Dacia Duster the new Lada?

Mad_maxx

GMSA wrote: »

Were there other nationalities producing Ladas too?

All of the Eastern bloc nations had their own version of the Russian lada

Mad_maxx

road_high wrote: »

Any car that’s lowly priced to start with and reasonably modern is going to have good residuals as they’re starting from a lower base with less distance to fall in value

How come fiat residuals are horrible then?

McCrack

I was behind one today and I noted just how ghastly they look

Horrible yolks

wing52

I thought there's a bit of a jeep renegade look about the back of the new duster, especially the lights.

Dacia1300

Mad_maxx wrote: »

All of the Eastern bloc nations had their own version of the Russian lada

Really? I thought that it was just Poland? They had the FSO 1300/1500. Czechoslovakia had Skoda which was an in-house design (also a massively successful rally car), not built under license from elsewhere. As mentioned, Romania produced the Renault 12, Yugoslavia made a different Fiat model altogether, and weren’t in the Warsaw Pact. Unless I’ve missed something...

road_high

Mad_maxx wrote: »

How come fiat residuals are horrible then?

Fiats aren’t mad cheaper than anything else. Plus they have a terrible reputation, Dacia don’t as for the prices the buying public have given the benefit of the doubt. That seems to have paid off as they’re appear pretty decent reliability wise

road_high

Mad_maxx wrote: »

All of the Eastern bloc nations had their own version of the Russian lada

No they didn’t- various countries of the USSR did as they were called GACs and what not.
But it wasn’t built in the other bloc countries. Dacia in Romania did a Renault 12 cast off. FSO in Poland were Fiat cast offs, as was Zastava/Yugo of Yugoslavia.
Skoda were the best engineered of the lot as they had a very proud tradition going back decades. They had their own designs but were allowed limited updating under the regime.
Not sure about Trabant and Wartburg in east Germany but they weren’t lada related either.

Dacia1300

road_high wrote: »

No they didn’t- various countries of the USSR did as they were called GACs and what not.
But it wasn’t built in the other bloc countries. Dacia in Romania did a Renault 12 cast off. FSO in Poland were Fiat cast offs, as was Zastava/Yugo of Yugoslavia.
Skoda were the best engineered of the lot as they had a very proud tradition going back decades. They had their own designs but were allowed limited updating under the regime.
Not sure about Trabant and Wartburg in east Germany but they weren’t lada related either.

AFAIK Wartburg were based on DKW (who became Audi once again after they dropped 2-stroke engines in Western Germany), they acquired tooling after Germany became divided.

Agreed, Skoda were by far the best cars from that side of the Iron Curtain. There’s this very common misconception that they were only a worthless laugh-off before VW got involved, which is simply not the case. Rallying stats from back then will tell you all you need to know, but I’m sure you already know that...

mattser

McCrack wrote: »

I was behind one today and I noted just how ghastly they look

Horrible yolks

That's probably because your jammer hadn't enough power to overtake it.

ba_barabus

Dacia1300 wrote: »

AFAIK Wartburg were based on DKW (who became Audi once again after they dropped 2-stroke engines in Western Germany), they acquired tooling after Germany became divided.

Agreed, Skoda were by far the best cars from that side of the Iron Curtain. There’s this very common misconception that they were only a worthless laugh-off before VW got involved, which is simply not the case. Rallying stats from back then will tell you all you need to know, but I’m sure you already know that...

You'd appreciate a visit to the Skoda museum and factory. It's great

Philb76

Took time for skoda and Hyundai to get where they are think dacia are heading the same way as for being compared to a lada the op must never have been in one remember the seats in them like sitting on a deck chair

Das Reich

In Brazil until 1992 the market was closed and a lot of Ladas were imported, I saw them around only for a year or two then nevermore while there are a lot of old vw beatle still running.

_Brian

Philb76 wrote: »

Took time for skoda and Hyundai to get where they are think dacia are heading the same way as for being compared to a lada the op must never have been in one remember the seats in them like sitting on a deck chair

I’m not particularly tall but the seats in the MK1 Duster are poor.

No matter what way I adjusted the seat back it was either only touching the top of my shoulder blades or the waist band of my jeans, no useful support for long journies.
The seat base felt very short, like I might slip off into the footwell easily. Aparantly this is sorted in the new Duster. I spend 6-8 hours a day in my jeep and comfort is important, at least my ‘09 Tiguan seats are supportive.

CiniO

Mad_maxx wrote: »

All of the Eastern bloc nations had their own version of the Russian lada

Any examples?
Never heard of any

ba_barabus

Philb76 wrote: »

Took time for skoda and Hyundai to get where they are think dacia are heading the same way as for being compared to a lada the op must never have been in one remember the seats in them like sitting on a deck chair

My friends one smelled of cheese for some very odd reason. Great car in fairness, covered huge mileage and never gave an ounce of trouble. They owned several and never had a bad one.

ba_barabus

_Brian wrote: »

I’m not particularly tall but the seats in the MK1 Duster are poor.

No matter what way I adjusted the seat back it was either only touching the top of my shoulder blades or the waist band of my jeans, no useful support for long journies.
The seat base felt very short, like I might slip off into the footwell easily. Aparantly this is sorted in the new Duster.

I had the same issue. I'm not tall.....I'm certainly wider than I should be however. Couldn't get comfortable. I went looking with the intention of buying one but it wasn't meant to be. I'll seriously consider the new one when I'm looking again if they sort the comfort.

Dacia1300

ba_barabus wrote: »

You'd appreciate a visit to the Skoda museum and factory. It's great

It's on my to-do list...

