Is the Renault Logan coming to Ireland

BrianD3

Some websites say it is, other say it isn't because VRT will add too much to the price.

What are people's thoughts on the car anyway. Ok it is not an enthusiasts car, is plain inside and out and the rear view is particularly ugly. But the whole idea is that you getting a reasonably sized new car for a very cheap price
http://www.channel4.com/4car/gl/gallery/spy+shot/4899/

Projected UK price is £5,500 which is cheap when you consider the cheapest Toyot Aygo is £6,200

I have seen a coule of Logans on the roads here (eastern european reg cars with Dacia badges) they looked alright apart from that ugly rear view. That aspect might improve with the estate model though.

h2s

The side on shot reminds me of a Corsa.

bazz26

I think I read somewhere that the Logan did very poorly in the Euro NCAP tests.

tvr

dont know , taught they did have the ncap cause of small production , i read somewhere they didnt have any plans on sending it to the uk . so maybe its changed. why would you want it anyway???

i hope they bring in that new twingo , looked class at the motor show cheaper than a clio and a 1.2 litre engine with 99 bhp and low co2 emisson.

pity about the renault reliability.

bazz26

Probably cost too much to re-engineer it for rhd then. I think it is mainly aimed at the Eastern European and Chinese makets.

overdriver

I've seen one in the flesh in Cavan, wearing it's Dacia logo, and driven by a Polish plasterer.
It was cheap and plasticky.

C_Breeze

"Is the Renault Logan coming to Ireland" ....it s not a Renault Logan , it's romanian Dacia

BrianD3

It is definitely coming to the UK next year according to several websites.

Euro NCAP results haven't been released officially yet. But it has been put through the same crash test by affiliates of Euro NCAP and only achieved 3 stars. However looking at the pics the passenger compartment is in alright shape and the driver's legs have low risk of injury so it appears that the car's structure is sound enough. The driver's head gets a poor rating but this may be able to be easily fixed by tweaking the restraint systems.
Pics here
http://renult.spb.ru/crash/crash_02.html

As for it being plasticky - this is to be expected from a cheap car. An Aygo is very plasticky too and if the sterling prices are correct the Aygo will be over 10% dearer as well as being much smaller than the Logan.

Re: reliability - the car will be simpler than other Renaults and is designed to be durable and easily maintained in countries with harsh driving conditions and poor roads. In some respects it's a bit like a modern day Renault 4.

maidhc

C_Breeze wrote:

"Is the Renault Logan coming to Ireland" ....it s not a Renault Logan , it's romanian Dacia

Pretty much designed and engineered by Renault though.

junkyard

I certainly hope not.. its a step backward, even for Renault.:rolleyes:

overdriver

BrianD3 wrote:

As for it being plasticky - this is to be expected from a cheap car. An Aygo is very plasticky too and if the sterling prices are correct the Aygo will be over 10% dearer as well as being much smaller than the Logan.

There's plastic and there's really really cheap quality plastic. The inside was a very unpleasant, basic place to be

pm.

h2s wrote:

The side on shot reminds me of a Corsa.

i think the front looks like the old metro.

BrianD3

overdriver wrote:

There's plastic and there's really really cheap quality plastic. The inside was a very unpleasant, basic place to be

Maybe so but I really don't see why a basic, cheap plastic interior is such a big deal in a cheap car. If nice plastics and a rubber dash in a new car give someone a warm fuzzy feeling they are free to buy a 1.4 Golf @ rougly twice the price of a 1.4 Logan.

From pics the Logan interior doesn't look THAT bad but I will defer to someone who has sat in one. I have seen the one around Cavan BTW but only from the outside.

@ junkyard - why is a cheap basic car a step backward. In 10 years time you never know it might become fashionable (and practical) to drive around in the cheapest, simplest car possible. People might look back and feel embarassed about the compromised, expensive, complex SUVs they used to drive around in in 2006

junkyard

Don't worry Brian I won't ever feel embarrased driving around in my X5, not now or in the future. In fact fashion never really bothered me either, it comes and goes as you probably know already. Cheap sh*te cars don't do anything for me either tbh, I've had to drive them for long enough over the years and I certainly wouldn't buy a new one. If I want hardship I'll buy a donkey and cart thanks.

peasant

I'd buy one ...

As I've said before ...on my 10 km commute I SHOULD really be cycling ...but that's a) too dangereous, b) too wet and c) sometimes I just need a car.

A logan would do just fine ...especially the estate version.

So what, if it looks and feels cheap ...it IS cheap while still reasonably up to date feature and safetywise and a bit bigger and more useful than one of those "handbag cars" like smart, aygo et al.

louie

I have been driving one of them, actually I know the person that owns the car very well. The engine is 1.4L from The old Renault Clio (new 1.6 might arrive soon), with small improvements. Inside is not very comfortable, but neither is the Golf Mk4 and cost 3 times the money.

