£5,995 is tempting for a brand new car... or is it?

You thought steel wheels were gone. You were wrong.

That title is by no stretch of the imagination telling a lie; in the UK at least, you can really buy a brand new car complete with that new car smell for under six grand. Before you even know what that car is, you instantly think what bloody good value that is.

Because of this nature of instantly thinking about the value for money and not the actual car itself, it has allowed the car in question to explode in popularity. That car, of course, is the Dacia Sandero. The Sandero has actually been around for a few years now, but it was only introduced into the UK about two years ago (when money was sparse, coincidentally).

The strategic introduction timing and Tesco Value pricing has allowed for it to be a huge sales success, despite not actually being that good of a car. So it does beg the question: would you just be better off with a better secondhand car for the sake of a few thousand miles on the clock?

Yes, there really is no radio there. £300 optional extra.

Before we answer that interesting question, let's quickly get back to the Romanian Sandero. In a vast majority of automotive reviews, the bad things about the car seem to go on forever; ranging from an asthmatic engine to poor cabin insulation. But in nearly every single conclusion of the reviews, they sum up by saying these negatives don't matter because they are justified by the car's low price. As a result, the Sandero seems to score just as high as the VW Golf, which seems absurd.

I disagree with these kind of reviews with such a passion, because it's basically saying you can either get a secondhand car with creature comforts, equipment, a decent engine and a chance you'll survive in a crash, or a car with black plastic bumpers that does none of these things. It seems like such a no-brainer, surely. Unless you love that new car smell THAT much.

Cheaper and better in EVERY SODDING WAY POSSIBLE.

I found this 2009 Ford Fiesta on the Internet, which is up for a strangely precise £5,693. It also comes with a 1.25L petrol engine; all of these things fit in with the Sandero. The only difference is that this Fiesta comes with electric windows and mirrors, a radio as standard, a trip computer, a good quality interior, a punchier engine and... you get my point. It's only done 30,000 miles too, which means there is years to come from this thing yet.

Understandably, some people just want a cheap and back-to-basics city runaround. But if that was your case, why would you buy a Sandero new? I bet they'll become very cheap (and therefore justifiable) within just a few years.

The Sandero continues to sell well though, and therefore my eyes are getting ruined more and more with the unwelcome return of steel wheels and unpainted bumpers each day.