Dacia Sandero - MPG, CO2 and running costs
The Sandero’s low list price is always the talking point, but fuel economy and insurance costs are decent, too
Finding a car priced within your budget is always a challenge, so the Sandero will appeal to cost-conscious buyers. But it’s important not to forget that once you’ve forked out your hard-earned cash on some new wheels, there’s still the issue of insurance and how much it’ll cost to run.
The good news is that you shouldn’t have to break the bank in order to keep your Sandero on the road. Dacia claims a combined fuel economy figure of up to 53.3mpg across the range, except for the TCe 90 CVT auto version, which is slightly behind the pack at 49.6mpg. When we tested a Dacia Sandero TCe 90 manual, it returned real-world fuel economy of 49.3mpg, beating the Citroen C3 we pitted it against.
CO2 emissions are good, but not exceptional, with the TCe 90 in both manual and CVT auto forms putting out 119g/km. Rivals that employ hybrid technology, such as the Renault Clio in some versions, will trump the Sandero on emissions, but you’ll have to balance that against the hefty premium for a hybrid Clio. If you still want the good value of a Dacia combined with the lower running costs of a hybrid, then consider the Dacia Jogger Hybrid 140.
Used - available now
2022 Dacia
Sandero
23,083 milesManualPetrol1.0L
Cash £10,535
2022 Dacia
Sandero
18,697 milesManualPetrol1.0L
Cash £10,603
2024 Dacia
Sandero
30,015 milesManualPetrol1.0L
Cash £8,300
2019 Dacia
Sandero
20,183 milesManualPetrol1.0L
Cash £7,100Those after the Sandero Stepway will not only have to pay a slight premium in terms of pricing over the regular Sandero, but they’ll also have to fork out more at the pumps. Mind you, 50.4mpg for the TCe 90 and 45.6mpg for the CVT auto and more powerful TCe 110 is hardly going to break the bank.
If you are fortunate enough to live near an LPG station and can make the Bi-Fuel model fit your lifestyle, just be aware that you won’t see the same fuel economy when running on LPG as you would petrol. You’ll find separate trip computer readouts in the driver’s instrument cluster so you can track the difference.
Insurance
Insurance groups for the Sandero range start from group 12 for the TCe 90 manual in Essential spec; the rest of the line-up gets an insurance group 14 rating.
That’s not bad, but it’s worth pointing out that the Volkswagen Polo starts in insurance group three for the entry 1.0-litre petrol engine.
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Depreciation
Investing in a Sandero brings a further bonus if you choose to sell it. After an average of three years and 36,000 miles of ownership, our data predicts that the budget supermini should retain between 48 and 53 per cent of its original list price, with our recommended mid-range Expression maintaining the best value in the regular Sandero range.
The Sandero Stepway performs even better, with the top-of-the-range Extreme trim holding on to 55 per cent of its value over the same period.
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