Dacia Sandero Review 2025

For quite some time, the Dacia Sandero held the crowning glory of being Britain's cheapest new car (although that title now belongs to the Leapmotor T03). Still, the plucky Sandero is roomier and has more equipment, so it continues to represent great value. 

Once upon a time, at the end of 2020, you could buy a brand-new third-generation Dacia Sandero for less than £8000. In 2025, that entry price has shot up to £15,715 – although in fairness, it's still the second-cheapest new car in the UK, after the Leapmotor T03 (the Citroen Ami is cheaper, but isn't technically a car).

Despite it's relatively pricey... er, price, it's still a decidedly entry-level meachine with a starting price thousands lower than small cars like the Citroen C3, which starts at £18,805, the Hyundai i10 (£17,100) and the MG3 (£17,245).

It's not that hard to see where the money has been saved in the Sandero, mind you. Despite a few trim changes and tweaks over the years, the interior looks and feels pretty cheap in places, but the design is pleasant and everything works well. A  The controls are clear and easy to use and top-end models get a basic infotainment screen that adds colour and can connect to your smartphone using Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. These models also get posher seat upholstery and flashes of colour on the dashboard.

Interior space is hard to grumble about. The front and rear seats are roomy, there's space for four six-footers to get genuinely comfortable and the boot is also big for a car that costs so little. Interior storage spaces are numerous, confirming the little Dacia as a car that could slot into daily life with no difficulty at all.

If it is going to be a car you'll use every day on a variety of roads – from the town to the country and the motorway – do yourself a favour and specify the 90PS petrol engine. This 1.0-litre three-cylinder unit has a turbocharger that makes it a lot more flexible when you're accelerating up to a cruise and powering up hills, plus it comes in tandem with a six-speed manual gearbox that means it feels less frantic on the motorway.

The 65PS version of the same engine (no longer available new) does without a turbo, so it's slow, and the five-speed gearbox it comes with means you'll have to suffer from a fair amount of engine drone at 70mph. By the same token, the CVT automatic gearbox available with 90PS models saps power, while the more expensive (and also discontiunued) 100PS bi-fuel model – which can run on LPG – only really make sense if you do lots of miles and have access to LPG.

Whichever engine you go for you'll find the Dacia is a tidy handler that emphasises comfort rather than sporty handling, like a secondhand Ford Fiesta that you could have for the same money. Compared to the Ford, the Dacia runs out of grip in bends relatively quickly and its light steering doesn't inspire you to drive quickly.

That said, the Dacia's suspension deals with bumps and potholes well and it's perfectly comfortable on longer jaunts so long as you avoid the basic engine. Great visibility means it's the perfect car for navigating through the city – if you do this exclusively then there's a case for the CVT auto – and top-of-the-range Comfort and Journey models come with rear parking sensors and a camera that make reverse parking even easier.

These are just two of the many good reasons to choose a higher-spec model. They have a nicer interior than the rest of the range and keyless entry, which goes on top of the kit you get with Essential and Expression models that includes air conditioning and a stereo. The early entry-level Access versions are very basic – they have electric windows, central locking and that's about it, which is why very few people bought them new. 

These Access cars are the embodiment of basic motoring, but if you're looking for a cheap set of wheels that'll cost buttons to run and gets some warranty you won't get with a cheaper, older used car, the Dacia Sandero well worth a look.

That being said, this is no Ford Fiesta. The body rolls significantly in bends, but the economy-focused tyres mean the car will plough through corners before the lean gets too excessive. The slick gear shift is far from sloppy, mind, and the brakes have a reassuring weight that makes it easy to slow the car smoothly.

Relatively small 15-inch wheels with a decent sidewall mean bumpy country roads aren't an issue and potholes that'll cause a flat on cars with lower-riding rubber are not an issue in the Sandero.

The rubbery smoothness is evident in town, too, where you will find the Dacia is an easy car to manoeuvre even if you don't go for a comfort model with the rear sensors and parking camera.

There are no self-park options available but you can have a CVT automatic gearbox. Okay, it gives your left foot rest bite from pumping the clutch, but it also dulls performance significantly. It's a £1200 option that is very hard to recommend.

On earlier Sanderos you'd be better spending your money on a higher-spec car with cruise control, although as of 2025 that's included as standard across the range and takes the strain out of holding a set speed on faster roads. The Sandero isn't a natural motorway cruiser – the lack of sound deadening means there's plenty of noise from other traffic – but the 90PS model doesn't sound strained at the national limit.

