DACIA Nova 1995-1999 Photos, engines & full specs

The first and only model built entirely by the Romanian carmaker, the Dacia Nova was a 5-door hatchback designed to replace the already old Dacia 1310.

Dacia decided to let the public decide the new car’s nameplate and the “Nova” was chosen from a total of 44 nameplates suggested through a contest.

When released, the Nova had already looked a little dated, as the main drawings for the car were made with a few years before. However, Dacia faced financial issues at the time, thus, the project was resumed in 1995.

Besides the exterior design, the Nova faced several issues even from its launch: the fuel consumption was high, the overall quality of materials was poor and the bodywork corroded pretty fast.

There were also good reasons why the Nova proved to be successful. It was a cheap car, it was easy to maintain it, it offered great stability and had quite a fast-start acceleration.

At first, the Dacia Nova was available with a choice of two gasoline engines, a 1.4-liter with 65 hp and a 1.6-liter with 72 cp.

Compared to the old Dacia 1310, the Dacia Nova received a tailgate to ease the luggage loading and rectangular headlights. With the first facelift unveiled in 1996, the shape of the headlamps was changed and the trunk gate featured a flat rear window.