Mad_maxx

McCrack wrote: »

I was behind one today and I noted just how ghastly they look

Horrible yolks

Unpretentious in some people's eyes, the concept is a genius one you have to admit.

Perfectly functional with zero cool or style factor ( which makes them cool)

ba_barabus

Dacia1300 wrote: »

It's on my to-do list...

Make sure to eat in the restaurant. It's lovely. In the factory they let you get right up to the lime and talk to the guys making the cars. We were there during the start of the emissions debacle. They proudly told us they only make the TSI engines, it's the Germans who are interested in GASSING people according to one of the tour guides. The steels presses were incredible also and hypnotic to watch.

Mad_maxx

road_high wrote: »

Fiats aren’t mad cheaper than anything else. Plus they have a terrible reputation, Dacia don’t as for the prices the buying public have given the benefit of the doubt. That seems to have paid off as they’re appear pretty decent reliability wise

I'd wager fiat are every bit as reliable as dacia.

Mad_maxx

road_high wrote: »

No they didn’t- various countries of the USSR did as they were called GACs and what not.
But it wasn’t built in the other bloc countries. Dacia in Romania did a Renault 12 cast off. FSO in Poland were Fiat cast offs, as was Zastava/Yugo of Yugoslavia.
Skoda were the best engineered of the lot as they had a very proud tradition going back decades. They had their own designs but were allowed limited updating under the regime.
Not sure about Trabant and Wartburg in east Germany but they weren’t lada related either.

Sorry, was rather clumsy in my post

Didn't mean all of the Eastern bloc nations built a lada, however, was it not policy for their to be no deviation?, effectively they all drove the same fiat 124 type boxy car regardless of the badge - name?

Stovepipe

A farmer friend bought a -15 Dacia Duster and loves it, after having the usual VWs, Renaults and Fords along the way. If they develop as well as Skoda and Hyundai did, they'll be great cars. Skoda has a very long heritage, going right back as far as WW 1, building heavy engineering like tanks, artillery, trucks and so on. Hyundai are as good as any Western car, considering their industry started from the rubble of WW 2.

Mad_maxx

Dacia1300 wrote: »

AFAIK Wartburg were based on DKW (who became Audi once again after they dropped 2-stroke engines in Western Germany), they acquired tooling after Germany became divided.

Agreed, Skoda were by far the best cars from that side of the Iron Curtain. There’s this very common misconception that they were only a worthless laugh-off before VW got involved, which is simply not the case. Rallying stats from back then will tell you all you need to know, but I’m sure you already know that...

The Czechs made great tractors too, zetor were superior to massey Ferguson and the British tractors in a number of ways back in the seventies and early eighties, my uncle cut silage for farmers when I was a child and had a fleet, he also had the polish Ursus, they fell behind after that but are still a big seller globally and have a strong presence in Ireland though small compared to forty years ago

Mad_maxx

Philb76 wrote: »

Took time for skoda and Hyundai to get where they are think dacia are heading the same way as for being compared to a lada the op must never have been in one remember the seats in them like sitting on a deck chair

I'd have thought Renault will keep dacia where it is, budget segment

Stovepipe

The Lada jeep was great fun but was never going to last as long as any Japanese or Western jeep. Ladas were notorious for their bad quality because all the best materials went to aerospace and high tech in Communist Russia. The steel was the lowest, cheapest recycled metal on the bodies of their cars.

ba_barabus

Mad_maxx wrote: »

I'd have thought Renault will keep dacia where it is, budget segment

That's strictly the plan from what Renault have said.

turbodiesel

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

Wouldn't be convinced it only affected one batch and just one colour tbh. All go through the same anti rust treatment process it's just on a white car it will be easier to see any rust forming.

I know white would be the most popular colour with vans but didn't Merc sprinters and VW crafters have a similar problem.

Dacia1300

Mad_maxx wrote: »

Sorry, was rather clumsy in my post

Didn't mean all of the Eastern bloc nations built a lada, however, was it not policy for their to be no deviation?, effectively they all drove the same fiat 124 type boxy car regardless of the badge - name?

No, that wasn’t the case. Moskvich was another USSR car that pre-dated Lada, so was the little ZAZ.

In some of the Eastern Bloc countries you could even import western cars, provided you were prepared to pay the import duty.

But there definitely was no policy dictating that every car produced had to be Fiat 124-based, or any other car for that matter

alias no.9

Stovepipe wrote: »

The Lada jeep was great fun but was never going to last as long as any Japanese or Western jeep. Ladas were notorious for their bad quality because all the best materials went to aerospace and high tech in Communist Russia. The steel was the lowest, cheapest recycled metal on the bodies of their cars.

The cheapest steel was sent to Fiat as payment for their technology.

Back on topic, Renault's decision to take on and develop Dacia as a budget brand was in a way inspired by Lada.

Carlos Goshn [spelling?] or possibly his predecessor was an admirer of the model of basic no frills, old technology, sold cheaply.

ba_barabus

alias no.9 wrote: »

The cheapest steel was sent to Fiat as payment for their technology.

Back on topic, Renault's decision to take on and develop Dacia as a budget brand was in a way inspired by Lada.

Carlos Goshn [spelling?] or possibly his predecessor was an admirer of the model of basic no frills, old technology, sold cheaply.

Errrr Renault have been involved with Dacia since the 70s and now also have a very large stake in Lada. But they did need a low cost brand for emerging markets.

Dacia are also sold as Renault, Nissan and Samsung in some markets and hage been reworked to be made into modern Ladas.