turbo. The rest of the car is old Clio bits so now concerned about those at all.

I have that engine in the estate version (Logan Stepway). I've never had any issues, I regular have it fully loaded with kit and travel fairly long journeys. Never had a single problem. It's been thoroughly reliable, same can't be said for the German cars I've had.