Outside, not in fashion, but cheap cars are never in fashion anyway. They will target people who just needs a car to drive around from A-B nothing else, and is about time that kind of cars are coming on the market.
The "Dacia" (Renault) Logan are an updated version of the old Renault 12 if you remember, cars that have been on the Irish roads for a long time.

qazz

This car is a DACIA Logan. The car manufactured in Romania since 2004. The Dacia belongs to Renault. From 2005 it's manufactured in Russia, Colombia and Morocco. From 2006 in Iran, India and Brazil. It's a cheap car for Eastern market. Because the sale is good Reanult decided to facelift it a little and try to sell it in richer countries (as Renault). That's what I know.
In Poland it's sold as a DACIA. Price: 7-10k euro

some pics:
http://www.dacia.pl/pl/DaciaSITe/logan/photo_gallery/photo/index.html

BrianD3

louie wrote:

The "Dacia" (Renault) Logan are an updated version of the old Renault 12 if you remember, cars that have been on the Irish roads for a long time.

It is correct to say that Dacia have been manufacturing their updated version of the R12 up until recently. However the Logan bears no relation to the R12, it is a new design.

louie

BrianD3 wrote:

It is correct to say that Dacia have been manufacturing their updated version of the R12 up until recently. However the Logan bears no relation to the R12, it is a new design.

You could say that again. Indeed is a totally new design, and Dacia had been working very hard on the R12 version, making small changes here and there but was never a car for the European market.

Logan has a new design and is going to make it in EU market alright.

BrianD3

One funny thing was Dacia actually attempted to sell its R12 in the UK for a while. This was in the eighties and nineties, long after the R12 had gone out of production. Dacia called it the "Denem" (or Duster, not sure) I heard that they sold about 12 of them making it one of the rarest and most obscure cars ever sold in the UK.

G Luxel

the Denem is very rare, only a few sold, mostly to diplomats at the Romanian embassy in London. Dacia had a pick up version of the 12 that was sold here around I990/91. Very few were sold. The 12 is no longer built in Romania, the last saloons and estates were built in 2004. There was also a hatchback version similiar in style to the old Renault 6. Then a newer model in the 90s arrived called the Solenza. It and the 12 have been replaced by the Logan. It and the 12 pick up which is a crew cab are still being manufacturered.

As regards the Logan, there are some of these in Ireland already, mostly on Polish plates. I have seen 4 of them, 2 reds, a silver , and a navy one Ive seen is registered here as a 05. The cost of it was 5,600 euros and was recently imported from Germany.

colm_mcm

It's badged as the Renault Thalia in some of Europe. Nobody's buying the Clio Camus (old model) why would they buy an old clio with a horrible boot stuck on. Look at the Seat Cordoba, or the Polo saloon, all they do is make their hatchback cousins look uncool.
Toyota also do a Yaris saloon in other markets, but I can see why they don't bring it in, it'd simply take sales from Yaris and Corolla customers, instead of creating new ones.

BrianD3

I have seen the Thalia, and don't think the Logan is based on it apart from sharing some engines and other mechanical bits. The Logan is designed to be a cheaper, simpler car than the Clio and Thalia. IIRC the Logan is 30% cheaper than the cheapest Clio II/Campus in markets where both cars are sold.

edit: according to wikpedia the Logan is based on the Clio III platform. It also looks like the 1.4 engine is a variant of the 8 valve E6J first seen in the R19 in 1988. Even with old technology and 8 valves it still puts out 75 bhp or the same as a new VW Golf 1.4 16v

louie

I think it's all about the price. Everybody is going nuts over it cause is the cheapest on the market for what you get. I mean look at the cinquecento or panda (11,815.00 Euro) from Fiat. You call that a car..?, and I never seen anybody complaining, cause of course it's a Fiat and is from Italy, so why "this third world country should hit the market"..?, is the biggest issue.
I think the car is great for the money you pay and it's very spacious as well.
I have to say a lot more comfortable the other cars in it's class.

qazz

This is Thalia:
http://www.autogaleria.pl/fotografie/renault/renault_thalia_2002_01.jpg
http://www.autogaleria.pl/fotografie/renault/renault_thalia_2002_02.jpg

It's just a Clio saloon

G Luxel

The Thalia is a booted clio. It is also known as the Symbio in some countries. By the way, not only is the I2 crew cab pick up built, I also know that the Renault 5 Mark I is still being built ,.. in Iran.

Mailman

I'll take a Chinese made 105BHP MG ZR in preference any day to a Logan.

You can be sure the Chinese will implement the Engineers' fix for the Head Gasket issues on the K-Series engine that Rover Management never allowed them to implement before it hits the market.

