DACIA Logan MCV Review

When first hearing about a car almost as long as a mid-size sedan and as cheap as a mini, the first thought to mind must be the fact that its creature comforts are absolutely non-existent. Well, with the Dacia Logan MCV you wouldn't be that far off with that supposition. Don't get us wrong, this is not as uncomfortable as a golf cart, but drawing a parallel between this and just about any modern station wagon would be like comparing a Derringer pocket pistol to a Desert Eagle hand cannon. Both firearms can kill you, but the number of bullets necessary and how much the aim matters is a little bit different between the two.

First, let's talk about the good things, from the comfort point of view. The interior is spacious enough to carry at least five passengers in a relatively high space comfort. The legroom is medium-sized, but the headroom is almost enough to fit a dad with his two-year old kid on his shoulders. Also on the good side is the suspension comfort, even on poor quality roads and at low and medium speeds. At high speeds though, the softness of the shock absorbers is working a bit against the car, making it act like a boat during a small monsoon.

The passengers from the middle and rear seats should either have a nice, sound sleep or they should be very talkative during longer journeys, since they have absolutely nothing else to do in the back. As we mentioned before, the only storage space available in the rear are for the two rear seats, leaving the guys in the middle to only fiddle with the poorly-placed window controls.

Other than that, our test car was fitted with almost everything the Romanian manufacturer can provide in terms of comfort features for its cars. That sounds a bit epic, but it isn't. We had a manually controlled air conditioning system - with only one zone, naturally – that worked pretty respectable given the interior size of the Logan MCV, four power windows with very "outside the box" placed controls and an on-board computer.

Sporting a relatively modern oil burner under the hood, our Logan MCV doesn't exactly lack the latest technologies in terms of technical finesse. Sure, this is not the most powerful 1.5-liter diesel four banger out there, but it does have Common Rail. The 85 horsepower mill provides a more refined operation that we would have expected just by looking at the amount of sound insulation around the engine comparing to a "regular" car, with a decent price.

The five speed manual gearbox could use a little more precision, especially when changing from third to second, but it does a fair amount of job at giving a compromise between a decent acceleration and a low fuel consumption. Too bad fifth isn't geared longer, since we felt like the engine would either request a sixth gear or a longer fifth.

The suspension setup is McPherson independent in the front and semi-independent in the rear and is fitted with a pretty comfortable setup. That and the long wheelbase contribute to a relatively comfortable ride even on paved roads. Other than what we mentioned, the Logan MCV doesn't abound in high tech bits, but this is pretty much how we learn the way it can keep costing as much as a Skoda Fabia while offering a much larger interior space.

Although almost fully configured with just about every available feature, the amount of gadgetry in our Dacia Logan MCV can easily compete with the one found in an Amish home. No pun intended, to either topic of discussion. The lack of useful gadgets is also one of the car's good points when it comes to the impression of reliability derived from its overall simplicity.

Sure, there's a decently-sized air conditioning unit, four power windows, manually height-adjustable steering wheel, board computer and a pretty cool way of folding five of the seats, making room for luggage or other crap you intend to put inside. Another trick that some people might enjoy is the way the rear doors can be opened, in either a 90 degree or a 180+degree fashion with just the flick of a switch. Other than that, the gadgets section in this test drive is pretty slim, as expected.

The Dacia Logan MCV hasn't been tested according to the latest EuroNCAP evaluation rules, but we can have a rough estimate on how the model would score on safety when comparing it to the non-facelift Logan - with which it shares its platform. Of course, the MCV features a longer wheelbase, but the basics remain the same.

The 2005 Dacia Logan scored only 3 points for the front occupants, while tested without the optional safety pack. Our model, however, did benefit from side airbags and front seat pretensioners, which should lead the MCV to a decent four star score (as it would lead to improved protection for pelvis, abdomen and chest). In terms of pedestrian score, we believe the MCV would behave the same way as the old Logan, as neither of the changes in the front fascia brought any improvements for pedestrian protection. Therefore, a poor one-star score.

The longer wheelbase, as compared to the Logan, makes for better stability when cornering at average speed. On the downside, however, pushing the pedal to the metal will surely not prove a very inspired choice on the open road, as one will have a hard time maintaining a stable drive at over 140 km/h (87 mph). Our advice is to keep the car at around 120-130 km/h (75-80 mph) when driving outside the metropolitan area, as it will not only provide you with a comfortable drive, but also make for a less noisy experience (as shown in the “Open Road” section).

As far as the active safety equipment goes, the MCV does not benefit from Electronic Stability Control, somehow odd considering we're talking about the facelifted model. Bare in mind the fact that this 7-seater is intended as a people carrier.. Passenger safety (front, rear, whatever) should come first and not having a basic ESP to make use of in needy conditions – considering the length of the car and its front-wheel-drive system – leaves us with no choice but to point our finger at the Romanian manufacturer; regardless of the standard ABS, which comes as a result of mandatory rule making from the European Union anyway.

In terms of braking, Dacia have done a good thing equipping the MCV with ventilated discs at the front, as compared to just discs on the initial model. The rear system is still based on drums, but that's not very important (well, maybe it is, but not at the same extent anyway) as long as we're talking about a relatively light car. So there's the thumbs up for the MCV at this section, as it's the only noticeable step forward made by Dacia in terms of safety, apart from the addition of optional front side airbags.

We're not going to lie to you. When we first embarked on our three-day test drive with the Dacia Logan MCV, our expectations were pretty slim. Let's face the music, this car doesn't look like the most desirable thing on four wheels out there. From the hearse/ambulance exterior appearance to the plastic-is-fantastic/old Russian toy interior, everything just screams low cost, low budget and most of all... recession. Well, guess what? This is pretty much one of the few cars that's almost perfect for a struggling family of at least four or five, in need of a new family car but with not enough money.

It's FAR from being the most beautiful, the safest or the most rewarding to drive people carrier, but it does at least half of what other minivans are doing with less than half the price. It's slow but economical, it's ugly but spacious and on the poor roads of some random third world country this is a poor man's luxury family wagon, given its basic but plentiful features.

Apart from the almost horrendous exterior look and the cheap plastics inside, we didn't find anything truly bad to say about the Dacia Logan MCV 1.5 dCI. If you're in your early twenties or thirties and are looking for a driver's car that can also carry your numerous family while going camping you should forget this model from the start though. Even though it's equipped with the more powerful 85 horsepower version of the 1.5 dCI (there's also a 70 hp version), there's simply too much mass to carry, especially when fully loaded.

The ugly bit about our test car, besides the overall design of course, was the fact that all of us here are a bit too young to be genuinely impressed by the real qualities of this vehicle. The ginormous interior is too much for someone like us to appreciate, while the seven seats would be pretty useless in everyday driving unless we bought something like this only for camping in the woods with friends or going fishing in the countryside.