Sounds a nightmare.
I thought the manual one was the one to avoid.

I can see what you mean about losing faith; many a forum has grumbles about this issue and that, but on this one it's literally every thread!

Hope you get it sorted. I'd guess you're eager to pass it on soon enough.

 

It's still in warranty. We're saying we want out, compensation and our deposit back so we can go another brand.

 

I’ve asked some questions in the other thread you started. Would be good to have more details - sadly it sounds like the dealer has launched the parts canon on this one!

 

It started with an amber warning light saying check anti-pollution system. The delay in getting the part resulted in a red warning light and message to stop driving. We had the car back eventually only to get another red light saying risk of engine failure, check fuel pump. Budgen Motors in Shrewsbury said they couldn't replicate the fault so could do nothing more. Dacia arranged for a second opinion and the fault was found and the fuel pump was replaced. About three weeks later, the car came to halt and I had to be recovered yet again. This time the gear box actuator was replaced. Once they replaced that, they found a problem with the battery. We don't want it back, we don't trust it. Arnold Clark have been awful. We bought it new. This is obviously the very abridged version!

 

When you read info on here, you wonder how they make great reliability ratings:

https://www.whatcar.com/news/reliability-survey-most-reliable-cars-brands/n26159

6th, and to add, 'Owners told us they got a great level of service when things went wrong, with 95% of remedial work done for free and 47% of cars fixed in a day or less. '
Which seems almost laughable going by thread after thread on here.

 

Which seems almost laughable going by thread after thread on here

Whilst I totally understand your frustration, it should be remembered that this forum is like a doctor’s waiting room, where the only people in it are those with a problem.
I’ve just traded my Stepway in after the best part of five years of absolutely faultless ownership.

 

All cars brands are the same. Many of the parts come from the same Chinese factories these days. All cars have weaknesses - component, design or assembly flaws. Cars are now advancing so fast that one brand re-writes its in-house apprenticeship programme every six months. That means it’s hard for even top staff to keep up.

My son works for a very well known premium automotive brand and has to deal with very similar issues in £100k cars.

The biggest difference between brands is often the customer.

A Dacia customer walks into a dealer and asks for them to look at their car. The dealer says that will be £145 please, the Dacia owner screams blue murder and rushes off to the nearest forum to announce that they will never buy another Dacia again.

A Range Rover customer walks into a dealer and asks them to look at their car. The dealer says that will be £175 please, the owner hands over his credit card and rushes off to the showroom to look at the latest model.

 

A Dacia customer walks into a dealer and asks for them to look at their car. The dealer says that will be £145 please, the Dacia owner screams blue murder and rushes off to the nearest forum to announce that they will never buy another Dacia again.

A Range Rover customer walks into a dealer and asks them to look at their car. The dealer says that will be £175 please, the owner hands over his credit card and rushes off to the showroom to look at the latest model

Not always the case and may well depends a lot on the specific dealer. I've had freebie looks in Mazda, NIssan and VW (of all places).
I think on this forum and in Dacia's case, the customer service stories run a lot further than a 145 pound diagnostic.

 

Couldn't agree more.
Worst car I ever had was a brand new Aston Martin DB9 (with the DBS 6L V12 engine) which was in the dealership every 250 miles for something or t'other failing/falling off. Got shot of it after 9m.
On the other hand our Spanish Duster has gone 2.5 years with (fingers crossed) zero issues; save for someone ramming into the back of it and me picking up a screw in the tyre.

 

Had a bmw 4 series from 2022 to 2024, was new and had faults on it and the garage did not really solve them. Then had a sandaro which was faultless, I think its just the luck of the draw. For sure I would never buy a so called premium brand again.

 

I think its just the luck of the draw.

In fairness, there is a lot of truth in that.