But these cars are really an irrelevance when you can get year 2000 luxury barges for under €5K thanks to oversupply on the secondhand market.

peasant

Mailman wrote:

But these cars are really an irrelevance when you can get year 2000 luxury barges for under €5K thanks to oversupply on the secondhand market.

not quite ...

Not everybody is prepared (or sees the necessity) to keep up and run an expensive (despite the cheap purchase price) luxo-barge.

Some people would quite happily run a "modest" car. These cars are comparitively expensive to buy second hand though, especially in good order and with low-ish mileage.

So to some people a new car for the price of a four or five year old "normal" car might actually hold quite some attraction.

It does to me anyway...

galwaytt

peasant wrote:

Not everybody is prepared (or sees the necessity) to keep up and run an expensive (despite the cheap purchase price) luxo-barge....

I suppose it depends on what you call a 'luxo-barge'. A 98 SAAB 9-5 turbo with all the toys, for Eur7.5k? So, if you buy a newer, cheaper, small car, you'd need to live in it to claw back the 'savings' you're making on it through petrol usage. My 01 E-class regularly does 33mpg on anything resembling more than a spin to the shops. And 28 actually going to the shop (3miles...)
So, seeing as I did 5k in the first year of E-Class ownership, a 'cheap' car would have to do about a 100mpg to make it even to the running for consideration..........

Junkyard - you're slightly wrong about the X5 scenario, though. 3-litre cars can't be given away because of the annual Eur1343 car tax, and getting 10 year old hi-tech electronic repairs will cost more than the car is worth. Enjoy it while you can, but I bet you won't be trading any 10yr old ones.........whilst 10yr old Micra's will continue to pile on the miles..........

unkel

Mailman wrote:

But these cars are really an irrelevance when you can get year 2000 luxury barges for under €5K

Best kept secret in Ireland. Or is it that people can not do very basic sums?

Even on this forum a lot of people prefer to be hit with an extra €2000 of depreciation per year to avoid €100 more insurance and €100 more tax

overdriver

He shoots, he scores!

maidhc

unkel wrote:

Best kept secret in Ireland. Or is it that people can not do very basic sums?

Even on this forum a lot of people prefer to be hit with an extra €2000 of depreciation per year to avoid €100 more insurance and €100 more tax

There are a few things though:

• Tyres for 18" wheels cost considerably more ones for 15" wheels, and generally don't last anywhere near as long.
• There is closer to €1000 extra per year difference in tax.
• If something serious goes wrong with a luxo barge, forget it. If the same thing goes wrong with a Golf or Corolla it is a simple enough issue. Servicing and wearing parts will generally be a lot more expensive.
• Parking.
• Fuel consumption. If you do 20k a year, 30mpg less means €3000 more in fuel. (I don't believe a S-Class/7 series will ever better 30mpg and will do closer to 15mpg in the city, while many diesels will return 60mpg.)

People are not that stupid. They know what suits them. If Toyota built the logan it would sell like hot buns. People are crying out for simple reliable and cheap cars.

peasant

unkel wrote:

Best kept secret in Ireland. Or is it that people can not do very basic sums?

Even on this forum a lot of people prefer to be hit with an extra €2000 of depreciation per year to avoid €100 more insurance and €100 more tax

The truth lyeth somewhere in the middle ...

It's absolutely stupid to buy a new car (the more expensive, the more stupid) because the initial depreciation will hit you hard.

It is very risky though to buy an older large car as above a certain age and mileage the upkeep starts getting expensive. You might get away with it for a while, but if things go really wrong its either very dear to repair or worthless ...so you might still loose all of your 5-8 k or whatever it was you paid for it, because the depreciation curve on a large car doesn't level out at any stage, it just keeps on dropping until you have to give it away.

A "middle of the road car" after the first three years will have much gentler depreciation and an old supermini actually goes up in value every time it passes the NCT again:D

Now buy a one year old 1.4 Logan for ca 7k, drive it for four years, put a new NCT on it and sell again for 3k ....that's 1k loss per year of ownership ...makes sense to me

unkel

Ah yeah there's bit more to owning a big luxobarge - apologies for O/T

I've seen one (Dacia) around Dublin a few months ago. Not sure if more than maybe a hundred would sell in Ireland per year. Hardly worth the distributor's while to bring them in

Might be slightly more succesful in the UK where people seem to be interested in buying cheap cars but insist on buying new. Think bottom end like Perodua, Indica, Kia, etc.

peasant

unkel wrote:

Ah yeah there's bit more to owning a big luxobarge - apologies for O/T

yes indeedee ...as them across the pond put it ...you get more bang for your buck.

Problem is, you also have to give more buck when it bangs



Personally I'm done with "barges" for a while and I'm really looking forward to something cheap and useful as the Logan (estate please, in my case)

colm_mcm

Who the hell wants to buy one anyway, if you weant something cheap and nasty, buy a 1 year old Kia or Chevrolet.