Dacia Sandero Stepway review
Category: Small car
Section: Costs & verdict
Costs & verdict
Everyday costs, plus how reliable and safe it is
On the face of it, the Stepway seems quite a bit more expensive than the regular Dacia Sandero. However, even in higher-spec forms, it's good value compared with a reasonably well-specced Hyundai i10 or Ford Fiesta Active. As such, we recommend jumping up to Comfort trim. The traditionally strong predicted resale values of Dacias make the Stepway attractive on PCP finance.
Fuel economy isn’t quite as good as that of the regular Sandero, let alone a hybrid Honda Jazz or Toyota Yaris, but the TCe 90 still returns an official figure of more than 50mpg. In our experience, more than 40mpg will be easily achievable in the real world, so you’d have to drive your Yaris an awful lot to recoup the cost difference. The official CO2 emissions are nothing to write home about, but the low purchase price will lead to company car drivers enjoying a low benefit-in-kind (BIK) tax rate.
Dacia did brilliantly in the 2021 What Car? Reliability Survey, finishing in second place out of 30 brands. Every new Sandero Stepway comes with a three-year/60,000-mile warranty, which is par for the course in this class. It can be extended to six years or 100,000 miles for a reasonable cost, but Kia still provides a longer warranty as standard.
The Sandero Stepway received a disappointing two-star safety rating from Euro NCAP. However, it’s worth noting that it was assessed under the latest, much tougher test requirements. If you dive into the detail of the results, you’ll find that it outperforms the i10 (the closest rival to be tested under the new regulations) for protecting adult occupants in a front collision.
In terms of safety kit, the Sandero Stepway gets automatic emergency braking (AEB), tyre-pressure monitoring, six airbags, Isofix child-seat mounts and e-Call emergency assistance. Prestige adds blind-spot monitoring, but more expensive rivals such as the Jazz and Yaris are in another league when it comes to safety, with both cars awarded a full five stars. They also get far more sophisticated active safety systems as standard.