The Dacia Sandero's engine range used to consist of two basic units – a three-cylinder 1.0-litre petrol with 65 or 90PS. The latter was also available in 100PS Bi-Fuel form with an LPG tank. In 2025, only the 90PS engine – the TCe 90 – is available new, with a manual or an automatic gearbox.

The 65PS engine makes the Dacia feel like a car from 20 years ago. It's fine in town but slow to build speed when joining a motorway, and you'll need to change down a gear or two on hills. It also comes with a five-speed gearbox that makes it noisy on the motorway.

For just £1000 more than an Essential model with the 65PS engine, you'd be mad to overlook the 90PS version. Its turbocharged engine instantly makes the Sandero feel like a modern car that can keep pace with traffic and has a sixth gear that makes it a more relaxed cruiser. It gets from 0-62mph in 11.7 seconds, a full five seconds quicker than the basic car.

The 100PS Bi-Fuel model drives almost identically, whether running on petrol or LPG, you'll struggle to notice a difference between it and the 90PS version. The extra power only accounts for the added weight of the LPG tank.

Safety is an area where the Dacia Sandero's penny-pinching ethos is hard to hide, not least because the mechanically identical Stepway model scored just two stars out of five when it was tested by safety organisation Euro NCAP in 2021. That's something worth considering when secondhand alternatives like the Ford Fiesta and Volkswagen Polo were awarded full marks.

Dacia says it doesn't target Euro NCAP results because it doesn't think customers want to pay for advanced systems, but it does include the features required by law. So the Dacia gets automatic emergency brakes, but they only sense other vehicles – pedestrians and cyclists beware! You also get an SOS system that can call the emergency services if you have an accident, but the other features are rudimentary like airbags and ISOFIX mounting points. 

Given that the 65PS Dacia Sandero was slow with only you aboard, Lord knows what it is like four up with a trailer hitched to the back, but we would imagine it's pedestrian at best. If you're unperturbed, it'll tow up to 980kgs on a braked trailer or caravan.

The rest of the range – with 90 or 100PS and with either a manual or CVT automatic gearbox – can pull up to 1100kgs and, while that doesn't sound like much, we reckon the real-life difference would be marked.

Access to the Dacia Sandero's driver's seat is excellent through the wide-opening front doors, even if the doors themselves close with a hollow clang that isn't very reassuring. All models get a driver's seat that moves for height and reach and the seat is flat and comfortable, if lacking in much lateral support. The backrest moves forwards and backwards quickly and easily by yanking a lever on the side of the seat, but making incremental adjustments is a bit tricky.

The base-level Access models have a height-adjustable steering wheel, while the steering wheel in Essential models and above moves for reach as well, sliding out at an angle rather than allowing you to adjust the height and reach independently. All this being said, it is easy enough to get comfortable and Dacia's thin door pillars mean you get excellent visibility out of all four corners of the car.

There's even better news in the back where you get a surprising amount of room. You'll have space to stretch out even if the person sitting in front of you is tall and the Sandero has big windows that open properly – they're not the half-hearted clip-out efforts you get in a Volkswagen Up, for example. This sense of roominess extends to the middle seat which won't leave you feeling as hemmed in as the centre seat in city cars, although three burly adults will feel restricted and a Citroen C3 is a bit more comfortable.

In a familiar theme, the boot is another place where you get more space than you would expect for your money thanks to its 328-litre capacity – considerably more than the Leapmotor T03's 210 litres. What it has in capacity, though, it loses in features so there's no adjustable boot floor or 12V power socket and the exposed metal and thin boot floor hint at the Dacia's low asking price. A spare wheel is an option.

Dacia also gives you plenty of smaller storage spaces so the glovebox is deep, there are pockets on all four doors, two cupholders between the front seats and you get a tray in front of the gearstick that has room for a large smartphone and a USB plug to charge it.

In terms of exterior dimensions the Dacia Sandero is 4088mm long, 1848mm wide and 1499mm tall. That's actually around 50mm more in each dimension than the platform-sharing Renault Clio, showing you the sheer amount of car you get for the money.

You couldn't argue that the Dacia Sandero feels like a posh, high-quality product but neither does it feel like a car that costs (or at least used to cost) less than £8000 brand new. Although that basic trim and engine is now gone, the jump in power and equipment means it's still impressive. 

