THE ALL-NEW SANDERO STEPWAY is totally redesigned from the ground up, features rugged SUV styling with a raised driving position. New LED Y-shaped headlights, roof bars, hill start assist, air conditioning and emergency brake assist all as standard, we really are redefining the essentials. Generous boot and interior space gives you plenty of room to store life’s essentials ensuring you’re always ready for your next adventure. All the information you need on a large 8-inch touchscreen with smartphone integration. Access your phone, navigation apps, radio, and music effortlessly. Your smartphone can be connected with ease, via Bluetooth or via a handy USB port placed near the steering wheel. What’s more, cars fitted with this system also have four integrated speakers, so you can sing along to your hearts content!
Inbuilt navigation, wireless smartphone mirroring, more than you need on a large 8-inch touchscreen. Simply connect your smartphone wireless, via Bluetooth or via a handy USB port placed near the steering wheel. There is an additional USB port fitted on the central console and this system comes with 6 integrated speakers, for the best sound quality! 8-inch touch screen not for you? At Dacia, we allow you to use your own. Simply download our new Media Control app from your chosen app store, and have full access to sat nav, phone calls and key information about your car. Don’t have a smart phone? Don’t worry, you can still operate the radio and Bluetooth via the controls on the steering column and using the drivers display cluster.
The Dacia Sandero isn’t just a great car for the money, it’s a great car full stop. The step up in quality, refinement and technology is huge, to a point where it can compete with established rivals like the Corsa and Fiesta in all of those key areas. You’d expect that jump in quality to be reflected in the price, but it isn’t. The Sandero is no longer cheap and cheerful, it’s cheap and a class challenger. You may have seen the marketing campaign for the new Dacia Sandero, the UK’s cheapest new car, costing from just £7,995. That headline grabbing entry-level model isn’t what Dacia’s customers are really buying, though. The sub £8k Access model accounts for only a handful of overall Sandero sales. The car we have here – the range topping, SUV-aping Sandero Stepway in Prestige trim – is more than twice that price, but actually far more reflective of what Sandero buyers budget for.
Of course, there are hard plastics used on lower sections of the centre console, top of the dash and sections of the doors, but nothing directly in the line of sight or that you touch all too often. It’s such a simple but logical way to design a cabin on a budget it makes you wonder why other brands don’t do it. That common sense approach also extends to a few other simple touches like the cupholders, which are located deep in the centre console so you can store a couple of drinks there without them intruding when you try to change gear. VW doesn’t even get that right with the Golf. Then there’s the neat smartphone cradle attached to the eight-inch touchscreen, which has a USB port directly behind it so you don’t have to trail a cable down and around the dashboard. Hardly groundbreaking bits of design, but simple touches that reinforce Dacia’s no nonsense approach. There’s also the way it drives, it’s much quieter than before, more refined and overall a pretty relaxing supermini – and that’s exactly what it’s designed to be. The Sandero is now based on the same platform as the Renault Clio – currently the best car in its class – so those improvements should come as no great surprise. But when you consider the price of the Dacia and how accomplished it feels, it’s quite an achievement.
Reporter