"Go Hawkeyes" (joehawkeye)
05/01/2018 at 20:12 • Filed to: None
6
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"Go Hawkeyes" (joehawkeye)
05/01/2018 at 20:12 • Filed to: None | 6
| 15 |
I said yesterday I’d review this Renault I rented. Be prepared for mediocrity.
Not because the car is that bad. But because I didn’t bother to take more than just this one picture. Anyway, the Renault Sandero is a 4 door hatchback with a diminutive motor by ‘Merican standards but it does well down here where the toilet water swirls the wrong direction.
I had a grand plan to take some pictures of the car and the drive up Rodovia dos Tamoios this morning but in my haste in the twisties I completely forgot. BTW, if you ever get the chance I highly recommend the drive, up or down, this little piece of Brazilian treasure road. Traffic can be heavy but that just makes passing all that more fun.
!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!
The Sandero, equipped with a 1.9L and a 5-speed, handled the drive quite well. I did this drive in an automatic Peugeot hatch and it wasn’t nearly as fun. Proving once again that stick > automatic.
The interior of this rental special abounds with the softest of hard as fuck plastics and questionably smelling cloth seating. I think there was cruise control although if there was I never figured out how to use it. There was a mystery button on the dash with an A on it? Of course the manual was not in Inglês and I didn’t care enough to Google it. There was also an absence of anything resembling door locks although I know it had them because the key fob could lock the doors. Or at least it flashed the lights and made a locking sound. I never actually confirmed the lock.
The car would cruise all day at 120kph and 3k RPM as long as you crank up the dual speaker stereo loud enough to drown out the engine whine. Speaking of stereo, the car has a fully touchscreen interface that lags worse than playing Fortnite on dialup. But it does offer Bluetooth and USB connectivity and had an English language menu option that the Localiza rep so kindly turned on for me.
I don’t know what these retail for but at the roughly $35/day for the rental, insurance included, this is a Nice Price. 7/10 would rent again.
Assorted musings:
I accidentally ordered an entire cow for dinner. It was a damn tasty cow though. Choperia Giovannetti Cambuí in Campinas. They have an English menu! And a large wine selection. Although I stuck with the chope.
The male bartender is back at the hotel bar. Not easy on the eyes like the lady bartender. But he makes a hell of a caipirinha.
interstate366, now In The Industry
> Go Hawkeyes
05/01/2018 at 20:32 |
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Great news!
Svend
> Go Hawkeyes
05/01/2018 at 20:52 |
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I love Americans when they say a 1.9 is a diminutive engine.
Chariotoflove
> Go Hawkeyes
05/01/2018 at 21:25 |
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Good thing I was lying down while I read this, because I nodded off until I got to the cow.
It sounds like the Focus I rented in Paris, perfectly fine.
wafflesnfalafel
> Svend
05/01/2018 at 23:52 |
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Everything is relative... my redneck friend made fun of my 2.0 - until I dusted his 6.2. I’d like to drive one of those 1.0l ecoboost 3cyl - they seem like a super neat little motor...
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Svend
> wafflesnfalafel
05/02/2018 at 01:42 |
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That’s the thing. I often read on Jalopnik and sometimes on here how the U.S. sees cars as needing 3.0 litre engines with at least 300bhp when the majority of the world drives 0.9 to 2.0 litre engines with anything from 50bhp up to 250bhp. Many of your speed limits are slower than a lot of Europe and though commutes are longer distance wise to work in many areas it’s nose to tail in very slow moving traffic.
Hell the 1.0 engine you speak of is even fitted to the Ford Mondeo/Fusion. It returns 55.4mpgUK from it’s 124bhp, 1.0, 3cylinder ecoboost engine.
Our previous car was a Mk2 Superb 1.4 with 124bhp in an estate car and it wasn’t lacking in power when we needed or wanted it.
duurtlang
> Go Hawkeyes
05/02/2018 at 04:39 |
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Base price for a 0.9L turbo version of these is, before taxes, €7k ($8.5k US). In the Netherlands, so this is with 4+ airbags, esp, abs, traction control and the like standard. Other countries get a slightly higher displacement NA engine with less hp and a lower price as the base model.
It has a Dacia logo though, it’s too down market for Renault here.
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duurtlang
> Chariotoflove
05/02/2018 at 04:52 |
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You can buy 2 Sanderos for one base Focus though, and the Focus is not overpriced. Utterly different segment.
Cé hé sin
> Svend
05/02/2018 at 05:03 |
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That’s one of the odd things about the Americans. They just drive in convoy at slightly above the limit, nobody daring to overtake, never using more than a tiny fraction of the available power, yet they want something like a 6.0 V8.
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Cé hé sin
> Go Hawkeyes
05/02/2018 at 05:04 |
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Cé hé sin
> Go Hawkeyes
05/02/2018 at 05:13 |
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If it’s anything like a Renault Clio, the cruise control on/off is down between the seats somewhere.
The A is probably auto stop/start.
pip bip - choose Corrour
> Go Hawkeyes
05/02/2018 at 07:05 |
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in regards to the Renault/Dacia
GIB!!
GIB!!
GIB!!
GIB!!
GIB!!
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Svend
> Cé hé sin
05/02/2018 at 10:17 |
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Ye’, you’d think at the way they go on about rear wheel drive, large engines, massive amounts of power, etc... you’d think they were living a Mad Max movie every time they got in the car.
But then again we drive hatchbacks and estates and if we need something larger, we borrow a van from a friend, ask them to help us move it with them driving their van, hire a van or get a moving or waste company to move it.
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Chariotoflove
> duurtlang
05/02/2018 at 11:16 |
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Well, this was 15 years ago. The Focus was entirely different. I have no idea how it compared to the Renaults of the time.
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duurtlang
> Chariotoflove
05/02/2018 at 11:41 |
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This Sandero is a subcompact Dacia, so beside being a segment smaller it’s also from a ‘downmarket’ brand. Unlike Ford. Speaking from a European perspective though, it’s quite possible they’ve got a far more down market Focus elsewhere which would be a better match to the Dacia. Renault, EU market Renault that is, is a perfect match for Ford though. This hasn’t really changed in decades .
The current Focus competitor from Renault is the Megane. I’ll post screenshots from the French websites (because French car):
With tax included the base Focus and its direct Renault competitor are priced roughly the same at €20k. The Sandero, tax included, starts a €8k.
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Chariotoflove
> duurtlang
05/02/2018 at 11:51 |
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Cool. I’m glad the Sandero exists. It provides cheap transportation. And also employment for all those gerbils that would otherwise be homeless.