The design is smart and modern with clear controls and large knobs for the ventilation controls. Comfort models have fabric trim pieces on the dashboard and the doors, a soft-touch steering wheel and coloured plastics in the air vents that make them posher inside than the rudimentary Access models.

Even these top-of-the-range models use hard plastics throughout however, there's no damping on the glovebox and some parts – like the centre console between the front seats – look and feel low-rent.

Now that the spartan Access model has gone, all Sanderos come with DAB radio, Bluetooth and a smartphone app that lets you use the phone as a screen. 

Stepping up to Comfort or Journey trims gets you an eight-inch screen that's a usable size and has clear menus that make it simple to navigate. You also get wireless phone mirroring – a rare addition in a cheap car – so you can mirror the display of your phone without trailing wires everywhere. Sure you can't swipe through menus or pinch in and out of maps, but all the basics are here and work well and you get an uprated stereo with four speakers.

If that doesn't sound like an upgrade, spare a thought for owners of the older Access cars, which have no stereo at all, and the Essential models had to make do with a basic two-speaker setup.

Access versions of the Dacia Sandero – with a price of £7995 – earned the Sandero its title of 'cheapest car in Britain'. We say earned, because while they gave the car a unique selling point, nobody bought them, so they've gone. 

The same applies to the entry-level 65PS model, which clearly didn't gel with buyers. That does mean that the base price, as of 2025, has jumped up substantially to £15,715 for the now-entry-level Expression model. Other cars have got more expensive in recent years, though, so the Sandero is still extremely affordable. 

The top-spec models (formerly the Comfort, now the Journey) get the 90PS engine as standard with the option of an automatic gearbox and have equipment including keyless entry, reversing sensors and a camera, climate control and a proper infotainment system. It's a shame that the automatic version pushes the price up by £1500, however. 

All Sanderos come with a 1.0-litre three-cylinder petrol engine either with or without a turbocharger. The former produces either 90PS or 100PS as a bi-fuel model, while the latter produces just 65PS. 

The 65PS model feels very lethargic, but is cheaper to run on paper with a fuel economy of 53.3mpg. That said, we suspect that figure will be hard to achieve as you wring the engine's neck simply matching the flow of traffic.

The 90PS model has plenty of power for the daily grind. Dacia quotes identical fuel economy to the 65PS model, but we reckon the 90PS car's more relaxed nature will make it easier to achieve.

An oddity of the range is the now-discountinued Bi-Fuel petrol/LPG model. It burns fuel at the same rate as the 90PS model, but its price premium could make sense if you do lots of driving because LPG costs roughly half as much as petrol. Having two fuel sources to call means it has a range of up to 620 miles, which is very impressive in a car this size.

The Dacia Sandero has had various trim levels over the years. When it was first launched, the range started with the entry-level Dacia Sandero Access, which featured:

• Steel wheels
• Black bumpers
• Pre-wiring for an aftermarket radio (but no actual radio)
• Electric front windows
• Manual wing mirrors
• Steel wheels
• Height-adjustable steering wheel
• USB port.

The Dacia Sandero Essential, which became the base model when the Access was discontinued, adds useful toys like:

• Manual air conditioning
• Remote central locking
• Electric front windows
• Cruise control
• Reach adjustment on steering wheel
• Sound system with DAB, Bluetooth and USB
• Body-coloured bumpers.

The Dacia Sandero Comfort was the top-spec model at launch. It's actually pretty well equipped, thanks to:

• Alloy wheels (15-inch or 16-inch depending on year)
• MediaNav 8-inch infotainment screen
• Keyless entry
• Climate control
• Height-adjustable driver's seat
• Rear electric windows
• Rear parking sensors
• Rear camera

In 2023, the Comfort trim was phased out and the new Dacia Sandero Expression model brought in – it became the base model because Dacia found customers wanted a higher level of specification as standard. It features:

• 16-inch alloy wheels
• 8-inch infotainment screen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto
• Manual air conditioning
• Rear parking sensors
• LED headlights

In 2024 a new top-level trim was introduced – the Dacia Sandero Journey. This brought new features including:

• 16-inch diamond-cut alloy wheels
• Automatic climate control
• Hands-free key car for keyless entry and start
• Rear-view camera
• Front and rear parking sensors
• Upgraded interior trim
• Rear USB-C ports