Interior
The interior layout, fit and finish
Driving position and dashboard
Both of the Dacia Sandero’s trim levels come with a height-adjustable driver’s seat and central armrest, and a steering wheel that adjusts up, down, in and out. You shouldn’t struggle to get comfortable behind the wheel.
You also won’t have any problems seeing the instrument dials, and all the dashboard controls, including those for the manual air conditioning, are simple and clear. This is an area in which the Sandero is actually better than some posher rivals. The Peugeot 208, for example, has fiddly, touch-sensitive dashboard buttons.
To get one of those, you'll need to go for our favoured Comfort trim. The 8.0in colour touchscreen system comes with built-in sat-nav and Apple CarPlay/Android Auto smartphone mirroring, which allows you to use apps from your phone for calls, music or navigation, for example.
The screen is mounted helpfully high up on the dashboard and is tilted towards the driver, with some touch-sensitive buttons down the side that you can use as shortcuts between functions. We’d prefer physical shortcut buttons, but the Dacia operating system is easy to get used to and responds relatively quickly to prods and swipes.
Quality
If you want a plush interior in your small car, have a look at the Mini first and foremost, and then the 208. They both look and feel really upmarket inside by class standards.