Auto Bild vs Dacia Logan

The Romanian car is normally the latest Dacia Logan, the 6.000 Euro new car and the German counterpart was the famous Volkswagen Golf . This latest was a 50.000 km second hand Golf IV.

The German journalists made this comparative drive test because the Romanian Dacia Logan is the only car that ia a threat to the second hand German market which is dominated by the fourth generation Golf. Another big issue of Auto Bild was that that is was conceivable that a country that 15 years ago didn’t know even about Mac Donald’s or the Internet and now they are building the cheapest car in the world.

The thing of this comparison test was of course the prise of 8.800 Euro of this new Logan and the second hand Golf. A few years ago when the Luis Schweitzer, the boss of Renault the manufacturer that bought Dacia, said that he will build a 5.000 Euro modern car, his counterpart from Volkswagen, Pischetsrieder said that it always exist a better second car like a Golf.

The only problem is that the German journalists didn’t count the fact that a new car has complete warranty compared with a second hand car like the Golf. Any second hand car could brake even after 100 km and leave you alone in the field, and a new car is without discussion a new car with 0 km on the dash.

The Romanian Logan was tested with the 1.4 liter engine made by Renault which had 75 HP and the Golf was equipped also with a 1.4 engine of 75 HP. The VW engine is better than the Renault because it has a better synchronized gear box and a bigger torque level.

Even so the Logan is faster from 0 to 100 km/h (12,7 seconds) and has better sprints from 80 to 120 compared with the Golf because the German weights almost 300 km more than Dacia Logan. In interior the Golf is clearly better than the Logan because the VW when was new had a price of almost 20.000 euros and the Logan was developed to cast under 10.000 Euro. Another good point for the Golf were the brakes, and from 100 km/h to zero the VW stopped in just 40 meters and the Logan even equipped with ABS was capable only in 50 meters.

The problem is that the Romanian car is equipped with drums on the rear wheels. The Golf has a dash board with manual air conditioner even if when it was new the owner could equipped it with automatic air conditioner.

The level of comfort inside those two cars is very different because the Logan is far more comfortable than the Golf. Inside the Romanian car could travel in complete comfort five persons compared with only four in the German car. The sound system is also completely different because Dacia has a CD-Player and the Volkswagen only a cassette player. The luggage compartment is far superior in Logan 510 liters and the Volkswagen is only 340 liters.

Anyway if you have the occasion, go and drive both cars and make your mid after that.

Aprilie 2005