Recently, I came across an intriguing automotive news article in a well-regarded car publication. It highlighted Dacia’s endeavours to elevate its brand positioning by moving upmarket… HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA! They want to become a Jeep rival… HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA! Oh mercy, never have I read such deluded and trivial nonsense. Here’s the reality, I wouldn’t buy a Dacia any more than I wouldn’t buy a Jeep. In Europe, the Jeep brand has been reduced to nothing more than a rebranded marketing sock puppet by its sterile corporate monolith Stellantis overlords. The Renault-owned Dacia brand… ditto.

Dacia is positioned as an “affordable” brand, it uses last-generation Renault engineering and then the marketing teams step in and upsells Dacia as a gleaming affordable jewel. But it’s all smoke and a lot of mirrors. Dacia, in reality, is dull, uninteresting and belongs not off-road nor on the road but in a ditch where most end up after breaking down 2 months into its warranty. I drove a Dacia Duster once, it will be forever etched into my memory.

Dacia has become death, a destroyer of hope.

Sitting in a Dacia was no different to sitting in an abandoned, roofless, windswept warehouse frequented by unwashed CBD Gummie Bear addled hippies. Driving the Dacia Duster was no better. I am a recovering former Renault owner, owned multiple Renaults over the years. And I know that every component in a Renault is costed to within a second of its useful life. Renault embodies a brand identity often associated with fast-food establishments. You will leave on a full stomach, but something will never feel right, but you keep going back for the convenience of it all.

Dacia uses the same fast-food playbook “pioneered” by Renault, the engineering will last about as much time as it takes to down a trans-fat burger and a portion of trans-fat chips. My advice to all of you is never ever consider buying a Dacia because you are buying nothing more than a last-generation Renault made in Romania.

The Dacia brand’s direction is heavily influenced by the overarching goals of the Renault brand which clearly has neo-colonialist agenda. Dacia is representative of a subjugated populace. Romania should strive to liberate itself from the stranglehold of French dominance. Vive La Roumanie!