Thought I post a few words up about my Dacia Sandero 1.2 Access having owned it for a year now.

Looks and drives like a small van / previous gen Clio (not surprising as it's based on a modified previous gen Clio floorpan)... but not in a bad way. It has a little more body-roll around roundabouts and corners compared to a new model Fiesta, and the steering wheel takes a good bit of twirling to manouvre the car around the supermarket car-park. None of this is a problem, and the up-side is that it's a comfortable car that smoothes out our pot-holed roads more than the previous small, cheap cars I've owned ('06 Fabia VRS, '54 Mondeo TDCi, '08 Pug 107 Urban Lite, '54 Focus Zetec, '59 Corsa Life, '62 Hyundai i10, now my Sandero 1.2 Access).

Compared to the previous i10, Corsa, 107 and Fabia, this car has a more comfortable ride at normal speeds.

Styling is pretty bland, both exterior and interior, but I knew what I was buying when I ordered it and am not complaining.

Performance from the 1149cc Renault engine is as expected - decent enough for powering this car, but it's not hot-hatch. Slight hampered by its low gearing, although nowhere near as bad as my previous i10.

Fuel consumption started at 46.6mpg whilst running it in on its first tank of fuel (£50 from reserve to full at £1.289p p/litre) and then rose to a steady 48-49mpg ever since. I always exceed the manufactuer's consumption figures, which is a pleasant surprise considering I thought it would cost me more in fuel than my previous Hyundai i10. The Hyundai acheieved 48mpg against a quoted manufacturer's figure of 61.4mpg. Road tax is £130 pa for the 1.2 petrol, but this reflects it not being the most modern engine on the block. Despite this, I'm very pleased with the running costs so far.

Build quality is on a par with the Fords and Vauxhalls I have owned before, and is better than the Skoda, and MILES MILES MILES MILES MILES better then the Hyundai and Peugeots! This Sandero is a solidly built vehicle and feels very robust (despite its Renault underpinnings). Reliability has been sport on over 14k miles to-date. My uncle who owns an accident repair centre is similarly impressed with its reliability.

You might have guessed that I'm pretty stoked with this car. Everything about it is good, and at £5995 on the road, a bit of a bargain to boot. The only thing it lacks is a stereo, but with the car being pre-wired for one, and £170 for a decent Kenwood kit designed in conjunction with Dacia, I'll finally get around to putting one in this summer.

Dealer service was great as well... when I off-loaded my Hyundai in a private sale on the Saturday, the dealer gave me a brand new Logan estate 0.9 courtesy car to use for a few days until my Sandero was ready for collection. They even chucked in half a tank of petrol and a bottle of wine :) If the car continues to perform as it has, and the dealer's service continues to be as good as it has been, they'll have a repeat customer in me!